Water-heavy businesses brace for Raleigh restrictions as drought persists
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- As drought conditions persist across Wake County, new water restrictions are set to take effect Monday, prompting concerns among business owners and residents who say the lack of rainfall is already taking a toll.
Raleigh Water customers will face new watering limitations under the restrictions. Residents living at odd-numbered addresses will be allowed to water on Tuesdays, while those at even-numbered addresses can water on Wednesdays. Raleigh Water serves more than 650,000 residents in Raleigh as well as Garner, Wake Forest, Rolesville, Knightdale, Wendell and Zebulon.
For businesses that rely heavily on water, the timing is especially challenging. At Creative Cousins Florist & Gifts in Garner, owner Karen Mattocks said the restrictions come during one of the busiest periods of the year.
"We're in the middle of prom," Mattocks said. "Prom is zooming right now through the week."
Her team was hard at work Friday, fulfilling orders to get through this stretch.
"I haven't placed a Mother's Day order yet because of the drought," she said.
Mattocks said this is the first drought she has encountered since opening the business five years ago.
"It does have an impact on where we buy from. The quality that we get. The prices go up," Mattocks said. "Sometimes the blooms are smaller because they're cutting them way too soon, or they're not cutting them enough."
She plans to absorb higher costs rather than pass them on to customers and is considering using more artificial flowers, which do not require water.
"We can use oasis sometimes in different arrangements, which are blocks that absorb the water," Mattocks said. "Those do last a little longer. You don't have to put as much water in it, but that's the only thing that's really going to save on the (use of) water."
At Ken's Produce & Garden Center in Garner, owner Ken Walker said the dry weather has disrupted operations during what is typically a busy spring season.
"People are beginning to get scared of buying a lot of plants because they don't know about the rain," Walker said. "It's impacting us on the retail end. We're selling a little less than normal."
Walker said his planting schedule is now about two to three weeks behind, with some fields remaining bare because of a lack of moisture in the ground.
"We do corn. We do cut flowers. Sunflowers is one of our big things, and sunflowers should be coming up," Walker said. "But we've not even planted yet."
He said some crops may have to be bypassed entirely if conditions do not improve soon.
"We will skip it if there's not enough time to do what we need to do with some of our vegetables," Walker said. "Now we do plant some of our own vegetables, and we'll have (instead) of an early crop, it might be a late crop if we can get some rain to get back planting."
Residents say the effects of the drought are already visible. Blake Adcock, who works at Ken's Produce & Garden Center and lives in Garner, said declining water levels and dry conditions are noticeable, especially with recent high winds.
"You can see it's low. You can see everything's lower than it usually is," Adcock said.
Those conditions have taken a toll.
"It's very dry, especially with the high winds. Just the dust flying around is (awful for) my sinuses."
In Garner, a town spokesperson said the parks and recreation department is not currently seeing effects from the drought but would reassess if conditions persist longer. In Wendell, officials said watering of soccer fields will be paused, though other maintenance will continue as usual.
