Raleigh to lift water restrictions after significant improvement to water levels at Falls Lake :: WRAL.com
The city of Raleigh announced Wednesday it will be lifting water restrictions that have been in place for months.
The city says the Stage One water restrictions that limited the times people could use sprinklers and ground irrigation systems will be lifted on Monday, August 3.
The news comes after Tuesday’s report from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that showed Falls Lake had risen more than 2 feet over the past week to 84% of its normal level.
“While recent rain has made a big difference, dry conditions will continue across our region. Falls Lake is not yet back to full capacity, and it is important to continue using water wisely,” the city said. “Thank you for helping protect Raleigh’s water supply. Every drop counts.”
On Tuesday morning, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Falls Lake, Raleigh’s primary drinking water source, had risen more than 2 feet over the past week.
The increase marks a significant improvement. The lake’s water-supply storage rose from 66% full last week to 84% full Tuesday. Falls Lake had not been at that level since mid-April, shortly before Raleigh implemented Stage 1 water restrictions.
Last week, the lake stood at 246.1 feet, about 5.2 feet below normal pool. By Tuesday, it had risen to 248.4 feet, about 3.1 feet below normal pool, according to the Army Corps of Engineers.
The city of Raleigh also reported a slight decrease in water use last week. Customers used an average of 58.16 million gallons per day, down from 58.27 million gallons per day the previous week.
Edward Woodley, chief water manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Wilmington District, told WRAL the recent rainfall is encouraging but not enough to end conservation efforts.
“If it stops raining again, it’s just going to be a temporary boost,” Woodley said. “If we continue to get rain, it should be the start of the road to recovery.”
Woodley added, “We’re grateful for the rain, but we need more. It doesn’t mean we can waste water at this point. We still want to conserve water as much as possible.”
The city of Raleigh said its secondary water sources were also replenished. Lake Benson is now full, and Lake Wheeler is nearly full.
The drought continues
As authorities said, the good news about lake levels does not mean the drought is over.
We will still need to see several more inches of widespread heavy rain to make up for the dry weather that has persisted for close to a full year.
The next update from the U.S. Drought Monitor will be released Thursday morning at 8 a.m. WRAL News will provide updates on that report as soon as it drops.
We’re expecting to see notable improvement thanks to last week’s heavy rainfall, but drought conditions should still persist across most of the state due to the rain deficit. Some areas, such as Raleigh, saw more improvement than others thanks to last week’s heavy rains.
As of last Thursday, July 23, most of North Carolina remained under severe or extreme drought conditions. Two pockets of exceptional drought, the most severe level, remained in the central and southeast corner of the state.
