News

April 7, 2008

City Returns To Mandatory Stage One Restrictions

Mayor Charles Meeker today announced that Raleigh water customers are now under Stage 1 Mandatory Water Conservation measures, effective today.

As a means of storing this precious and rare surplus, the mayor said that he would be writing today to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, operators of Raleigh’s water source, Falls Lake, requesting that the lake’s level be maintained 2 feet higher than the present height of 251.5 feet.  He will be requesting that the lake be maintained at 253.5 feet through mid July.

The Raleigh City Council voted unanimously on March 18 to authorize City Manager J. Russell Allen to implement Amended Stage 1 mandatory water conservation measures when the water supply storage pool in Falls Lake rises to 90 percent and to implement Stage 1 mandatory water conservation measures when the level of Falls Lake reaches 251.5 feet and the water supply storage pool is 100 percent. Falls Lake currently is a few inches above the full designation for the first time since May 24, 2007.

Due to the rain events from this past weekend, Falls Lake reached 90 percent milestone Saturday morning, April 5, and then continued to rise to also reach the 251.5 feet MSL on Saturday evening at 6 p.m., leading the City Manager to authorize implementation of the Stage 1 water conservation plan use restrictions effective today.

The City of Raleigh stage 1 mandatory water use restrictions provide for irrigation one day per week. Odd property addresses are permitted on Tuesdays and even property addresses on Wednesdays. Irrigation on those days by automatic irrigation systems will only be permitted from midnight to 10:00 a.m.  Those who use Raleigh-supplied water in garden hose attached lawn irrigation sprinklers may irrigate only from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and also between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. on the Stage 1 assigned days for their property.

City of Raleigh Public Utilities Department water customers may water two days per week on the odd/even system when physically holding a garden hose in their hand from 6:00 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Odd addresses may hand water on Tuesdays and Saturdays and even properties on Wednesday and Sundays.

Please refer to the chart listed below for specific information regarding water uses:

To obtain a New Landscape Establishment Permit, call Public Utilities at 857-4540. With this permit, one may irrigate any day for 45 days from the date of planting from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m.

The Stage 1 mandatory water-use restrictions also limit use of City of Raleigh supplied water for other residential uses such as washing vehicles at home (Saturday and Sundays only), power washing driveways, sidewalks, homes (Saturdays and Sundays only) and filling swimming and decorative pools. The entire Stage 1 water use restrictions are available by contacting the City of Raleigh Public Utilities at 857-4540 or City of Raleigh Public Affairs Department at 890-3100.

The Stage 1 mandatory water use restrictions apply to all City of Raleigh water customers, including those in nearby towns that have merged their water and sewer systems with Raleigh and therefore also receive water from Raleigh. Those towns are Garner, Rolesville, Wake Forest, Knightdale, Wendell and Zebulon.

The first violation of the Stage 1 mandatory water restrictions is a $200 fine, and a second violation would result in a $1,000 civil penalty. A third violation would result in interruption of the customer’s water service from the City.

The Stage 1 Mandatory Water Conservation measures being implemented were among the recommendations made by the City’s Water Conservation Task Force in a comprehensive report made last year to the City Council in June 2006.

Prepared by:
Jayne Kirkpatrick
Director
Public Affairs Department

For More Information Contact:
Dale Crisp
Director
Public Utilities Department
One Exchange Plaza, Suite 620
Raleigh, NC 27602
919-857-4540

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