UpDate - Vol. 15, No. 2, Page 1
September 7, 1995
Serious water shortage mandates restrictions

     As the region's drought continues, the city of Newark has
instituted mandatory water-use restrictions and is asking residents to
do all they can to practice water conservation.
     According to the Delaware Geological Survey and the Water
Resources Agency for New Castle County, creek flow has not been at its
current low level since 1966. This, combined with a lack of rain, and
little or none in the forecast, makes the situation serious, according
to Carl Luft, Newark city manager.
     Newark became the first municipality in Delaware to impose
mandatory water restrictions on Aug. 28, he said.
     One of the reasons causing that decision is that stream flow in
the White Clay Creek, a major source of Newark's water supply, dropped
below the 14 million gallons per day (mgd) level-the regulatory limit
established by the Delaware River Basin Commission. Therefore,
Newark's surface water treatment plant on the White Clay Creek had to
be shut down, causing the city to depend on other sources.
     Last August, according to Joseph Dombrowski, Newark's director of
water and waste water, approximately 45 percent of Newark's water was
supplied by that plant. The balance was purchased from other suppliers
(40 percent) and secured from wells (15 percent).
     Currently, purchases from other suppliers and underground wells
are each providing 50 percent of Newark's water needs.
     City of Newark water restrictions prohibit
        * Washing of driveways, sidewalks, parking lots or other
          outdoor surfaces,
        * Watering of lawns,
        * Watering of outside shrubbery, trees, plants or other
          vegetation, except from a watering can and
        * Washing of automobiles, trucks, trailers or any other type
          of mobile equipment with a hose.
     Customers can conserve water indoors by taking shorter showers,
by installing water saving devices and by repairing any water leaks.
     "If people comply with the restrictions," Luft said, "we estimate
the city can save about half a million gallons of water a day."
     The mandatory restrictions, Dombrowski said, will continue until
rainfall has adequately recharged the aquifers and stream flows are
regularly above 14 mgd.
     Luft said the city has received support and positive feedback
from the community about the restrictions, due, in part, he said,
because the city kept citizens informed about their possibility before
they were announced.
     The abnormal lack of rainfall and very low stream flows are the
main factors contributing to the current situation, Luft said. While
the arrival of University students in late August did have an impact
on the use of water, it did not have an affect on the decision to
restrict water use, he said.
     "If we didn't have a University in town," Luft said, "we'd still
have mandatory restrictions in effect. What we need is for all of our
water users-residents, students, businesses- to follow our restriction
guidelines and work together for everyone's benefit until the
situation improves."
                                                         -Ed Okonowicz