Mayor: Put Raleigh on water budget

Charles Meeker wants City Council to meet with federal engineers, set a budget for use

RALEIGH -- Mayor Charles Meeker said Monday that Raleigh needs to put itself on a strict water budget in the coming months to avoid running dry this summer.

The mayor wants the entire City Council to meet with the Army Corps of Engineers next week to determine what that budget should be.

In a report last week the corps, which manages Falls Lake, predicted that if current weather and use patterns continue, Raleigh's designated share of the reservoir could be depleted by June or July.

The report assumed Raleigh would use 45 million gallons a day, or about 5 million gallons more than Raleigh is currently using each day.

But Meeker said he expects the city to consume less than that this summer once all its conservation measures are in place. He said he wants to come up with a conservative estimate that takes into account water use, evaporation rates at Falls Lake and how much rain is in the forecast.

"Not just accept them," he said of the Corps' assumptions, "but look at them critically."

Terry Brown, senior water control manager at the corps office in Wilmington, said last week that 45 million gallons a day seemed like a reasonable average for Raleigh's system during the spring and summer.

Ed Buchan, Raleigh's water conservation specialist, said even with all outside irrigation banned, the city's daily consumption could rise to 45 million gallons a day as the weather warms.

"Any time the temperature goes up, our usage goes up," said Buchan, noting the use of air conditioners and the tendency to take more showers in hot weather.

Meeker called for the meeting with the corps in his annual state of the city address, which was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Raleigh and held at the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts.

The City Council has already set 35 gallons a day as a voluntary goal for individual water users.

Meeker said once a daily budget is set for Raleigh's entire water system, which includes six Wake County towns, the council would adopt whatever measures are needed to live by it.

"We would take additional steps to reach that budget," Meeker said.

Those steps could include additional conservation measures and the purchase of water from other systems, such as Holly Springs and Cary, the mayor said.

Raleigh's toughest water restrictions go into effect Friday. The so-called Stage 2 rules ban pressure-washing and all remaining irrigation and sharply restrict builders from testing new city water connections -- tests that must be made before homes and businesses can legally be occupied.

Meeker said during his speech that the council showed fortitude in unanimously agreeing to adopt Stage 2, even after hundreds of landscapers and nursery owners showed up at City Hall to protest the move.

"I'm very proud that the City Council stood up and did the right thing," Meeker said.

Though the mayor spent much of his speech discussing the drought, he also touched on public transportation, energy-efficiency and the arts.

Meeker reiterated his pledge to improve public transportation in Raleigh, starting with the bus service. He pointed to Charlotte as a city that Raleigh could learn from.

"They are way ahead of us on public transportation," Meeker said.

The mayor wants the city to conduct a comprehensive study of Raleigh's more than 30,000 street lights to identify where more energy-efficient light bulbs can be installed. Meeker also called on Raleigh to create a public-private arts foundation that would work to install public art in the city's parks and other public places.

"It's time that Raleigh had an arts foundation," he said.