This petition is an effort to try and convince the Raleigh City Council to overturn or delay the ban on new and replacement garbage disposals being put in place. In recent months, Raleigh has experienced an exceptional drought which has caused the Raleigh City Council to take very drastic measures, resulting in a reduction in water consumption overall. The City of Raleigh has remained in a drought for several years, however, water restrictions were not put in place until it was too late, when Raleigh was already in a water crisis. The latest is the ban on new installations and replacements of garbage disposals, resulting in a $25K/day fine for those violating this ban. This ban is not likely to stop citizens from putting grease down the drain and will likely not improve our water supply. And $25,000 a day is extremely excessive. The citizens of Raleigh need to have their voices heard. This was done with poor planning and execution. There are other options (grease seperators and traps for example). There isn't much history or statistics to go along with a garbage disposal ban, since there are very few if any in the country that exist today. The citizens of Raleigh should be demanding answers as to how Meeker got his information, how much research was done and his plan as to how this is going to help in our conservation effort, as many experts say it will have little impact. It appears that little to no research went into this decision, and it appears that this "slid through" without many of the council members and other Mayors understanding the full impact of the proposal. In other words, Meeker wanted to sneak this one in. If any banning was going to take place, perhaps businesses should have felt the impact first. The "trial run" should have started there, since businesses generate much more "garbage". Restaurants contribute much more to grease disposal than residents. As for it being an environmental issue, that is also questionable and a $25K a day fine doesn't seem to fit the "crime". The fine for littering on our highways is considerably lower.

We are not saying that nothing needs to be done, we are asking that before instituting a ban with a fine of $25K a day, that some planning and research be done. That any fines associated with such a ban have a more reasonable fine. That the council and other Mayors of Wake County give this much more thought and consider other, less drastic measures. Now that our water supply is back up to 74\%, it would seem we are not in as much of a crisis and can devote some time to this matter rather than making such hurried decisions.

This ban applies to all cities that purchase water from the City of Raleigh, including Knightdale, Wake Forest, Zebulon, Rolesville, Wendell and Garner.