February 28, 2008, 6:00PM

STAGE THREE WATER USE RESTRICTIONS
AND WATER RATE SURCHARGES

On February 28th, the OWASA Board of Directors formally declared a Stage Three Water Shortage. Stage Three Water Use Restrictions will be in effect as of Saturday, March 1 and Stage Three Water Rate Surcharges will go into effect on a date to be determined. Please click here to read a March 11, 2008 news release on consideration of deferring the surcharges because our lakes have risen to 57% full as of March 11th.

To read the Stage Three restrictions on use of OWASA drinking water, please click here.

The Stage Three water rates are available by clicking here.

Reclaimed water is available at no charge for certain approved purposes at our Mason Farm Wastewater Treatment Plant on Old Mason Farm Road in southeast Chapel Hill. For more information, please click here.

To report a violation of the water use restrictions, please call us at 968-4421 or send an e-mail to webmaster@owasa.org.

The OWASA Board declared the Stage Three water shortage based on the following:

• Our lakes have steadily declined since they were last full in April, 2007 to 40 percent full as of February 28th. It is unprecedented for our lakes to be so low at this time of year.
• This may be another record-setting drought. Rainfall from May, 2007 through January, 2008 at our Cane Creek Reservoir, which is our community’s primary water source, has been only 50 percent of normal. 
• The National Weather Service has forecast that below normal rainfall will continue this spring.
• The water rate surcharges in effect in a Stage Three Water Shortage will provide a substantial incentive for customers to conserve, and will probably have more effect than the water use restrictions by themselves.

Stage Three water rates and surcharges

Rates for individually-metered residential customers, who pay “increasing block” water rates

Rates for businesses, institutions, other non-residential customers and for multi-family developments with master meters (one meter serves multiple residences)
In Stage 3 and Emergency water shortages, the surcharged water rate is 1.25 times the peak seasonal water rate of $5.85 per 1,000 gallons, for a surcharged rate of $7.31 per 1,000 gallons.

Reclaimed water available at no charge for certain non-drinking purposes

In order to help people with irrigation and certain other non-drinking uses, OWASA is offering highly treated wastewater to people with containers that hold at 50 gallons or more.

OWASA offers the highly-treated or “reclaimed” water at its Mason Farm Wastewater Treatment Plant on Old Mason Farm Road in southeast Chapel Hill, near Finley Golf Course.

The reclaimed water is available on weekdays other than holidays between 8:00 AM and 4:00 PM. Due to the current drought conditions, OWASA is not now charging for reclaimed water from the WWTP.

OWASA began offering reclaimed water in November, 2007 initially for people with containers that hold at least 250 gallons. In order to help more people during the Stage Three water shortage, OWASA now fills individual containers that hold at least 50 gallons.

Under the State’s permit issued to OWASA, reclaimed water can be used for the following:

• Irrigation of public and private landscapes and turf/grass (but irrigation of direct food chain crops such as vegetables is not allowed);
• Vehicle and equipment washing;
• Pressure washing of buildings, porches, decks and patios;
• Decorative fountains and ponds. However, if fountain or pond water is discarded, it must be returned to the sanitary sewer.
• Street sweeping (but not street cleaning);
• Soil compaction and dust control;
• Hydro-seeding and fertilizer mixing;
• Underground directional boring (not digging wells);
• Cooling tower make-up water;
• Concrete mixing and concrete cutting;
• Vehicle washing at government-owned facilities (no steam cleaning, engine or parts washing);
• Sewer cleaning by OWASA or contractors authorized by OWASA; and
• Firefighting.

However, reclaimed water users and haulers must receive training, which is available on Thursdays at 9:30 AM. To take the training, please call the Mason Farm WWTP staff at 537-4350 at least a day in advance. There is no fee for the training and it takes about 30 minutes.

Containers used to carry reclaimed water must be specially marked as explained in the training, and reclaimed water cannot be stored for more than 72 hours.
 
Additional information about Reclaimed Water:

In July, 2007, OWASA completed wastewater treatment improvements at the Mason Farm plant which make it possible to use OWASA’s highly treated wastewater for the non-drinking purposes listed above under State regulations.  OWASA received a State permit in early November allowing tanks brought to the WWTP to be filled with reclaimed water.

OWASA’s wastewater treatment process at the Mason Farm WWTP includes biological and chemical treatment, settling and filtration processes to remove solids.  The treated water is then disinfected with ultraviolet light. In addition, the reclaimed water available for non-drinking purposes is further disinfected with chlorine.  OWASA tests its reclaimed water regularly to ensure it meets water quality standards for bacterial control, etc.
  
OWASA encourages reclaimed water haulers to inform the community that they can provide reclaimed water to the general public for purposes allowed under the State rules.

In January 2008, a contractor working for OWASA began construction of a new pump station, storage tank, and pipeline that will initially deliver reclaimed water from the Mason Farm WWTP to the southern part of the main campus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  The reclaimed water system will initially provide make-up water for several of the University’s chilled water plant cooling towers, for which drinking water is now used.

The reclaimed water system is expected to be complete around March 2009. It will initially meet about 600,000 gallons a day of water needs, thereby reducing the community’s drinking water needs by about 7 percent.  The savings could grow to more than 2 million gallons per day, or 13 percent of local water needs, in about 20 years.

For more information, please contact Damon Forney, OWASA’s Wastewater Treatment and Biosolids Recycling Manager, at 537-4352 or dforney@owasa.org.

PENALTIES FOR VIOLATING THE WATER USE RESTRICTIONS
For a willful, serious violation or for repeated violations of the water use restrictions, OWASA may terminate service.

A violation of the Town or County Water Conservation ordinance shall constitute a misdemeanor punishable upon conviction by a fine not exceeding fifty dollars ($50.00) or imprisonment not exceeding thirty (30) days as provided by General Statute Section 14-4 and in addition thereto such violation may be enjoined and restrained as provided in General Statute Section 160A-175.

A violation of this ordinance shall subject the offender to a civil penalty of twenty-five dollars for the first offense, fifty dollars for the second offense within a thirty-day period, and one hundred dollars for the third or any additional offense that occurs within any thirty-day period.

The Town or County may seek to recover the penalty by filing a civil action in the nature of a debt if penalties are not paid within 30 days.
Each day that a violation continues after the offender has been notified of the violation shall constitute a separate offense. The Town or County may seek to enforce the ordinance by using any one or a combination of the above.