Despite Rain, End To Drought Far Off

The Orange Water and Sewer Authority recently enacted Stage 2 water restrictions, which prohibit commercial car washes from using OWASA water and limit customers' outdoor water use to one day a week.

As of Friday, University Lake was almost 6 feet below full and Cane Creek Reservoir was almost 17 feet below full, with 108 days listed as the estimated water supply remaining.

The last time the lakes were filled to their normal operating water levels was June of 2001.

Lakes Warden Eric Barnhardt said each lake has gained about 20 inches of water in the past week.

"(Cane Creek) was 202 inches down; now it's about 182," he said.

Barnhardt said the rain helped the drought conditions but did not nearly refill the reservoirs.

"It's going to take heavy rain over a short period of time, something like a tropical storm or a hurricane," he said.

Barnhardt offered one example of a sufficient amount of rain, which would be about seven or eight inches in the span of a day or a day and a half.

Water levels are generally low every year at this time, but Barnhardt said this year is by far the worst.

OWASA Executive Director Ed Kerwin said about three to four inches of rain have accumulated over the past few days but that amount was not enough to make a difference in drought conditions.

"When we do get a rain like this, much of the rain is absorbed because the land is so dry," he said.

Kerwin said that until the land becomes more saturated, rain will not raise reservoir levels.

"Everything is so dry, so it's being absorbed into the land," he said. "What runs off may go into a farm pond and wouldn't fill our two watersheds."

Customer demand has decreased over the last five days, but Kerwin said that is to be expected during rainy days because customers do not feel the need to use water outside.

"It's hard to say how much demand has changed," he said. "I would continue to emphasize the following of the rules -- inside homes, inside businesses and in the dorms."

Kerwin said he hopes all residents are doing their parts to conserve water because the county is by no means out of the drought.

"The water supply is still a serious concern," he said.

But Kerwin said the rain did help the drought conditions, though only slightly.

"It's a nice start," he said. "We need it to continue, but the supply situation still remains serious."

The OWASA board of directors will meet Thursday to discuss the drought situation and whether it will be necessary to implement Stage 3 water restrictions, which would eliminate all outdoor water use and strongly encourage. water rationing.

"I don't even want to speculate," Kerwin said. "It certainly helped -- whether it helped enough to delay Stage 3 remains to be seen."

The City Editor can be reached at citydesk@unc.edu.