As a heat wave blankets the Garden State, New Jersey American Water is now encouraging customers in seven counties to take additional steps to conserve water, requesting odd/even watering.

The request issued today calls for customers in Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Somerset and Union counties to conserve water, which is in addition to the one issued in the company’s Monmouth and Ocean County service areas on July 15.

“Our systems are currently operating normally at expected capacity, but we are seeing a steep increase in demands across these counties,” said Tom Shroba, vice president of operations at New Jersey American Water. “Adopting an odd/even schedule for outside watering will have minimal impacts on the individual customer but will provide significant relief in demand on our source of supply.”

The odd/even guidelines are:

• Outdoor water use on odd-numbered days of the month if your street address is an odd number (i.e., 23 Oak St., 7 Maple Ave.),
• Outdoor water use on even-numbered days of the month if your street address is an even number (i.e., 6 Oak St., 354 Maple Ave.), and
• Water early or late in the day to minimize evaporation.

The company says that practicing these guidelines now will help it manage a finite water supply while customers can save a few bucks on their bills and still maintain their lawns and gardens.

The exceptions to the guidelines are watering of new sod or seed if daily watering is required, use of private wells for irrigation, commercial uses of outdoor water (nurseries, farm stands, power washing, plumbing, and car washes), and watering of athletic fields.

More tips and information on wise water use can be found at www.newjerseyamwater.com.