Suffolk water authority tells residents to stop watering lawns immediately due to heat, drought

The Suffolk County Water Authority issued a directive to its customers Thursday that they "immediately" refrain from watering their lawns.

In an email to its customers Wednesday afternoon, the authority said it was reaching its "maximum capacity under current drought and heat conditions," and that users could experience low water pressure in early morning hours, the time of peak demand.

"Halting lawn watering is necessary to ensure we maintain adequate water pressure for essential indoor use and emergency fire response," the emailed statement said.

The utility provider is "monitoring" demand and will decide whether to maintain or lift the guidance "day by day," Dan Dubois, the director of communications for the water authority, told Newsday in a Thursday afternoon telephone interview.

The authority will not give its 1.2 million customers in Suffolk County the green light to water lawns again based on a set amount of time or rainfall, according to Dubois. It's also not basing the guidance on the U.S. Drought Monitor, which lists much of Suffolk County under a moderate drought and the East End and some northwestern hamlets under a severe drought.

Instead, the water authority will watch how much water its pumping, which could change if customers voluntarily agree to cut back.

"We're hopeful that as the weather cools off over the next couple of days and we're expecting some rain this weekend it lowers the demand on the system," Dubois said. "We'll certainly keep our customers up to date ... It's not really contingent on the rain, it's contingent on whether customers are responding."