May 3, 2006

Published in Wake Forest, NC

            Tuesday night there was a regular dog-and-pony show with four staffers narrating a PowerPoint presentation about low impact development, the incentives and activities Cary, Orange County, Greensboro and Durham are using, different ways to modify water use and water education.

            Xeriscape, as engineer Holly Spring explained, is using drought-tolerant and natural plants. It can reduce water use by 54 percent.

            Rain gardens use water from roof downspouts. The water is stored in bowl-shaped beds that hold the water. Spring said they are going to build one at the Northern Wake Senior Center.

            We have all seen the green roof at Carabba’s restaurant in Mini City. It provides insulation as well as decoration, and the plants and earth absorb rain rather than letting it run off the roof.

            Bioretention involves using the water that would usually run off parking areas to water plants and trees in islands.

            The flappers, those $1 items inside a toilet’s water tank, can play a part in reducing water use. Many towns have given away flappers, which do wear out in eight to 10 years.

            Commissioner Margaret Stinnett said her research showed replacing flappers could reduce leakage by up to 15 gallons a day per toilet. That translates to 5,500 gallons in a year.

            Deputy Town Manager Roe O’Donnell argued that small programs such as flapper replacement can be done any time but “The time constraint is on what are you going to let people plant? Every lawn that get put in today is a permanent thing.” O’Donnell said the major steps the commissioners could take would be to restrict lawn grass to drought-resistant, low-maintenance types such as zoysia or Bermuda and to begin encouraging high density development.

            There is a lawn in Crenshaw Manor subdivision that is planted in zoysia and has not been watered for the four years the present owners have lived there.

            Homes in a high density development, O’Donnell said, generally use less water. Also, there is less piping to reach the homes. “The more pipes you have, the more leaks you have.” Even a tight system is going to lose about 10 percent of its water to leaks.

            O’Donnell had a number of other suggestions, including the use of tankless hot water heaters next to the kitchen sink and bathroom showers – “It could cut down water use by half” – as well as low flow shower heads and front loader washing machines that save 20 gallons a wash.

            The town could even offer rebate programs for builders or homeowners who installed the water-saving devices.

            Commissioner Frank Drake, who said he wants water conservation to work but fears any program could die just as those did back in the 1970s, was reassured when engineer Scott Miles told him one program found that the flapper rebate program saved .005 million gallons a day. “That’s 50,000 gallons off our peak,” O’Donnell said, and Drake said, “Now it looks like an interesting idea.”

            The town staff will back up the best ideas with more information and present them to the board in June.

            The board did decide to purchase a $1,200 starter kit for Water Use It Wisely. Everyone he has spoken to, Director of Engineering Eric Keravuori said, including the town’s former water superintendent George Rogers, told him that program is the most effective educational program around.