Due to dropping water levels, Siler City citizens are being asked to reduce their daily water usage.
The North Carolina State Climate Office lists much of central North Carolina as being in a moderate drought. Those conditions have caused the reservoirs at the Siler City water filtration facility to dip below 70 percent capacity.
The facility’s reservoirs can hold more than 800 million gallons of raw water, and the plant typically produces around 3 million gallons of finished water per day. When the reservoirs dip below 70 percent capacity, it triggers a stage 1 water shortage warning. That is the first and least restrictive action level. It calls for water users to reduce their normal water consumption by 10 percent – potentially by eliminating outdoor water use, preventing water waste, and washing only full loads of clothes and dishes.
Water reduction activities with stage 1 are all voluntary and there are no penalties for noncompliance.
A stage 1 water shortage response happens once or twice every year or two in Siler City, according to plant administrator Adam Pickett.
“It’s something to take seriously but not panic about,” Pickett said. “A heavy rain that dumps a couple inches in the right area could sufficiently fill up our reservoir overnight.”