Raleigh NC Water Restrictions to Tighten Up

[PWNC]

This was forwarded to me by a concerned colleague. The PWNC has contacted the news source with the hopes of being allowed to provide the positives of our industry services and discourage the bans from being implemented across the board.

Raleigh's water supply holds steady

Advertisements By Matthew Eisley, Staff Writer

Recent occasional, modest rainfall hasn't raised Falls Lake much, but the precipitation is holding Raleigh's water supply steady at about 30 percent, the lake's manager said today. Long-term weather forecasts suggest that the trend might continue into the spring, said Terry Brown, water control manager at the Wilmington office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which built and manages Falls Lake north of Raleigh. More rain expected next week should help, he said.

Falls Lake, which supplies drinking water to Raleigh and seven other Wake County towns, is about 8-1/2 feet below its normal elevation. The reservoir reached an all-time low of 10 feet below normal on Christmas Day, before heavy rains raised it about a foot and a half. By law, constant releases from the lake's dam also keep the Neuse River flowing enough to maintain aquatic life and so that downstream towns such as Smithfield and Goldsboro can draw drinking water from it. As of today, the lake's water supply allocation stands at 30.6 percent of maximum, Brown said. Dale Crisp, Raleigh's public utilities director, said the city and the towns it provides water to have an estimated 113 days of supply left — until May 14 — based on the last month's use and assuming no further rainfall.

Raleigh's rolling 30-day average for daily water consumption has increased during the past week to about 39.6 million gallons a day, up about 400,000 gallons a day, Crisp said. To help conserve more water, Raleigh's City Council today is considering whether to ban power-washing homes and the watering of plants by hand-held hose, which has been allowed twice a week. Some gardeners, landscapers, and pressure washers oppose the proposed restrictions.

[newlook]

Celeste,

Relief For Washers will also be contacting the news source also to help rally the message.

Thanks for posting this Celeste!!

[Doug Dahlke]

I don't understand why power washing seems to be the target of so many of these bans. I don't understand why indoor businesses that use much more water get a pass and power washing is a no no. You can argue that it is not essential but neither is eating out at a restaurant. Cook at home and save water and gas.

[CarolinaProWash]

What gripes me the most right now is that HELLO...most residential companies aren't really working since the temps are below freezing...so it's not us using the water ANYWAY!!! I really feel like there is some serious discrimination happening during these restrictions. Why is it okay to wash a car, or water a fairway or water plants at a store where NOBODY IS BUYING PLANTS BECAUSE WE CAN'T PLANT THEM BECAUSE WE CAN'T WATER THEM!!!!!!!! but it's not okay for us to remove mildew (euwww) from people's homes...where they have to live and be healthy. Discrimination. It's there.

Must move on to an other subject...this one makes me testy

[Beth n Rod]

Don't hold back...tell us all how you really feel!

Beth

[PressurePros]

Originally Posted by CPW

What gripes me the most right now is that HELLO...most residential companies aren't really working since the temps are below freezing...so it's not us using the water ANYWAY!!! I really feel like there is some serious discrimination happening during these restrictions. Why is it okay to wash a car, or water a fairway or water plants at a store where NOBODY IS BUYING PLANTS BECAUSE WE CAN'T PLANT THEM BECAUSE WE CAN'T WATER THEM!!!!!!!! but it's not okay for us to remove mildew (euwww) from people's homes...where they have to live and be healthy. Discrimination. It's there.

Must move on to an other subject...this one makes me testy

Celeste,

It comes to simply.. because they can. We have no unified voice. No experts or representatives to approach these jursidictions and let them know the real deal. The damage that is being done by these restrictions is doing two things:

1) Setting a precedence for drought handling and water restrictions. It may become common practice for local AHJ's to look active for their cause by banning washing.
2) Killing our industry indirectly. The above mentioned restictions can be counteracted. Limitations can be removed with the right type of rallying. But.. The damage is done in public perception. People will just stop calling for service. The anology is to be accused of a crime on the front page of a newspaper. You go through the fight, you win the case. If there is any retraction or news about your innocence, its a thumbnail article on page ten. Come spring many companies in the affected regions may be in the same boat. If your phone is not ringing, its already too late.

[newlook]

The goal is to get to the public with the right message before they are lead down the wrong path and are brainwashed into the incorrect perception.

[squirtgun]

Originally Posted by Doug Dahlke

I don't understand why power washing seems to be the target of so many of these bans. I don't understand why indoor businesses that use much more water get a pass and power washing is a no no. You can argue that it is not essential but neither is eating out at a restaurant. Cook at home and save water and gas.

