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JERREY ROBERTS

Anne Lafontaine, of Williamsburg, waters her zinnias Tuesday at Northampton Community Gardens on Burts Pit Road. She is watering after 5 p.m., which is allowed. Under the city’s limited water use rules, people must limit their watering to before 9 a.m. and after 5 p.m. and only with hand-held hoses.

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CAROL LOLLIS

Gazette photographer Carol Lollis photographed this image of automatic watering under way at Childs Park on Aug. 4. Department of Public Works Director Ned Huntley said after he saw the picture in the Aug. 6 Hampshire Life, he notified the park of the restrictions.

NORTHAMPTON - Water-use restrictions put in place this summer in Northampton have caused widespread confusion - and some accusations of unfairness. Efforts this week to clarify the rules, which went into effect in June, may have only muddied the waters.

A day after the Department of Public Works sent out automated phone calls leaving messages with every resident to raise awareness of the water-use restrictions, some 120 callers flooded the Water Department with questions.

"It sounded like 'don't turn the water on outside,'" said Johanna Halbeisen, who lives near the Barrett Street marsh.

In a nutshell, the rules ban the use of sprinklers and automatic irrigation systems. Lawns, flower gardens and ornamental plants can be watered only with hand-held hoses before 9 a.m. and after 5 p.m. Vehicles and exterior building surfaces cannot be washed, with some exemptions (see accompanying story for specific rules.) The rules apply to residents and institutions connected to the city water system.

Notably exempt from the restrictions are vegetable gardens; people are permitted to water vegetable gardens with hand-held hoses at any time of day.

DPW Director Ned Huntley said the automated call was meant to raise awareness about the rules, but he acknowledged that a 30-second window for the so-called robo-call message prevented elaboration on the nitty-gritty details. That's why, he said, the message directed people to the DPW website, where there is more information about the policy and the specific rules.

Essentially, the city ban restricts what is considered non-essential outdoor water use and it has been prompted by the unusually dry summer. The dry conditions have officials worried about the city's water supply, Huntley said.

In addition, there is a new state Department of Environmental Protection permit that requires municipalities such as Northampton to implement water restrictions based on the stream flow in the Mill River instead of the water levels at one of its reservoirs, city officials say.

The new requirement has forced the city to issue water restrictions earlier than normal this summer and for longer periods of time, a dilemma that surrounding communities have yet to face. That's because most of those communities have yet to renew permits with the DEP under the new, stricter guidelines, according to Water Department Superintendent David Sparks.

Huntley said though violators of the regulations are subject to fines, the city has levied no fines, mainly because it is trying to do a better job informing people of the rules. Fines start at $100 for a first violation, rising to $200 a pop for subsequent violations.

Residents surprised

For many residents, the automated call was the first they had heard about the restriction. It listed what activities are banned but did not detail exemptions to the rules, so some people were befuddled.

In addition, residents who know about the ban - and are complying with its terms - are galled when they see neighbors, other residents or institutions watering when they shouldn't be.

The Gazette has received multiple calls from residents angered by such sightings, noting that their lawns are getting dry and brittle while rule-breakers are enjoying lush greenery.

Some have also been critical of the city for watering its parks and other property with sprinklers during the day, something Huntley said flat out isn't true. He said the city is permitted to use automatic sprinklers because of the size of its holdings, but it must comply with the hours restrictions, meaning watering must bet done before 9 a.m. and after 5 p.m.

The DEP grants exemptions because of the huge investment in infrastructure it has in public parks, assets that would be quickly lost if not watered, Huntley said.

Support for ban

Most residents support the restrictions and the need to conserve water, but the rules do little good if they don't know about them or are confused about what they can and can't do. They placed the blame on the DPW for doing a poor job of getting the word out, despite announcements on its website and in local media. Many were critical of Monday's automated message.

"There was no detail at all," said Ron Ackerman of 32 Winthrop St. "It implied not to use water at all, including watering your gardens."

Resident Tracey Putnam Culver said navigating the website is difficult.

"It should be easier to find and access the actual policy on the DPW website," she said. "The automated phone message sent out on Monday was misleading and inaccurate. We depend on our public officials to keep us informed, and they have failed miserably."

Culver is most concerned that the policy does not clearly say that it's OK to water vegetable gardens at any time of day. She contacted DEP officials and sent several emails to the mayor's office asking them to make it clear that such watering is allowed.

"The biggest issue here was I've worked hard to somehow find a way to make it plain on the website that vegetable gardens are exempt," said Culver, the chief gardener of the outside gardens at Smith College.

Huntley confirmed that vegetable gardens are exempt at all hours, and acknowledged that the city's water restriction policy might need clarification, and that there is at least one contradiction in the rules. For example, one section clearly says watering for production of food is allowed, but in another section it states that irrigation of gardens is only permissible outside the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

"That is a contradiction. It's small, but it's there," Huntley said.

He said the BPW might look at fine-tuning the restriction in favor of recommending that gardeners attempt to water in the evening and early morning hours.

The department has informed some private entities - including Childs Park - to not water during the day. Huntley said he became aware that the park was not complying with the restriction after a photo appeared in the Gazette's Hampshire Life magazine showing flowers being watered by automatic sprinklers during the day.

Childs Park Superintendent Donald Curtin said he had been under the impression that automatic watering systems were OK as long as they were used before 9 a.m., so he had been watering flower gardens early in the mornings. But since Huntley alerted him, he said, he's changed the practice.

Meanwhile, restricting water use is becoming more important the longer the weather remains dry, Sparks said, of the water department.

"We are becoming concerned," he said. "We really need about a week's worth of steady rain."

An onslaught of rain in a short span does little to replenish water supplies.

The city gets its water from four sources - reservoirs off Ryan Road and Mountain Street and two city wells. At full capacity, the wells can supply about half of the city's water needs. One of those wells, however, is currently offline because of a chlorination project.

The Ryan Road reservoir is currently down 10 feet, or at 67 percent of capacity, while the Mountain Street reservoir is down about a foot, Sparks said.

His department will watch the next few weeks closely to see if water use drops because more people are aware of the restriction in place.

"We are concerned that with no rain in sight, we're depleting our reservoirs," Sparks said.

This summer is the second time in the last 10 years that water levels have dropped to a level that concerns officials. The last time was in 2002 and prompted the city to adopt a water restriction policy.

In a normal year, the Mill River drops below the DEP's new threshold of stream flows, 26.3 cubic feed per second, for a three-day period only once or twice, based on a 10-year review, Huntley said.

The city issued an initial water restriction just before Memorial Day and the ban remained in place for about two weeks. Water levels dropped again shortly after that, forcing the city to implement the current ban, with no end in sight. The restriction can be lifted when the stream flow rises above the low threshold for seven consecutive days.

Chad Cain can be reached at ccain@gazettenet.com.