Town Asks Residents To Stop Using Water Outside

The town is asking residents to stop using water outside until the next rain to conserve dwindling supplies after a few days of high-demand use.

Joe Duggan at the Water-Sewer Department said the town has a five-tier system for assessing Wellesley's water supply. One is normal. Five is emergency. At the moment, he said, the town is at three, a water-watch. That calls for a voluntary halt to use of water outside the home.

With luck, he said, residents will stop using water outside, especially to water lawns with automatic sprinklers, helping to avoid an outside water ban, which would give residents a warning on the first offense of outside water use, and after that,  a $50 fine for the first day,  then a $100 fine every day after that.

A reverse 911 call from the DPW went to residents this afternoon. "This is a message from the Wellesley Department of Public Works. Because of the heatwave and dry weather we are asking all homeowners and businesses to curtail all outside water use until a significant rainfall," the message advised.