With a drought watch in effect for 43 Pennsylvania counties, Penn State is asking everyone at University Park to follow several conservation measures.
A drought watch, the least severe among three drought-status levels, encourages residents to reduce their water usage — voluntarily — by five percent. The state Department of Environmental Protection has put the watch into effect this month for a broad swath of central Pennsylvania, including Centre County.
Among the precautions that Penn State is asking campus employees and residents to take:
- Report dripping faucets to the campus service desk: (814) 865-4731
- Make sure dishwashers and washing machines are running full loads.
- Shorten shower times.
- Don’t use running water to melt ice or thaw frozen foods.
- Turn off the water while brushing teeth, shaving or hand-washing dishes.
- Refrigerate tap water in lieu of running the faucet to get cold water.
- Turn off unnecessary water flows, shut down water-cooled lab equipment when it’s not in use, and don’t serve glasses of water in food-service areas unless they’re requested.
At the State College Borough Water Authority, Executive Director Max Gill said that ‘we support and agree with’ the drought-watch declaration. The authority supplies water to the borough and parts of the surrounding townships.
‘I don’t anticipate that we’ll have any serious problems, but it certainly makes sense for everyone to be more aware of the water they’re using and to try to curtail the use,’ Gill said.
In particular, he said, people should try to reduce the watering of lawns and plants.
Generally, the Centre Region’s water supply is ‘in good shape,’ with deep-underground reserves at relatively normal levels, Gill said. He said it can be six months to a year before those deep reserves can see the effects of a drought at the surface.
The summer in Pennsylvania has been drier than normal, and precipitation in the State College area this month alone has been less than one inch, according to AccuWeather.com. Average local rainfall for the month is 4.29 inches.
Meanwhile, 24 other counties statewide are under a more severe drought warning. The state is asking residents in those counties to reduce their water usage voluntarily by 10 percent to 15 percent.
The drought-warning area is concentrated heavily in southwestern and far-eastern reaches of the state.
