Published in the Ocean County Observer
By ANDREW KLAPPHOLZ
Staff Writer
TOMS RIVER -- United Water, which provides water service to about 95,000 customers in the area, is asking residents to conserve their water use.
United Water officials say the request is only temporary while they complete maintenance work on two major water wells in the service area.
"There are two wells being serviced in Dover Township," said Kevin Doell, spokesman for United Water. "We expect to get them up and running in the next two weeks."
The company provides their service area -- Toms River, South Toms River and the Holiday City and Silver Ridge Park sections of Berkeley -- with up to 21 million gallons of water a day, Doell said.
The two wells that are out of service provide about 3 million gallons a day -- one seventh of the total capacity, Doell said.
"It's not that we can't handle the demand normally," Doell said. "But we have two wells that are being serviced. It's going to be a hot weekend and demand has been pretty high."
Temperatures along the Shore have approached 90 degrees all week and water demand has risen across Ocean County.
"It's more than just nice (weather)," Doell said. "It's been really hot too. It's like summer out there."
While today is expected to be near 90 degrees, the National Weather Service is reporting that temperatures will drop to the 70s this weekend.
Despite the drop, Bill Goodman, a meteorologist for the service, said the skies should stay sunny.
"There will be some early showers Saturday morning," Goodman said. "Other than that it should be real nice right through Tuesday."
George Flegal, manager of United Water, Toms River, said the cooler temperatures should help decrease the demand for the water company while they provide service without the two wells. However, having the customers conserve water should help stabilize the water supply.
"We're managing our system closely and expect to provide uninterrupted service so long as customers make an effort to conserve water," Flegal said. "When our maintenance on the two major wells is complete, we will be able to return to normal operations."
Doell said the best way to conserve water is to cut back on lawn irrigation, which accounts for most of the demand.
"The average irrigation system uses the equivalent of four households worth of water," he said, adding that people can still water their lawns but they should lower the pressure on their irrigation system.
"We can save 500,000 gallons a day by going through this program," he said. "If people simply did that, we would be in good shape."
Doell said the company is not approaching the drought level yet, like the one that hit this area in 1999. If it does get that bad later this summer, he said, the company should be equipped to handle it, provided all the wells are up and running.
Published on May 4, 2001
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