Boone may turn up tap for water allocation
By Frank Ruggiero
ruggiero@wataugademocrat.com

Watauga County may still be in drought, but Boone is about to get wetter – at least as far as water allocations go.

Allocations may grow more abundant, after the Boone Water Study Committee voted to recommend an increase in the town’s yearly water allotment for customer allocation.

Under Ordinance 05-01, which was written to conserve water until the town’s system could be upgraded to meet future needs, the town was permitted to allocate 25,000 gallons per day (gpd) per year.

The ordinance was also written to be flexible, with the committee expected to review the policies and determine if allocation amounts needed adjustment.

The committee found adjustment necessary at its meeting Thursday, Nov. 8, after reviewing a water usage history from Boone Public Utilities, and recommended the town boost its yearly water allotment to 50,000 gpd for the next four years.

With October as the peak month for water usage, the highest five-day average this year amounted to 2.25 million gallons per day (mgd). Were the town’s usage to reach 2.7 mgd (90 percent of its treatment capacity), the state could impose a moratorium on new allocations.

Committee members subtracted the actual usage of 2.25 mgd from 2.7, arriving at 450,000 gpd. Accounting for developments already under way, the committee allocated 200,000 gpd from the 450,000, leaving 250,000 gpd.

From there, 30,000 gpd were allocated over three years (10,000 gpd each year) for vacant lots, which were previously accounting for 143,000 gpd. With 220,000 gpd left, committee members assigned 50,000 gpd per year for the yearly allotment through 2011, leaving a 20,000 gpd margin of error.

Rick Miller, director of Boone Public Utilities, said the committee will review the numbers annually to modify the ordinance as necessary. “They wiped the slate clean this October,” he said. “We haven’t looked at it since 2004; not until this meeting. That was the big thing I wanted from [the committee], to look at these numbers every year.”

The original formula was drafted according to the Water System Hydraulic Analysis and Master Plan in 2004, which reported the remaining water for the town system ranged from 400,000 to 750,000 gpd, and the town’s would follow this estimate until actual usage numbers were obtained.

Boone Town Council and committee member Bunk Spann moved that the council review the modifications for approval at its regular meeting Thursday, Nov. 15, but committee member Pam Williamson wished to make a friendly amendment.

“…The reason for the increase … is due to the fact that the committee reviewed actual use versus predicted use, as was required by the ordinance,” she said, “…and those are the reasons for this increase and that will be the reason for either increases or decreases a year from now.”

Spann accepted Williamson’s amendment, committee member Steve Owen seconded, and the recommendation was passed unanimously.

State II Water Shortage Condition
Also at the committee meeting, the Boone Town Council took steps to ensure a Stage II Water Shortage Condition could be declared promptly, if necessary.

Miller informed council and committee members that the water ordinance requires that two storage tanks drop to 10 feet or less of storage before a Stage II condition can be declared.

Miller said he spoke with regulatory agencies and other municipalities, including Hickory and Durham, all of which agreed “it may be too late when we get to that point.”

“There’s no way tomorrow if the stream goes dry that we could go to Stage II, because we don’t have two tanks down to 10 foot,” he said.

The town remains in the Stage I Water Shortage Condition, which encourages voluntary water conservation, but Stage II would enforce conservation and even affect area business, specifically commercial car washes, which could be required to shut down until conditions improved.

Miller said the town could follow suit with ordinances from other municipalities, some of which allow washes to operate on certain days or sometimes exempt such businesses that recycle water.

“The governor’s also asked governments to look seriously at enacting more stringent conservation measures,” council member Janet Pepin said. “Have we discussed moving from Stage I to Stage II?”

“We have not because of the two-tank requirement,” Miller said.

Town manager Greg Young explained that the “two-tank requirement” was intended for a major break in the system, rather than a drought.

The council unanimously agreed to amend the current water and sewer ordinance to remove the requirement.