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While they were discussing ways to
conserve water last Friday, the Wake
Forest commissioners kept bumping up
against Raleigh’s ownership of the water
and sewer systems.
That means they cannot
impose water conservation measures
greater than the city’s, increase rates
for heavy users or refuse a tap for lawn
irrigation.
But they can work from the
zoning end, Planning Director Chip
Russell said, by making some
restrictions such as no municipal water
for irrigation part of the approval
process.
“We can offer incentives and
we can mandate some things,”
Commissioner David Camacho said. Those
incentives would be geared toward both
homeowners and the builders and
developers who control the way homes are
built. The town can offer incentives
that would make it more attractive to
have high density (smaller lawns, less
piping), irrigation from wells or other
sources than the drinking water supply,
plantings and grass that require little
water, and water-saving appliances.
“We need to come up with a
philosophy about how aggressively we’re
going to pursue either or both,” Camacho
said.
Although the last three
developments seeking approval from the
comprehensive planning committee offered
a number of tactics to reduce water use,
Deputy Town Manager Roe O’Donnell said
that did not touch the great number of
future homes.
“There are five thousand to
eight thousand lots already approved
that won’t get to the CPC,” O’Donnell
said. “Those are the ones you want to
capture.”
The commissioners have set a
goal of no more than 800 homes added to
the water system each year, but
Commissioner Stephen Barrington said he
was “not really sold on that. The
quality of development is my concern,
not the number.”
The restriction on the
number of homes is an attempt to reduce
the peak water usage because the water
allocation from Raleigh through the
spring of 2010 is only 4.91 million
gallons. Last year’s peak was 3.8 mgd,
leaving little breathing room.
O’Donnell said the peak use
day thus far for the year was 3.5 mgd.
But, he added, “I would suspect we might
be looking at close to 4 mgd before the
end of irrigation season.”
The board decided to hold
another work session to hear all the
possibilities for water conservation and
decide which to pursue. |
