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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFarmville-WSRPFarmville Water Shortage Response Plan Farmville Water Shortage Response Plan Town of Farmville, North Carolina August 4, 2010 The procedures herein are written to reduce potable water demand and supplement existing drinking water supplies whenever existing water supply sources are inadequate to meet current demands for potable water. I. Authorization The Farmville Town Manager shall enact the following water shortage response provisions whenever the trigger conditions outlined in Section IV are met. In her absence, the Public Works Director will assume this role. Mr. Richard N. Hicks Farmville Town Manager Phone: (252) 753-6700 E-mail: rhicks@farmville-nc.com Mr. Paul Ellis Town of Farmville Public Works Director Phone: (252) 753-5921 E-mail: pellis@farmville-nc.com II. Notification The following notification methods will be used to inform water system employees and customers of a water shortage declaration: employee e-mail announcements, notices at municipal buildings, notices in water bills and on the Town of Farmville website http://www.farmville-nc.com. Required water shortage response measures will be communicated through PSA announcements on local radio and cable stations. Declaration of emergency water restrictions or water rationing will be communicated to all customers by telephone. III. Levels of Response Five levels of water shortage response are outlined in the table below. The five levels of water shortage response are: voluntary reductions, mandatory reductions I and II, emergency reductions and water rationing. A detailed description of each response level and corresponding water reduction measures follow below. NC Division of Water Resources http://www.ncwater.org 1 Farmville Water Shortage Response Plan Stage Response Description 1 Voluntary Reductions Water users are encouraged to reduce their water use and improve water use efficiency; however, no penalties apply for noncompliance. Water supply conditions indicate a potential for shortage. 2 Mandatory Reductions I Water users must abide required water use reduction and efficiency measures; penalties apply for noncompliance. Water supply conditions are significantly lower than the seasonal norm and water shortage conditions are expected to persist. 3 Mandatory Reductions II Same as in Stage 2 4 Emergency Reductions Water supply conditions are substantially diminished and pose an imminent threat to human health or environmental integrity. 5 Water Rationing Water supply conditions are substantially diminished and remaining supplies must be allocated to preserve human health and environmental integrity. In Stage 1, Voluntary Reductions, all water users will be asked to reduce their normal water use by 5%. Customer education and outreach programs will encourage water conservation and efficiency measures including: irrigating landscapes a maximum of one inch per week; preventing water waste, runoff and watering impervious surfaces; watering plants deeply to encourage root growth; washing only full loads in clothes and dishwashers; using spring-loaded nozzles on garden hoses; and identifying and repairing all water leaks. In Stage 2, Mandatory Reductions I, all customers are expected to reduce their water use by 10% in comparison to their previous month’s water bill. In addition to continuing to encourage all voluntary reduction actions, the following restrictions apply: irrigation is limited to a half inch per week between 8PM and 8AM; outdoor use of drinking water for washing impervious surfaces is prohibited; and all testing and training purposes requiring drinking water (e.g. fire protection) will be limited. In Stage 3, Mandatory Reductions II, customers must continue actions from all previous stages and further reduce water use by 20% compared to their previous month’s water bill. All non-essential uses of drinking water are banned and garden and landscape irrigation must be reduced to the minimum amount necessary for survival. Additionally, in Stage 3, a drought surcharge of 1.5 times the normal water rate applies. In Stage 4, Emergency Reductions, customers must continue all actions from previous stages and further reduce their water use by 25% compared to their previous month’s water bill. A ban on all use of drinking water except to protect public health and safety is implemented and drought surcharges increase to 2 times the normal water rate. NC Division of Water Resources http://www.ncwater.org 2 Farmville Water Shortage Response Plan The goal of Stage 5, Water Rationing, is to provide drinking water to protect public health (e.g. residences, residential health care facilities and correctional facilities). In Stage 5, all customers are only permitted to use water at the minimum required for public health protection. Firefighting is the only allowable outdoor water use