^^no... actually my dad lives in Cary and I visited him this past weekend
It was pretty clear which lawns were getting attention and which weren't

Most lawns had large dead patches they wouldn't have had if we weren't under water restrictions, but a few lawns were uniform healthy green all the way across. Hard to avoid dead patches if you're not watering fairly constantly


[Edited on October 22, 2007 at 3:20 PM. Reason : (3)]

10/22/2007 3:19:39 PM

^^ I posted that on page 1.

^ You weren't paying very good attention. In my Cary neighborhood, the majority of the people have very healthy lawns, with a few of them that don't water at all having very terrible lawns.

Cary is under "restrictions", but I don't really consider 3 days of irrigation watering a restriction, which is why the majority of the lawns in my 'hood look really good considering the brutal drought we have had.

10/22/2007 3:25:18 PM

^just curious then, if grass doesn't need much water to be healthy, why do people risk $500+ fines and waste water when they know the area is in severe drought?

10/22/2007 3:37:08 PM

b/c they want pretty green grass for their yard

grass is the most resilient plant to drought (thanks Planet Earth!)

10/22/2007 3:50:18 PM

Plus it needs a lot of water when starting out and this is the time of year that a lot of people are putting out seed.

10/22/2007 3:51:57 PM

^^^ Thats a general statement.

Cary is on 3 days a week watering, which is more than ample enough to keep a lawn green with zero rain, and I am not aware of any widespread fining of Cary residents.

Raleigh rich folks have been quoted as saying they'll take the fines because they can afford it and would rather have a green yard.

10/22/2007 3:52:21 PM

Don't you get a warning first anyway?

10/22/2007 4:02:12 PM

Quote :

"A first-time citation carries a $200 penalty. A second offense comes with at $1,000 penalty. A third citation would result in interruption of the customer’s water service. (A total of 302 first-time citations have been issued and 11 second-offense citations have been issued since the restrictions were put into place seven weeks ago.)"

I think you have to physically go to the public works building after the third offense to get your water turned back on. It's not just a phone call and a reconnection fee.

10/22/2007 4:10:39 PM

Must just be a Raleigh thing.

Quote :

"To help City staff monitor the effectiveness of these mandatory measures, customers are encouraged to report water waste to Durham One Call at (919) 560-1200 or online at http://www.durhamnc.gov. Customers who are not abiding by the Stage III measures will be receive a written warning for their first violation. The second violation will result in a Notice of Violation and the third violation will result in termination of water service"

10/22/2007 4:19:24 PM

I'd love to see them try and terminate someones service. That would render the property in violation of some health code I imagine.

10/22/2007 4:25:05 PM

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.

10/22/2007 4:30:10 PM

You probably just have to take a lashing to get it turned back on.

10/22/2007 4:36:16 PM

The guv'nah has spoken!

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1955608/

Quote :

"Gov. Mike Easley called on citizens across North Carolina Monday to cut water consumption by 50 percent between now and the end of the month. "Whenever you use water, cut the amount by half, whether it is taking a shower or washing the dishes," Easley said in a news release. He also asked each of the state's public water systems to increase reporting to the state by recording the amount of water used daily and submitting that to his office on a weekly basis to help communities monitor the effectiveness of water-saving measures. "We likely will spot important trends and pick up valuable conservation methods that communities can share," Easley said. Easley said his office will collect the information, and after Halloween, release a list of those systems that have significantly reduced their consumption. The governor's office will continue to do so as long as the drought, which is the worst on record, persists. “With a full week’s report, we will be able to determine the amount of water saved by each community while our citizens give us their best effort to cut water use by one-half," Easley said. "This will be valuable information to have if we get to a situation where rationing is needed." Last week, Easley began his call for statewide water conversation by asking residents to conserve at least one gallon of water each day and to stop watering their lawns and washing their vehicles. "A dirty car is a sign of civic responsibility," he said, adding that brown grass is appropriate for mid-October. Many municipalities, including Raleigh, Fayetteville and Johnston County, have declared mandatory or voluntary water restrictions and have also tightened their restrictions since Easley's call last week. Seventy-one of North Carolina's 100 counties were in exceptional drought, the federal government's highest classification, as of last week."

[Edited on October 22, 2007 at 4:50 PM. Reason : it's your DUTY as a citizen people!]

10/22/2007 4:50:03 PM

Quote :

"you pay a fee on top of city taxes for cary's dog park "

apparently you don't understand how municipality economics work. none of your tax dollars are going to pay for the park in Cary, which means more of the money you do pay in taxes in Cary goes towards useful things such as grey-water systems and greenway trails.

10/22/2007 6:13:04 PM

christ, here we go

this fucker will argue about ANYTHING

10/22/2007 7:01:24 PM

^

10/22/2007 8:40:35 PM

Quote :

""Whenever you use water, cut the amount by half, whether it is taking a shower or washing the dishes," Easley said in a news release. "

evidently i will have to start rubbing more dirt all over myself because im already doing my part by not showering at all

10/22/2007 8:46:40 PM

no idea if this has been posted but

I know why ncsu has still been watering their grass this whole time.


