Thursday night’s rain was welcome, but not enough to make a dent in the ongoing drought. Today, Charlotte-Mecklenburg officials begin enforcing restrictions on water usage, including alternate-day lawn watering, and bans on car washing and refilling pools. Fines start at $100.
The lack of rainfall has depleted area water supplies and lowered water levels on Lake Norman, forcing authorities to impose water restrictions and close boat ramps at Lake Norman and other area lakes and rivers.
Mooresville instituted water restrictions as of this morning. On Monday, citing low lake levels, Duke Energy declared a “stage 2″ water alert, triggering mandatory restrictions around the Catawba River basin.
Jeff Lineberger, Duke energy’s hydro licensing manager, said in a press release Monday that water conservation is essential.
“Some people are already conserving, and we want them to continue,” Mr. Lineberger said Monday. “But the call today is for more people to conserve and to follow the mandatory conservation requirements in their communities. It makes a difference and buys the region time until rain arrives.”
Property owners with new landscaping can apply for exemptions from the restrictions.
LINKS
Mecklenburg County water restrictions information, charmeck.org
Aug. 31, 2007, Charlotte Observer, “Water patrols turn up the pressure.”
Aug. 30, 2007, Lake Norman Times, “Mooresville joins Lake Norman area towns to impose mandatory water restrictions.”
Aug. 27, 2007, Duke Energy press release, “Drought conditions worsen; mandatory water restrictions needed.”
I find it extremely interesting that Charlotte-Mecklenburg is imposing fines for “improper” water usage and otherwise encourging residents to use less water … yet the Charlotte-Mecklenburg utilities department isn’t doing its part to conserve water. A water line on Armour Street in Davidson started to leak on Thursday (8/31); the C-M utilities department was notified about the leak almost immediately. However, two days later (Saturday, 9/2) nothing has been done to stop the leak. The utilities guys came by yesterday and said that they’ll “get to it.” In the meantime, hundreds (thousands?) of gallons of water continue to flow down Armour and onto Beaty. What’s wrong with this picture???!!!
You’ve just got to be assertive. After five days and thousands of gallons of water running down Armour Street, our water leak was fixed. I wonder how long it would have taken had I not sent e-mails to county commissioners and set up interviews of neighbors by channel 6!