Water Efficiency Project News

Raleigh City Manager Russell Allen is expected to ask the City Council for the authority to move to Stage 2 water restrictions at today’s meeting.

Mayor Charles Meeker said Allen wants the authority in case the city’s water supply drops below 90 days before the City Council meets again during the second week of January.

Falls Lake currently has 28 percent of water supply storage remaining, which translates into 101 days of designated water supply pool remaining assuming the worst case scenario of no rain between now and March 15. Last week Falls Lake’s water storage was at 30 percent remaining and Raleigh had 108 days of water supply left.

Stage 2 restrictions would eliminate all outdoor watering and require carwashes to conserve water to stay open.

Raleigh’s water supply pool dropped below 100 days in October. Instead of adopting Stage 2 restrictions, the city adopted what it called “Stage 1.5 restrictions,” which prohibited home car-washing and most outdoor watering.

“It starts to effect employment,” Meeker said of the Stage 2 restrictions.