U.S. Water News Online
RALEIGH, N.C. -- While some cities are still considering voluntary restrictions on water use, the city of Raleigh has learned that merely asking doesn't work.
Recently, the city council warned that a request made in September to scale back use could turn to an order unless residents and businesses cooperated.
Over a recent weekend, average use still hovered about 60 million gallons a day, said City Manager Russell Allen.
The council was scheduled to consider Stage One conservation rules, which would mean restrictions such as watering lawns only three times a week and only at night until the city's water supply increases.
Those who break the rules would face fines ranging from $50 for a first offense to $500 for a second.
The changes also would affect eight towns that depend on Raleigh for water: Garner, Wake Forest, Rolesville, Fuquay-Varina, Holly Springs, Knightdale, Wendell and Zebulon.
The Raleigh area, which normally gets 4 inches of rain in September, has received just .82 inches. Monthly rainfall this year, except for April and July, has been well below normal.
"Nobody plans for this until there is a problem," said Charles Bell, president of American Pride car washes and a member of the city's water conservation task force. "Water is cheap. Maybe if water went up like the price of gasoline, people would conserve."
Meanwhile, water officials in Greensboro are still considering voluntary restrictions.
"We're hemming and hawing at this point," Water Resources Director Allan Williams said while he reviewed weather forecasts. "We're getting close."
Almost a quarter of Greensboro's water soon will come from water plants in Burlington, Reidsville and Winston-Salem.
Williams said the city has increased its water purchases since the city's three main reservoirs started to drop in the past months.
Nearby High Point already has invoked voluntary conservation measures, including limiting lawn watering.
Perry Kairis, public services director in High Point, said just 2 or 3 inches of rain over an extended period of time would boost reservoir levels from their current 79 percent capacity to about 90 percent.
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