American Water Asks Customers to Conserve

Flood waters affecting many of its plants and pumping stations, including one in Bridgewater, have caused New Jersey American Water to ask its customers to conserve as much water as possible while the company deals with localized power losses and communications issues.

The company’s Raritan Millstone Plant in Bridgewater, Canoe Brook Water Treatment Plant in Short Hills [Essex County] and its Swimming River Water Treatment Plant in Colts Neck [Monmouth County], as well as other facilities throughout the state, have either been inundated with flood waters and/or are running on backup power, according to a release from the company.

“Irene’s historic level of flooding is stressing utilities, including water systems, statewide,” said Steve Tambini, vice president of operations at New Jersey American Water. “Customers can help relieve some of that stress by reducing their water use as we work to provide reliable and quality water service.”

The release tells customers to limit all water uses and refrain from any nonessential uses of water to conserve water. It says to be aware that recovery to normal operations could take several days and customer conservation will be necessary until further notice. Large industrial customers should also reduce their water use where possible.

New Jersey American Water said it is working with power and other water utilities, as well as state and federal agencies, to restore full water service as quickly as possible to impacted area. It encourages cooperation of these restrictions.

For updated information, customers can visit Jersey American Water’s website at www.newjerseyamwater.com, under the Alerts Notifications section, and at Facebook at www.facebook.com/newjerseyamericanwater.