STONE HARBOR – In July, Stone Harbor came close to its monthly state allocation for water the borough can pump from its four municipal wells. A call for conservation was issued and heeded.
At the Oct. 6 Stone Harbor Borough Council meeting, Councilman Reese Moore, chair of the borough’s standing Committee on Utilities, said that August’s water usage was at 77% of the monthly allocation level. September figures will not be available until mid-October.
The reason for the unexpected jump in water usage through the late spring and early summer appears to be the sharp increase in residential population, as many second homeowners came earlier and stayed longer in their vacation home.
Although water use returned to acceptable levels, in August, violations of the borough’s restrictions on outdoor irrigation continued.
The numbers presented showed 332 total violations last month, with 74 second violations and 27 third violations. The report on September violations also included eight property owners with a fourth violation, two with a fifth, two with a sixth, and one who managed to rack up seven violations.
Penalties for violating the established irrigation schedules include a warning for the first indiscretion, a $100 fine for the second, and a $250 fine for the third. A fourth violation usually involves a trip to municipal court, where the fines can get much steeper.