The water supply comes directly from lake Raleigh... Which is not a water source for the city

10/22/2007 9:08:59 PM

^^^^fuck you, you dumb fat faggot. Everything I said was correct.

[Edited on October 22, 2007 at 10:48 PM. Reason : .]

10/22/2007 10:48:26 PM

I like how easley thinks I can just cut my water usage in half magically.

Hang on, let me just get rid of my clothes and my eating habits so I can reduce the amount of laundry and clothes washing I do by half. I'll also just shower every other day and go to school/work stinky half the time to save water.

This is not the way to approach the problem. He needs to encourage everybody to go out NOW and get those stupid-efficient econo shower heads, to use disposable plates (more waste is better than no water) and to stop watering the lawns and washing the cars. That's fairly reasonable.

10/22/2007 10:58:52 PM

I don't know this off the top of my head, but does where does the outflow from Lake Raleigh go to? I'm guessing that it ends up in the Cape Fear or Neuse.

10/23/2007 9:08:19 AM

into my irrigation system.

HOW ARE YOU GENTLEMEN. ALL YOUR WATERS ARE BELONG TO ME.

[Edited on October 23, 2007 at 9:15 AM. Reason : .]

10/23/2007 9:15:09 AM

Is there anywhere that keeps the current status of the water supply? I checked N&O and WRAL and didn't see anything.

10/23/2007 9:35:56 AM

as many mexicans that live in NC, there should be a large focus on getting all this shit translated to Spanish and targeted to the hispanic community

anyone know if this is happening???

10/23/2007 9:54:41 AM

Quote :

"Is there anywhere that keeps the current status of the water supply? I checked N&O and WRAL and didn't see anything."

http://www.wral.com/weather/asset_gallery/1738766/

10/23/2007 9:56:06 AM

I saw that. I'm not seeing anything about the status of the water supply there (i.e., what percentage/how many days are left). Am I blind?

10/23/2007 10:00:53 AM

Quote :

"as many mexicans that live in NC, there should be a large focus on getting all this shit translated to Spanish and targeted to the hispanic community anyone know if this is happening???"

No we should kick the illegal ones out instead of translating for them. That leaves water for the rest of us citizens + legal immigrants.

10/23/2007 10:05:37 AM

Quote :

""Whenever you use water, cut the amount by half, whether it is taking a shower or washing the dishes," Easley said in a news release."

Quote :

"evidently i will have to start rubbing more dirt all over myself because im already doing my part by not showering at all"

Half of zero is still zero, or were you talking about taking dirt baths?


[Edited on October 23, 2007 at 10:45 AM. Reason : -]

10/23/2007 10:36:38 AM

some of us have been conserving for many months

why should we cut back even more when neighbors will still use more than us if they cut their usage in half?

10/23/2007 11:07:31 AM

Quote :

"some of us have been conserving for many months why should we cut back even more when neighbors will still use more than us if they cut their usage in half?"

10/23/2007 11:12:49 AM

^exactly. make the wasteful fuckers cut back heavily instead of expecting the people who already conserve water to step up their operations.

10/23/2007 11:14:00 AM

Seriously.

I don't care if you're watering your lawn with well water. The water table is not yours alone.

...I think the ONLY way our household could cut back water usage would be shorter showers on my part. As it stands, they aren't exactly long, and we've got a low-flow showerhead.

10/23/2007 11:16:03 AM

Interesting that WRAL continues to water their lawns from a well.

FWIW, Meredith College is also watering from their lake, which would flow into the Neuse River.

Let the grass die people. It ain't that big of a deal.

10/23/2007 12:30:11 PM

Quote :

"some of us have been conserving for many months why should we cut back even more when neighbors will still use more than us if they cut their usage in half?"

In this case I don't think the governor was talking to you. Some people simply won't make any effort to conserve unless they are compelled to. The governor was talking to those people.

10/23/2007 12:52:22 PM

Quote :

"In this case I don't think the governor was talking to you. Some people simply won't make any effort to conserve unless they are compelled to. The governor was talking to those people."

It should be obvious from the water meters the City of Raleigh has at every residence who is conserving and who is using lots of water.

If the government really cared.

10/23/2007 2:13:23 PM

Well the simple solution would be to charge one rate for each 1000 gallons of water until you reach a certain threshold, then charge a higher rate for each 1000 gallons of water beyond that. E.g.

for gallons 0 - 3000: $3/1000 gallons
for gallons 3000-4000: $4/1000 gallons
for gallons 4000-5000: $5/1000 gallons
etc.

10/23/2007 2:19:38 PM

Quote :

"It should be obvious from the water meters the City of Raleigh has at every residence who is conserving and who is using lots of water."

