Raleigh Water Use Drops

Raleigh, N.C. — Water use by City of Raleigh customers dropped late this week after reaching near-record highs earlier.

After reaching the city's third- and fourth-highest records on Tuesday and Saturday, water use dropped by nearly 13 million gallons on Wednesday, said water management officials.

The amount of water drawn from Raleigh's main water treatment dropped again by 1 million gallons on Thursday, officials said.

Code enforcement officers also "found very few" violations of new water restrictions, making "a stark contrast" compared to 202 citations issued the week before, said Raleigh's Public Utilities Director, Dale Crisp, in a press release.

Crisp attributed the drop to combination of factors, including the recent rain and greater awareness of the water shortage and the restrictions.

On Wednesday, city officials warned that they might toughen water restrictions if the high water use continued. The current restrictions, implemented July 2, allow residents to use lawn irrigation systems on just three days a week.

9 Comments

WRAL.com welcomes your comments on this story. All comments are moderated prior to publication based on our posting guidelines. Please review them prior to posting and if your message is not approved.

VIEW ALL 9 COMMENTS

This story is closed for comments. Comments on WRAL.com news stories are accepted and moderated between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Latest Comments

Rabid Wolf: Go bite them dummies on the leg.. It took a degree for them to figure less water was used when it rained. I bet they approved a zillion permits in those few days.

Ladyblue- the Phoenix
July 15, 2007 5:28 p.m.

BVFD: Thanks for draining the aquifer. Soon we'll all be out of water. Hey y'all, watch this! I'm gonna water the single whyd and make it a dubble whyd ...duh-huh.

speedy
July 15, 2007 12:25 p.m.

I cannot wait to vote against Meeker. Out of water and they just keep printing those building permits.

lolly
July 15, 2007 10:32 a.m.

I love how the poll assumes people were wasteful with water before the restrictions. Not everyone feels the need to wash their car or water their lawn every day.

Red
July 15, 2007 9:38 a.m.

ain't that the truth BVFD