THE YORK WATER COMPANY IMPLEMENTS MANDATORY NONESSENTIAL WATER USE RESTRICTION

Effective immediately, The York Water Company is implementing a mandatory restriction on nonessential water use. The Company had hoped voluntary conservation and predicted rainfall in the last ten days would have provided some restoration of water supply. With only 0.9” of rainfall since September 1st and a deficit of over 12” year to date, the Company’s watershed is in a state of drought.

JT Hand, President and CEO of The York Water Company, expressed concern about the ongoing drought and lack of rain in the East and South Branch Codorus Creek Watersheds. “The weather patterns have been frustrating to watch, consistently skirting the watershed, or evaporating before reaching it. Despite the public’s response to our voluntary restriction requests, this has not resulted in sufficient reduced water demand on our system. In spite of our efforts to pump over 11 million gallons per day from the Susquehanna River to our Lake Redman Reservoir, our water supply is in decline. It is now absolutely critical for our customers to conserve, to protect the water resource, and ensure it is available for the most vulnerable and highest priority water needs of the community.”

While not all-inclusive, effective immediately the following water uses are deemed nonessential and are prohibited within The York Water Company’s service territories in York, Adams, and Franklin Counties. A complete list can be found here. In order to answer questions from our customers, York Water has established a drought email address of drought.questions@yorkwater.com where York Water customers can submit nonessential water use restriction questions.

Under the mandatory restriction, the following uses are prohibited:

(1) The use of any water for watering of grass, athletic fields, and irrigation of outdoor gardens, landscaped areas, trees, shrubs, and other outdoor plants.

(2) The use of any water for watering any portion of golf courses.

(3) The use of any water for washing paved surfaces, for ornamental purposes, including fountains, artificial waterfalls and reflecting pools.

(4) The use of any water for washing or cleaning of mobile equipment, like vehicles.

(5) The serving of water in restaurants, clubs or eating places, unless specifically requested by an individual.

(6) The use of any water to fill and top off swimming pools.

(7) The use of water from a fire hydrant—including sprinkler caps—for any purpose, except for firefighting or testing apparatus with prior notice to York Water.

(8) The use of any water that is not necessary to serve essential health, safety, or economic needs, including the maintenance of human, animal, and plant life.

This is not a situation any of us want to be in, but nature is not cooperating, and we must ensure that our customers have water when they need it. We are most concerned about public health and ask our community to come together at this critical point.