Water-intensive companies prepare for lorry restrictions as drought continues

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — New water restrictions are set to go into effect Monday as drought conditions continue across Wake County, raising concerns among business owners and residents that the lack of rain is already taking a toll.

Lowry Water customers will face new watering restrictions under the regulations. Residents living in odd-numbered addresses will be allowed to water on Tuesdays, and residents living in even-numbered addresses will be allowed to water on Wednesdays. Raleigh Water serves more than 650,000 residents in Raleigh, Garner, Wake Forest, Rolesville, Knightdale, Wendell and Zebulon.

The timing is especially difficult for businesses that rely heavily on water. At Creative Cousins ​​Florist Karen Mattox, owner of & Gifts in Garner, said the restrictions come at one of the busiest times of the year.

“We’re in the middle of prom,” Mattox said. “Prom is currently in full swing throughout this week.”

On Friday, her team worked hard to carry out orders to overcome this challenge.

“I haven’t placed any Mother’s Day orders yet because of the drought,” she said.

Mattox said this is the first time he has experienced drought since he started his business five years ago.

“Where we buy from certainly has an impact. The quality we get. Prices go up,” Mattox said. “If you cut them too early or not enough, you may end up with smaller flowers.”

She plans to absorb the higher costs rather than pass them on to customers, and is considering increasing the use of artificial flowers, which do not require water.

“Sometimes you can use oases, which are blocks that absorb water, in different configurations,” Mattox said. “They last a little bit longer. You don’t have to put in as much water, but that’s all you can really save on water (use).”

At Ken’s Produce Ken Walker, owner of & Garden Center in Garner, said the dry weather has disrupted business during the normally busy spring season.

“People are starting to get scared of buying a lot of plants because they don’t know about rain,” Walker said. “Retail is being affected. Sales are a little lower than normal.”

Walker said the planting schedule is currently about two to three weeks behind schedule, and some fields are left bare due to a lack of moisture in the ground.

“We produce corn. We produce cut flowers. Sunflowers are one of our key operations, and sunflowers should be coming as well,” Walker said. “But we haven’t even planted it yet.”

He said some crops may have to be avoided completely if the situation does not improve soon.

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“If I don’t have enough time to do what it takes to process vegetables, I’m going to skip it,” Walker said. “Right now we’re planting some vegetables ourselves, but (instead) we’ll get an early crop. If it rains and we can plant again, we might get a late crop.”

Residents say the effects of the drought are already being felt. Blake Adcock works at Ken’s Produce. and a garden center worker who lives in Garner, said water levels have dropped and dry conditions have been noticeable, especially due to recent strong winds.

“You can see the temperatures are cold. You can see that everything is colder than normal,” Adcock said.

This situation is having a big impact.

“It’s very dry and especially windy. Just the dust in the air is making my sinuses really bad.”

A spokesperson for the Town of Garner said the Parks and Recreation Department is not currently seeing any drought effects, but will re-evaluate if the situation persists for an extended period of time. In Wendell, watering on the soccer fields will be temporarily suspended, but other maintenance will continue as usual, officials said.