The city water folks want you to quit using so much of their product. They mean it.
According to a statement from City Hall, the water department has put out extra patrols to look for conservation-ordinance violators, and wants citizens to tell on any they suspect.
Not there's another water shortage on the horizon — Lake Michie and the Little River Reservoir are just a little bit down from normal. But —
Those wonderful folks at City Hall have made rental, multifamily, commercial, industrial, and institutional city-water customers are now eligible for the city's money-back deal on toilets.
Such parties can get $100 rebates on up to 75 EPA-certified high-efficiency potties when they put them in place of old-time, water wasting models. Previously the rebates were only offered to single-family residential customers.
And those who have already installed one "WaterSense" potty and claimed a rebate can now get more for any other swaps made since the program started in 2008.
Rebates are deducted from water bills, not handed out in cash.
According to the water department, commodes flush between 20 and 30 percent of the water that households consume. Replacing 1,000 old-style water-wasting commodes could conserve around 7 million gallons of drinking-grade water a year.
Rebates are offered first-come, first-served and customers can expect to wait at least 120 days for retroactive rebate credits to be applied to their accounts. Retroactive credits have already been applied for customers whose initial rebate application indicated they replaced more than one toilet.
The rebate form, a link to approved toilets, and more details are available at www.DurhamSavesWater.org or by calling the 560-4381.
Donald F. Greeley, Durham's interim water director since last July, gets to drop the "interim" Monday.
City Manager Tom Bonfield has named Greeley the water department's boss, at a salary of $120,000 a year.
He succeeds Terry Rolan, who retired in 2007. Before being named an interim director, Greeley had been a deputy director and systems engineer under Rolan.
A Brown University graduate in civil engineering, Greeley has worked for the city almost 25 years. He has finished coursework for a master's degree in environmental engineering at Duke University, and completed management-training programs at the University of North Carolina and Virginia Tech.
