Could Drought Raise Your Water Bill?
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CHARLOTTE, NC — Charlotte is in a drought. Right now water restrictions are voluntary, but could soon be mandatory. The last time that happened, people were burned by higher water bills. Now as yards continue to bake and brown, and local farmers feel the heat, we’re finding out how it could affect your bottom line.
“It’s killing us,” says Mr. Robinson. “We can’t hardly get anything now.”
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Mr. Robinson has seen drought before, working the Charlotte Regional Farmer’s Market for more than 30 years.
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“If you look at the yards, you can tell how it’s drying up,” he says. “It’ll tell you how the fields will be. You can’t irrigate the big fields, because we don’t have any water in the ponds.”
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Our lack of rain is hurting crops: beans, corn and okra are all scarce. And it’s not just right now. If this drought continues, late crops will suffer, and so could your wallet.
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“People complain about the price of watermelons,” says Robinson. “Watermelons are cheap according to the ones we got now, according to what it’s going to be like later on.”
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Charlotte Water says he learned from the drought in 2007-2008; the last time water restrictions were mandatory. Rates went up because people conserved. New, flat rate billing should stop that from happening again.
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Current lake levels, incoming water and the national drought index will determine whether we get to mandatory restrictions.
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“The best thing that residents can do is to stop watering their lawns,” says Charlotte Water spokesperson Louise Bhavnani. “Irrigation is the highest use of water. And so if we just have some brown lawns for a little while, it would be much better.”
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Right now Charlotte Water is asking customers to only water lawns between 6:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday and Saturday.
