Rockland County officials ask residents to conserve water

NEW CITY, N.Y. (WABC) -- Officials in Rockland County are urging residents to voluntarily conserve water inside and outside of their homes.

Turn off the sprinkler and let the lawns turn brown, it's simple but effective way to conserve water.

"Everything is dry. We're not getting rain, you know not for two months now," said Nora Tereira, a resident.

With rain fall down 10% in July and 65% below average in August, David Miller, the water supply program manager stresses voluntary conservation measures.

"If we can reduce our water use now we can help to prevent running into a critical situation later," Miller said.

This time of year the largest usage, they say, comes from lawn sprinklers.

"There's really no need to water lawns anymore," Miller said.

"If we need to conserve water that's what I'm going to do," a resident said.

Rockland County uniquely gets all of its water from inside its boundaries. 30% of it comes from Lake Deforest and 70% comes from wells. United Water is the largest supplier.

"We are very comfortable meeting our customers' needs right now, but it is responsible given the weather, the dry hot weather, to start cutting back and conserving water," said Deb Rizzi, a United Water spokesperson.

The county offers on its website a long list of conservation suggestions from fixing leaky faucets, to turning off shower heads, to saving water when you wash the car.

"I had a leak in one. That's been corrected. Had the new toilets put in. That's saving, like it uses a gallon of water if that. I'm doing my part," said Pat Flaherty, a resident.

"We have a well. So we don't have too much of a problem, but we don't have sprinklers on," said Bernadette Simons, a resident.

"If we conserve water now we can help to prevent hitting a critical situation in the future," Miller said.