Community Corner
Another Year of Water Restrictions In Store For East Lyme
First Selectman Paul Formica said he's hopeful that this will be the last year that residents will have to curtail their water use in the dry summer months.
If you live in East Lyme, then you know that with the summer comes water restrictions.
At last night's Board of Selectmen meeting, a public hearing on regulations limiting the use of water during the summer was scheduled for May 15 at East Lyme Town Hall at 7 p.m.
If approved, the following water restrictions would take effect on June 28 and would be in place from 9 a.m. Fridays to noon on Mondays until further notice.
- Residents won't be permitted to use sprinklers or irrigation systems to water their lawns—although people can water gardens.
- Washing motor vehicles, hosing down driveways, or external structures is prohibited. (People would be allowed to hose off boats.)
- Filling or cleaning swimming or wading pools is prohibited.
- Restaurants are banned from automatically providing water to patrons, so if you want a glass of water, you'll have to ask for it.
East Lyme First Selectman Paul Formica, however, said he's optimistic that, after living with these restrictions for about 27 years, this will be the last year East Lyme residents will have to limit their water use.
More Water Supplies On The Horizon
Earlier this week, the state gave East Lyme the go-ahead to hire contractors to work on constructing the next phase of the water main that will connect the town's water customers to New London's water system.
This time last year, East Lyme First Selectman predicted that construction on the $10.9 million project to connect the two water systems at Lake Konomac would begin this spring and so far, the project seems to be on schedule. The lastest hurdle, recently cleared, was obtaining Montville's blessing to install a 425,000 gallon water tank in its town for East Lyme's use.
Most of the new water main will run along Route 161 and Route 85. Once the water systems are connected, East Lyme will provide water to New London from September to June, which is when the city needs it most, and in return, East Lyme will be able to draw back that same amount of water for the town’s use during the dry summer months.
If the work proceeds without a hitch, East Lyme residents should be free of water restrictions by 2014.
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