Why do Stamford and Greenwich send 5 million gallons of water to New York each day?
Each year as spring arrives, Aquarion Water Co. reminds residents of southwestern Fairfield County about the strict restrictions on automatic sprinkler systems. Even with Greenwichs reservoir levels at 96.5 percent and Stamfords at 89.7 percent in recent days, the limits remain. After a severe drought of 2016, Aquarion developed the mandatory rules for towns, which also include Darien and New Canaan, where outdoor water usage is especially high. The restrictions have definitely been effective in protecting the water supply, said Peter Fazekas, director of corporate communications for Aquarion. The permanent two-day-per-week irrigation ordinance worked well in summer 2020, when Greenwich experienced a drought more intense than the one in 2016, according to a report called One Water from the town Sustainability Committee, which is co-chaired by Selectperson Jill Oberlander and town Director of Environmental Affairs. Despite its severity, Greenwich used 173 million gallons less in 2020 than in 2016, according to One Water, which was prepared by the committees Land and Water Sector and member Elizabeth Dempsey. But water usage in Greenwich is still the highest in the state, according to the report. In early June, Greenwich had an average use of 17.5 million gallons per day of water, which includes 5 million gallons per day sent to SUEZ Water in New York. In contrast, Stamford used 16 million gallons per day, Darien used 4 million gallons and New Canaan used 2 million gallons, according to Aquarion. Sharing the Barghs water  With water restrictions in place in Connecticut, some have questioned why water is sent to SUEZ, which disperses that water to parts of Port Chester, Rye and Rye Brook in New York. That goes back more than 50 years to when what was then the Greenwich Water and Port Chester Water together built the Bargh Reservoir, which straddles the Stamford-Westchester County border and is part of the Mianus River watershed in Connecticut and New York, Fazekas said. This has been going on for years and it will continue, he said. I would not characterize this as water being sold off. ... The Bargh Reservoir is actually a shared resource between Aquarion and SUEZ. ... If you look at all of (Aquarions) systems, whether its greater Bridgeport, Stamford or Greenwich, theyre all interconnected.  And that interconnection of resources explains how the water moves from reservoirs to customers in Aquarions Southwest Fairfield County Region. The Bargh Reservoir is pumped into the Rockwood Reservoir, which then ends up in Putnam Reservoir in Greenwich, Fazekas said. The three are connected.  An interconnection of water mains into New York provides that allotment from Putnam to SUEZ, he said. Similar interconnections exist through the Aquarion system, including one that send 1.5 million gallons a day from Stamford into Greenwich, he said. The contract to share water from Bargh with SUEZ has been in place since 1954 and is set to go through 2029, with Aquarion providing an average of 5 million gallons of water per day. SUEZ pays a wholesale rate to cover the cost of Aquarion treating the water before it goes to SUEZ, which doesnt have the infrastructure to take untreated water from the Bargh Reservoir from the New York side. Fazekas said that comes out to a rate of $1,782.96 per million gallons, along with a service charge. No water restrictions on use are currently in place on customers in Port Chester, Rye or Ryebook, SUEZ said. SUEZ did not return requests for comment, but Aquarion said Connecticut has limits but New York does not because of the differences in regulations between the states. New York State has a much more complex approval process to initiate water restrictions, whereas Aquarion has the authority to add restrictions based on its rules and regulations, said Jeff Glagowski, manager of digital communications for Aquarion. In times of drought, SUEZ has reduced the amount of water it takes per the water supply agreement, and has purchased water from New York City to make up for this reduction.  Aquarions agreement with SUEZ requires it to use reasonable efforts to impose drought restrictions on their customers, comparable to the ones Aquarion has put in place in Greenwich when needed, according to Glagowski. That includes drought restrictions but does not include general conservation efforts such as the twice-weekly irrigation schedule that remains in place in Connecticut. Big demand for water  Aquarion has 17,465 accounts in Greenwich, 22,420 in Stamford, 6,984 in Darien and 3,864 in New Canaan, Glagowski said. Between 2013 and 2017, residential usage in those towns in Southwest Fairfield County region averaged 75 gallons per person per day, ranging from 51 gallons per person per day in Stamford to 108 gallons in Greenwich, he said. With the restrictions, Greenwich averages 81 gallons per capita per day, the highest in the state, said Alicea Charamut, executive director of the Rivers Alliance of Connecticut. Half of the towns population is considered ultra-low water users,  according to the One Water report, but this disparity is due to excessive lawn irrigation by a small percentage of our residents.  According to John Mullaney, a scientist with the U.S. Geological Society, the larger the lot size in Greenwich, the more outsized the irrigation water use, the report said. During the summer, the top 1 percent of single-family homes used almost 10 percent of our entire (water) supply, the One Water report said. The top 25 percent of water-users use almost two-thirds of our water supply.  The water system in Greenwich and Stamford is regularly recharged with rainwater, but they are considered flash reservoirs, which generally offer a years supply of water and are susceptible to long dry spells without rain, according to experts. The reservoirs are generally full in spring, but the large summer demand for water, coupled with climatic changes have meant that our reservoir system, alone, can no longer sustain us through our increasingly hot and dry summers because of our penchant for extensive lawns and irrigation, the One Water report said. At the height of the 2016 drought, there was just a 68-day supply of water in local reservoirs, the report said. Emergency supply pipes were placed along the Merritt Parkway to bring more water to Greenwich, Stamford, Darien and New Canaan. But with the water restrictions in place, Greenwich used 173 million gallons less in 2020 than in 2016, the One Water report said. Pipeline from Bridgeport  The Southwest Fairfield County Region needs an average of 12 million to 13 million gallons a day from the Southwest Regional Pipeline to keep an adequate supply of water for customers, Aquarion said. I would say there is more water coming in to Greenwich (from other systems) than going out, Fazekas said. Aquarion has been working on shoring up its infrastructure recently, specifically its regional pipeline, which will allow more water to move from its greater Bridgeport system to Southwest Fairfield County, he said. Also, Aquarion has proposed a plan, that if approved, would divert up to 14.2 million gallons a day from the Greater Bridgeport System to the Southwest Regional Pipeline to serve Greenwich, New Canaan, Stamford and Darien. The current allowed amount is 7.26 million gallons a day. The plan, which would impact the Mill River watershed in the Fairfield area, has drawn criticism from environmentalists, politicians, residents and others. The application for the permit is now with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, which will decide whether to approve the permit to increase the amount of water diverted from the Greater Bridgeport area to southwestern Connecticut. Aquarion updates a weekly status report at www.aquarionwater.com that shows water demand, including the transfers to SUEZ. kborsuk@greenwichtime.com