HOULTON, Maine — Although a dose of rain at the end of last week helped the water table, officials at the Houlton Water Company are still asking area residents to be cautious about their water usage.
Greg Sherman, general manager of the Houlton Water Company, said the municipally owned utility is asking its customers to be mindful of how much water they are using after a dry summer.
“We are just being proactive at this point,” he said. “We are nowhere near critical levels, but it has been quite a dry summer.”
The company gets its water supply from two sources, Sherman said, the well in Cary’s Mills and the Hodgdon Well.
The wells have the power to pump 1.2 gallons of water a day, but customers use only about half of that on average, said Sherman.
“We just want to remind people that winter is coming, and soon the ground will be frozen. That is why we have to conserve for winter. So nothing is mandatory, but if you don’t have to wash your cars, don’t.”
There has been below-average precipitation in northern and eastern Maine, according to the National Weather Service in Caribou. Some parts of Aroostook County saw the driest summers they had seen in years.
According to the weather service, Houlton saw only 7.59 inches of rain during the three month recording period of June, July and August, making it the driest summer since 1999. It was the tenth driest summer since 1948.
Jim Watson, an owner and well driller for Watson Wells in Littleton, said that “it is that time of year” for wells to go dry.
“September is usually the dry month,” he said. “It is an annual occurrence.”
He said that the company has been assisting people whose wells have gone dry “all along,” but that most of the dry wells have been hand dug wells that go down to between 15 and 20 feet into the ground.
“The recent rain brings us hope,” he said. “We need more in the forecast.”