This is why I encouraged everyone to email the governors office.The carpet industry is a huge water user,yet they continue to use millions of gallons a day unchecked. Car washes although they recycle a large portion of water still use huge amounts of fresh water daily.
Golf courses are only suppose to be watering greens not fairways. Call your local authority to confirm,but if it's a violation turn them in. In Ga. only businesses with a licence can wash car in counties that do not have a 100% outdoor water usage ban. Here is southwest Ga. we are still under level 2 restrictions so car washing and lawn watering can still be done on appropriate days of the week.
If you are approaching restaurants ans strip malls I strongly encourage you to use the safety/health issues as a factor to clean. These properties must maintain a certain level of cleanliness in the name of public interest.

Write,email and badger the heck out of those who make the decisions for your state,county and city.Make them listen.

[John T.]

Originally Posted by PressurePros

Celeste,

It comes to simply.. because they can. We have no unified voice. No experts or representatives to approach these jursidictions and let them know the real deal. The damage that is being done by these restrictions is doing two things:

1) Setting a precedence for drought handling and water restrictions. It may become common practice for local AHJ's to look active for their cause by banning washing.
2) Killing our industry indirectly. The above mentioned restictions can be counteracted. Limitations can be removed with the right type of rallying. But.. The damage is done in public perception. People will just stop calling for service. The anology is to be accused of a crime on the front page of a newspaper. You go through the fight, you win the case. If there is any retraction or news about your innocence, its a thumbnail article on page ten. Come spring many companies in the affected regions may be in the same boat. If your phone is not ringing, its already too late.

Man Ken you are a smart dude Thats exactly what I was thinking before I read your post. There is no unified voice and without that we have no real strength to stand up to the bureaucracy. A man alone is just that....a man alone. A group with a unified voice can shaken the powers to be to the core which forces them to do the right thing.

[CarolinaProWash]

The unified voice for the Carolinas is coming together on Saturday. Myrtle Beach this weekend - and I'm off to Raleigh next week to stand up to somebody, if only the press.

Celeste

[PressurePros]

John, you are so right about the one man thing. This is the logic behind the Relief For Washers initiative. Gone are the thoughts of handouts replaced now by contractors that are saying "Enough already.. we pay taxes, we run responsible businesses and we won't be shut down".

This thing is rolling but a few guys cannot do it themselves. There are a several people involved behind the scenes that have been vital helping with direction. Now we need bodies. We need guys and girls that don't consider this industry as a paid hobby to step up and offer support. No one is going to profit from this initiative. No distributers or manufacturers are going to be benefit directly. Our goal is to not only provide companies with ways to stay in business or profit in the face of calamity, but to raise public awareness that we are professionals and that the world needs to be cleaned. The urgency of this effort as it relates to the drought is in crisis mode.

I'm not unrealistic nor am I an alarmist. I don't think the southeast is going to dry up and be a climactic desert. But behind the drought comes hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, wildfires, mudslides.. We should be the first companies called in when a catastrophe stabilizes. Instead we are an afterthought. The government should call in our support. Instead they ban us from operating because we have no presence. The Relief for Washers campaign is going to be a small part of our lobby. If we think small, we will stay small.

If you would like to participate in this drive, let Carlos or myself know. I don't care if you are controversial. I don't care if your company did $10,000 in 2007 or ten million. I'm not interested in what forum you prefer. Come in with your mind open and your sleeves up and we can greatly benefit from your presence.

[newlook]

This initiative will be successful to the point that it will benefit the industry in many ways. Why is this so? Because this initiative is surrounding itself with talented people throughout the industry. We have a strong cross-section of talented people that share a keen interest in evolving this into a true resource for our industry.

As Ken mentioned, there are folks that are behind the scene with us on this and the Relief For Washers initiative is moving forward as planned.

Stay tuned!

[John T.]

Originally Posted by CPW

The unified voice for the Carolinas is coming together on Saturday. Myrtle Beach this weekend - and I'm off to Raleigh next week to stand up to somebody, if only the press.

Celeste

Best of luck. Hopefully your voice gets heard. It would be nice to know a reporter on the inside there that would be willing to write about what your doing either before or after the fact. Somebody needs to pick up on this story more then whats been out there already.

Do you know who was good at getting a story to the newspapers--Henry Bockman. Everybody has there strengths and his was good at getting the word out.

One day hopefully we all can be more on the same page and unfortunetly to do this its like a tradegy needs to happen or start to happen....such as this drought. Its the nature of the beast.

[CarolinaProWash]

I've got a few good contacts around the state - hopefully this will work. It also seems I may not be alone in my presence, which is even better. There may be more to the meeting this weekend than just launching the PWNC.