You can water your lawn again in Suffolk

It's OK to water the lawn and wash the car again, at least in Suffolk County. This week's recent stretch of cool, wet weather prompted the county's largest water supplier to lift voluntary outdoor usage restrictions imposed recently.

But Nassau's largest supplier, Long Island American Water, has mandatory restrictions in effect until Labor Day.

"We're still experiencing a heavy demand when sprinklers come on late in the day, so our restrictions will remain in place," said Lendel Jones, a spokeswoman for Long Island American Water, which has 200,000 customers in southwestern Nassau.

"We're supposed to get another hot spell," Jones said, "and we don't want to be in a vulnerable position."

The Suffolk County Water Authority, with 1.2 million customers, lifted its voluntary restrictions, last Friday, Jeff Szabo, its chief executive, said. An unusually hot, dry summer increased demand, especially in the East End, Szabo said, prompting an alert for voluntary restrictions on July 5.

Several Suffolk suppliers, including Riverhead and Greenlawn, said Friday they had lifted voluntary restrictions against nonessential use outdoors, such as watering lawns and washing cars and dropped a request that consumers adhere to watering on an odd-even schedule.

But Nassau suppliers, including the Water Authority of Western Nassau County and the Jericho Water District, were still asking residents to curtail nonessential outdoor usage.

In Nassau, a rarely enforced county ordinance prohibits residents from outside water usage year round between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Residents also are required to water on an odd-even system; those with even-number street addresses water on even days and vice versa.

Mick Tierney, superintendent of the Water Authority of Western Nassau County, said the ordinance is emphasized every year because "it lets residents know it's the best way to keep things running smoothly."