Cary temporarily shuts down all of its reclaimed water systems each year in February to perform maintenance to the system. Assuming no significant repair issues arise during the system inspection, the annual holiday will be performed over 10 days.

2024 Reclaimed Water Maintenance Holiday

The annual maintenance holiday will begin at midnight on Monday, February 12, 2024 and be restarted and back to full operation by Thursday, February 22.

During the holiday, the Town will stop producing reclaimed water and shut off system valves, which will result in customers not being able to have access to reclaimed water. No new reclaimed water meters will be permitted by the Town during the holiday given that there will be no reclaimed water in the system with which to test new meters.

Details

In order to minimize the inconvenience to customers, Cary chose February for the annual holiday since it’s the time of year when the lowest amount of reclaimed water is used by customers.

The holiday allows the Town to regularly inspect, clean, and repair as necessary components of the reclaimed water system such as tanks, pumps, pipes, and valves.

The Town notifies reclaimed water customers in advance of the annual holiday via:

• Direct Mail 
• Email
• Telephone

Customers are not refunded a portion of the system’s regular charges because of the annual holiday since work is continuing on the system and costs are accruing even if reclaimed water isn’t flowing.

When the system is restarted at the conclusion of the holiday, some customers may notice a slight smell of chlorine the first time they use the water since crews will be increasing the amount of chlorine in the water initially to ensure that any undesired bacteria in the system are eliminated.  The temporary condition should not impact customers’ normal use of their reclaimed water.

Background

In 1999, Cary became the first municipality in North Carolina to offer reclaimed water.

Cary’s reclaimed water system has five primary components:

• A bulk station at the North Water Reclamation Facility
• A piped system that parallels the Town’s potable water system and serves customers within a few miles of the North Water Reclamation Facility
• A piped system that parallels the Town’s potable water system and serves customers within a few miles of the South Water Reclamation Facility
• A bulk station at the South Water Reclamation Facility
• On the west side of Cary, there is a piped system that parallels the Town's potable water system originating from Durham County's Triangle Waste Water Treatment Facility.

Contact 

311 or (919) 469-4000

Rick Jordan
Reclaimed Water Supervisor 
rick.jordan@carync.gov