PEMBROKE, Mass. — A mandatory water ban is in effect for the town of Pembroke, which means residents are not allowed to use water outdoors whatsoever for the time being.
Town officials say people need to hold off on watering lawns, gardens, pools, etc. until the town’s water supply can get back to a safe level.
The biggest issue right now is there’s not enough water for fire hydrants.
“Last night we were notified by our water department that we had virtually no water available in the hydrant system to fight a fire which is a great concern to us,” said Fire Chief Jason Viveiros.
Chief Viveiros says they’ve reached out to other nearby fire departments with tanker trucks to make sure they could get water in case they have a fire with the water supply critically low throughout the town.
“If people restrict their usage and hopefully if we get some rain in the next couple days, this will resolve itself and we’ll be able to go back to using fire hydrants,” said Chief Viveiros.
Residents like Jack Fitzgibbons have noticed the water pressure in their homes have gone down too.
“So it’s really quite serious,” said Fitzgibbons. “On the pool I can see there’s screws on the filter on the intake and I can see it’s below the one it should be at.”
Fitzgibbons says now he won’t fill up his pool as the town deals with this emergency.
“It’s pretty unusual,” said Bill Chenard, Pembroke’s town manager. “We’re asking everyone to conserve as much water as possible, even internal, if you don’t have to do laundry today give it til the end of the week when we get some rain in the tanks and have an opportunity to recover.”
Chenard says they first noticed lower water pressure in the northern part of town.
“You know the drought conditions and the 7 days of 90 to 100-degree weather with high humidity, really caused a crunch and I’m sure we’re not the only community,” said Chenard.
Now town officials are hoping mother nature can help.
“Rain, rain, please – you know we don’t say that often, but we need it right now,” said Chenard.
For now, residents could face a fine if they’re caught using water outdoors.
The Town of Pembroke is experiencing a severe water emergency that is NOT improving. The town has implemented a mandatory water ban. Any unnecessary water use will result in a fine.
Posted by Pembroke Police Department on Monday, July 25, 2022
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