tempS rise AND so do cary ’s conservation EDUCATION efforts in annual BEAT THE PEAK campaign

Cary promotes the message to Hesitate Before You Irrigate

CARY, NC – The Triangle’s first community to implement mandatory alternate day watering is taking its annual Beat the Peak initiative to the streets this month as they kickoff the “Hesitate Before You Irrigate:  Consider your Options” campaign, which encourages customers to reduce peak demand and help preserve our finite natural resources by irrigating efficiently.  Part of the Town’s comprehensive, year-round water conservation program, Beat the Peak is the annual, summer water conservation initiative to educate its utility customers about outdoor water conservation and to encourage them to water wisely.

Now in its tenth year, the Beat the Peak Campaign uses several conventional and innovative information vehicles such as television, radio, newspaper, and cinema ads, the Town’s Web site, local media interviews, direct mail, free WaterWise Workshops, and promotional items to educate and encourage residents to conserve water. 

“This year, we are asking residents to consider using alternate tools and techniques for outdoor watering, such as checking your soil moisture level prior to watering and expanding natural areas to reduce the need to irrigate,” said Marie Cefalo, Cary’s Water Conservation Coordinator.  “To help boost awareness, we are distributing conservation slide guides that outline a variety of options for outdoor irrigation.” 

Slide guides will be distributed to neighborhoods served by Block Leaders – residents who volunteer as grassroots environmental educators to help reduce water use – and at the Town’s annual Lazy Daze Festival.  Utility customers in Morrisville should begin receiving the slide guides by mail in early June.  Citizens may also request a slide guide by calling (919) 462-3872.     

“Hesitate Before You Irrigate” represents the overall goal of the Town’s three, year-round water ordinances aimed at decreasing demand by conserving water, including: Alternate Day Watering, Water Waste and Rain Sensor ordinances.  The Alternate Day Watering Ordinance allows customers to use automatic irrigation systems or hoses and sprinklers three specified days per week; even numbered addresses can water on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Odd numbered addressees can water on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.  While residents are permitted to water three days a week, a healthy landscape may not require irrigating on all three days.  Watering by hand (with cans, wands, or hand-held hoses) is allowed any day of the week including Monday. 

As part of the Water Waste Ordinance, residents are not permitted to irrigate on impervious surfaces such as streets and driveways and water their landscape to the degree that it causes runoff down curbs and into stormdrains.  Lastly, the Rain Sensor Ordinance requires a rain sensor set at ¼ inch on all automatic irrigation systems.   

As an added incentive, the Town uses a tiered water rate structure in which efficient and essential water uses are captured in the lower tiers.  Discretionary use such as irrigation can bump customers into higher, more expensive ones.

The Beat the Peak campaign is just one of many initiatives the Town has implemented to decrease the Town’s overall water consumption by 20 percent by 2015.  Citizens interested in becoming a Block Leader and helping promote conservation awareness in Cary should contact Srijana Guilford at srijana.guilford@townofcary.org or call 462-3872.

For more on these and other water conservation initiatives, click on Water Conservation at www.townofcary.org. 

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