The Town of Needham must implement state-mandated watering restrictions beginning April 8 under the Water Management Act, a town staff member told the Water and Sewer Rate Structure Committee on March 18.

The restrictions come from the town’s registered water use and apply while the state’s drought designation remains at level 2; town staff said the town is contesting the regulations in court but must follow them while litigation proceeds.

Karis, a town staff member who presented the update, said, “we have a requirement through the Water Management Act on our registered water use that requires the town to implement a fairly strict water restriction, that needs to be made effective April 8.” She said the town is pursuing an appeal but that the case had not been resolved.

The committee heard that under a level 2 designation irrigation systems would be prohibited from operating at all and that hand watering would be allowed only during limited hours (described in the meeting as “after 5 and before 8”). If the drought designation rises to level 3 or 4, staff said, all watering including hand watering would be prohibited.

Staff outlined categories that can be exempted under the regulations: establishing new lawn (May and September windows), sites that established new grass in the last 12 months, pool filling, agricultural uses, recreation facilities and certain commercial car washes. Karis said staff is developing an exemptions process and will work with the Select Board on implementation and rescission rules if drought conditions change.

On enforcement, Karis told the committee: “We have decided internally that our enforcement mechanism is gonna be through education.” She said prior enforcement via fines had been time-consuming and less effective.

Committee members and staff discussed operational consequences: reduced irrigation billing will lower billed consumption in the higher rate steps that historically subsidized lower-use customers under the town’s tiered structure. Karis said the reduction in irrigation demand also would likely reduce the town’s purchases from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) in some months.

On the litigation, Karis said Needham joined more than 20 other communities and expected an appeal to be heard in early April; she warned a decision would likely not arrive before the April 8 implementation date. “We will not likely have a decision about that before the... we have to implement on April 8,” she said.

Committee members asked about anticipated compliance, the process for exemption requests, and whether volunteer car-washes (for example those held at Claxton Field) would be permitted under the exemptions; staff said they were still confirming whether past volunteer events met exemption criteria.

The committee was also told that the MWRA is effectively exempt from the restriction because it maintains multiple years of reservoir capacity, a circumstance staff said reduces the rule’s impact on regional supply but not on Needham’s registered use.

The committee did not take a formal vote on exemptions or enforcement methods during the meeting; staff said further implementation details and an exemptions application process would be developed for Select Board review.

Looking ahead, staff and committee members flagged the restriction’s budgetary implications: lower billed irrigation volumes will increase pressure to raise domestic rates or change rate design to meet revenue targets while maintaining equity across customer classes.