“Many communities are suffering the effects of one of the worst droughts we have ever seen,” Easley said. “At least one community is already hauling water by truck from other sources and several other towns may need to seek supplemental water sources soon. With no end to this drought in sight, regional cooperation is needed to make sure all North Carolinians will have ample water for everyday needs such as drinking, public health and safety.”
Today’s federal drought map shows that exceptional drought has spread from the eight westernmost counties to 55 counties in the mountains and Piedmont and now stretches from the foothills and Charlotte to parts of the Triad, the Triangle and the Sandhills. North Carolina’s other 45 counties are experiencing the next three levels of drought – extreme, severe and moderate. An extreme lack of rainfall has left many stream flows faced with all-time record lows and reservoirs far below average for this time of year.
The governor has called on all North Carolina residents to conserve water and for operators of public water supplies to implement water use restrictions. Many communities are reporting significant declines in water usage, thanks to the governor’s directive. Currently, 83 public water systems have enacted mandatory water use restrictions and another 80 have enacted voluntary restrictions. That means that 4.76 million people, or about 70 percent of the state’s population in the systems tracked by the state, are under some form of water conservation.