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Stanford City Council continues to exempt commercial car washes

October 19, 2007|GEORGE LEWIS

Stanford City Council continued to exempt commercial car washes from the town's mandatory water restrictions at a special meeting Thursday.

But that could change next Thursday when the council meets again to discuss the city's dwindling water supply in the midst of the worst drought in recent memory.

"I don't think we can do that," said Mayor Bill Miracle, referring to the car wash exemption. "We can't pick and choose. An ordinance is an ordinance."

But councilman Eddie Carter repeated what has become his mantra during the lead up to water restrictions: "I have a problem putting several businesses out of business," he said. "But I can't be objective. I've been in business here all my life. But I've got a problem right now in stopping the car washes."

Car wash owners Kenny Noe and Dickie Cooper were at the meeting.

"I understand the urgency, but we use one percent of the water out of this system in car washes. How much does food service use?" Noe said.

He said it was unfair to "pick out car washes because we're a car wash."

"None of us wants to shut down car washes," said Councilman Mike Southerland.

Alan DeShon, superintendent of the Stanford Water Department, placed the city's remaining water supply at "three to five months."

"That's a very rough estimate," he said.

DeShon said he hopes to have a more accurate estimation of the degree to which the city's water supply is exhausted.

The city last enacted water restrictions in 1988.

"We're in better shape than in '88," said Jack Withrow, chairman of the Stanford Water Commission. Withrow was on city concil in 1988 when Stanford required its water customers to reduce their usage by 10 percent of the average of the previous two months' usage or face steep surcharges. The city turned to using a portable pump to get water from Buffalo Springs to complement the water supply in its reservoir. On Thursday, the council considered doing so again

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