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day. Within one week, it will be 20 million gallons a day with the completion of two new filters and other
<br />improvements that are planned. So, by the end of the month, our capacity will be up to 20 million gallons a
<br />day. And you can see that's none too soon because the projected peak day demand, we are at that capacity
<br />now. So with that improvement, the capacity of the water plant, again with the assumptions that we're
<br />serving only within our service area, should be good for another 15 years.
<br />A couple of words about conservation and demand management. We have implemented a new
<br />rate structure. We went from a uniform rate, every thousand gallons they're charged with the same, to a rate
<br />where from May through September each year, the commodity charge far water has increased a lot. And
<br />then from October through the following April, the commodity charge goes down a lot. Seventy percent of our
<br />residential customers under this rate structure, adding up 12 months of bills, will be little change. But for the
<br />smaller percentage of the customers that use a lot mare water in the summer than they do in the winter, they
<br />are going to see a higher bill. And that's sending a price signal to those customers to conserve, hopefully.
<br />The Towns of Carrbora and Chapel Hill have implemented and OWASA has sent to Orange County far their
<br />approval a new Conservation Demand Management Ordinance. A law that doesn't have the authority to
<br />require conservation, you have to get that authority through the towns. And we have approved now, in
<br />March, for the two towns, a new ordinance. There are three triggers in the ordinance. If the total system's
<br />supply gets to 125 days, we ga to mandatory conservation. If the supply system gets down to 75 days of
<br />storage, we go to a single day a week irrigation. And then below that, we're in a real emergency, and it would
<br />be essential use only. We are going to pick up the pace with respect to our public information education
<br />program to encourage and promote conservation.
<br />On the water distribution side, the keys here are renewing and replacing the basic infrastructure.
<br />And the last part about what's our biggest challenge, there are many, but keeping up with the capital
<br />improvements that are needed is just going to be key. One of the things that we're doing now is, with a
<br />consultant, we're developing a model looking at our water pipes. There are a lot of things that can affect haw
<br />long a water pipe will last in your system -how old is it, the soils, what is it made of, etc. We're developing a
<br />model that will help guide and predict our replacement program for water lines in the future. And I think this is
<br />good information that we look forward to sharing with our utility neighbors.
<br />On the wastewater side of our business, the real key there is making sure the inflow infiltration
<br />doesn't overwhelm the sewer system. If it hasn't rained far a year and a half, this hasn't been much of an
<br />issue for any of the utilities, but when we do get the rain, then we're reminded of the importance of doing that.
<br />Like most utilities, we're doing special studies, we're looking at the system and making sure we're repairing
<br />what needs to be repaired. Easement maintenance of course is key to that as is an effective program to
<br />keep grease out of the system. Thirty to 50% of sewer overflows are caused by grease, and this is a matter
<br />of growing concern. The solid red line is the capacity of our Masan Farm Wastewater Treatment Plant. It is
<br />currently here at 12 million gallons a day. We are in apre-design study right now for the next round of
<br />improvements at the plan that will take it up to 14.5 million gallons a day. The real high blue dots here are
<br />peak month flows at the wastewater plant, back in the days where we got a lot of rain -Hurricane Fran,
<br />Dennis, Floyd, all those tropical storms. Last year's peak month flow was quite low. Here are our projections
<br />in the future, and you can see we're needing to improve the capacity of the plant soon and that's why we're
<br />under design. That next round of improvements should last us to 2013-2014. For our biosolids, we have a
<br />very successful land application program. We have gone through a new process at the wastewater plant that
<br />produces class A quality product. Reclaimed water is something that is not happening now in the OWASA
<br />service area, but we are looking at our next door neighbor, the golf course, possibly using them for irrigation
<br />there.
<br />Current draught, Terry talked about the lake levels and it is exactly the story you're going to hear
<br />from us. Right now we have a 220-day supply remaining. And certainly that's adequate, that's good. But
<br />Cane Creek, our largest reservoir, is 6.5 feet dawn. In the 12 years of existence, this time of year, the
<br />second lowest it's ever been is only a foot down. That's scary stuff. This is something of increasing concern
<br />and we certainly appreciate the fact that we have a new conservation ordinance in place and we feel that our
<br />timing on the seasonal rates has been goad. If everybody washes their car tonight, maybe it will rain
<br />tomorrow.
<br />Emergency response, we da have emergency interconnections with Durham, Hillsborough,
<br />Chatham County, and I just can't stress the importance of having these. And certainly we've been very
<br />fortunate to have goad neighbors that have helped us more than we've been able to help them in the past.
<br />What we're doing now is part of mutual aid and sharing resources and information and that type of thing.
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