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The $10 credit for replacing toilets that use five gallons of water per flush with ones that use less water is one of the few ways that City of New Bern water users are encouraged to save.

“Conservation has not been critical” for New Bern water users, said David Muse, the engineer who heads city water and sewer operations, which are both expanding toward state-of-the-art facilities.

Even with added capacity, however, the need to conserve is coming, he told members of the Craven County Conservation Initiative Steering Committee. And, people will know it in water bills that double from a year ago, he said.

But, he said the real increases will come as projects like the water reclamation operation, which comes on line in April, needs to be expanded or replaced, he said. New technology will be exponentially more expensive, like a $20 million plant costing $100 million, he said.