An empty turtle shell lies on the bed of part of the Siler City Reservoir, just north of town. What normally would be under nine feet of water, is now a dried up bed of land with a small stream running down the center of it. Stage Three water restrictions are set to go in effect Monday, October 8.

Police citing water offenders

Firefighters and law enforcement officers are also being affected by Siler City’s water shortages.

The Siler City Police Department is cracking down on those failing to conserve water.

As of Monday, October 1 the police department stopped issuing warning tickets and began only issuing state citations.

"This citation includes a court appearance and a $500 fine," Police Chief Gary Tyson said.

The department issued the first water citation September 11 and has since cited 22 people.

Two tickets were issued to McDonalds on West Eleventh Street for unlawful usage of water. Another ticket was issued to a private citizen for washing his porch.

Each of these citizens were charged $500 and scheduled to appear in court October 2 and 30th.

Tyson said not only are his officers patrolling neighborhoods and looking for violators but the department has received many calls.

"People in the community who are following the water restrictions feel slighted and resent those who are not," he said. "We check out the calls and cite these people if we find them in violation."

He said he has received many reports of people using water hoses at night.

 more- See Thursday, October 4,2007 paper: Vol 87, No.44

By Angela Delp

With no rainfall and none in the forecast, Siler City’s water supply continues to rapidly dwindle.

To aid many drought-stricken North Carolina towns, Governor Mike Easley is dispatching teams from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to work with local communities hit hardest by the drought to explore and implement ways to minimize water consumption and extend available resources.

Town manager Joel Brower confirmed Friday that while he has not been contacted by the governor’s office, he "would welcome help from the state."

"We have met with the governor’s office in previous years during droughts and have learned things they wanted us to do, such as getting our citizens and industries to cooperate with our restrictions," he said.

Brower added that while the town implemented voluntary water restrictions in May and made the restrictions mandatory last month, he and town officials are "hoping and praying we will get some rain soon."

"Today, we are nine inches away from being on stage three of our water restrictions," he said.

According to the town’s ordinance, Siler City will enact stage three restrictions when the reservoir drops to 12 feet below full.

At this point, Brower said the town has, at most, a 90-day supply of water before running out.

Stage three restrictions prohibit all outside uses of water except in cases of fire.

Industries would be required to reduce their water consumption by 50 percent.

"We will likely reach this point before October 8," he said.

Mayor Charles Turner said Friday that the town planned to sign a resolution Monday, October 1 that would put the stage three restrictions in place.

"We would sign it Monday just to get the word out to our businesses and our citizens but the restrictions really wouldn’t start until the following Monday," he said. "This way, we would be able to get the word to them early."

Brower said while the town has not begun writing letters concerning the more stringent restrictions, officials have begun making phone calls to alert the industries.

Turner added that he "appreciates the 100-percent cooperation from the industries, particularly the chicken plants."

"They have been hauling water 24 hours a day from Pittsboro, Ramseur and Robbins," he said. "I fear the plants won’t be able to haul water from reservoirs in these towns, as their water levels are also dropping quickly.

"There is only one solution- we need it to rain."

 more- See Thursday, October 4,2007 paper: Vol 87, No.44

By Angela Delp

The town of Siler City has spread the word about its water woes to both the English and Spanish speaking residents.

Siler City town manager Joel Brower said town officials had been very proactive in reaching the Spanish-speaking populations.

"We have translated and released our restrictions in Spanish," he said. "We have sent them to the Hispanic radio station here in town.

"We were interviewed last week by a statewide Hispanic newspaper," he said.

He added that the Hispanic Liaison has been instrumental in helping get the word out.

"Yajaira Hernandez, who is one of our customer service representative in the water department, has also helped us by distributing our water restrictions in Spanish to local grocery stores and Hispanic businesses," he said.

"We have had great participation from all of our citizens."

 more- See Thursday, October 4,2007 paper: Vol 87, No.44