Few people stop to think about their water usage – until it’s not readily available.
On a dry day last week, Julie Howard of New Ipswich shined a light down her shallow, dug well. Clearly there was a water mark – only two feet or so from the surface. But as the light shined down further still, there was no water to be seen, until the very bottom, where less than a foot of liquid pooled.
“We have it better than some people,” said Howard. “We at least have some.”
But not very much, said Howard, a fact that became readily apparent about two months ago when her hose ran dry as she filled a kiddie pool for her children.
“I immediately though, ‘That’s strange,’” said Howard, who has never had any issues with a lack of water before. She quickly realized the summer drought was to blame.
It’s led to her family having to take some unusual measures, she said, including asking friends and neighbors to use their showers and filling up gallon buckets to use for everything from dishwashing to watering her chickens and dogs.
“We’ve always taken the amount of water we had for granted,” said Howard.
Howard has recently had her well filled, which may alleviate her water problems for as long as a few weeks or as short as a few days.
A serious lack of rainfall, which has put the state into a drought this summer, has led to a more conscious mindset around water conservation. Some towns in the state, including Peterborough, have put a ban on some uses of water – generally outdoor use, such as watering lawns.
Jim Hicks, the Emergency Management Director for New Ipswich, discussed the possibility of putting a outdoor water use ban in place for the town with the Select Board on Tuesday. Ultimately, though, the board elected not to put any water restrictions in place, though it has posted a water conservation guideline on its website.
Hicks, though he said he has ample water, has been putting those measures into place himself this summer.
“I don’t have any water shortage, but I don’t want any,” said Hicks, who, like Howard, has a shallow dug well. But that doesn’t make much difference, he said – with water tables so low, even drilled wells have the potential to run dry, especially in the village districts where there are denser populations pulling from the local water sources.
So, Hicks said he’s been taking measures to preserve his water, including taking a “GI shower” – using enough water to get wet before turning it off to soap and shampoo, and then rinsing – taking his laundry to a laundromat in Milford, and when drawing hot water, he uses the initial spurt of cold water for his dogs.
The state Department of Environmental Services recommends that residents spread out water usage so multiple uses aren’t happening at once, cutting non-essential uses such as lawn watering and car washing, cutting back on shower times and replacing old fixtures and washing machines with more water-efficient ones.
Signs of a well failure include no water, sudden drops or surges in water pressure, air bubbles or cloudy or heavily silted water. If you think that you are experiencing well failure, work with a licensed pump installer or well driller to diagnose the problem and determine the appropriate corrective action.