KINGSTON – The drought
warning imposed on Kingston municipal water users last November will be
lifted on Wednesday, January 18.
The city’s Board of Water Commissioners made the decision Wednesday
and set the date to lift the restrictions in one week to give the Town
of Ulster the time to make adjustments in their water use since the town
cut back the amount of water it took from the Kingston supply when the
alert was imposed.
“We need to gradually bring up the elevation of Binnewater so [the
Town of Ulster] takes extra 200,000 a gallons a day so over the next week,
they would raise it 50,000 a day to get it up there,” city Water
Superintendent Judith Hanson told the board members. That will allow the
town to raise its water take back to 700,000 per day.
The reservoir is down 3.3 feet from being full. Normal for this time of
year is about two feet and the water continues to pour in. Hansen may
want to keep the reservoir down one foot so the ice doesn’t push
against the spillway.
The drought warning was placed in effect last fall because the water levels
had dropped down to 65 percent of capacity.
