By Brittany Woodby

BWOODBY@CULLMANTIMES.COM

Cullman water customers are heading into the most restrictive water conservation plan in the area’s history. Phase 3 of the water-shortage countermeasure will begin Saturday and along with limited water use, the new phase carries hefty fines.

On Wednesday, Cullman Mayor Donald Green said the city intended to stay out of Phase 3 for as long as possible. However, Cullman City Water Superintendent Junior Heaton said he met with the mayor Thursday morning and suggested the city move forward into the next phase.

“That’s where the mayor stood until we had the opportunity to meet,” Heaton said. “We made our recommendation to go into Phase 3.”

The city’s water supply, Lake Catoma, was measured Thursday at 21 feet below full pool. Heaton said the measurement is actually 20 feet below since the city added two feet to the dam in 2000.

The new phase requires residents to continue with the previous conservation measures, including conserving 10 percent of the household’s average water use. If residents are found to not be in compliance with the restrictions, they will be given a written warning and a charge of 25 percent of their bill plus $1 for ever unit of water they use over the limit. If they still do not conserve water, they will be fined 40 percent of their water bill and the additional $1-per-unit charge.

The third violation will get residents a $100 fine and a possible discontinuation of water service.

More than three violations will result in offenders being cut off.

Green said the water department will take into consideration each customer’s average monthly water use for the last year to determine a fair amount for restricted use.

“For anyone who has not been on our system for a year, an average will be taken for the months of service on record. There will also be no penalty for those who are using the minimum number of units each month,” he said.

Customer who believe they have been wrongly fined can appeal the charge to the city council if they request a hearing in writing to the water system within 15 days of the date of notification of the violation.

Heaton said the amount of water used by each customer will be automatically tracked by the department’s billing software. Fines will be automatically added as well.

“The system can pretty well maintain customers’ averages,” he said.

Despite the software’s help, Heaton said the new restriction will be a lot of work for his department.

“This is something we’ve never faced before,” he said. “I’m sure we’ll have a lot of phone calls and a lot of questions to answer.”

Heaton said the best thing residents can do is to familiarize themselves with the restrictions and keep track in their homes of how much water they are using.

“They can call our office and we will tell them the total of their monthly average water use,” he said. “We can do that and we will help out as much as possible.”

The department’s staff can also offer customers tips to reduce water use.

“We just ask everyone to conserve as much as possible,” he said. “Anything to help us out is appreciated.”

The water restrictions will not just mean conservation for customers, but conservation for the city. Heaton said reduced water use means reduced city revenue from service charges.

“We’ll definitely be losing revenue,” he said. The city predicted a revenue of $8,367,000 from service charges in the 2008 fiscal year budget.

However, Heaton said the water department is in fair financial shape to weather the drought.

“We will be able to stand this,” he said. “It’s going to take its toll, but a lot of people will have to pay penalties and that will help make up for lost service charges.”