Mt. Kisco Looks at Water Conservation Measures as Dry Period Persists
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This season’s drought conditions have not only triggered concerns of wildfires throughout the region but in Mount Kisco it generated discussion last week about reinforcing voluntary water conservation steps in the village.
Byram Lake Reservoir is Mount Kisco’s primary water source, and while the last known reading on Sept. 30 found it to be at 89 percent of capacity, there has been virtually no rain since then, except for some showers overnight Sunday into Monday. The lake is about 170 square acres.
Trustee Lisa Abzun appealed to residents and merchants to save water where they can before the situation becomes too serious.
“I’m going to ask folks in our community to take steps to save and conserve as much water as we can,” Abzun said last week. “It looks like for the next 10 days in the future we are not expected to have any rainfall, so during that 10 days we have a lot of folks in our community and we all need to use water and we all need to conserve it.”
Since it is now mid-November, no one should be watering lawns or gardens until winter is over, she said. If someone needs their car washed, they should go to a commercial car wash because they are able to recycle water. Shorter showers, brushing teeth more quickly and even run the washing machine less frequently, if possible, are other common-sense steps that can be taken, Abzun added.
Mayor Michael Cindrich agreed with Abzun that it isn’t too early to get residents to consider water conservation, especially since the level of the watershed farther upstate is a concern because the Delaware Aqueduct was shut down for six months at the start of last month for maintenance.
Cindrich said during his previous service as mayor there were times that Byram Lake was at 50 to 60 percent capacity, which prompted the village to institute more serious water restrictions. There should be action taken before the problem worsens.
Part of the challenge is that the area of the watershed isn’t large enough to meet the community’s needs, particularly during a dry spell.
“The lake is fragile, it doesn’t have the expansive area for watershed that is warranted,” Cindrich said. “The watershed is about five times the size of the surface water and it’s the theory, the engineering theory, it should be 20 times.”
Village Manager Ed Brancati said the capacity of the lake is almost certainly less than the 89 percent that was measured at the end of September, although last week he expected it to be at least at the 80 percent level. Brancati said he would get the updated capacity level to the board as soon as possible.
One advantage of having a paucity of rain in the fall is that the time for high water consumption is over. That also prompted the state Department of Environmental Conservation to choose the fall and winter to shut down the Delaware.
Brancati recommended the village to post on its website and through an e-blast the Level 1 water restrictions that have been in place for years, even before this dry period, because it makes for good conservation practices.
“They’re good, basic water conservation measures and it’s something I think we need to remind our businesses, a lot of restaurants, we don’t need a pitcher of water, glasses of water out for everybody,” Brancati said. “If people ask for water, that’s one thing. Absolutely a glass of water, but not water for the sake of having water on the table.”
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
