The city of Burlington is urging its utility customers to voluntarily dial back their water usage due to the lingering effects of the drought that has gripped much of the state over the past several months.
Burlington’s city council formally called for these voluntary conservation measures on Tuesday in keeping with an ordinance that the city’s leaders enacted 13 years ago to deal with potential water shortages.
Under this ordinance, voluntary water conservation is just the first stage of an increasingly restrictive regimen that’s designed to prevent the city from depleting its water reserves. In each case, these progressive stages are triggered by the water levels in Lake Mackintosh, Burlington’s primary source of fresh water, and Lake Cammack, which serves as the city’s backup water supply.
Michael Queen, the city’s water resources director, informed the city council on Monday that the trigger for Stage I had been tripped on June 28 when the water levels in both reservoirs dipped below the 75 percent mark. Queen went on to assure the council there isn’t any immediate cause for alarm about Burlington’s water supply, particularly if residents heed the city’s advice to be more careful with their water consumption.
“The important thing to take away from this…is that we still have a fair amount of water in reserve,” he assured the city council during a work session on Monday evening. “If we were to receive no more rain from this point forward, we would still have 230 days of water at our current [usage] rates…of 16 to 17 million gallons a day.”
Queen observed that the measures encouraged under Stage I include some practices that any conscientious person ought to be doing under normal conditions. These actions include checking the household plumbing for leaks, taking showers rather than baths, installing low-flow faucets and showerheads, and doing full loads of laundry. In addition, the city is urging its utility customers to use less water when washing their cars and to irrigate their gardens and lawns in the mornings or evenings.
Benchmarks for harsher restrictions could come if drought continues
As mild as these recommendations may seem, they could lead to much harsher restrictions if the water levels in the city’s two reservoirs continue to plummet.
Queen told the city council that, if both reservoirs fall below the 60 percent mark, the city would implement the second stage of its water conservation plan, which entails “moderate” mandatory restrictions. The operative ordinance also provides for “severe” and “stringent” restrictions when the readings on the dipstick fall below 45 and 30 percent. There is even the possibility of outright rationing if water volumes in both of the reservoirs are under 15 percent.
At the lakes
At Lake Mackintosh, the water level Wednesday afternoon was observable to be down about two to three feet along the shoreline, which is one of the lowest levels ever observed by veteran city employee Kyle Thompson. In his 32 years, he said he’s only seen the lake this low two or three times.
Thompson also observed that if the drought conditions last much longer, Lake Cammack will likely have to close the ramps for boats to access that lake.
Possibility of stronger restrictions
Queen warned that the city could very well implement the mandatory Stage II restrictions in a matter of weeks if the recent weather conditions persist through July. Within an hour of this prediction, the city received rains that continued into small hours on Tuesday. All the same, the city council didn’t hesitate to enact the first stage of the city’s water conservation plan when it reconvened Tuesday evening.
According to the water resources division, it would take something on the order of a hurricane or a tropical storm to replenish the city’s reservoirs to the point that voluntary conservation is no longer needed.
Stage I voluntary actions
As a result of Queen’s presentation, the council issued a formal resolution on Tuesday that recommends the following actions to the city’s own water customers as well as those in other communities that rely on Burlington for their water supply, which include the towns of Elon, Gibsonville, and Haw River:
- Check plumbing and toilets for leaks, and if necessary, repair;
- Repair leaking faucets whenever they develop;
- Store drinking water in the refrigerator to avoid trying to run it cool at the tap;
- Use shower for bathing or reduce the depth of water used for tub baths. Limit showers to four (4) minutes where possible;
- Refrain from running faucets while shaving or rinsing dishes or brushing teeth;
- Install water flow restrictive devices in shower heads;
- Install water-saving devices such as plastic bottles or commercial units in toilet tanks;
- Review water uses and where feasible install recycle systems, particularly commercial and industrial customers.
- Limit the use of clothes washers and dishwashers, and when used, operate fully loaded;
- Reduce the flushing of toilets to the minimum whenever practical;
- Limit lawn watering to only when grass shows signs of withering and apply water as slowly as possible to achieve deep penetration;
- Limit shrubbery watering to the minimum by reusing household water when possible;
- Limit car washing to the minimum. Use a hose with a nozzle to control water flow and minimize waste;
- Limit wash downs of outside areas such as sidewalks, patios, driveways, or other similar purposes;
- Limit hours of operation of water-cooled air conditioners, if possible;
- Use disposable dishes and utensils, both for residential and commercial purposes, where feasible.
Prior to the Burlington council’s action on Tuesday, the city of Graham had been the only local authority to encourage voluntary water conservation this year. Members of Graham’s city staff issued their recommendations administratively on June 18.
