This Week's Rain 'Helpful' To Shenipsit Lake Reservoir: Utility

NORTH CENTRAL CONNECTICUT — So what did all that rain on Monday and Tuesday do to the massive Shenipsit Lake reservoir?

In all, Connecticut Water Co. measured about 0.75 of an inch Monday and 2.85 inches Tuesday at the utility's Rockville Drinking Water Treatment Facility in Vernon.

"Our folks say it will be a day or two before know how helpful the rain was," Connecticut Water spokesman Daniel Meaney said. "It was certainly helpful, but it takes time for the water to flow through the watershed into the reservoirs. That said, the Shenip is still in good shape for this time of the year."

Therefore, Meaney said, there are no current conservation requests for customers in Suffield, Windsor Locks, Enfield, East Windsor, South Windsor, Somers, Ellington, Vernon, Tolland, or Mansfield.

"We always encourage customers to use water wisely," Meaney said.

Shenipsit Lake, the primary reservoir in the region, sits in parts of Tolland, Vernon and Ellington and has a capacity of 5 billion gallons. Meaney said last week that the lake is currently at 88 percent of capacity, which is slightly higher than last year at this time.

The Stafford water system is still in Stage 1 of Connecticut Water's drought response plan and the request for a voluntary 10 percent reduction in water usage is still in place," Meaney said.