July 3, 2007

Published in Wake Forest, NC

            No individual irrigation permits had been reported in the first five months of 2007, although the systems are included in the permits for larger, more expensive homes in some subdivisions.

            The developers, builders and homeowners all wanted to beat the July 2 deadline for a new water conservation measure by the City of Raleigh that requires separate meters for irrigation systems. This is in addition to the permanent mandatory restrictions on the use of irrigation systems that also began July 2.

            The new separate meter requirement adds substantial costs to an irrigation system, as Raleigh’s Public Utilities Director Dale Crisp outlined this week.

            First the city charges $178 to add the meter to a 5/8- or ¾-inch line. Then it requires the owner contract with someone or the city to split the water service. The city charges $650, and Crisp said people can shop around for a lower cost. Thirdly, there is a requirement the irrigation system have an automatic controller on the system. “Those controllers typically have a rain sensor, but that is a requirement as well,” Crisp said.

            The good news is that there is no additional charge for the water used. Raleigh customers pay $1.70 per 100 cubic feet of water, double for water customers who live outside the city limits. One hundred cubic feet of water is 748 gallons.

            Water customers in Wake Forest, Rolesville, Garner, Knightdale, Wendell and Zebulon will continue to pay the towns’ water rate while the municipalities pay off the cost of merging their water and sewer systems with Raleigh’s. Wake Forest’s water and sewer rates were frozen in 2005. Water customers still pay a base rate of $4.60 plus $3.24 for every 1,000 gallons used; sewer customers pay a base rate of $9.26 plus $4.86 for each 1,000 gallons of water used.

            The other good news: Water customers “will not be paying the sewer charge” for the irrigation water, Crisp said. When the irrigation system runs off the general household or business meter, Raleigh and the other municipalities charge for sewer based on the amount of water used regardless of how it is used.

            Crisp said the city has begun the separate meter requirement “to be able to account for how much water is being used for irrigation purposes.”

            Wake Forest is strongly discouraging the use of municipal treated water for lawn and plant irrigation. The town commissioners adopted a water conservation policy in June which says “Steps should be taken to ensure new residents or business owners do not use the municipal water distribution system for irrigation” and encourages current property owners and residents to reduce or eliminate the use of treated municipal water for irrigation. Wells, rainwater systems such as rain barrels or cisterns should be used instead.

            To reduce the need to irrigate or water, the new policy encourages the use of drought-tolerant grasses and plants, native plants and natural water retention in rain gardens, bio-retention areas and green roofs.

            Since last year, the comprehensive planning committee and the full board of commissioners have asked every commercial and residential developer to use something other than treated water and most have found ways to do so.

            However, as Deputy Town Manager Roe O’Donnell said last month, the newer residents in Wake Forest are generally using more water, in most cases for irrigation, and creating a need for the town to purchase more water and sewer capacity from Raleigh.

            The increased use means the town has already had a very high peak water use day before the usual peak use time in July and August. Town customers used 4.68 million gallons recently. The contract with Raleigh says the town cannot exceed a peak use of 4.91 mgd.

            The result is the town will probably have to purchase additional water and sewer capacity from Raleigh. It currently costs $5 per gallon for water capacity, $4.50 per gallon for sewer capacity.

            If per-household use does not decline because of the new water conservation measures, the town might have to spend $7.7 million for the additional capacity. If use does decline, that cost could be cut to $4.2 million.