The city of Raleigh will move to Stage 2 water restrictions on Feb. 15. The stricter measures are meant to save more water but how much will be saved is hard to say.
RALEIGH -- The city of Raleigh will move to Stage 2 water restrictions on Feb. 15. The stricter measures are meant to save more water but how much will be saved is hard to say.
The tighter measures will have an impact on some car washes in the Capitol City. After Feb. 15, washing cars will only be allowed at a handful of places. Bunkey's Car Wash on Glenwood Avenue is one of them.
"We had a bunch of criteria we had to abide by, and they came in and made sure that we had it all correct," explained Bunkey’s owner Bill Gabello.
Bunkey’s washes cars with recycled water, has repaired leaks, and has even switched to low-flow toilets. The changes will allow the shop to stay open when the city moves to Stage 2 restrictions.
"As long as they say we can stay open, we recycle our water, we're ready to go," Gabello said.
Stage 2 restrictions also ban pressure washing and handheld irrigation. The restrictions do not prohibit builders from testing new city water connections as long as they use recaptured water. Car washes that do not use reclaimed water will be closed, at least temporarily.
"Stage 2 might not save as much water as eliminating irrigation, per say, but hopefully it will keep the public informed that we are still in a big drought," said Ed Buchan, a water conservation specialist with the city of Raleigh.
The big drought keeps getting worse. Falls Lake is down to 110 days of drinking water.
"The council did ask us to look at what would be the next level of water restrictions," Buchan said.
At this point, all options are still on the table. Tighter restrictions could affect even more businesses.
"I do have a well on site that hasn't been used in 15 years, but it's there and it's ready to go," Gabello said.