Conservation

Summer Water Schedule in Effect May 1-September 15

Reminder: Summer Water Conservations Measures to Continue

Once again this year, limited water conservation measures will be instituted by the WTMUA from May 1 to September 15.
Click Here to view our Water Conservation Schedule.

Beginning May 1, there will be a ban in effect on non-essential outdoor uses of water by residential and commercial customers between the hours of 11:00am through 6:00pm. Non-essential use includes sprinkling lawns, washing cars, and filling pools. The ban will be in effect through September 15.

Outside use of water may take place before 11:00am and from 6:00 p.m. through midnight based on an odd/even calendar day system, which has been established on a geographical basis as detailed by the map above.

You may use water on ODD NUMBERED CALENDAR DAYS before 11:00am and from 6:00pm to midnight if your property is located to the EAST SIDE of Egg Harbor Road.

You may use water on EVEN NUMBERED CALENDAR DAYS before 11:00am and from 6:00pm to midnight if your property is located to the WEST SIDE of Egg Harbor Road.

How to Save & Watering Your Lawn

You can save money and still maintain a nice lawn. On average, an inch of water every four days is enough. Follow the directions below suggested by the South Jersey Resource Conservation and Development Council.

When And How Much To Water

Lawns should be watered about every four days. Soil texture determines the actual frequency. Sandy soil needs to be watered more often.

Here's a simple way to determine how much to water your lawn:

Homeowner Lawn Watering Guide

Depth caught in 15 minutes:

Daily Water Needs 1/8in 1/4in 3/8in 1/2in 5/8in 3/4in 7/8in 1in

Watering time in minutes to water every four days:

Spring 77 41 29 23 19 17 15 13
Summer 101 53 37 29 24 23 19 17
Fall 53 29 21 17 15 13 12 13

Here is an example: If you measure 1/2 inch of water in your coffee cans, then you should water each zone in your lawn every four days for the following times:

Spring: 23 minutes, Summer: 29 minutes, Fall: 17 minutes

The amount of rainfall during a four-day interval will change the amount of water needed. Abnormal cloudiness or hot winds will also cause variations from the average.

Lawn Care

The best way to cut down on your water bill is to cut down on your outdoor water use. This can best be accomplished by focusing on lawn care. Watering lawns in the summer uses up a great deal of water. Here are a number of suggestions that can help you cut down on your lawn watering:

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Shade Trees Small Trees Evergreens Shrubs
Red Maple Amur Maple White Fir American
Hackberry Mimosa Norway Spruce Holly
Green Ash Gray Birch Colorado Spruce Japanese Holly
Ginkgo Witchhazel White Pine Dense Yew
Amur Cork Tree Goldenraintree Scotch Pine Chaste Tree
White Oak Crabapples Atlas Cedar Red Cedar
Scarlet Oak Jap. Tree Lilac Mugo Pine
Red Oak Blackhaw Viburnum Adams Needle
Anthony Water Spirea
Pfitzer Juniper
Wintergreen Barberry
Glossy Ableia

Obtain a copy of Landscaping for Water Conservation: A Guide for New Jersey by Theodore Shelton, Ph.D. & Bruce Hamilton, Ph.D. For this and other related publications contact one of the following:

New Jersey DEP
Division of Water Resources
Office of Water Conservation
CN 029
Trenton, NJ 08625

Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Gloucester County
Gloucester County Office Building
North Delsea Drive
Clayton, NJ 08312

For further information contact the South Jersey RC&D Council at (609) 561-3223 or at www.sjrcd.org for booklets concerning water conservation.

Why We Store Water

We store water in elevated storage tanks for two reasons:

Fix That Leaky Faucet

Water leaks cost money. A dripping faucet or fixture can waste 3 gallons a day......a total of 1,095 gallons a year!

A 1/4 inch continuous water leak, at 60 psi, from a leaking faucet will waste 1,181,500 gallons of water in a 3 month period. Consider the cost of one million gallons of water per quarter to your household expenses.

Use the handy table below to determine the amount of wasted water for a given size leak:

Stream Diameter Gallons Wasted Cubic Feet Wasted Cubic Meters Wasted
1/4 in 1,181,000 158,000 4.475
3/16 in 666,000 89,031 2,521
1/8 in 296,000 39,400 1,115
1/16 in 74,000 9,850 280

Learn More

To learn more about water conservation contact the South Jersey RC&D Council at (609) 561-3223 or for booklets concerning water conservation go to www.sjrcd.org