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If you buy your water from the City of
Raleigh and use a sprinkler of any kind
to water your lawn or plants, you need
to change your watering schedule over
the weekend or face fines, even
termination of your water service.
The mandatory year-round
water conservation measure imposed by
the Raleigh City Council takes effect
Monday, July 2. It applies to everyone
who has any type of lawn irrigation
system, even those movable sprinklers
attached to hoses.
The only exemptions are for
people who water lawns, trees, shrubs
and flowers holding a hose or who use
water from a rain barrel, cistern, pond
or well. They may water at any time.
No irrigation is allowed on
Mondays.
If you have an odd-numbered
address you may water on Tuesdays,
Thursdays and Saturdays. Those with
even-numbered addresses may water on
Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
The conservation measure was
imposed by the Raleigh City Council, and
it affects Wake Forest – and Rolesville,
Garner, Knightdale, Wendell and Zebulon
– because these towns have all agreed to
Raleigh’s ownership of their water and
sewer systems.
There will be someone
watching to make sure you adhere to the
schedule – and it most likely will be
your neighbors.
“The vast part of
enforcement is due to neighbors calling
in,” Deputy Town Manager Roe O’Donnell
said during last week’s town board
meeting.
Mayor Vivian Jones had asked
how the new measure will be enforced in
the towns outside Raleigh, and O’Donnell
said there are five enforcement
officers, four for Raleigh and one for
all the outlying towns.
There will be a written
warning for the first violation, a $50
fine for the second violation and a $200
civil penalty for the third violation.
If there is fourth violation, the City
of Raleigh will turn off the water
supply to that home or business.
The rules can become much
stricter this year or any year when
there is a drought and Falls Lake
shrinks as it did in 2005.
The city can go to Stage 1
mandatory water rules when the water
capacity at Falls Lake is at 70 percent
or less, to Stage 2 mandatory rules when
the water in Falls is at 50 percent
capacity. The 70 percent mark is about
when the lake level is at 249 feet above
mean sea level or 2.5 feet below its
normal level. At the 50 percent mark,
the lake level would be 246 feet msl.
During the drought of 2005,
the lake level fell to 243 feet msl.
In a graph prepared for last
week’s face-to-face meeting of all the
Falls Lake shareholders, Terry M. Brown,
the water control manager for the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers Wilmington
District, predicted the water level in
Falls Lake would fall precipitously if
there is no change in the weather
pattern. To date, he wrote, the amount
of water coming into the lake has been
20 percent of normal. The graph showed
the water capacity in Falls dropping
below 70 percent in mid-August, below 50
percent in late October.
As of Monday, Brown reported
Falls Lake was a foot below its normal
level of 251.5 feet and 88 percent of
the water supply pool remained. Those
numbers are in line with his graph for
last week.
Under Stage 1 rules,
watering would be restricted to one day
per week and people could only wash
their vehicles on Saturdays and Sundays.
Under Stage 2 rules, all
outdoor watering would be banned and
people could only wash their vehicles at
car washes the city has certified for
using water conservation practices.
To save water now, go to the
Town of Wake Forest web site,
http://www.wakeforestnc.gov, scroll
down at the first page to find “water
conservation.” Click to learn more and
you will find a list of tips to use
water wisely. |
