Glen Rock Residents Asked to Help Neighboring Towns During Water Crisis

Glen Rock residents are being urged to temporarily cut back on water use to help neighboring towns hit hard by the recent Passaic Valley Water Commission system outage. The outage has left many homes and businesses in Paterson, Prospect Park, Haledon, and North Haledon without reliable water for days.

Ridgewood Water has closed an interconnection to the Hawthorne water system to divert supply to the affected areas. This has reduced our own water supply by about 1 million gallons per day. Officials say the best way to help is simple: put a pause on watering your lawn.

Other easy ways to pitch in:

• Skip outdoor car washing for now.
• Postpone filling or topping off pools.
• Run dishwashers and washing machines only with full loads.
• Take shorter showers and turn off the tap while brushing teeth.

These voluntary restrictions will help Glen Rock avoid stricter Stage III Water Restrictions while supporting our neighbors.

The crisis began August 8 when a 140-year-old water main in Paterson ruptured, spewing millions of gallons per day into the Passaic River. Fire departments from across New Jersey have been assisting Paterson in maintaining fire protection while repairs continue.

Water service in the affected towns is slowly improving, but officials expect it may take time before things return to normal.