Stage Two Coming Up?

You might be right.
The water use has been much higher than the target set when the restrictions went into place.
Got this from OWASA today:

Orange Water and Sewer Authority

NEWS RELEASE October 16, 2007

OWASA BOARD TO HOLD SPECIAL MEETING ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18 TO DISCUSS WATER SUPPLY, DEMAND AND WATER USE RESTRICTIONS

The OWASA Board of Directors will hold a Special Meeting on Thursday, October 18th at 7:00 p.m. in the Community Room at the OWASA Administration Building, 400 Jones Ferry Road, Carrboro to consider staff's recommendation that the Board declare a Stage Two Water Shortage in response to the current water supply and demand situation and in consideration of the Governor's request for greater water conservation.

I assume we will be on Stage II as of the 18th. It's never going to rain again. I figure I'll get laid off sometime in the next week or so. Which is as it should be...I've been trying to convince people NOT to buy plants for weeks.

I'm going to keep my Japanese maples and my Omphalodes cappadocia 'Cherry Ingram' alive with graywater...and let everything else die. It's 2002 all over again..but without the wet fall. It's gonna be ugly, folks!

It's well worth taking a hike down one of the dry creekbeds. Not only is it interesting to see all the stuff that's usually covered with water, but it does a good job showing how very dry it is.

We wandered along the creek at Johnston Mill. I've never seen the creek dry before, and it wasn't completely dry in all places, but small puddles hardly constitute a creek. It's almost like post-nuclear war weird in the surrealness you feel walking along what is usually such a lush environment. All that beauty dead and dried up.

There were some cute baby ferns in one place- I'd guess they have less than a week left to live.

If the community didn't achieve the 10% conservation goal from the Stage 1 Guidelines, what are we going to do differently to achieve the 15% goal?

The Governor's office sent out the following directive to all state agencies yesterday:

We ask that you immediately remind all state government employees of the governor's directive to stop all non-essential water use. Non-essential water uses are defined as those that: do not have any health or safety impacts; are not required by regulation; and are not needed to meet the core functions of the agency.

Examples of non-essential water use include:

· Irrigation of lawns and ornamental plants;

· Washing cars, off-road equipment, and other vehicles unless necessary for operator safety;

· Washing of all building exteriors, outside structures, streets, sidewalks and parking lots;

· Operation of all inside and outside decorative pools and fountains;

· Routine watering of athletic fields;

· Recreational water uses such as swimming pools;

· Dust suppression with water sources other than treated wastewater.

Additional conservation measures that should immediately be employed include:

· Do not operate hoses without hand-operated nozzles;

· Disconnect non-essential ice machines;

· Do not supply tap water at eating establishments unless requested;

· Fix or repair leaks, drips and other water losses;

· Do not wash partial loads in washing machines and dishwashers;

· Do not use hoses for clean up (i.e., do not use hose as a broom), unless required by health code.

I sincerely hope the OWASA board will amend the guidelines to cease all irrigation of plants and lawns, including inground irrigation systems. We can all collect bath water for tender plants and it's time for lawns to go dormant.

So Easley goes through two droughts and now on the third he waits until we are deep into it and finally comes out with a fairly feeble list of obvious things that can be done to conserve some water. This guy's leadership level is consistently lower than most of our reservoirs.

Where are the calls for legislation that supports greywater use in North Carolina? Where are the policy recommendations on water conservation standards for housing developments? Where are the calls for rainwater harvesting?

OWASA is considering charging customers who utilize rainwater to flush their toilets (or other uses which may send the wastewater into the sewer system) for wastewater treatment. We should be actively offering incentives for this instead of making it more expensive. The use of rainwater should be viewed as an inexpensive source of supply. When compared to other sources of supply, it is probably the 2nd cheapest, with avoiding water use being the cheapest.

Mark M,

How can OWASA possibly know who is using rainwater to flush their toilets? Are they going to install webcams? :-)

Good one, George - I can see a great cartoon in the local paper...

Here's the link to the issue and the OWASA staff recommendation:

http://www.owasa.org/agenda/UploadedFiles/2007/parts/Item%207%20-%20Rain...

The meeting is at 7pm --- NOT 7:30pm.

CH-C is in good shape for this extended drought.
our neighbors are not. when we brought Cane Creek
online, some thought it was overkill. now who will
oppose selling water to needy neighbors? it reminds
me of the new Jordan Lake....NO ONE would want the
water from that Dirty Old Lake fed by the Haw River.
give the Army Corps of Engineers their due.

oh...one other thing....
my air conditioner produces 4 gallons of pure water
every 24 hours. this water works in our washing machine.

We should not sell water to needy neighbors and thus enable them to continue with wasteful policies. We would not be leaving them high & dry however - there are many untapped opportunities for water conservation in every community.

Cary/Apex also seems to be in good shape with about 200 days of water left. What I really can't get my head around is Durham. I do not understand why they are not being more aggressive about conservation.

A good wake up for all of us was on the front page of the NY Times this morning.It talked about how/why Atlanta waited too long to take strong measures to deal with thier water shortage.We can learn from thier mistakes if we are smart.
A few days ago James and I decided to see just how much water we can save.The Gov's call for %50 reduction was also a strong sign of the problem we face if we don't act soon.
So this morning I read the Times article ,then watered the roses using twater that dripped overnight into the pots we had placed under the AC unit drip pipe-(enough to water 3 rose bushes,!)then I got ready for work,flushed the toliet using water saved from the shower.Out the door and walking to work feeling like we were at least trying-then I passed several bright green lawns that had been watered overnight using in ground irigation and felt like a chump! Why should we try to save water only to have it wasted for stupid grass!
So..tonight I will ask the Board of Alderman to request that our OWASA reps make a motion wednesday night that OWASA ban all outdoor water usage.I will also ask the town to suspend our landscaping requirments for new build till the draught is over - then revisit them -and ask that CH and OC do the same.
We don't need to wait till we are in a crisis like Atlanta before we take strong action.If you agree please let OWASA know your feelings
JAcquie Gist

Tonight I will ask the Board of Alderman to request that our OWASA reps make a motion wednesday night that OWASA ban all outdoor water usage. I will also ask the town to suspend our landscaping requirements for new build till the draught is over - then revisit them -and ask that CH and OC do the same.

