Set sprinklers to water the lawn or garden only - not the street or sidewalk.
Use the microwave to cook small meals. (It uses less power than an oven.)
Purchase "Green Power" for your home's electricity. (Contact your power supplier to see where and if it is available.)
Scrape, rather than rinse, dishes before loading into the dishwasher; wash only full loads.
Cut back on air conditioning and heating use if you can.
Turn off appliances and lights when you leave the room.
Where storm water fees go Most cities and towns in the Carolinas have a set amount of money they allocate to fulfill their storm water requirement. Some of the money is funded by you, the taxpayer.
In the town of Harrisburg, you pay your monthly water and sewage bill. Part of that money goes to the storm water requirement that is mandated by the state and federal governments.
The towns are required to come up with funding options to pay for it.
Derek Slocum, town engineer for Harrisburg, says, “The town of Harrisburg has hired a consulting firm out of Charlotte and they helped the town develop a storm water ordinance over the last year. They’re doing a stream inventory right now and so all of that costs money.”
Slocum adds the storm water fees also pay for the town to review the plans when prospective developers propose projects to the town.
In the last year, 100 communities in North Carolina, including the town of Harrisburg, have implemented the storm water requirement. It’s safe to say all of the cities in the Carolinas want you to know when it rains that water goes into the storm drain. That water is not treated and eventually that rain water goes into our creeks and lakes.
If you’d like to know how your town uses the money, visit www.centralina.org.
