INC NEWS - Durham Enacts Stage IV Water Restrictions Dec. 3

Tue Nov 27 12:55:43 EST 2007

CITY OF DURHAM

Office of Public Affairs

101 City Hall Plaza

Durham, NC 27701

News Release

For Details, Contact:

Amy C. Blalock

Senior Public Affairs Specialist

(919) 560-4123 x 253

(919) 475-7735 (cell)

Amy.Blalock at durhamnc.gov <mailto:Amy.Blalock at durhamnc.gov> 

For Immediate Release:  November 27, 2007

City of Durham Steps Up Mandatory Water Restrictions

Stage IV Restrictions Effective December 3

Durham, N.C. - With Lake Michie 13.9 feet below full and Little River
26.2 feet below full as of yesterday morning, City Manager Patrick Baker
has enacted Stage IV Severe Mandatory Conservation of the City's Water
Conservation Ordinance, effective Monday, December 3, 2007.

Since mandatory restrictions have been in place, the City of Durham's
average daily demand has decreased 31 percent from 35.5 million gallons
per day (MGD) to 24.5 MGD.  At the current daily average water demand,
Durham's easily accessible water supply from its two reservoirs will
last approximately 59 days, assuming no additional rainfall or inflows
into the two reservoirs.  According to Baker, the City's 59 days of
water supply does not include the 25 days of supply from Teer Quarry,
nor does it include the 57 days of supply from below the existing
intakes at Little River and Lake Michie, for a grand total of 141 days
of water supply.  In addition, since late September 2007, the City has
been accessing a portion of its 10 MGD Jordan Lake allocation via the
Town of Cary.  The City is now moving forward with doubling its pumping
capacity from approximately 2 MGD to 4 MGD, which even further extends
the City's water supply. 

With mandatory restrictions in place, City officials expect to decrease
the daily water demand by an additional 10 to 20 percent.  Residents are
asked to rethink their overall water usage habits so they are in full
compliance with the Stage IV ordinance by December 3.  "It is critical
that our customers follow these increased mandatory restrictions to
ensure that there is an adequate water supply for our community
throughout the winter," Baker said.  "We need to significantly decrease
our daily water usage even more and our customers play a vital role in
making sure we achieve this goal."  

To help customers further reduce their water usage, Baker provided
examples of simple steps, such as taking five-minute showers, limiting
toilet flushing, checking for and repairing leaks, only running
dishwashers and washing machines with full loads, and using disposable
plates and utensils.

The requirements of Stage IV Severe Mandatory Conservation, which
include previous restrictions, state that no person shall:

*         Water or sprinkle any lawn, grass, trees, golf greens or
flowers.  Businesses that are regularly engaged in the sale of plants
shall be permitted to use water for irrigation of their commercial stock
in trade, using the minimal amount for survival.  

*         Water any vegetable garden or ornamental shrubs except by
hand-held container during hours specified by the city manager.  Those
hours shall, unless varied by the city manager, be between the hours of
5 a.m. and 8 a.m. or 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturdays only.  Customers
shall water during only one of the allowed periods.

*         Fill any wading pool or swimming pool or replenish any filled
pool except to the minimum essential for operation of chemical feed
equipment.

*         Make non-essential use of water for commercial or public use.

*         Operate water-cooled air conditioners or other equipment that
do not recycle cooling water, except when health and safety are
adversely affected.

*         Wash any motor vehicle or other type of mobile equipment.
Commercial car wash facilities are permitted to use water for such
purposes, when 50 percent water savings are documented.

*         All industrial, manufacturing and commercial enterprises shall
reduce consumption with a goal reduction of at least 50 percent and
document the specific efforts they have made to reduce consumption.

Restrictions that carry over from Stage III Moderate Mandatory
Conservation include not serving water in a restaurant or food service
establishment except upon customers request and that water not be used
for unnecessary purposes or intentionally wasted.

City employees will continue to be deployed throughout the City's
service area to monitor customers' compliance with the restrictions.  To
help City staff monitor the effectiveness of these mandatory measures,
citizens are encouraged to report water waste to Durham One Call at
(919) 560-1200 or online at 
www.durhamnc.gov/departments/wm/water_report_form.cfm.   

Citizens who are not abiding by the Stage IV measures will be receive a
written warning for their first violation.  The second violation will
result in a Notice of Violation and the third violation will result in
termination of water service.  If water service is terminated, residents
will be required to pay a $400 reconnection fee to re-establish water
service.

City staff updates the Water Supply Status Web site daily.  Residents
may access the information from the red "hot link" on the homepage of
the City's Web site at www.durhamnc.gov <http://www.durhamnc.gov/> .
Additional conservation tips are also posted on the Web site.  Residents
may also call the City's Department of Water Management at (919)
560-4381 for additional information.

About the Department of Water Management
The City's Department of Water Management is responsible for the
operation and maintenance of Durham's water supply, water treatment and
water reclamation (wastewater treatment) facilities, the collection and
distribution systems (including meter reading) and customer billing
services.  For more information on this department, visit the City's Web
site at www.durhamnc.gov/departments/wm
<http://www.durhamnc.gov/departments/wm/> .  

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