Cary Company Serves As Prime Example Of Conserving Water

The American Airlines Reservation Office is already doing its part to help the town.

The company is cutting its flow of water to a trickle to help the town conserve water. Despite a tight watering schedule, the company's lawn is lush and green.

"We wanted to not only participate in the community's efforts for water conservation, but we also wanted to set the pace for our own employees, where most of them do live in the Cary area," says American Airlines employee Catherine Hopkins.

Last year's hot, dry summer prompted the company to come up with conservation measures for this spring.

"Our water bill has dropped quite a bit," Hopkins says. "In fact, in usage of gallons, we've dropped about 75 percent."

Hopkins says the company has inspected all the sprinklers and even turned off some. American has even cut its watering time in half and keeps a thick layer of pine straw around bushes. The grass is also cut longer.

"We could easily see a demand reduction of two million gallons a day, and that would help us on our high demand days," says Jennifer Platt, Cary Water Conservation Coordinator.

The new water rates that passed Thursday go into effect next summer and target the heavy users.

All non-residential water users can no longer water on the weekends, effective July 1. The approximately 2,500 customers affected by the change include businesses, apartment complexes, townhouses, homeowner's associations, and public institutions such as schools and governments.