Dependable Erection

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Duke and the drought

I was re-reading the post below about Duke's "news article" which talks about how they're reducing water consumption. Here's what jumped out at me:
Duke is among about 40 commercial water consumers that received a Stage III license, allowing for minimal watering of critical areas such as select trees at risk and some athletic fields for safety.

The Stage III ordinance requires all customers to document efforts toward a goal of 30 percent water reduction.

Umm, actually, no. Stage III bans all outdoor watering except for drip irrigation and hand watering, and that only on Saturdays between 5am and 8am or 5pm and 8pm. To qualify for an exemption, according to the city's website:
Customers may secure a written license from the city manager (or his designee) to use water contrary to the Stage III mandatory conservation measures if it can be shown to the manager's satisfaction that the licensee's use of water will result in an overall thirty (30) percent or greater reduction in water use. Any license issued pursuant to this provision: (1) must be in the possession of the licensee whenever water is used contrary to the Stage III mandatory conservation measures; and (2) is subject to amendment or revocation by the city manager at any time for good cause.


Duke's interpretation of the exemption is far from the case. It's not a question of "documenting efforts," according to the city. It's a matter of achieving "an overall thirty percent or greater reduction in water use."

We ask again. Has Duke (and any other exempt entity) achieved this 30% reduction in water use? And who's keeping track?

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1 Comments:

  • There's probably no one keeping track.

    There is no precedent for this drought or the measures that were drawn up to deal with it---WHEN?---in the event of a water shortage. I mean come on, some of these "measures" don't sound like real "stop using water NOW" strategies to me. Do they to you?

    Say, I wonder if that bomb shelter is still out back--and is there any water in it?

    By Blogger Tony, at 9:15 PM  

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