Will NJ mandate water restrictions? Many say they should be in place already

⚫ A drought watch is becoming a drought warning in New Jersey

⚫ You're being urged to avoid excess water usage

⚫ A drought emergency may be next

As officials decide whether to shift New Jersey from a drought watch to a drought warning in the face of persistently dry weather, some say more drastic measures should be taken and New Jersey residents should be forced to conserve water now.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection held a virtual public hearing on Tuesday to "determine next steps," following months of above average temperatures and below normal precipitation, including the driest month ever for New Jersey (October).

"Streamflow, groundwater, and reservoir levels all reflect this consistent dryness and warm temperatures," said Steve Domber, New Jersey State Geologist. "And demands are generally higher than average for this time of year."

Drought warning

The hearing was required by law as New Jersey considers whether a shift from "watch" to "warning" is necessary. Shortly after the hearing wrapped up, a press release from NJDEP indicated that the state was planning on entering a drought warning.

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Under a drought warning, NJDEP gets the power to issue orders to water purveyors in the most affected regions. Also, the public would be urged to voluntarily use water sparingly. According to NJDEP, guidance will be provided on how to voluntarily conserve water.

The goal of shifting to the "warning" stage is to preserve and balance available water supplies to avert more serious water shortages in the future, according to NJDEP.

The drought watch issued on Oct. 17 was meant to increase public awareness of the state's struggling water supply, and to encourage the public to practice voluntary water conservation measures.

Only under a drought emergency — one level up from a drought warning — would New Jersey residents be ordered to restrict certain uses of water. Typically, those restrictions are phased in as conditions deteriorate.

"Emergency" encouraged

More than 200 people logged on to the public hearing, which was held over Teams. A number of participants urged New Jersey to speed up the process and get to the "emergency" stage sooner rather than later.

"When someone tells you you can't water your lawn, that gets attention. That's honestly where we need to go," said Doug O'Malley, director of Environment New Jersey. "We don't know when this is going to end, and we have to pretend like it's not going to end."

Individual water systems are permitted to implement their own restrictions for residents.

"Using drinking water to water lawns is kind of crazy, always has been," said Tim Eustace, executive director of the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission. "I would really like to move to a drought emergency so that we stop people from watering their lawns."

According to State Climatologist Dave Robinson, New Jersey is running on a rainfall deficit of about 10 inches. New Jersey averaged 0.02 inches of rainfall in October.

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"It's going to be dry for the next week, for the most part, across the state," Robinson said.

Robinson said he's hoping that a weather pattern that began in the western U.S. continues to shift eastward so that New Jersey can be delivered more rainfall in late November and early December.

In a weekly map released on Thursday by the U.S. Drought Monitor, about 20% of the Garden State was placed under the "extreme drought" category. The last time any portion of the state reached that designation was in 2002.

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