NJ water supplies doing well, but could it be drought by summer?

As we begin the prime growing season in the Garden State, ground water, river stream and reservoir levels are in good shape following a wetter-than-normal winter and significant rainfall so far this spring.

But state Climatologist Dave Robinson is warning Jersey residents not be lulled into a false sense of security.

“We use a lot of water during the summer. We can slip into trouble pretty quickly in New Jersey where the water system is pretty finite,” he said.

Robinson noted nature is unpredictable.

"I’ve seen conditions just about as wet as we go into the growing season, and by August we’ve had a drought watch," he said.

New Jersey is a relatively small state and we don’t have massive lakes like some neighboring states or even New York City, which gets its water from the Catskills.

Robinson said New Jersey’s water is well managed and the state uses less water than we did decades ago because of new low-flow appliances.

“We always have to be cognizant that come summer, we pull a lot more water out of the reservoirs than on average goes into them,” Robinson said. “We’ve got a cushion right now, but we don’t really know if it’s going to last.”