SCWA Urges Water Conservation as Demand Surges Amid Moderate Drought

Moderate drought conditions on Long Island are causing a surge in water demand that has local officials urging residents to conserve water use to avoid overtaxing the system.

The Suffolk County Water Authority (SCWA) suggests that customers adopt more efficient irrigation practices when the public waters its lawns, which consumes 70% of the more than 70 billion gallons of drinking water pumped all year by the agency.

“During the summer months, our infrastructure—while robust and continuously improved—is overburdened by the steep increase in water demanded by automatic irrigation systems,” said SCWA Chairman Charles Lefkowitz. “The worst of it is that so much of the water consumed by these systems is wasted, providing no benefit to the health of landscapes. We implore our customers who irrigate to take advantage of the rebate programs we offer to install a smart irrigation controller. Most importantly, follow the odd/even lawn watering schedule.”

Up to 50% of the water used by irrigation systems is wasted due to inefficient lawn watering practices, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Swapping a standard irrigation timer for a smart controller can save up to 30% on summertime water usage. These devices are so effective because they use Wi-Fi connections to tap into local weather stations and determine when your property will need watering based on weather forecasts and trends.

Lawns only need an inch of water per week to remain healthy meaning they do not need to be watered every day. Lawns that are watered everyday are more susceptible to burning because they develop shallow roots. Customers are urged to adhere to the SCWA’s odd/even lawn watering schedule, which permits odd-numbered houses to water on odd-numbered calendar days and even-numbered houses to water on even days.

“All of Long Island draws its water from a single-source aquifer hundreds of feet below the surface, containing trillions of gallons of water used by millions of people every day,” said SCWA CEO Jeffrey Szabo. “However, this resource is finite and must not be taken for granted. Not only is excessive usage not sustainable and detrimental to our environment, the increasing upward trend of usage will require millions upon millions of dollars in investment and cause the cost of water to rise significantly.”