Walnut Creek cuts its water use
By Anessa Myers
Published in News on January 24, 2008 2:10 PM
Residents of Walnut Creek are doing their part to help with the statewide water conservation effort.
During the last three months of 2007, Village Administrator Lou Cook said he had every gallon of water that went through their system tracked and compared to 2006's numbers for the same months.
And at the Village Council's first meeting of the new year, they discussed how the tally came out.
"The residents have really stepped up," Cook said.
Village residents conserved more than 200,000 gallons less during November and December of this year than they did during those months in 2006.
The numbers for October of 2007 were a little higher than those in 2006, but, Mayor Darrell Horne explained, many were still irrigating their lawns at that time.
The talk of conserving water turned to the village's water shortage ordinance.
But in order to make sure that the ordinance was up to par, the council made a few changes before it adopted the revised ordinance, including the regulation of village system water only and no regulation of private well water or lake water.
The council also discussed a change in permits for non-powered watercraft like kayaks, canoes, paddleboats and sailboats.
The village Lake Committee recommended that the fee for the watercraft be half the fee for a standard powered watercraft, meaning residents would pay $25 for non-powered craft and $50 for their powered counterparts. The committee also recommended to keep the liability insurance requirement for all watercraft for safety reasons. The council agreed with both recommendations.
In other business, council members discusse a franchise agreement with Progress Energy.