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Has your town issued water restrictions?

The communities in orange have issued mandatory restrictions, while those in yellow have issued voluntary guidelines.Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection

More than 140 communities in Massachusetts have now issued restrictions on non-essential outdoor water use in the wake of long-lasting dry weather that has led to drought conditions across the state, officials said.

The vast majority of those communities have issued mandatory restrictions. Fourteen have issued voluntary advisories about water conservation, according to a list on the state’s Department of Environmental Protection website.

The restrictions include time limits on watering lawns and bans on specific activities like watering or filling a pool. Some communities have banned outdoor water use outright.

About 20 communities have added restrictions in the last couple weeks, while others have tightened the ones already in place, DEP spokesman Ed Coletta said.

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“Many sections of the state haven’t received substantial rainfall,” Coletta said. “So it continues to be a very dry summer and it’s a concern for all of us who manage these things.”

Specific numbers regarding how many have issued outright bans, compared to lesser restrictions, are not available, Coletta said.

While many suburban communities are enforcing these rules, Bostonians need not worry, Massachusetts Water Resources Authority spokeswoman Ria Convery said.

Boston gets the majority of its water supply from the Quabbin Reservoir in central Massachusetts, Convery said.

The reservoir contains 412 billion gallons of water, enough to provide its service area — about 42 communities from Boston and the metro-west region — with water for six years without replenishment, Convery said.

Despite the drought conditions, the reservoir is 87.3 percent full, a proportion well within the normal range but a little drier than normal, Convery said.


Dylan McGuinness can be reached at dylan.mcguinness@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DylMcGuinness.