The town of Southern Pines is updating its water shortage response plan and policy.

This policy is used to initiate or rescind various stages of water use restrictions depending upon the availability of water for customers, a news release said. The existing plan utilizes the flow of water (cubic feet per second) in Drowning Creek to determine the stage of restriction.

The proposed new policy will utilize the combined volume of the two raw water reservoirs as the method for determining the level of conservation measures requested or required, according to the release.

Updating the policy is needed because the town has recently completed and nearly filled its new 140 million gallon raw water reservoir storage facility.

In the past, the town only had the capacity of a 20 million gallon raw water reservoir for storage and was very dependent on the daily flow of Drowning Creek to provide the raw water required to meet the demands of its customers, the release said.

The new raw water reservoir, combined with the old raw water reservoir, provides much more storage capacity.

Residents are encouraged to visit the town's website at www.southernpines.net to view the proposed policy, or call Assistant Town Manager David White at (910) 692-2463 to receive a copy of the policy. Public comments are welcome. They must be received by Sept. 4.