Hallelujah! This is the kind of leadership we've been needing. Thank you Jacquie.

Jacquie, I thought you all (not OWASA) were the only ones with legislative ability. OWASA declares how much they need conversation, but the bans and such come from the BOA (or it appears some delegation to mayors based on OWASA rec). If you feel strongly OWASA isn't doing enough, I'm confused why the BOA wouldn't just take the leadership and issue the ban.

I think that basically what is being proposed here is going to Stage 3 water restrictions.

I was just thinking about Hillsborough and the fact that their water delivery sytem is very leaky. If Easley had the merest hint of a clue he would address the infrastructure problem across the state, call on water systems to report on how much leakage they have, & then figure out how to fix the problems. Maybe that Goodyear money could help??

North Carolina should adopt greywater rules like California's(and most European countries).

It's very early in Stage 2, but this is a pretty good community response:

http://www.owasa.org/pages/supplydemandgraph.asp

James B
In these situations OWASA usualy ask the three governing bodies to impose restrictions and the boards always do so.The request has always come from OWASA since they are ones hired,appointed and empowered to be the water experts.In this case they are not making the request for a total ban on outdoor watering for whatever reason and so I will ask the BOA to have Carrboro's OWASA reps move that OWASA request the 3 boards to enact a total ban.I know--it sounds a little convaluted but that is how things have worked for the past 30 plus years and it has worked well.This time though it seems like the boards will need to take a more proactive stance instead of waitng on the "experts" to make the recommendation. The OWASA folks -staff and board are the best there is and are very well informed and dedicated,in this case though they being overly concerned about grass owners and as elected officals the responsibility ultamitly falls on us to take care of the community so we will need to go against tradition on this one.
Jacquie

Mark, it'll be interesting to see if that is a trend as students are back from Fall Break this week....

I attended the OWASA board meeting last night. And, no the initial drop in water use in response to the Stage 2 restrictions did not continue. In fact, Ed Kerwin said that water use trends in Orange County have been "very discouraging." Basically, customers need to do a lot more to conserve, he said.

If you're interested in more on this, see my blog at http://readblog.wordpress.com/.

Sadly I am afraid that untill OWASA ask that all outdoor watering,other then using water from showers,dishes etc to water plants,is banned we will not see a drop in usage.Not because of large numbers of folks watering lawns but because when a few water there lawns with"efficent" in ground systems it sends a strong message to all who see it that the situation is not really that bad.After all if it were really really serious OWASA would not allow this..so the thinking goes...so why should I bother to save water in my home so these folks can waste it on their stupid grass
JAcquie Gist

I'd like to see a report from the UNC Hospital complex on their water use. I bet there is a lot of water waste that is justified by unexamined assertions about health & safety.

I'm afraid that Jacquie is on to something.

Last week, I was driving through a neighborhood with a fair amount of patchy grass, but there were a few brilliant green lawns and one with a revolving sprinkler running in the middle of the afternoon and water running down the driveway and into the street.

I thought we were doing pretty well on our water usage but visiting friends yesterday they said they were in the second bracket for billing and I started wondering how we could get down into that bracket too.
People are influenced by their peers and neighbors.

This brings us to enforcement. OWASA lacks the manpower to go door to door with Stage 2 exhortations. Many home owners just don't get it.

As for UNC Hospitals, they might feel exempt or actually be exempt from water use restrictions. Maybe a local reporter could contact their Public Relations Department for a statement.

Re: the person using a sprinkler in the middle of the day--no one is supposed to be using spray irrigation under the current restrictions.

It seems like an enforcement question. What are OWASA and the police doing to enforce the restrictions? And are people willing to rat on their neighbors?

According to Ed Kerwin, executive director of OWASA, no one's water has been cut off yet. But you'd have to use 24,000 gallons per month before they'd do that.

You know, some people have WELLS. Now, they still shouldn't be sprinkling--because they deplete the groundwater--but wells aren't governed by the OWASA rules.

As to UNC Hospitals---
Y'all are kidding, right? You think they are wasting water willy-nilly? On what, an extra rinse for the bed linens? Too much mop water in patients' rooms? People shouldn't be flushing so often? I think the hospital is one place I want people to err on the side of "better safe than sorry"--particularly with nasty staph like MRSA out there...

I'd love to hear exactly what water waste UNC is justifying "by unexamined assertions about health & safety." Please give me examples?

OWASA turned off all irrigation meters this morning according to an emailed press release sent out yesterday.

"OWASA officials said Thursday that the utility will begin turning off irrigation-only water service Friday morning to more than 230 residential and non-residential customers who have that service.

Because the Stage Two water use restrictions for OWASA customers include a ban on spray irrigation, customers with irrigation-only service should not be using their systems."

Jacquie--I don't agree that it is OWASA's responsibility to ban in-ground irrigation systems. I feel like that is a land use issue that should fall onto the town to regulate. Maybe the town and OWASA can work together to craft a policy on these systems--the town bans the systems and OWASA doesn't install irrigation-only meters.