Orange County may see changes to drought restrictions

Water conservation rules in Orange County might change in light of last year's drought.

Orange Water and Sewer Authority will meet tonight with the Chapel Hill Town Council Carrboro Board of Aldermen and Orange County Commissioner to discuss proposed revisions to water conservation standards which could relax restrictions regarding water use.

Patrick Davis utility manager generalist at OWASA said they try to learn from past experience" drawing on public input to improve future conservation measures.

""Our approach is to evaluate our experience and lessons learned after each drought that our community goes through" he said.

The proposed changes for drought situations include:

Eliminating the water supply advisory stage" an alert to OWASA customers about potential shortages. Davis said that in the past, the advisory stage provided few benefits and is confusing to the public.

Allowing irrigation of public-purpose recreational fields and botanical sites, provided that individual sites submit a water conservation plan. For many public use areas, the safety of the users is related to the quality of the turf. By keeping these areas watered during water-shortage conditions, a greater public benefit can be achieved, Davis said.

Extending spray-irrigation hours to promote consistency with other communities' ordinances.

Differentiating between irrigation of turf versus shrubs, gardens and trees. The latter typically have a higher resource value and take longer to grow, and relaxing irrigation provisions for them could increase plant sales and ensure longer life for some plants.

Allowing public and private swimming pools to be filled or topped off until a water emergency is declared. Davis said that with the 2007-08 drought, the few swimming pools in the county did not create a significant loss of water.

Restrictions on water use during last year's drought forced the town get a tanker truck to haul water to the Chapel Hill Community Center indoor pool to keep it topped off, said Butch Kisiah, director for parks and recreation for Chapel Hill. This would not be necessary if the changes are accepted.

We're going to be able to use our normal systems to top off those water levels so that we can have the optimum amount of water in the pool"" he said.

We had to get a tanker truck and haul water to the pool to keep it topped off.""

Previous drought restrictions left some businesses to search for alternative sources of water to keep things afloat.

The proposed changes are intended to give customers more flexibility in the context of water conservation.

Public feedback for the proposals has been favorable.

The proposals have been in the works for almost a year.

But new provisions do not mean that citizens need to stop conserving. Davis said last year's drought should act as a constant reminder to conserve water even when not in drought conditions.

Kisiah said he looks forward to the new provisions and is thankful that alternative options are being investigated.

""We appreciate OWASA working with us to allow us to not only take care of our pools but also maintain our turf athletic fields. We look forward to seeing what happens.""


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