Facts are important. This problem is wholly and entirely a mismanagement issue by the village and RW Water. Rainfall and water supplies are not impacting this issue. This is a poor infrastructure, lack of planning, and foolish government decisions. Real leaders would solve the issues. From the US site
Heavy rainfall caused widespread flooding: Record precipitation was observed in parts of the Northwest, Northeast, Southern Plains and Mid-Atlantic. North Carolina had its wettest April on record. Rains caused widespread flooding in the Mid-Mississippi River Valley and contributed to numerous landslides in the West.
Drought shrunk to lowest extent since 2000: On May 2, 5 percent of the contiguous U.S. was in drought. This was the smallest drought footprint since the Drought Monitor began in 2000. Despite improvement in many areas, drought worsened in the Southwest and across parts of the Southeast where several large wildfires burned in Florida and southern Georgia.
I’d like to know what the water department is doing a. to repair leaks in the piping (estimated at 20%), b. to increase storage capacity. c. to increase production by installing new wells.
“Facts are important.” Indeed. So where are the facts to support the allegations of mismanagement in this post? All we get are rainfall data which suggest a fundamental lack of appreciation for the difference between groundwater and surface water supplies. Yes, drought conditions impact an aquifer, but up to a point, excess rainfall simply runs off. The problems Ridgewood faces are not unique and have been decades in the making. In a nutshell: too much lawn irrigation (especially automated lawn sprinkling that has proliferated in the last 20 years) and increase in impervious surfacing which increases runoff and diminishes aquifer replenishment.
The fix is a little more complicated other than the obvious idea of preventing people from over-watering their lawns. More tank capacity would help but not solve the problem. You also will face enormous NIMBY resistance to locating such tanks where they are needed in residential areas. Partnering with a surface water supplier? Expensive, but an option if we want to underwrite the lavish lawn irrigation that we seem addicted to. Selling to a private supplier? A nightmare option of increased rates and unresponsive profit-motivated management.
Is RW management perfect? Or even good? Maybe not, but the infrastructure issues here come down to over-development and over-sprinkling of lawns. I see the water restrictions as inevitable and entirely reasonable. Get used to them.
Pretty much agree with 10:46am on most of the things this person has to say . One item i believe would help is partnering with a surface wing company. As for the village harassing there citizens for obeying water restrictions when other towns using the same water supplier is not stopping there citizens from watering is totally unfair and should stop.
SELL RIDGEWOOD WATER TO A UTILTY THAT CAN MEET THE DEMAND.
Yes, Ridgewood Water was mismanaged for many years. After the new director took over, the problems are being addressed. Thanks to the current council, the village is currently undergoing a $42 million capital investment to address the various infrastructure issues. I agree with 10:46. Selling to a private supplier isn’t a good idea. The wáter will still come from the same source, might actually taste worse, and it will be much more expensive. Have you tasted the wáter supplied by Suez?? Eeewwww
@10.46. Number of houses in Ridgewood hasn’t changed in a long time. How come now the company can’t keep up with the needs? A few years ago there were no issues with irrigating, right? What happened in the meantime? You cannot blame this situation to automatic sprinklers. After all most of them work very early morning when people are asleep. We are getting more restricted every year. In a couple of years showerheads will probably be declared illegal in Ridgewood. What I smell is a collaboration between Rwg Water and VC to make this situation as tough as possible in order to convince people that the only alternative it to block the sun with some huge deposits in the middle of the village. It always works this way.
there have been water restrictions for at lest 10 years
Zero enforcement