the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Water has held its service area in Stage 2 water restrictions since it seems like the beginning of time . In July the water utility promoted Smart Irrigation Month. On their Facebook page they posted :
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July is #SmartIrrigationMonth, a public awareness campaign to promote efficient water use. In the United States, more water is used in July than in any other month. In summer months, outdoor watering accounts for more than half the total water use of a home in our service area. And most water used to irrigate lawns and landscapes ends up evaporating or on paved areas. During #SmartIrrigationMonth take a look into some water-saving tips that will produce financial savings as well as preserve our water resources. Conservation tips can be found on our website at https://water.ridgewoodnj.net/water-restrictions/
Stage II water restrictions are:
Odd-numbered addresses may irrigate on Tuesdays and Saturdays only.
Even-numbered addresses may irrigate on Wednesdays and Sundays only.
No irrigation is allowed on Mondays, Thursdays, or Fridays.
Irrigation shall be performed before 10 am or after 6 pm, to limit evaporation.
Automatic Irrigation systems may only water between 3 am and 7 am.
Smart controller permit holders may only water between the hours of Midnight to 10 am.
EXCEPTIONS: Irrigation is allowed any day (within time restrictions noted above) if utilizing a hand-held hose or drip irrigation, or if a smart watering exemption is obtained from the office of Ridgewood Water.
The restriction level is at Stage II because in the summer water is consumed at a greater rate than the Ridgewood Water supply system can sustain, thus reducing the amount of water in reserve for firefighting and other emergencies.
Compliance with the Stage II restrictions will reduce the likelihood that more severe controls will be needed. We thank our customers for their understanding and support.
According to Boyd Loving, some residents seem to be circumventing the restriction with the use of the so-called “smart controller exemption ” . Echoing his comments to the Village Council , In a Facebook post Mr Loving said ,”Ridgewood Water’s current “smart controller exemption,” which permits owners of smart controller systems to water at will and at any time within a defined 10-hour time period, 7 days per week, is absolutely outrageous. This ludicrous exemption does the complete opposite of promoting water conservation. Stop the insanity now!”
For its part Ridgewood Water admits that if these residents programmed the systems properly they are ultimately going to be watering more because their controllers will identify how dry this summer has been. Whether this is unfair or not is up to the council and they have the ability to impose more restrictions in terms of hours.
Mr. Loving told the Ridgewood blog in an email , “That is my objection to the exemption. They are going to be watering more than those taxpayers who are restricted to two (2) days per week, and during limited hours of those two (2) days. The exemption does the complete opposite of promoting water conservation. The entitled who can afford smart controlled systems get to water more than those of us who can’t afford such systems. In short, the rich will have greener lawns! ”
The Ridgewood blog has been very critical of Ridgewood Waters’ ability to deliver water to the Village for the last 16 years , particularly with the addition of all the high density housing, We have often been puzzled with the fact that people paying sky high property taxes were not taking issue with the year in and year out “water restrictions” . Now we know why , it seems clear that everyone sacrifices so the rich (and developers) can have green lawns .
Me thinks this disparate exemption may be worthy of a class action lawsuit.
it should be called ‘lazy watering’.
if the utility cares about conserving water, ban sprinkler systems during stage 2 or higher and make the lazy residents put out a manual sprinkler and hose.
then we will have sufficient supply
The restrictions just seem to be for suckers who care about common good and sacrifice their lawn and vegetation so others can just skirt them. “Smart controller” is obviously a ruse but violations appear to more widely spread – just look at green vs yellow lawns in town. I also think enforcement is lacking.
Careful, you can’t just look at: go by “green vs yellow lawns”.
After 6pm you can use a hand held hose, and on the 2 days odd/even, can use the above ground old fashion sprinkler, as I do and many my neighbors also. Can do that in mornings up to 10. am. also. But there’s always one who thinks rules don’t apply to them and override system.
This perpetual series of water restrictions are now decades old. Instead of investigating and implementing some blended water solution to alleviate it, we reward these characters with a new building and facilities at the old Elks club. I don’t get why Ridgewood feels it needs (or should) be in the water business at all.
If watering your lawn is this important it is not too difficult to set up a rainwater cistern system
When I was a kid in the 60’s (yes, we had droughts then, too. And many 90 degree plus days) my Dad and I used to haul grey water from the washing machine in large buckets to water the plants because all watering was prohibited.
It wasn’t much different from today. We had wet years and we had drought years. The politicians would do all sorts of things, like landing a helicopter in a dry reservoir, and swear this would never happen again. Then next year it would rain and all would be forgotten. Rinse and repeat.
Remember the words: Dog and Pony Show.
Yet every morning I go past Village hall, and sprinkles are on. Do as I say not as I do.