Raleigh's stricter water rules start Feb. 15

RALEIGH -- The City Council today set Feb. 15 as the date for moving to its most severe water restrictions.

Stage 2 restrictions will ban pressure-washing and all remaining irrigation, but they will not prohibit builders from testing new city water connections, as long as they use recaptured water. Such tests must occur before homes and businesses can legally be occupied.

The Public Works Committee had recommended that city enact the new rules by Feb. 28. But on Friday, Mayor Charles Meeker and the mayors of five Wake County towns that buy water from Raleigh recommended a Feb. 15 start date.

There appeared to be widespread agreement among officials that Stage 2 should be amended to include an exemption for developers who recapture the water used to test city water connections.

Without such an exemption, new development in Raleigh, Wake Forest, Garner, Zebulon, Knightdale, Rolesville and Wendell would likely have ground to a halt. Even with the exemption, new development will likely slow under Stage 2, because of a limited number of tanker trucks available to recapture the water used to test new connections.

Over the past 45 days, the city of Raleigh has rented three 6,000-gallon tanker trucks to recapture water used to flush connections.

Today's meeting was the council's first full session since Councilman Thomas Crowder unveiled a long list of proposed water conservation measures at the Public Works Committee meeting.

Among the proposals is one to temporarily raise the fees the city charges for new water connections until the drought is over. The Public Works Committee unanimously agreed to have city staff study the proposal, but Meeker told Wake County mayors Friday that he doesn't think much of the idea.

"I don't perceive that's going to go anywhere at this point," Meeker said.

Crowder also raised the possibility of the city adopting "water capacity impact fees" to offset future utility costs, an idea that is likely to spur intense debate among council members.

The City Council meets at 1 p.m. at 222 West Hargett Street in downtown.