Many of You May Be Aware That the Reason Our Water Tastes So Good Is Because Hilton Head

Many of you may be aware that the reason our water tastes so good is because Hilton Head Island gets their water from an aquifer in Florida which has been experiencing salt intrusion. The County installed a pipeline from areas off the island to and from the Savannah River. In an effort to be conscientious about water consumption, the Board of Directors in 2005 installed water meters. In 2008, the Board initiated a committee to study water usage which was chaired by Jack Kzeski (Lot 116) and Cloyce Hutton (Lots 335 and 328). Monthly and then quarterly readings were taken. Our annual usage went from 14 million gallons in 2008 to 11 million gallons in 2011 and was attributed to locating leaks and educating owners about water consumption in a 35-year old resort.

We then identified several lots which had year round usage and conducted a 7 and 13 month study which reflected monthly consumption of 1,050 gallons per month per lot of potable water and 1,500 gallons per month per lot for irrigation. In June of 2013 the Board implemented a water usage policy that coincides with the Town ordinances that irrigation be shut off from November through February. Therefore, a baseline was established of 1,500 gallons/month for potable water and irrigation water allowance of 2,000 gallons/month, billed quarterly and there would be no usage carryover from quarter to quarter. The total maximum usage is different for some quarters due to the non-irrigation months. The 1st and 4th quarter maximum usage is 6,500 gallons per quarter per lot and the 2nd and 3rd quarter maximum usage is 10,500 gallons per quarter per lot. Water consumption above this baseline will incur additional billing at $1.03/1,000 gallons for water and $1.54/gallons for sewer or a total of $2.57/1,000 gallons.

Through many efforts and better awareness of consumption, we are pleased to report that we have reduced our consumption by 50%! Unfortunately the utility district significantly increased the rates so although we are using less, we are not paying less which is why the above allotment rates were established. However, it is very impressive that we went from 14 million gallons in 2008 to 6,750,000 gallons in 2012 and 6,259,000 gallons in 2013.

RESORT WI-FI PASSWORDS

JULY-AUG-SEPT 2014Paradise

OCT-NOV-DEC 2014Palmetto

JAN-FEB-MAR 2015HHISunset

APR-MAY-JUN 2015HHIDolphin

JUL-AUG-SEPT 2015HHIFamily

OCT-NOV-DEC 2015HHIMotorcoach

JAN-FEB-MAR 2016HHIResort

APR-MAY-JUN 2016HHIBeach

JUL-AUG-SEPT 2016HHIIsland

OCT-NOV-DEC 2016HHIEscape