March 20, 2008 issue
Easley Announces Legislative Plan
for Addressing the Drought
Story by Kathleen McFadden
Last week, Governor Mike Easley announced a three-part legislative plan to address the state’s ongoing drought, as well as a new website aimed at continued water conservation.
The governor’s legislative plan calls for modernizing North Carolina’s public water systems, mandating water conservation and efficiency, and upgrading the response to water emergencies.
As of March 11, Watauga and Avery counties were classified in severe drought conditions, the second worst classification. However, the severe drought classification is a slight improvement. For months, both counties were classified as extreme drought, the worst drought condition category.
Modernizing Water Systems
Easley’s legislative proposals to modernize the state's more than 600 public water systems include the following:
• Local water systems must develop thorough water shortage plans, conduct regular leak detection and repair audits, and move toward conservation-based pricing to be eligible for state funds for water system improvement projects.
• Priority for state funding will go to projects that improve a community's ability to manage water supplies during a drought, such as interconnections for drought-prone communities, leak detection projects, upgrades to meters and metering systems to help homeowners and agencies more closely and accurately monitor water consumption, and water reuse facilities that use treated wastewater for landscape irrigation, industrial uses and for other appropriate purposes.
• DENR will get staff and funding to develop a detailed and up-to-date map that shows all water system interconnections, alternative water supplies, groundwater status and other information.
• New outdoor water uses, such as in-ground irrigation, will be required to have meters separate from meters that monitor indoor water use.
• Enforcement will be enhanced to ensure that businesses using more than 100,000 gallons per day register with DENR, and penalties will be assessed for willful noncompliance.
• All other large water users will be identified.
• Monthly water use reports under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act will be required to be submitted electronically instead of on paper. The DENR Secretary will be allowed to require additional reporting as necessary during drought periods.
Mandating Water Conservation And Efficiency
The governor's legislative package would also make changes that mandate water conservation and efficiency:
• Prohibit rate structures that cut the rates for users when they use more water.
• Direct DENR to develop guidelines for water rate structures that encourage people to use less water.
• Revise the building code to require water-efficient fixtures in new commercial and residential construction.
• Adopt water efficiency standards for new in-ground irrigation systems.
• Change the rules so that household water, or gray water, from sinks, bathtubs and showers can be used to hand-water trees, shrubs and plants in a homeowner’s yard.
Upgrading Response to Water Emergencies
The proposed legislation would also, Easley said, improve the state's ability to respond to water emergencies, including giving the governor more power to take action prior to a declaration of a public health and safety emergency. Proposals include the following:
• Give North Carolina governors the legal authority to order a water system to provide water to a neighboring community in an emergency.
• Require communities in extreme and exceptional drought to adhere to minimum water conservation standards developed by DENR.
• Give local water agencies in extreme and exceptional drought the authority to impose mandatory water conservation measures to all water users within their jurisdiction, including customers of privately owned water utilities regulated by the state Utilities Commission.
• Enact a sales tax holiday for the purchase of water-saving devices.
• Examine the possibility of incentives to promote efficient water use.
• Provide staffing and funding to create an Office of Water Conservation and Efficiency in DENR to more effectively oversee all water policy, planning and conservation efforts.
Continuing Water Conservation
Easley also announced a new website—SaveWaterNC.org—aimed at convincing the public to continue saving water to avoid a crisis in the current drought and to instill the need for continued water conservation even when the drought is over.
The departments of Crime Control and Public Safety and Environment and Natural Resources developed the website that includes conservation tips for specific audiences including businesses, homes and schools; examples of successful water-saving efforts; links to water conservation information for the state’s largest cities; a kid's page; educational links and materials; and interactive tools such as water conservation calculators so people can enter their personal water use and see how much they are saving.
The site also gives residents the opportunity to participate in the water-saving effort by sending in photos and success stories about water conservation going on in their hometowns.
About that Gray Water
One of Governor Mike Easley’s proposals to address the state’s ongoing drought is to allow so-called gray water to be used for hand-watering trees, shrubs and plants in a homeowner’s yard.
Gray water is the water from sinks, bathtubs and showers, and officials from the state level down to the local level have previously maintained that recycling gray water is not only illegal, but a significant health hazard.
At the state level, that line changed last week.
On March 11, when Easley introduced his legislative proposals, DENR officials said that dumping buckets of leftover bathwater on landscaping is not a problem.
This spring, state officials will draft guidelines for users on how to safely recycle gray water, but straight-piping your bathwater into the yard will still be against the law and a health risk.
The question is, how many people are going to carry buckets of bathwater out to the yard to water their plants?
Poll Results: North Carolinians Are Knowledgeable and Concerned about the Drought
Press coverage of the drought has had an impact. A majority of North Carolina residents are both knowledgeable and concerned about the state’s water supply and are taking steps to reduce their water usage, according to the latest Elon University Poll.
The poll, conducted March 10 to 13 by the Elon University Institute for Politics and Public Affairs, surveyed 473 North Carolina residents. The poll has a margin of error of 4.5 percent.
Eighty-six percent of respondents reported knowing either a good amount or a great deal about the drought North Carolina is facing. The top places they reported gaining information were local TV news and local newspapers at 83 and 64 percent respectively.
In addition to being well informed about the drought, residents said it is a source of concern. Sixty-three percent of those surveyed said they are very concerned about the drought, while 32 percent reported being somewhat concerned.
The top activities respondents reported for reducing water use are the following:
• Not watering outside: 55 percent
• Taking shorter showers: 53 percent
• Not washing the car at home: 51 percent
The majority of respondents do not see the current water situation going away in the near future. Sixty-eight percent of citizens said that water conservation is a long-term issue that will last more than five years.
“These results suggest that government strategies aimed at fighting the drought and conserving water should enjoy widespread support among citizens across the state as many are already taking action to reduce water use in their own homes,” said Hunter Bacot, director of the Elon University Poll.
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