By Erin Wiltgen
chh@heraldsun.com; 918-1035
CHAPEL HILL -- Water utility officials say Orange County's water supply remains high enough to forego any restrictions despite the U.S. Drought Monitor declaring that the county is suffering moderate drought conditions.
While seven North Carolina counties dropped from abnormally dry conditions to a moderate drought due to lack of rainfall -- the first time since May 5 that any part of the state has experienced drought -- Orange County is still in good shape.
"We have enough water in our reservoirs that the current dry spell isn't going to affect our water supply for the foreseeable future," said Ed Holland of Orange Water and Sewer Authority.
The lakes and reservoirs are 85 percent full, keeping Chapel Hill and Carrboro under normal, year-round water restrictions as opposed to mandatory, drought-related restrictions, said Greg Fuller, public affairs officer for OWASA.
Hillsborough's reservoirs also remain at full capacity.
"We had some forethought and built the reservoir," said Brian J. Lowen, town commissioner. "Even last year and the year before when we had the full drought, and a lot of communities around us were going on mandatory water restrictions, we were still on volunteer water restrictions."
Other counties aren't so lucky. More than 3.72 million people in North Carolina are under mandatory or voluntary water use restrictions, according to the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
The other counties experiencing moderate drought are Alamance, Chatham, Durham, Guilford, Lee and Randolph. Although still a serious situation, moderate is the least severe form a drought can take.
"Of the four drought categories, it has the least amount of impacts to ground water, surface water and people that use the public water supply," said Jamie Kritzer of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources. "Drought is when you have impacts to human beings, people who use the water. If you don't have impacts, it's just dry weather."
But Kritzer also said that the rainfall earlier this week may put the counties out of the danger zone soon.
"Typically it takes a few days to see the impacts of rainfall," he said.
With or without the recent rain, however, Holland believes one of the reasons the county can forgo restrictions is the change in lifestyle of its citizens.
"As a community, we used 18 percent less water in the past year than in 2002," he said. "And the community has grown since then."
With OWASA's rate increases in past years and a rise in general awareness, Holland said, people have begun to make conscious decisions to conserve water: "People have realized they can save money by using less water."