I didn't think the city had water meters at houses it doesn't supply water to.

10/23/2007 2:29:31 PM

Well then obviously it doesn't care about those residences as it has no jurisdiction over them.

10/23/2007 2:30:32 PM

well water homes can use as much as they want

but if they run out of water they are fucked.

10/23/2007 2:49:21 PM

The lack of water applies to more than Falls Lake.

At this point, everyone ought to be conserving as much as is reasonable, no matter where they get their water. It's unacceptable to think having a well = conservation is silly (That's why WRAL's declaration that they're using well water irritates me so much)

10/23/2007 2:49:49 PM

dont worry about it

everything will work itself out eventually

10/23/2007 3:02:46 PM

frankly i wouldn't want to drink well water that was gotten from beneath the city.

10/23/2007 3:17:15 PM

WRAL claims to be drawing from a deep aquifer that doesn't affect the water table (800'). Would they have to had be given a permit at some point to drill a well in Wake county?

10/23/2007 3:36:17 PM

hopefully we will get 2-4 inches out of this rain today and tonight

10/24/2007 10:14:58 AM

Quote :

"hopefully we will get 2-4 inches"

that's what she said

...

10/24/2007 10:22:03 AM

Quote :

" I like how easley thinks I can just cut my water usage in half magically. Hang on, let me just get rid of my clothes and my eating habits so I can reduce the amount of laundry and clothes washing I do by half. I'll also just shower every other day and go to school/work stinky half the time to save water. This is not the way to approach the problem. He needs to encourage everybody to go out NOW and get those stupid-efficient econo shower heads, to use disposable plates (more waste is better than no water) and to stop watering the lawns and washing the cars. That's fairly reasonable."

i agree with your last paragraph in that there are other things that could be done, however its a lot easier than you think to cut down on the water from your clothes and from your shower. i know a lot of people that shower 2x a day for no reason at all (ie not working out after work which could call for one). just showering 1x instead of 2x is cutting that in half easily. Or the amount of time we spend in the shower as opposed to whats needed. hes not saying shower every other day...

also, with laundry. Unless its socks, underwear, undershirt, your clothes can be worn more than once IE pants and polos/button ups(especially if you wear undershirts) unless they get something on them or smell.

10/24/2007 10:22:08 AM

I don't brush my teeth to save water.

10/25/2007 10:26:27 AM

Quote :

"Current Weather Conditions: Raleigh / Durham, Raleigh-Durham International Airport, NC, United States (KRDU) 35-52-14N 078-47-11W 130M Conditions at 2007.10.25 1400 UTC Wind from the NE (050 degrees) at 13 MPH (11 KT) gusting to 20 MPH (17 KT) Visibility 1 1/2 mile(s) Sky conditions overcast Weather Light rain Mist Precipitation last hour A trace Temperature 60 F (16 C) Dew Point 59 F (15 C) Relative Humidity 93% Pressure (altimeter) 30.01 in. Hg (1016 hPa) ob KRDU 251400Z 05011G17KT 1 1/2SM -RA BR OVC004 16/15 A3001 RMK AO2 SFC VIS 4 P0000 Maximum and Minimum Temperatures Maximum Temperature F (C) Minimum Temperature F (C) 70.0 (21.1) 60.1 (15.6) In the 6 hours preceding Oct 25, 2007 - 07:51 AM EDT / 2007.10.25 1151 UTC 78.1 (25.6) 70.0 (21.1) In the 24 hours preceding Oct 25, 2007 - 12:51 AM EDT / 2007.10.25 0451 UTC Precipitation Accumulation Precipitation Amount A trace In the 3 hours preceding Oct 25, 2007 - 04:51 AM EDT / 2007.10.25 0851 UTC 0.06 inches In the 6 hours preceding Oct 25, 2007 - 07:51 AM EDT / 2007.10.25 1151 UTC 1.79 inches In the 24 hours preceding Oct 25, 2007 - 07:51 AM EDT / 2007.10.25 1151 UTC"

Were gonna need many more days of that before we are in the clear and can go back to overwatering our lawns and washing our cars multiple times per week.

10/25/2007 10:28:01 AM

I think they need to go ahead and implement a permanent water conservation plan. NC population is only growing, and you never know if the climate might change enough that we won't ever get the amount of rainfall that we used to have.

I think green lawns are stupid and a waste, make it illegal to water them from city water. If people and companies want green lawns so badly, they can catch rainwater on their roofs.
Have new construction landscape with plants that don't need alot of water.

This drought made me realize how wasteful we are, and how much is so unnecessary.

10/25/2007 11:04:43 AM

^ i've never watered my lawn at either house i've owned, and my grass has always been relatively green. I mean, it's not going to win any Better Home & Garden awards, but watering is certainly not needed to maintain a decent lawn.

10/25/2007 11:09:16 AM