This was forwarded to me by a concerned colleague. The
PWNC has contacted the news source with the hopes of being allowed to provide the positives of our industry services and discourage the bans from being implemented across the board.
Raleigh's water supply holds steady
By Matthew Eisley, Staff Writer
Recent occasional, modest rainfall hasn't raised Falls Lake much, but the precipitation is holding Raleigh's water supply steady at about 30 percent, the lake's manager said today.
Long-term weather forecasts suggest that the trend might continue into the spring, said Terry Brown, water control manager at the Wilmington office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which built and manages Falls Lake north of Raleigh. More rain expected next week should help, he said. Falls Lake, which supplies drinking water to Raleigh and seven other Wake County towns, is about 8-1/2 feet below its normal elevation. The reservoir reached an all-time low of 10 feet below normal on Christmas Day, before heavy rains raised it about a foot and a half.
By law, constant releases from the lake's dam also keep the Neuse River flowing enough to maintain aquatic life and so that downstream towns such as Smithfield and Goldsboro can draw drinking water from it. As of today, the lake's water supply allocation stands at 30.6 percent of maximum, Brown said.
Dale Crisp, Raleigh's public utilities director, said the city and the towns it provides water to have an estimated 113 days of supply left — until May 14 — based on the last month's use and assuming no further rainfall. Raleigh's rolling 30-day average for daily water consumption has increased during the past week to about 39.6 million gallons a day, up about 400,000 gallons a day, Crisp said.
To help conserve more water, Raleigh's City Council today is considering whether to ban power-washing homes and the watering of plants by hand-held hose, which has been allowed twice a week. Some gardeners, landscapers, and pressure washers oppose the proposed restrictions.