Water Customers Cut Usage 10/04/2007

Holly Springs' water customers cut usage in September by more 20 percent compared with August as the Town switched to a once-a-week irrigation limit due to exceptional drought.

Town officials praised homeowners' high level of compliance with the additional watering restrictions, but stressed the importance of continuing to conserve since no drought relief is in sight.

“It's good news,” Amy Moore of the Public Utilities Department said of reduction in usage. “But the drought is getting worse. “So we wouldn't want customers to think we're out of the woods.”

Holly Springs' water customers used 93 million gallons of water during August, an average of 3 million gallons a day. In September, the total was 71,847,000, an average of 2,394,900 gallons a day. That's a 600,000 gallons a day less than in August.

Town Manager Carl Dean was pleased with the September figures.

“I always felt like our citizens would work hard to do what they could to conserve water,” he said. Even so, weather forecasts leave Dean concerned that conditions in the region may worsen before they improve.

“If we don't get substantial rain in the next four months, we're going to have real problems,” he said. “This is serious stuff.”

The Holly Springs Town Council implemented the restrictions the first week of September, cutting the allowance of sprinklers and automatic irrigation systems from three times a week to once a week. Watering with hand-held hoses or cans is not restricted.

Evidence of the restrictions' effect quickly followed their imposition. “The numbers really dropped by the second week in September,” Moore said.

Seasonal watering restrictions were first implemented in June, when the Town moved to the three times a week limit for sprinklers and automatic irrigation systems. That helped the Town cut water usage by a total of 7 million gallons in July compared with June. But with worsening drought, usage in August exceeded that of July. Imposition of the once a week limit in September helped push usage downward again.

Holly Springs' watering rules mirror those of its two suppliers, Harnett County and Raleigh. Harnett County draws from the Cape Fear River. Raleigh gets its water from Falls Lake.

Harnett County 's water situation is less critical than that of Raleigh , Moore said. Raleigh officials say Falls Lake has about four months supply, assuming no rainfall and usage continuing at current levels.

Water agreements allow Holly Springs to obtain up to 3 million gallons a day from Harnett County and up to 1.2 million gallons a day from Raleigh . Dean said Holly Springs is required to take direction from its suppliers with regard to watering restrictions.

“It's more important to have water to drink and to bathe in than to have water to wash cars and water lawns,” he said.

For now at least, 30-day exceptions are available from the Town Clerk for seeding or sodding lawns. However, it is recommended that homeowners curtail traditional landscaping projects until conditions improve. Receipts for seed or sod are needed when applying for the permit.

The Town has sent out about two dozen notice of violation letters based on watering restrictions that Town employees have observed. However, no repeat violations have been observed, and no one has been fined.

Meanwhile, weather forecasts are not particularly encouraging.

The National Weather Service says there is an equal chance that rainfall could be above normal or below normal in the region this fall. However, precipitation from December through February is expected to be below normal.

While pleased that most residents are taking conservation seriously, Dean indicated that further watering restrictions cannot be ruled out.

“It's going to be dictated by the weather,” he said.

Home page

Town of Holly Springs - PO Box 8 - 128 South Main Street - Holly Springs, NC 27540 - (919) 552-6221 - Holly.Springs@hollyspringsnc.us