Be Smart with Water

StarNewsOnline.com: The Voice of Southeastern North Carolina:

"New Hanover County issued the water conservation alert Friday afternoon. It affects residents of Marsh Oaks, West Bay, Bay Shore Crossing, Brickstone, Blue Point, Plantation Landing, Sagewood, Cypress Pond, Country Haven and Mendenhall.

County officials say the stage one water emergency means residents should voluntarily employ water conservation efforts. The alert was necessary because part of the county’s water system is experiencing an undesirable drop in water pressure at certain times of the day.

Jim Craig, deputy county engineer, said the high demand appears to be a direct result of increased irrigation demands. The problem, he said, is that people have started to water their grass as the weather has gotten warmer.

Now, it seems that everybody has turned their sprinklers on full blast all at once, he said. It’s not a matter of supply, but of delivery.

“We have plenty of water,” Mr. Craig said. “The system can’t put out as much as people want, so there’s a drop in pressure.”

The water alert is limited to the 10 communities mainly because of the high number of irrigation systems there. Most, if not all, homes in these neighborhoods have sprinkler systems, Mr. Craig said.

The low water pressure is also a problem for these homes because they are in the part of the county with the smallest water lines, he said. The county’s water system, he said, was intended for drinking, cooking and bathing – not necessarily irrigation.

Tremendous growth in the northern part of the county is now putting more pressure on the system, Mr. Craig said. The demand is generally highest in the early morning – between 4 and 9 a.m. But there’s also a spike in the late afternoon.

Mr. Craig’s advice is for people to cut back on irrigation. If they don’t curb their water use, he said, mandatory reductions would be the next step."