OWASA Draws from Lessons of 2002 Drought
- Conservation practices have changed
- By: Jessica Stringer, Staff Writer
- Issue date: 2/22/08 Section: City
- Author: BERNADETTE PELISSIER
The 2002 drought got so bad that UNC students almost were sent home.
"It wouldn't have been too much longer," former Orange Water and Sewer Authority board member Mark Marcoplos said.
With water running out, OWASA recommended a deal to buy water from Durham.
The next day, it rained, kick-starting the drought recovery after months of conservation efforts.
More than five years later, the area is looking to lessons OWASA learned to guide Chapel Hill and Carrboro out of another drought.
University Lake, the Cane Creek Reservoir and the Quarry Reservoir contained 40.28 percent of their capacity as of Thursday. But in late summer of 2002, the level reached a low of 32 percent, OWASA spokesman Greg Feller said.
It wasn't until late that summer that OWASA implemented mandatory conservation measures, which Bernadette Pelissier, OWASA board chairwoman at the time, said should have happened earlier.
After rain replenished the lakes, OWASA looked back and prepared measures in case of another drought.
"One of the main things we learned was that we weren't as well prepared as we could have been," Marcoplos said.
Pelissier, who is running for the Orange County Board of Commissioners, said the board reviewed and reworked the conservation measures.
They recommended surcharges for water use exceeding the average household use because "we need to have a way to tell people not to use more water than absolutely necessary during a drought," Pelissier said.
In June 2003, year-round restrictions were implemented.
"We went to year-round water restrictions, which no other jurisdiction in the Triangle did," Marcoplos said.
Marcoplos said this early action saved water and made it clear to the community that water needs to be conserved.
They advised requiring that restaurants not serve water unless the customer asks for some. Pelissier said OWASA had a "goal to communicate to the public that water should not be taken for granted."
Since 2002, residents have used 10 percent less water than OWASA predicted they would based on 1990s trends, Feller said.
"The typical single family residential household averaged about 6,000 gallons of water per month before 2002, and since the drought in 2002, the average has been about 5,500 per month," he said.
Marcoplos said the current drought has similar characteristics.
"It is just another year when we didn't recharge the reservoir during the winter," Marcoplos said.
He said the only difference this time around is that OWASA is better prepared while other jurisdictions look like they are finally getting it.
Rain helped to end the 2002 drought, but it's unclear when this one might end. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting an ongoing drought with some improvement.
"We don't know how it's going to end," Marcoplos said. "It's uncharted territory."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