and pickup locations for distributing potable water will be announced according to Farmville’s Emergency Response Plan. Drought surcharges increase to 5 times the normal water rate. IV. Triggers The Town of Farmville’s water source is groundwater. The following measurements of well pumping times and well levels in relationship to pump intake levels trigger entry into corresponding water restriction stages. Stage Well Operating Conditions 1 Pumping Time >10 hrs 20% reduction in seasonal normal distance from static water level and pump intake 20% increase pumping time for same output 2 Pumping Time >12 hrs 40% reduction in distance from static water level and pump intake 40% increase pumping time for same output 3 Pumping Time >14 hrs 60% reduction in distance from static water level and pump intake 60% increase pumping time for same output 4 Pumping Time >20 hrs 80% reduction in distance from static water level and pump intake 5 Water level at pump intake elevation Farmville is provided water also by purchase from the Greenville Utilities Commission (as of July 2010). When Greenville Utilities Commission declares a water shortage Farmville is required to do so as well. During this time Farmville Public Works Director will stay in close contact with Greenville Utilities Commission and follow their triggers. Return to Normal When water shortage conditions have abated and the situation is returning to normal, water conservation measures employed during each phase should be decreased in reverse order of implementation. Permanent measures directed toward long-term monitoring and conservation should be implemented or continued so that the community will be in a better position to prevent shortages and respond to recurring water shortage conditions. NC Division of Water Resources http://www.ncwater.org 3 Farmville Water Shortage Response Plan V. Enforcement The provisions of the water shortage response plan will be enforced by Town of Farmville Public Works department and police personnel. Violators may be reported on the town’s Phone line. Citations are assessed according to the following schedule depending on the number of prior violations and current level of water shortage. Water Shortage Level First Violation Second Violation Third Violation Voluntary Reductions N/A N/A N/A Mandatory Reductions (Stages 2 and 3) Warning $250 Discontinuation of Service Emergency Reductions $250 Discontinuation of Service Discontinuation of Service Water Rationing $500 Discontinuation of Service Discontinuation of Service Drought surcharge rates are effective in Stages 3, 4 and 5. VI. Public Comment Customers will have multiple opportunities to comment on the provisions of the water shortage response plan. First, a draft plan will be will be available at Town Hall for customers to view. A notice will be included in customer water bill notifying them of such. Notice will be printed in all customer water bills to collect comments on the draft. All subsequent revisions to the draft plan will be published at least 30 days prior to an adoption vote by Farmville’s Town Commissioners. VII. Variance Protocols Applications for water use variance requests are available from the Town of Farmville website and Town Public Works Office. All applications must be submitted to the Public Works Office for review by the Public Works Director or his or her designee. A decision to approve or deny individual variance requests will be determined within two weeks of submittal after careful consideration of the following criteria: impact on water demand, expected duration, alternative source options, social and economic importance, purpose (i.e. necessary use of drinking water) and the prevention of structural damage. VIII. Effectiveness The effectiveness of the Farmville water shortage response plan will be determined by comparing the stated water conservation goals with observed water use reduction data. NC Division of Water Resources http://www.ncwater.org 4 Farmville Water Shortage Response Plan Other factors to be considered include frequency of plan activation, any problem periods without activation, total number of violation citations, desired reductions attained and evaluation of demand reductions compared to the previous year’s seasonal data. IX. Revision The water shortage response plan will be reviewed and revised as needed to adapt to new circumstances affecting water supply and demand, following implementation of emergency restrictions, and at a minimum of every five years in conjunction with the updating of our Local Water Supply Plan. Further, a water shortage response planning work group will review procedures following each emergency or rationing stage to recommend any necessary improvements to the plan to Farmville’s Town Commissioners. The Town of Farmville Public Works Director is responsible for initiating all subsequent revisions. NC Division of Water Resources http://www.ncwater.org 5