Aqua Pennsylvania strongly encourages customers throughout its southeastern Pennsylvania service area to continue their efforts to save water until further notice as the utility works to restore normal operations at its largest water treatment plant, which was heavily damaged by the devastating floods caused by Tropical Storm Ida last week.

Aqua’s top tips to save water and stay informed are:

1. Turn off the water when you brush your teeth and shave.
2. Take shorter showers.
3. Only run washers and dishwashers with full loads.
4. Turn off automatic sprinklers.
5. Sign up for Aqua’s WaterSmart alerts, an automated service designed for quick, reliable communication about water quality and service in case of disruption. Aqua’s WaterSmart alerts are delivered by phone, text, or e-mail. Customers can enroll at AquaAmerica.com.

Customers can find more ways to save water at AquaWaterSmart.com and at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense site.

Aqua had to shut down its Pickering West water treatment plant in Phoenixville last week due to catastrophic damage caused by historic flooding and loss of power.

The utility says it will take some time for full recovery to take place and asks customers to take all possible measures to curtail water use until further notice.

“We’ve adjusted the water distribution throughout our four-county system to compensate for the loss of up to 40 percent of our entire drinking water supply from the plant we had to shut down due to significant storm damage,” said Aqua Pennsylvania President Marc Lucca. “Because our Pickering West plant provided such a large amount of drinking water to our Southeastern Pennsylvania service area, we are truly experiencing a regional problem in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery counties. That means we need all Aqua customers in southeastern Pennsylvania to use less water until we can make up the water supply that we lost.”

Aqua serves about one million people in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Lucca said Aqua’s toll-free customer service number is now available, but the utility’s phone vendor is still experiencing technical issues caused by storm damage. He asked for customers’ patience if they call.

Customers can also visit the Pennsylvania state page of AquaAmerica.com for updates or follow Aqua on Facebook at facebook.com/MyAquaAmerica and on Twitter at @MyAquaAmerica.

Aqua Pennsylvania serves approximately 1.5 million people in 32 counties throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.