Burlington Close To Lifting Outdoor Water Ban

BURLINGTON, MA -- Relief may be close for Burlington's parched lawns. The town has completed installation of a new filter and is working to disinfect and test the filter. The town expects the work to be completed by the weekend.

"The goal is to lift the current full water ban once the filter can be put back in operation. We will update our customers as soon as the current ban can be lifted," the town said in a notice posted on its Website.

The complete ban on outdoor water use went into effect more than a month ago, thanks to repairs for the Vine Brook treatment plant. The ban has helped Burlington reduce water consumption to as low as 2.6 million gallons per day. By comparison, low days this were around 2.3 million gallons. Prior to the ban, Burlington was recording as much as 4.7 million gallons of water usage on certain days.

The complete ban went into effect in early July, following water use restrictions that had been in place since spring. The ban covers sprinkler systems for lawns, as well as washing of exterior building surfaces, parking lots, driveways or sidewalks, except as necessary to apply surface treatments such as paint, preservatives, stucco, pavement or cement.

Violators receive a warning for their first offense. A second offense comes with a $50 fine. Every violation after that carries a $100 fine.

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Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).