Raleigh's water use sets record in August

The development sobers city officials who had hoped water use would moderate with restrictions. Tougher ones are coming

RALEIGH -- Despite mandatory restrictions, Raleigh's water use has soared this month, setting three all-time daily highs.

The use directly correlates with recording-breaking temperatures. Still, the numbers startled city officials, because use spiked when only half of their water customers should have been watering their lawns, which officials think accounts for as much as 20 percent of total water consumption.

One expert said alternate-day watering schedules such as Raleigh's -- which will become more restrictive Tuesday -- have little impact. And a City Council member thinks the city needs to do still more.

Raleigh Public Utilities Director Dale Crisp admitted Thursday that the city might have erred by not limiting the times of day when people could water lawns.

"To be under the restrictions when those records were set made it more surprising," Crisp said. "Now we know that not everyone has complied with those."

Falls Lake, the city's source of drinking water, which is about 4 feet below normal, would dry out Jan. 6 unless customers cut their use or the area gets substantial rain.

The city has issued nearly 500 warnings and fines since mandatory restrictions went into effect July 2. Today, the city will turn off the water at a new home in North Raleigh's Bedford community because the builder didn't follow the rules, despite a warning and two fines totaling $250.

On Tuesday, the city will limit lawn watering with sprinklers and irrigation systems to one day a week and vehicle and power washing to the weekends.

The restrictions extend to all the city's water customers, including those in Garner, Rolesville, Wake Forest, Knightdale, Wendell and Zebulon. Those customers, on top of Raleigh's growing population base, have helped to strain the system, City Council member Philip Isley said.

"We're essentially providing water for most of the county, and that obviously puts strain on our infrastructure," Isley said.

Long-term forecast bleak

Crisp said he decided on the tougher restrictions this week after a long-term forecast from state officials Tuesday said the drought conditions would remain for three to six months. Forecasters said conditions are similar to a drought in the 1940s when significant rain didn't come until late February -- more than a month after Falls Lake is expected to run out of water.

"We've got to change that paradigm," Crisp said.

Ari M. Michelsen, director of the Texas A&M University's Agricultural Research and Extension Center at El Paso, said alternate-day watering restrictions usually aren't effective. "They tend to water more on the day that they can water," he said.

Michelsen was part of a team of water researchers that evaluated several Western cities to find the most effective water-saving strategies. They found that regulation alone will, on average, reduce water usage by 3 percent.

The study said the most effective water-reduction programs combined water-conservation education, encouraging the use of water-efficient faucets and shower heads and giving incentives to purchase water-saving appliances.

Raleigh's water-conservation task force recommended some of those measures in a report a year ago, along with new rates that encourage conservation. City Council members balked at some of them, calling them too expensive, difficult to enforce or having little effect. The task force also recommended limiting the time when people could water, but the city ultimately set no limit.

Crisp said Thursday that might have been a mistake. Some people are heeding the restrictions but watering for a long time on the days irrigation is allowed.