By Mark Wineka
Salisbury Post
Water users of Salisbury-Rowan Utilities apparently have taken Gov. Mike Easley’s call for conservation seriously.
The utility’s customers have reduced their water usage by an average of 41 percent since August.
Matt Bernhardt, assistant city manager for utilities, said Friday the reduction is due partly to seasonal changes since water use historically goes down during the fall and winter. But he said credit also has to go customers’ conservation.
“I think there has been a good amount,” he said.
Jeff Jones, planning and research manager for Salisbury-Rowan Utilities, said Salisbury’s reduction in water use “comes very close to the mark of 50 percent set by Gov. Easley in October and is among the top 20 percent in the state.”
Since mid-November, the N.C. Division of Water Resources has been collecting weekly usage information submitted by water systems in the state. One of the options on its Web site reporting the weekly usage shows the percentage reduction since August.
Bernhardt noted that Salisbury’s percentage reduction probably has been helped because Salisbury had some of its highest water usage in August, when daily consumption reached as much as 12 million gallons a day.
The N.C. Division of Water Resources uses the monthly average for August as its benchmark. Salisbury’s August average was 10.6 million gallons a day. Daily consumption on Dec. 17 was 5.8 million gallons.
“A lot of credit goes to our customers and the Salisbury City Council for their leadership during this drought,” Jones said.
Salisbury-Rowan Utilities serves a population in Rowan County of 44,942.
According to the N.C. Division of Water Resources Web site, here are how some neighboring water systems have reduced their water usage from August to Dec. 17:
– Kannapolis, down 11.49 percent to 4.5 million gallons per day.
– Concord, down 31.85 percent, to 9.5 million gpd.
– Albemarle, down 16.74 percent to 5.3 million gpd.
– Davidson Water Inc., down 31.95 percent to 10.1 million gpd.
– Mooresville, down 41.78 percent to 3.2 million gpd.
– Lexington, down 31.03 percent to 2.8 million gpd.
– Faith, down 25.67 percent to 72,100 gpd.
– Cleveland, down 16.47 percent to 81,029.
For Salisbury-Rowan Utilities, the water flow past its Yadkin River intake is 1.4 billion gallons a day. Jones said that’s twice what the flow was in September.
Because the Yadkin River sustained higher flows since October, Alcoa Power Generating Inc. resumed normal operations of High Rock Lake Dec. 1. On Friday, High Rock Lake was only 3.2 feet below full pond; Tuckertown, .8 feet; Badin, .7 feet; and Falls, 1.4 feet.
Jones said the seasonal drought forecast has been updated to show some improvement in the N.C. mountains into March. That includes the upper Yadkin.
He added that the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center now calls for only “slightly below normal rainfall” through April.
The majority of the state remains under an “exceptional drought” classification.
Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263, or mwineka@salisburypost.com.