Treated water flows out of a clarifying tank at the Burlington wastewater treatment plant on Monday, February 3, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
Burlington officials continue to monitor water levels after the city issued its first water conservation notice this year asking residents to “limit non-essential water usage” and “delay other important water-intensive tasks.”
Sent by email and posted online, the alert went out Tuesday after the water in a Colchester tank fell 2 feet below the minimum desired water level by midday, according to Chapin Spencer, the city’s director of public works.
While that may not sound like a lot, Spencer said it is important to maintain high levels in the water tanks because the 7 million gallon reservoir and its tanks serve the University of Vermont and UVM Medical Center’s Level 1 trauma center — in addition to other city residents and businesses.
“So we clearly need to make sure we’re able to serve any fire or emergency,” he said.
To that end, the alert asks residents in Burlington and Colchester to help conserve water by delaying outdoor watering, turning off taps and reducing the time of showers, dish washing and teeth brushing. It also asks users to delay laundry and dishwashing until a full load can be run, and to avoid peak times: after 8 p.m. and before 6 a.m.
The advisory applies to customers who receive a water bill from Burlington Water Resources or Colchester Fire District 2, which the city also serves. The reservoir and tanks serve about 10,000 customers in Burlington and about 2,800 in Malletts Bay.
The water level dropped because people use more water during heat waves and because the aging pumps that supply a water tower in Colchester stopped functioning Tuesday morning, according to Spencer.
“We did an emergency repair on one and so the water tower level is going back up in Colchester, but our ability to fully fill both the water tower and our reservoir are dependent on people not using as much water,” he said.
Burlington’s water infrastructure is aging and the two pumps that failed are about 25 years old, he said. One has been repaired and the department is working to fix the second one. There is no estimate of how long the advisory will be in place and the department will continue to monitor water levels daily.
“We will be looking overnight at our storage capacity and how we’re trending and we’ll have an update tomorrow morning,” Spencer said. “The best place to check, besides social media, is our website.”
Failing pumps and water conservation alerts are not common. In his 12 years, Spencer said Tuesday’s alert is the first time the city has issued a water conservation notice during peak summer.
Residents have reached out with queries but have mostly been understanding, he added.
“We have a great customer base. I think everybody understands intuitively that when there’s a heat wave like this that our water system is stressed,” he said.