On November 13th around 1:00 PM New Jersey American Water issued a mandatory water conservation notice for all customers it serves across the state. This conservation issue comes after the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJ DEP) issued a drought warning. Originally a drought watch since mid-October, as of November 13th the NJ DEP moved it up to a drought warning. 

As a result, NJ American Water is urging its customers to limit all non-essential water use, stop outdoor watering until spring, and conserve water indoors. The DEP asks residents to conserve water by, shutting off irrigation systems, letting lawns and plants go dormant, taking 5-minute showers, turning off the water while brushing teeth, and using a commercial car wash. 

This “water supply drought warning” allows the DEP to have complete control over statewide water supplies which allows the DEP to work with water suppliers and ensure there are alternative plans for each region’s water supplies. 

These warnings come after New Jersey has been responding to wildfires across the state for the past two months due to the dry weather. According to Governor Phil Murphy during a press briefing on Wednesday morning, Murphy states, “The numbers are frankly staggering.” “Since early October, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service has responded to 537 fires. To put that into context, that is 500 more fires than we saw during the exact same period last year.” “Put differently, that’s a 1,300 percent increase,” he added.

Locally, the Raritan Headwaters Association, which works to protect and improve the water quality of the Raritan watershed region, stated in a recent Instagram post, “Spruce Run Reservoir (Hunterdon County) has dropped below 40% capacity due to the unusually dry weather. Please continue to limit water usage as much as possible during this statewide drought watch!” 

The next and final step after a drought warning is a drought warning which homes and businesses would face mandatory water usage limits.