At their meeting on June 21st, the Board of Selectmen voted to institute a voluntary odd-even outdoor water restriction based upon the street address number and the day of the month.

The Board took this action relaxing an earlier call for a total voluntary ban on outside watering after a review of the capacity of the Town’s water system undertaken over the past week.  Previously, peak demand exceeded system capacity causing severe water pressure problems at the higher elevations in the community.  Cooler temperatures and good compliance by most residents of the voluntary ban allowed the system to rebound to its current full storage capacity.

The workings of the odd-even outdoor water restriction is based upon the street number of the home or main entrance of a condominium or apartment complex.  If your street address is odd, outdoor water use is allowed on odd number days during the period of 8:00 PM to 7:00 AM the following morning.  Even numbered homes are allowed to water on even days starting at 8:00 PM that day until 7:00 AM the following day.

An exemption to the odd-even water restrictions is newly planted or seeded lawns, which may be, watered daily between the hours of 8:00 PM to 9:00 AM.  Commercial nurseries and stores engaged in the sale of plants and shrubs and agricultural enterprises are fully exempted from the voluntary restrictions but the Board expressed a hope that all water users will conserve whenever possible.

The Board of Selectmen encouraged residents that when using outside water, to use hand held devices which are the most efficient in delivering water to plants and shrubs.  The Board noted that some automatic sprinklers could use up to 10 gallons of water per minute, which results in many cases with large amounts of, water being wasted.

The Board of Selectmen asks that residents adhere to this voluntary system to allow all residents the ability to use water in a responsible manner while ensuring adequate storage remains to provide necessary water pressure to service all neighborhoods for domestic and fire purposes.

The odd-even systems will be evaluated over the next 2 to 4 weeks to determine if outdoor water use can continue on this limited basis.  If adequate and safe tank levels are not maintained, the Board will be forced to put into effect a mandatory emergency water ban.

The Board of Selectmen in taking this action praised the efforts of all residents to conserve water asking that everyone do their part to be a “good water neighbor”.

• Water Conservation Educational Materials and Programming including salaries of persons engaged in water conservation program efforts.
• Water Audits.
• Residential and municipal buildings retrofit programs.
• Meter replacement and upgrades.
• System wide planning and studies.
• Software costs associated with tracking, modeling and analysis of water consumption.
• Rate studies
• Regulatory compliance expenses such as dealing with Water Management Act (WMA) and Inter-Basin Transfer Act (IBT) compliance expenses.
• System upgrades associated with improved efficiency of distribution/storage such as telemeter and other control system equipment and/or software.
• Leak detection programs.
• Any other water conservation purpose deemed appropriate by the Board of Selectmen.

WHEREAS, the collective input and guidance from all Federal, State, local, and tribal
homeland security partners have been, and will continue to be, vital to the development,
effective implementation and utilization of a comprehensive NIMS;

WHEREAS, it is necessary and desirable that all Federal, State, local and tribal
emergency agencies and personnel coordinate their efforts to effectively and efficiently
provide the highest levels of incident management;

WHEREAS, to facilitate the most efficient and effective incident management it is critical that Federal, State, local, and tribal organizations utilize standardized terminology, standardized organizational structures, interoperable communications, consolidated action plans, unified command structures, uniform personnel qualification standards, uniform standards for planning, training, and exercising, comprehensive resource management, and designated incident facilities during emergencies or disasters;

WHEREAS, the NIMS standardized procedures for managing personnel,
communications, facilities and resources will improve the State's ability to utilize federal
funding to enhance local and state agency readiness, maintain first responder safety,
and streamline incident management processes.

WHEREAS, the Incident Command System components of NIMS are already an
integral part of various incident management activities throughout the State, including
current emergency management training programs; and

WHEREAS, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks (9-11 Commission)
recommended adoption of a standardized Incident Command System;

NOW, THEREFORE, We the Board of Selectmen of the Town of Shrewsbury do hereby establish the National Incident Management System (NIMS) as the Town standard for incident management.

To comply with General Laws Chapter 30B, Section 15(f). See Article 5 of the Town By-Laws for additonal reference.