North Carolina Governor Easley Says 74 Counties Now In Extreme Or Severe Drought

Expands Water Restrictions for State Agencies and Urges Citizens to Conserve

8/16/2007 -- Raleigh - North Carolina Governor Mike Easley today expanded his directive to state agencies to stop non-essential use of water to include 74 counties as the latest federal drought map shows the severe lack of rain has spread east as far as Interstate 95. Today's map shows that almost three-fourths of North Carolina, including the coastal plain and Piedmont, are in either severe or extreme drought. He also continued to call on citizens to voluntarily reduce their water consumption by at least 10 percent.

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“Nearly half the state’s population is under some type of water use restriction, and I thank our local officials for taking those actions,” Easley said. “With no significant rainfall in the past few months and none expected soon, the drought is likely to continue having a drastic impact on lake levels and stream flows, which supply our communities with most of the water we need for drinking, cooking and cleaning.”

The federal drought map shows that severe and extreme drought, the second and third worst categories of the five-category system, now covers 74 counties. Severe drought, which last week stretched from the mountains into the southern Piedmont, now blankets almost all of the Piedmont and stretches into the coastal plain just east of Interstate 95. Extreme drought now covers most of the mountain counties. Like last week, 94 counties are experiencing some form of drought. Only six counties in far eastern North Carolina remain out of drought classification thought they are abnormally dry: Carteret, Dare, Hyde, Pamlico, Tyrrell and Washington.

In heeding the governor’s advice to conserve water, voluntary water usage restrictions have been enacted due to the drought for 36 public systems and mandatory restrictions are now in place for an additional 16 systems. All public water systems that have enacted water restrictions serve 2.9 million people, or 48 percent of North Carolina’s population, according to the state drought website, www.ncdrought.org.

Easley recommends using basic water conservation tips such as:
- Only using the dishwasher with full loads, and using the “water-saver” setting, if available.
- Taking short showers. Five minutes or less should do. If you prefer baths, fill the tub only one-quarter full.
- Find out how much water your lawn really needs. More than 50 percent of the water applied to lawns and gardens is lost due to evaporation or runoff because of over watering. As a general rule, most lawns and gardens require little more than one inch of water per week.

On average, North Carolina communities have received between 50 and 75 percent of the normal rainfall for this time of year. The dry conditions have kept firefighters busy with 351 wildfires in August, more than double the average number of wildfires for this month in North Carolina. The lack of rain in recent months has dried out vegetation so much that an escaped ember from a controlled fire such as a campfire can easily spark a dangerous wildfire. For that reason, the governor said Thursday that people should be especially careful if they burn yard vegetation, grill food or build campfires. Someone should stay with all fires until they are completely extinguished and follow all state and local laws if burning sticks, leaves or other yard vegetation.

For information on current conditions, check out www.ncdrought.org. State agencies that need guidance on water conservation measures should go to www.sustainablenc.org/neguidance.htm.

Source: North Carolina Governor