Pomperaug River Reaches Low-Flow Plan Action Level
First threshold, “Increased Awareness,” reached, people in the Pomperaug Basin reminded to use water wisely
SOUTHBURY, Conn., Oct. 3, 2024 — Just weeks after historic flooding in Southbury and neighboring towns, river flows in the Pomperaug River have dropped below the first threshold in the Heritage Village water system’s low-flow operations plan. As called for in the plan, Connecticut Water’s Heritage Village water system, the Pomperaug River Watershed Coalition, and the Town of Southbury are taking steps to increase public awareness of the low river flow.
This is the first of three possible action levels identified in the plan. While customers of the Heritage Village system and private well owners are always encouraged to use water wisely, now that the Increased Awareness action level has been reached, they are being asked to be even more aware with how they use water because it has an impact on the Pomperaug Aquifer that can affect river flows.
| Current Action Level | Low Flow Threshold | Pomperaug River Discharge | Action Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| X | I | Less than 32.7 cfs | Increased Awareness |
| II | Less than 15 cfs | Water Conservation Desired | |
| III | Less than 7 cfs | Water Conservation Strongly Requested |
The typical low-flow period for the Pomperaug occurs between July 1 and Oct. 31, and this is the kind of scenario that was envisioned when the low-flow operations plan was developed. The current river flow is about 23.7 cubic feet per second (cfs), which is below the first threshold of 32.7 cfs. The next threshold, which would include a call to encourage voluntary water conservation, occurs when the flows are less than 15 cfs. With only a small chance of rain in the forecast, river levels are expected to drop further.
“Calling attention to the low flows right now is an especially challenging scenario,” said Carol Haskins, Executive Director of the Pomperaug River Watershed Coalition. “Many folks in the community are still recovering from the impacts of August’s flood damage, which in many cases includes the need to use more water than usual for cleaning sediment, mold, and the like from buildings that were inundated and for outdoor watering to help establish new vegetation to replace what was buried in flood debris or washed away by flood waters. As such, the emphasis with this announcement really is to increase awareness that the river has reached a low flow threshold and to highlight how quickly conditions can flash from one extreme to the other.”
Heritage Village system customers and private well owners can visit ctwater.com for water conservation tips. The current Pomperaug River status and Action Levels can be viewed online at www.pomperaug.org/lowflowplan.