Easley’s battle cry: Turn down the taps
Friday, December 21st, 2007
By Chris Fitzsimon
With 78 of 100 counties in ‘exceptional’ drought, governor says it’s patriotic to save water. He urges tiered billing and calls a summit of hardest-hit systems
Benjamin Niolet and Matthew Eisley, Staff Writers RALEIGH - Gov. Mike Easley, who has little power to control water consumption, again used the prominence of his job Thursday to broadcast a message he has repeated for months now: We are using too much water.
Easley told a special meeting of experts, officials and water managers that residents are slipping in their efforts to conserve in the face of the worst drought in state history and that everyone has to do more. Seventy-eight of the state’s 100 counties are experiencing "exceptional" drought, the most intensive category as defined by the U.S. Drought Monitor.
The governor tried to appeal to consumers’ wallets and their sense of duty.
Easley urged water systems to make it expensive to waste water, and he cast the need to cut back in patriotic terms. He is making it easier to track how much water is being used and saved, and wants to get extra help and attention to the water systems most in danger of running dry.
Here are the highlights of Easley’s program. (more…)
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