Suffolk Officials Rescind Water Emergency

OAKDALE, NY — Suffolk County Water Authority officials have rescinded the water emergency declared due to drought conditions on Thursday.

The emergency was rescinded "due to improving weather conditions and the resulting lower water demand during the early morning hours," the authority's Chief Executive Officer Jeff Szabo announced in an email to customers on Thursday.

Officials extended the water emergency from the East End to the rest of the county on Sept. 2.

"To those of you who responded to the call for conservation: thank you," Szabo wrote. "Each and every one of us can make a difference. Your cooperation will help to ensure there is sufficient water supply for firefighting and other emergency situations."

SCWA officials noted resident response to the call for conservation needs to "significantly improve in the future," in a news release.

Recent rain and decreased temperatures led to less stress on water infrastructure in the morning hours when many residents turn their automated sprinkler systems on, SCWA officials said.

During the last week of August, SCWA system pumpage averaged 500,000 gallons per minute between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m., but this past week, that figure had dropped to 360,000 gallons per minute, according to SCWA officials.

“SCWA Chairman Patrick Halpin said that what happened over the summer "should be a wake-up call for Suffolk residents to reduce water use in their daily lives.”

“This was a particularly bad summer, but peak hours have been a problem for years," he said. "We appreciate those who listened, but the truth is, we did not get enough cooperation from our customers. We were, frankly, lucky that we didn’t have a major fire during a time in which water pressure was dangerously low.”

In his email, Szabo also reminded customers that the county is still in a state of severe drought though, adding, so please always use our precious water resources judiciously."

"The long-term sustainability of the sole source aquifer that provides 100 percent of our drinking water depends on it," he concluded.