
{"id":1158,"date":"2007-10-25T06:41:19","date_gmt":"2007-10-25T14:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2007\/10\/25\/for-the-record-102507\/"},"modified":"2007-10-25T06:41:19","modified_gmt":"2007-10-25T14:41:19","slug":"for-the-record-102507","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2007\/10\/25\/for-the-record-102507\/","title":{"rendered":"For the Record: 10\/25\/07"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The Governor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s challenge \u00e2\u20ac\u201dand yours<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This may come as a surprise, but elsewhere in this country there are large metropolitan areas existing in relatively arid climates that are not witnessing an almost daily chiding from elected officials, columnists and community leaders about their squanderous use of water.<\/p>\n<p>Here, though, we are experiencing said chiding and rightly so. We haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t yet thoroughly learned the lessons of 2002, nor fully processed the warnings that our climate is shifting and some parts of this land are destined to be drier and warmer than we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re used to.<br \/>\nGov. Mike Easley has asked the entire state to try to cut its water use in half \u00e2\u20ac\u201d a laudable goal, but one that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sure to flummox a culture based on the idea that the stuff is relatively limitless and that a lush, green lawn is a God-given right.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->And while we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re quick to point to our community as environmentally progressive, the fact is the only thing we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been able to do better here in southern Orange County is plan a little more ahead and get a little more out in front of conservation than some of our neighbors.<\/p>\n<p>But take this conserve water thing to heart and change our lifestyles? Well, what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happened, pardon the analogy, is just a drop in the bucket compared to what we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll need to do in both the short and long term.<\/p>\n<p>Short term, it is time to just plain stop watering anything outdoors unless you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re doing it by hand and even then being sparing abut it. The spell of rains we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had this week has added only a few days of water to a supply that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dwindled already down to barely enough to keep us all bathed and quenched for another 175 days.<\/p>\n<p>With a La Nina predicted, and with that a greater likelihood of a drier than normal winter, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a lot in the kitty. As this paper has preached ad nauseam, every drop saved now is a drop we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have next summer.<\/p>\n<p>Long term, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time to take another hard look at the major water users and uses and the projected growth rate of the area and see what we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re getting into.<br \/>\nThe university, for instance, draws a large amount into its chiller system and power plant. And with Carolina North on the immediate horizon \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and with it another power-generating plant and a large array of buildings \u00e2\u20ac\u201d there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an additional challenge. New technologies and recycled water will help, but you have to wonder what the water supply would be if we had those few million more square feet of air-conditioned comfort to support.<\/p>\n<p>Further still, is the buildout to the edge of our urban services boundary \u00e2\u20ac\u201d a long-agreed-upon line beyond which utilities won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t pass \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and from there the gradual increase of density in the urban cores. We may not be sprawling as much as other places, but we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re still adding people and demand at a pretty good clip.<\/p>\n<p>OWASA has a long record of solid planning and a proactive approach to providing an adequate and safe water supply. But just as the utility and the governments in the areas it serves had to regroup and rethink after the last severe drought, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a need to reconsider the rules and the plans as a result of this one.<\/p>\n<p>Part of this may be an acceleration of new conservation requirements and new technologies and considering, as one OWASA official put it in a recent meeting, joining forces with other jurisdictions to put \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a straw in Jordan Lake.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>But the biggest part of preventing a parched future is changing how we think about using water and then taking action to use less \u00e2\u20ac\u201d a lot less.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Governor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s challenge \u00e2\u20ac\u201dand yours This may come as a surprise, but elsewhere in this country there are large metropolitan areas existing in relatively arid climates that are not witnessing an almost daily chiding from elected officials, columnists and community leaders about their squanderous use of water. Here, though, we are experiencing said chiding and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1158\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}