Raleigh Sets Conditions for Easing Water Rules

[PDXmom]

Originally Posted by North_Raleigh_Artist

You know the old saying: "Where there is no vision, the people perish."

If Raleigh officials are already easing restrictions, then they are far more visionless than I gave them credit for.

The lake levels are much lower than they were a year ago at this time, and those year-ago level were well on their way to depletion by early Autumn.

Do these fools really think the draught is over, or that we won't be running on empty by the end of this next (very dry, hot) Summer?

*Sigh*... I think there's a Dylan line about how man manages his destruction with great skill.

Agreed! I've heard horticulturalists say that while the lakes are filling up, the soil (clay mostly) a few feet below the surface is still dry and we need many slow rains to soak down to that level. The quick fast rain results in run off that fills up the lake. So my question is if the soil a few feet below the surface is still dry then what does that do to the water table which also affects the lakes. Just because the lakes are full or filling up doesn't convince me we are out of the woods.

NRG & the other rain barrel folks, KUDOS to you!! Even if Raleigh or Durham lifts it's water restrictions you all are doing our area good. Thanks for being good stewards!!

[saturnfan]

Originally Posted by North_Raleigh_Artist

You know the old saying: "Where there is no vision, the people perish."

If Raleigh officials are already easing restrictions, then they are far more visionless than I gave them credit for.

The lake levels are much lower than they were a year ago at this time, and those year-ago level were well on their way to depletion by early Autumn.

Do these fools really think the draught is over, or that we won't be running on empty by the end of this next (very dry, hot) Summer?

*Sigh*... I think there's a Dylan line about how man manages his destruction with great skill.

For each new resident to Raleigh that doesn't occupy a previous resident's residence, the water system gets additional load.

Can these mental midgets not see that adding new customers is the height of folly until more capacity is assured?

Pure unadulterated greed.

[byebyenortheast]

Originally Posted by saturnfan

For each new resident to Raleigh that doesn't occupy a previous resident's residence, the water system gets additional load.

Can these mental midgets not see that adding new customers is the height of folly until more capacity is assured?

Pure unadulterated greed.

Amen, brother!

Only the airline industry can oversell capacity more than Meeker and his cast of buffoons.

Now lets all be good citizens and conserve water so they can keep building at the same ridiculous rate. After all, growth is great for the triangle -- right?

[TexRob]

Originally Posted by mommiewrites

While I think its good that they are considering easing some restrictions, imo we should remain at stage 2 for at LEAST a year!

keep those rain barrels out!

the whole garbage disposal thing was over the top, in my book...

You do know that there is nowhere for the water to go once Falls Lake is full, right? They have to just dump into rivers at that point. I am not saying they shouldn't bring it back quick and early, but to say a year is silly.

[uncletupelo]

Falls Lake is the same size as it was when it open in 1982. Raleigh is just a tad bit larger now. My friends and I used to jump off the bridge on 98 and we would see two or three cars every five minutes. Times have sure changed. And we must change with the times. Some painful decisions are going to have to be made in order to deal with the growth. The easiest thing is usually not the right thing. We need business people in leadership positions, not neighborhood activists and lawyers. We need a full time mayor. As a native that loves my hometown, I hate to see limpwristed folks in power. Pleasers are poor leaders.

[toot68]

Originally Posted by TexRob

You do know that there is nowhere for the water to go once Falls Lake is full, right? They have to just dump into rivers at that point. I am not saying they shouldn't bring it back quick and early, but to say a year is silly.

It is my belief that the community needs to create a water balance sheet to determine when it is OK to lift restrictions, and when it is not. My calculations suggest that once Falls lake is full, streamflows need to double before it would be prudent to lift restrictions on water usage.

Streamflows into falls right now are around 110 cfs (71 million gallons/day), while normal flows this time of year are over 600 cfs, so even with the recent rain we are less than 20% of normal.

Outflow from the lake is 29 cfs (19 mgd), which is a historic low that the ACE agreed to due to the precarious position of Raleigh's water supply. The previous minimum outflow from the lake was around 70 cfs (45 mgd).

Evaporation rates from the lake vary according to temperature, wind, cloud cover and humidity. It looks like evaporation ranges from around 1 mm/day during the winter to around 8 mm/day during the summer. At full pool, the lake has a surface area of around 12500 acres, so a 1 mm daily loss of water corresponds to around 13 mgd, while an 8 mm loss is 107 mgd.

Finally you have Raleighs water usage, which is currently around 40 mgd. It peaked last summer at 80 mgd.

So, once Falls is at full pool, the minumum sustained inflow to the lake needed to keep the level steady, assuming we return to traditional minimum outflows of 70 cfs, would be 45 mgd+13 mgd+40 mgd = 98 mgd, or 150 cfs. Probably a more realistic number would assume evaporation rates of 3 mm/day for the spring, which would mean 39 mgd instead of 13, which would require incoming sustained streamflows of 190 cfs. And then for every 10 mgd wasted by the lawn waterers, that would need another 15 cfs of streamflow.

I hope this exercise highlights what a pickle Raleigh is in with its water supply under the drought that we are still in.

[saturnfan]

We need to understand that droughts will happen and increase reserves.

Until a substantial reserve is created, no new customers.