Chatham County bans all outdoor watering

Posted Monday, October 22, 2007

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Chatham County, NC - With no major rain expected in the near future and Jordan Lake nearly six feet below normal, Chatham County is banning all outdoor watering with county-supplied water, including banning the use of drip irrigation. The ban is effective on Monday, Oct. 29.

The upgraded Stage 3-B restrictions apply primarily to northeastern county customers who are served by Jordan Lake. Chatham County customers served by Siler City water must follow Siler City restrictions. The county’s restrictions do not apply to Cary’s water customers who live in Chatham County, but Cary also is in the process of banning nearly all outdoor watering as of Nov. 1.

Customers can use a hand-held watering can or bucket to take care of the most urgent situations. However, they also can use private wells or recycled county water, such water captured in rain barrels or bathtubs, to water plants.

“I know that this ban represents a serious hardship for many people and we do not take this lightly,” said County Manager Charlie Horne. “However, we are at the point that we have no choice but to take action to protect our limited water resources as best we can. Many other communities across the state are in the same boat and many are in worse shape.”

According to County Utilities Director Roy Lowder, Chatham County has been placed in the highest drought category by the U.S. Drought Monitor for at least two weeks. “Their map shows that much of our state, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia are in severe drought conditions, which means that we are not likely to get help from surrounding areas.”

County water customers should note that they will not receive any warnings for violating Stage 3-B restrictions before penalties are issued. A first offense is a $250 fine per occurrence, with the second offense at $500. A third violation means that the county will take steps to shut off water service.

Stage 3-B restrictions are mandatory and include:

Lawns & Landscaping

All watering of outdoor plants, lawns, groundcover and other landscaping is banned.

Swimming Pools & Fountains:

Filling or refilling any swimming/wading pools, ponds, fountains or similar items is banned. This means that you also cannot add small amounts of water to bring these up to normal levels.

Vehicle Washing:

Commercial car washes using any county water must cease operation until further notice. As had been the case with Stage 2, other customers cannot wash any vehicles, including boats, automobiles and airplanes at any time with county water.

Outside Washing:

Customers cannot use county water to wash outside areas, such as building exteriors, streets, driveways, decks, parking lots, service station aprons, patios or other types of impervious surfaces, such as paved areas.

Other:

Customers should not operate water-cooled or other equipment that does not recycle cooling water, except when health and safety are impacted.

Customers should not use water from fire hydrants for purposes other than putting out fires or other public emergencies. Whenever possible, fire departments should use raw water for fires instead of county water.

Customers should not use water for dust control or to compact soil.

Finally, customers should avoid any activities that waste county water supplies.

The county’s buys some of its water supply from Siler City, which means that county water customers served by Siler City water must follow the town’s restrictions. These restrictions are very similar to the county’s restrictions. For more information, visit: http://www.silercity.org

The Town of Cary has announced that it will ban all automated outdoor watering and sprinklers effective Nov. 1. For more information, visit: http://www.townofcary.org/news/news2007/outdoorwatering.htm

To get information on how you can conserve water, visit the County Utilities Department’s website at:

http://www.chathamnc.org/utilitiesandwater or call 919-542-8270.