Raleigh's Unsustainable Water Supply

In my home town of Raleigh, North Carolina, and the areas surrounding (collectively known as the Triangle), there have been recent issues with providing water for residents at a sustainable level. Presently, there are two lakes that provide all of the water for the three major counties that make up the Triangle area, Jordan Lake and Falls Lake. Jordan Lake was built in 1967 and Falls Lake was in 1981, with no new water supply sources being created since then. While the water supply has stayed constant, the population has skyrocketed. In 1970, the population of the Triangle was about 419,000 and as of the most recent census in 2000 (nine years ago), the population of the Triangle was about 1.11 million. With the Triangle being the fastest growing region in America, this number is bound to have increased astronomically.

In 2007, the lack of water finally caught up to the area. When drought hit, the huge reserve that would have easily carried the area in 1970 proved to be insufficient. Falls Lake dropped to 8.88 ft below the normal level and came within 100 days of running out of water. Raleigh was forced to enact strict water regulations, such as no watering lawns, no washing cars, and so on. But as soon as Falls Lake filled back up, Raleigh canceled all regulations, setting themselves up for the same problem to happen again.

Plans have been place to build a 6-mile lake along the Little River, located about 8-miles from Raleigh, which could supply 17 million more gallons per day; however, this project has been on hold for a while and cannot be finished until 2017 at the earliest. Beyond that, there are no other plans to increase the Triangle’s water supply.

The Triangle is walking a fine line with disaster right now. It would only take one broken dam or one more major drought to completely rid the area of all water. Imagine the causalities that could result if a whole city woke up one morning and there was no water to come out of the faucet. With potential areas of improvement, the Raleigh area needs to act soon. They need to create more and diversify their water supply. They also need to create permanent regulations that will cut down on wasteful water practices. With America using more water than any other country in the world, averaging 69.3 gallons per person per day (twice as much as other industrialized countries), cutting down our water use is a realistic goal. No matter what, something must be done soon before disaster strikes.