Park Ridge and Woodcliff Lake residents may resume limited lawn watering after recent rainfall, cooler temperatures, and conservation efforts helped restore water storage levels following a July water emergency that officials said was caused by a combination of well outages and unusually high demand.
Beginning Thursday, July 23, the Park Ridge Water and Sewer Department resumed outdoor watering under a modified three-zone schedule:
- West of the Garden State Parkway: Mondays and Thursdays
- Between the Garden State Parkway and Pascack Road: Tuesdays and Fridays
- East of Pascack Road: Wednesdays and Saturdays
- No lawn watering is permitted on Sundays.
The schedule was developed with recommendations from consulting engineers and uses hydraulic modeling designed to reduce peak demand while maintaining safe water storage levels, particularly during periods of hot weather.
“The three-zone schedule is designed to reduce peak water demand while allowing residents to maintain their landscaping,” the borough said in announcing the change.
Officials said they will continue monitoring water demand, weather conditions, and system performance and may modify restrictions if conditions change.
The restrictions followed a July 2 water emergency declaration affecting the Park Ridge Water Utility, which supplies potable water to both Park Ridge and Woodcliff Lake.
At the July 20 Woodcliff Lake Council meeting, Councilman Benjamin Pollack said local officials met July 13 with Park Ridge Water Utility representatives to better understand the circumstances that led to the mandatory restrictions.
Pollack said utility officials described a “confluence of really unfortunate events,” including several wells being offline for PFOA remediation and a mechanical failure affecting another well.
Well 15, located near Old Mill Pool, experienced what Pollack described as a “catastrophic failure” in early July after a pump motor burned out. The well was offline until July 11.
The utility has 21 underground wells, Pollack said, and as many as three were unavailable at the same time because of ongoing remediation work related to PFOA, also known as “forever chemicals.”
During periods of extreme heat in June and early July, officials also identified automatic irrigation systems as a significant contributor to peak water demand.
Pollack said utility officials told local leaders that many irrigation systems activated around 3 a.m., sharply reducing water levels in storage tanks. During some periods, automatic lawn watering was drawing approximately 8,000 gallons per minute from the system.
The large storage tanks are replenished overnight by groundwater pumped from wells and provide water supply for most of Woodcliff Lake and all of Park Ridge. Officials warned that critically low tank levels could reduce water pressure needed for homes, businesses, and fire protection systems.
Pollack said a significant loss of pressure could also trigger an automatic boil water advisory.
The Woodcliff Lake reservoir, he noted, does not supply the borough’s drinking water system. The reservoir is owned by Veolia North America and supplies Oradell and other communities. Hillsdale and Montvale also receive water from Veolia.
Pollack said the Park Ridge Water Utility continues to monitor PFOA levels and follows New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection requirements for testing, treatment, and customer notification.
Quarterly notices are sent to customers regarding PFOA levels, remediation efforts, and filtration systems installed as part of the utility’s response, he said.
At the council meeting, residents Leslie Maltz and Josephine Higgins questioned water quality, system capacity, and whether future residential development on former office, hotel, and corporate properties could place additional demands on the system.
Maltz said hot weather and water shortages are recurring issues and suggested developers should help fund infrastructure improvements needed to expand capacity.
Councilwoman Jennifer Margolis thanked Pollack for explaining the circumstances behind the restrictions.
Pollack said local officials did not have a complete understanding of the situation until their July 13 meeting with utility representatives.
Woodcliff Lake Administrator Tom Padilla said Park Ridge Mayor Keith Misciagna acknowledged that communication about the emergency declaration could have been improved. Park Ridge officials are expected to provide additional information at a future Board of Health meeting.
Officials also reminded residents that automatic sprinkler systems should follow the new schedule and that watering during restricted periods could undermine conservation efforts.