Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | September 26, 2016 | Worcester Business Journal 11 W ith water reserves getting con- cerningly low and pushing Worcester to a Level 3 Drought Emergency, the city asked local busi- nesses to restrict water use. "We seriously have to think down the road the next few months and whether we are going to have enough water to keep the city going," said Phil Guerin, director of Water and Sewer Operations through the Worcester Department of Public Works. The goal will be to reduce water use by 20 to 25 percent, as the city's reservoirs have been drawn down to 53 percent capacity as of Sept. 5 when they are normally at 82 percent, he said. The guidelines for businesses are: • Outdoor watering other than hand watering with cans is restricted. • Outdoor water use for cleaning driveways, decks, sidewalks, car washing or filling swimming pools is prohibited. • Reduce exterior washing of vehi- cles at commercial facilities such as automobile rental, sales and service operations, taxi companies, trucking facilities and commercial garages where less than 50 percent of the water used is recycled. • All restaurants shall limit the serv- ing of tap water to patrons. • Repair leaks on private plumbing, irrigation systems and service lines. • No water use for dust control. • Water use for construction from fire hydrants will be discontinued. Worcester wants businesses to restrict water use asked businesses to restrict their water usage through measures like restau- rants not serving customers water and auto dealers not washing their cars, since the city's reservoirs have been drawn down to 53-percent capacity. "It is incumbent on everybody to conserve water resources," said Timothy Murray, president and CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. "It is in all of our interests from both an environmental view and a dollars-and-cents view." The current drought will run through at least December with below-average precipitation and above-average temperatures across the Northeast, Crouch said. "Looking at longer-term climate projections, while it is difficult to say if Massachusetts will see more per- sistent drought, it is expected that droughts across the U.S. will become more intense and longer lasting," Crouch said. Costly water Wachusett Mountain's agreement to buy water from Fitchburg dates back 17 years, where the price for the ski area had always been $600 for every million gallons it used, plus a 5-per- cent administration charge, according to the contract. The city increased the amount to $900 per million gallons to get Wachusett Mountain more in line with what city residents were paying for water and to cover maintenance costs like cleaning spillways and dealing with beaver dams, said John Deline, deputy commissioner of water supply for Fitchburg Department of Public Works. "It's really like we are renting the water," Crowley said. "We pump it up the mountain, make it into snow and when it melts, it returns to the lake." Wachusett Mountain uses 100 mil- lion gallons of water annually to cover its over 108 acres containing 26 trails for skiing and snowboarding, accord- ing to its website. Over the last four fiscal years, Wachusett bought between 40 million and 60 million gallons from Fitchburg to make up the difference between what Mother Nature sent to the ski area, according to the city's records, but that was not during an extreme drought. "We are seeing very low levels of bulk precipitation throughout the state," said Daniel Sieger, assistant sec- retary for environment at the state Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs. "The worst of these regions is the central region – which includes Worcester – and the northeast region of the state." Not ideal snowmaking conditions Warmer weather trends mean a shorter snowmaking window, said Crowley. Wachusett Mountain makes snow at night when temperatures are colder and electricity rates are lower. Its snowmaking is a circulatory sys- tem where water and compressed air are pumped up one trail and down another. The air and water meet at a nozzle where they are combined and are propelled into the air at about 30-feet above the ground surface, freez- ing in about six seconds. The addition of the second $2-mil- lion pump is expected to double the organization's snowmaking capabilities, and it includes a computer-controlled system that monitors temperature and humidity to automate the snowmaking. Nature-made snow can fall thou- sands of feet and crystalize over about six days which creates the intricate snowflake structure. Snowmaking snow is more like little snow blobs, Crowley said. When temperatures hover around the 32-degree mark, snowmaking is possible but all the water molecules might not have enough time to form snow, so they hit the surface as water and combine with the snow which can make for icy ski conditions. "Our snowmaking experts have learned that closer to 15-degrees Fahrenheit is the sweet spot for snowmaking," said Crowley. "At this temperature, production is off the charts. It is almost as good as nature and can withstand the warming and cooling temperature ranges over the following days." BY SAM BONACCI Worcester Business Journal Digital Editor City Manager Ed Augustus Jr. stands in one of the city's reservoirs. During a normal year he would be 20 feet under water. W 2016 rank among Massachusetts March 1 -Sept. 13, Normal precipitation % driest springs station location 2016 precipitation for March 1-Sept 13 of normal and summers Record-low precipitation Monitoring stations from the Northeast Regional Climate Center showed nearly all areas of Massachusetts had their driest springs and summers this year. Precipitation is measured in inches. Source: NRCC Royalston 16.85 25.85 65% 5 Worcester 16.48 26.15 63% 7 Belchertown 16.75 26.66 63% 4 Ashburnham 16.99 27.29 62% 7 Sunderland 15.92 26.14 61% 2 Walpole 15.57 26.22 59% 3 Amherst 14.18 25.04 57% 1 Boston 13.12 23.38 56% 4 Hingham 15.21 27.71 55% 3 Lawrence 12.33 26.46 47% 1 W Wachusett Mountain pumps water from the large pond along Route 140 in the foreground into its small pond in front of the ski lodge, which is used for snowmaking. P H O T O / E D D C O T E

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