Below-average rainfall and high temperatures this summer are putting some stress on local farms, but crops and municipal reservoirs are weathering the heat without too much trouble.

In the high temperatures of the past few weeks and without much rain, Hunts Brook Farm owner Rob Schacht said he has been relying more on his irrigation systems to keep his plants growing and for putting the fall crops in the ground.

“What it means for us is more management,” Schacht said. “We’re running water on a pretty regular basis.”

The farm draws water from a groundwater well fed by Hunts Brook, and levels have remained healthy despite the low rainfall.

“We are blessed with really good water,” Schacht said.

“If we did not have a good watering system, I can’t imagine,” he added.

Other farmers without the same irrigation infrastructure have resorted to hauling tanks to their crops to keep them watered, Schacht said.

The heat and drought conditions have made planting fall crops such as lettuce, beets and broccoli difficult even for Hunts Brook Farm, he said.

“Baby plants are more susceptible to the heat stress when the ground is bone dry,” Schacht said.

The state Department of Public Health issued a drought advisory a month ago, warning that Connecticut’s smaller water systems may experience lower yields and may want to consider requesting water conservation measures from their customers.

Five of seven drought benchmarks, including low precipitation, groundwater and streamflow, hit levels triggering the drought advisory, though the benchmarks for reservoir levels and the Crop Moisture Index did not reach levels reflecting official drought conditions, department officials said.

National Weather Service measurements of rainfall at Groton–New London Airport show that slightly more than 15 inches of rain have fallen in the region, significantly less than the 27.04 inch historical average, according to Gary Lessor, a meteorologist and assistant director at The Weather Center at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury.

“That’s rather significant,” Lessor said.

While the Northeast drought is mild compared to the dry conditions on the West Coast, he said southeastern Connecticut has been unlucky when it comes to rain this summer.

“Every time there’s been an opportunity for precipitation ... it just seems to go into the Long Island Sound and bypass the area,” Lessor said.

The dry conditions likely will continue throughout the summer, he said, although thunderstorms are expected in the region later this week.

Groton Public Utilities spokesman Frank Winkler said Groton’s five available reservoirs have about 86 percent of the water they can hold, or about 2.2 million gallons.

He said until last month, Groton actually had more water than it needed.

"The last three or four weeks have been the biggest hit, because there hasn’t been too much rain,” he said.

But resources are nowhere near the level that would cause Groton Public Utilities to ask people to limit their water use.

“You don’t want to scare people when there’s no need to scare people,” Winkler said. “Given the amount of rainfall, I think we’re well-situated at the moment.”

Barry Weiner, chairman of New London’s Water and Water Pollution Control Authority, said the Lake Konomoc reservoir that serves New London and Waterford is now at about 71 percent of its capacity, well above the amount it needs to meet demand from its 44,000 customers.

The lack of rainfall likely will bring that level to 69 percent by the end of July, but Weiner said he doesn’t expect to issue any restrictions on water use this year.

“We’re in pretty good shape,” he said.

The authority has been pumping water with a new pumping station from a deep part of Lake Konomoc once a month since it opened in May to keep it running, but are not relying on the new pump to meet its customer’s needs, he said.

People getting their water from smaller wells and water systems are feeling the heat, though.

"It's dry," said Allyson Angelini, the owner of Full Heart Farm in Ledyard.

The farm has been open for five seasons, but before this year never had to irrigate its crops.

"We're not panicking, but we need rain," Angelini said.

The farm's staff is using drip irrigation and mulch to keep the summer crops alive, she said.

"My concern is that we're having trouble getting fall crops to germinate," Angelini said. "We're having a hard time getting our transplants to stay alive — the soil is just dusty and dry."

When the dry spell ends, Angelini said, the farm can rush to replant its fall crops.

Until then, she said, she's keeping her fingers crossed for help from the sky.

"We're busting out every dance move we know," Angelini said.

Connecticut Water, the water utility company that serves several towns including Old Lyme and Stonington, on Tuesday asked its customers to voluntarily reduce their water use.

"Given the extended dry weather conditions and no indication that these weather patterns will change, we felt it was important to ask our customers now to voluntarily conserve," the company's vice president, Craig J. Patla, said in a news release.

Especially in the shoreline region of the state, a summer influx of people to beach communities is putting strain on small water systems, Patla said.

The company asked residential customers to avoid watering their lawns, and requested that municipalities refrain from irrigating their grounds and ballfields and that fire departments avoid using water in training exercises.

Randall Auclair is the owner of Eastern Drill Co., a well drilling and repair comany that services well customers in New London County.

Auclair said that the number of private wells that run dry varies from year to year, but that recently fixing dry wells is making up about 80 percent of his company's business.

Out of seven calls he fielded from customers in a two-hour period Tueday, at least three were from people whose water supplies had dried up because of the dry conditions.

"It doesn't happen every summer," Auclair said. "It comes and goes with the weather."

m.shanahan@theday.com