Those who think growth was the culprit in the Triangle's recent water shortages may be disappointed when Dale Crisp, Raleigh public utilities director, addresses a gathering of regional water managers Tuesday.

They may be equally dismayed if they expect a session of self-criticism about what some say was a failure to impose conservation quickly enough in the face of the recent drought.

Instead, they can expect to hear two things: We did fine. And the drought alone dried up the reservoirs.

"My main focus is going to say that the drought's what caused the water supply shortage, not growth, as many people suspected," Crisp said.

As for lessons learned, Crisp mentioned two. He said the city needs to better manage the use of drinking water for outside watering, and better educate the public about Raleigh's long-term water supply plan.

Crisp will be joined by water managers from Durham, Cary and the Orange Water and Sewer Authority at Tuesday’s forum, which is being sponsored by the Cary, Chapel Hill/Carrboro, Greater Durham and Greater Raleigh Chambers of Commerce.

Raleigh and Durham officials were criticized by residents and some City Council members who said the officials reacted too slowly last summer and fall. The drought still grips portions of the state, as well as parts of Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee.

Raleigh City Manager Russell Allen said he has no regrets, including about the city's waiting until the week before Halloween to ban lawn sprinklers. By that time, the water level in Falls Lake was already nearly 9 feet below normal.

"We avoided the crisis," Allen said.

Durham had less than three months' supply of water left before it enacted moderate restrictions in late September.

Vicki Westbrook, deputy director of Durham's water management department, said she is not sure what the city might have done differently.

"You had two schools of thought coming at you from a customer standpoint: 'You need to be doing something,' or 'Don't you dare, you still have this much left,' " Westbrook said.

Strategies vary

Raleigh and Durham continue to limit outdoor watering even though reservoirs are full.

Durham adopted triggers April 1 that mean restrictions will automatically take effect if reservoirs drop to a certain level. Before the adoption of the triggers, the decision to implement restrictions was left entirely up to city staff.

The triggers call for outdoor watering to be limited to once a week if Little River and Lake Michie drop below 80 percent of capacity. If the lakes drop below 50 percent, all outdoor irrigation will be banned.

Allen said he is against Raleigh adopting triggers for restrictions, preferring to use the level of Falls Lake as a guide.

"You may do it too soon when you really don't need to do it," he said.

Allen said the drought showed that Raleigh needs tougher year-round irrigation rules and needs to craft an additional layer of water restrictions beyond its Stage 2 rules. The city has also learned the importance of having a good working relationship with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages Falls Lake, Allen said.

Raleigh is working with the corps to devise an emergency plan for tapping the sedimentation pool -- the water at the bottom of Falls Lake that is normally not used as a water supply.

The city has also asked the corps to raise the operating level of Falls Lake 2 to 3 feet, but so far the corps has refused.

Pay to spray

Perhaps the biggest policy change in Raleigh and Durham is the decision to move to tiered water rates, which means customers pay a higher rate when they use more water. Durham will switch to tiered rates July 1; Raleigh is expected to adopt them early next year.

Tiered rates are already used by Cary and OWASA, two utilities often lauded for their water conservation efforts.

Ed Holland, OWASA's planning director, said this latest drought largely proved the effectiveness of the conservation measures the utility put into effect after the 2002 drought. Those included limiting outside watering to three days a week year round.

During the drought, OWASA officials were repeatedly asked whether they had a doomsday plan for when the water ran out. Holland said that prompted the utility to come up with a plan to divert water from the Haw River.

"Before that, we'd never even seriously considered that question," he said.

In Cary, officials approved four conservation measures in March, said Steve Brown, the director of public works and utilities.

They include financial incentives for customers who replace older toilets with high-efficiency toilets, and to homeowners who replace their cool season lawns with warm season grass that requires less water.

When asked whether Raleigh water customers could expect to be offered financial incentives to conserve, Allen said he is not convinced that such incentives are necessary.

(Staff writer Matt Dees contributed to this report.)