Cape Fear Public Utility Authority has expanded its Stage 1 Water Conservation Advisory to encompass all CFPUA customers, effective June 1 and continuing until further notice.
Continued lack of significant rain and hot weather are driving record demand on all three of CFPUA’s drinking-water systems. Staff already have added emergency wells to increase capacity and taken steps to optimize our systems. CFPUA-wide water restrictions are being enacted to help ensure water is available for all customers and for essential services such as fire protection.
This week, the state officials announced that much of Southeastern North Carolina was under a moderate drought. Depending on conditions and community response to the Conservation Advisory, restrictions could be reduced or escalated.
"We've taken what steps we can at this point to try to keep up with the unprecedented demand for water we've been experiencing over the last week," said CFPUA Executive Director Jim Flechtner. "Calls for voluntary conservation have not been adequate to curb usage, particularly for landscape irrigation, and current weather forecasts don't call for significant rain anytime soon. If we all follow the mandatory restrictions outlined in Stage 1, that should help dial back demand to the point where we won't have to contemplate even stricter measures."
Find tips for how you can conserve water indoors and outdoors.
A Stage 1 Advisory includes several restrictions on irrigation.
The chart below outlines irrigation restrictions under conservation stages, with the current Stage 1 restrictions outlined in red. Note that your irrigation schedule depends on your service address. Even house numbers (e.g. 1010 Main St.) may irrigate on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Odd house numbers (e.g. 1011 Main St.) may irrigate on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.
On days when irrigation is permitted for your address, installed sprinkler systems may be operated from midnight to 6 a.m. and hose-end sprinklers from 6-10 a.m.
* Residential customers washing vehicles should use a trigger nozzle that automatically shuts off when not in use.
An application for a permit (mentioned in the table above) to allow for irrigation of new landscape may be found here.
Customers may use a hand-held hose at any time, but the hose must be equipped with a trigger nozzel that automatically shuts off when not in use.
Privately owned wells are not subject to Conservation Advisory restrictions, but CFPUA encourages all water users to follow the provisions.
During the Conservation Advisory, CFPUA staff will be conducting testing of the water system at various locations, a process that could include brief water flushing. This should not affect service to customers.
In addition, over the next several days, notices about the advisory will be posted at locations throughout the county.
You can get alerts about important events such as this advisory specific to your location by signing up for CFPUA’s new emergency alerts system called CivicReady.
CivicReady allows customers to receive customizable alerts in the event of an emergency that may affect their water or wastewater services or other critically important information. Alerts can be delivered by email, text message, telephone call. They also can be delivered in one of several languages.
The service is free and can be modified or canceled at any time. Sign up today at: www.CFPUA.org/CivicReady.