Water conservation urged as Long Island remains in drought status

As the mercury rises, the Long Island Water Conference is urging residents to conserve water in ways that are good for the environment and your wallet.

With Long Island already classified by the federal government as being in a severe drought , the organization is encouraging residents to save water, both in the short and long term. LIWC represents the major public and private water suppliers that provide drinking water to almost 90% of the island's population.

"When you conserve water, you keep your water bill down while also decreasing water pumpage, which helps water providers maintain a lower budget." William Schuckmann, Hicksville Water District Chairman, said in a LIWC news release Friday. 

Lawn care is the largest culprit of water use in the summer months. The LIWC recommends people follow a schedule in which odd-numbered addresses should water their lawns on odd-numbered calendar days, and vice versa for even-numbered addresses. Additionally, no one should water from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the time when water will evaporate the quickest.

"We ask all Long Islanders to take simple, voluntary steps to conserve water in homes and businesses to help us protect the water supply," Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a news release last month, in which she announced the state was classifying Long Island as being in a drought warning status. That means there are no statewide mandatory water use restrictions but residents are "strongly encouraged" to conserve water.

While no mandatory restrictions are in place yet, Adrienne Esposito, the Executive Director of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, such regulations "most likely will not be enforced ... Pragmatically, the county is not going to hire the water police."

The LIWC recommended, in the long-term, the use of smart irrigation controllers. Some of these use Wi-Fi to connect to the local weather forecast to determine how much water is needed in your lawn. Others may use buried soil probes that check the moisture level of the ground. Both will only send a signal to watering devices, such as sprinklers, if it is necessary.

The upgrade to a smart irrigation system can be a couple hundred dollars, but can save money, water officials said.

"The Suffolk County Water Authority has a rebate program where you can get credit back on a smart irrigation controller," Brendan Warner, chairman of the LIWC, said. "Other districts are offering similar programs to encourage it."

Because Long Island is entirely surrounded by saltwater, residents' only source of fresh drinking water is rain that soaks into the ground. All of Long Island gets its water from the same natural source; an aquifer, which is an underground layer of penetrable rocks that holds freshwater. The aquifer can hold tens of trillions of gallons, but it is still a limited source. Long Island pumps and uses about 460 million gallons of water every day.

"I think of it like a savings account," Mindy Germaine, a commissioner of the Port Washington Water District, said. "You do not want to overdraw your savings. It is the same with the aquifer. We pump to fulfill our water needs and the rain naturally fills our aquifer. But when we are pumping more than it is recharging, the aquifer becomes out of balance. That is what we are trying to avoid."