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“The folks who are moving into town are
using a lot more water per dwelling
unit,” Deputy Town Manager Roe O’Donnell
told the Wake Forest Town Board Tuesday
night.
That increased water use
means the town will probably have to
purchase additional water and sewer
capacity from Raleigh, which owns the
systems, in 2009.
Water use to date – with
most of the summer ahead – has already
peaked at 4.68 million gallons in one
day. Under the contract with Raleigh,
Wake Forest can use up to 4.91 mgd at a
peak through 2010.
New town homeowners,
O’Donnell said, are using 508 gallons
each day. “Most of these new residents
are putting in external water irrigation
systems.”
He is in hopes two new
conditions – the mandatory year-round
permanent restrictions on irrigation and
watering Raleigh is imposing that will
begin July 2 and the town’s policy of
discouraging the use of treated water
for irrigation – will reduce use in
individual homes and decrease the amount
of water and sewer capacity the town
will have to buy.
Raleigh’s Director of Public
Utilities Dale Crisp has told O’Donnell
the odd-even watering restrictions could
reduce use by 10 to 30 percent. Without
the restrictions, O’Donnell said, “Next
year we will have exceeded our capacity
of 4.91 million gallons a day. I think
the worst-case scenario is we will see
is a ten percent reduction.”
And, he said, “We have
promises from new development such as
Holding Village not to use municipal
water for irrigation.”
Without the new watering
restrictions, O’Donnell projected having
to purchase 1.5 million gallons of water
capacity and 50,000 gallons of sewer
capacity in 2009. At today’s costs of $5
a gallon for water capacity and $4.50 a
gallon for sewer capacity, the town
would pay a total of $7,725,000.
With the watering
restrictions and by discouraging new
irrigation systems in subdivisions,
O’Donnell hopes to reduce individual
home use to 400 gallons a day at peak
use.
That would reduce the 2009
needed water and sewer capacity
purchases to 800,000 gallons of water
and 50,000 gallons of sewer. The cost
would fall to $4 million for water
capacity, $225,000 for sewer capacity.
Crisp said Wednesday the
costs per gallon are likely to rise. He
said he bases today’s charge for water
on the construction cost of the Dempsey
Benton Water Treatment Plant, not yet
complete, which will draw water from
Lake Benson and Lake Wheeler. The sewer
capacity current charge is based on the
engineer’s estimates for the expansion
of the Neuse River Wastewater Treatment
Plant and may change after the project
is bid.
In 2010, the contract
between Wake Forest and Raleigh calls
for a 4 percent increase in the amounts
of water and sewer the town can use.
After O’Donnell’s
presentation, the commissioner voted to
approve a water and sewer conservation
policy which “strongly discourages” the
use of municipal water for lawn and
plant irrigation in new developments and
encourages existing homeowners to
eliminate or reduce their use of potable
water for irrigation. The policy also
encourages the use of drought-tolerant
grass, native plants, natural rainwater
retention and the use of water-saving
appliances and devices in new and
existing homes.
Camacho asked about the
capital improvements Raleigh is
undertaking for the town’s systems and
how the costs will affect the transition
period during which customers continue
to pay the frozen town water and sewer
rates. When the capital costs are paid,
town customers will pay the lower
Raleigh rates.
The biggest project,
O’Donnell said, is the expansion of the
Smith Creek wastewater treatment plant.
It is being bid, he said, and the cost
should be known within the next 60 days.
Some projects in other towns in the
Raleigh system have come in much higher
than estimated.
“We still anticipate the
transition period will be less than the
seven years” originally projected.
Some items have cost less.
Rather than spend $400,000 to paint and
repair the Taylor Street water tower,
O’Donnell said, Raleigh opted to
dismantle it at a cost of $30,000.
Town Manager Mark Williams
said Raleigh has promised an accounting
all the costs and the amounts town
customers have paid in rates and fees in
November. |
