By Sarah Campbell
scampbell@salisburypost.com
CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Town Board adopted a water shortage response ordinance Monday.
The ordinance outlines procedures to reduce water demand and supplement existing drinking water supplies when sources are considered inadequate.
“If something was to happen we would have guidelines to go by if for some reason we started running out of water, which several years ago is something a lot of people were worried about when we were going through a drought,” Mayor Pro Tem Danny Gabriel said.
The plan includes the following five stages:
Voluntary reductions — All water users will be asked to reduced their normal water use by 5 percent.
Mandatory reductions I — All customers are expected to reduce their water use by 20 percent in comparison to the previous month’s water bill; irrigation is limited to a half inch per week between 8 p.m. and 8 p.m.; outdoor use of drinking after for washing impervious surfaces is prohibited; all testing and training purposes requiring drinking water such as fire protection will be limited.
Mandatory reductions II — Customers must continue actions from all previous stages and further reduce water by 20 percent compared ot thier previous month’s water bill, all non-essential uses of drinking water are banned.
Emergency reductions — Customers must continue all actions from previous stages and further reduce their water use by 25 percent compared to their previous month’s water bill, a ban on all use of drinking water except to protect public health and safety.
Water rationing — Provide drinking water to protect public health, all customers are only permitted to use water at the minium required for public health protection, firefighting is the only allowable outdoor water use.
If the ordinance goes into effect, the town maintenence department and police personnel will enforce it through warnings and fines between $250 and $500.
Well operating conditions such as pumping times and levels are also subject to restrictions.
Town Clerk Cathy Payne said there are currently no issues with water shortages. She said the town opted to create it’s own plan rather than falling under the umbrella of state guidelines, which after more strict.
Cleveland’s water shortage plan follows state guidelines and was approved by state officials prior to Monday’s meeting.

---

In other action
The Cleveland Town Board also:
• Approved a site plan for Daimler Trucks to build a 60- by 25-foot water halo system.
Travis Bullock, the company’s facility engineering supervisor, said the automated system, which looks like a car wash, will be used for quality control checks to ensure trucks have no windshield or cab leaks
• Approved the use of the Town Hall for four storytelling events hosted by the Rowan Public Library. The events will be held June 16 and 30 and July 14 and 28.
Contact reporter Sarah Campbell at 704-797-7683.