Rain Showers Arrived: Why Is the Drought Still Here

Last week, we broke out our umbrellas and maybe even our rain jackets. Now the question is: are we still in a drought? The short answer is yes.

Although every drop counts and the recent brief storms were helpful, the small amount of rainfall we received wasn't enough to end the drought.
• Recent rain did save some of our water supply, keeping Falls Lake at 77% capacity, which is only a 1% drop from the previous week. For context, we've been losing about 2% of the pool supply a week since early April.

"The rainfall event last week was beneficial to the Falls Lake watershed, with totals ranging from 0.4 inches to 0.8 inches throughout the watershed," said Raleigh Water Assistant Director Ed Buchan. "However, the precipitation only increased the lake level by a few tenths of an inch and did not make a meaningful impact on overall drought conditions. Therefore, we anticipate remaining in Stage 1 water use restrictions throughout May and potentially further into the summer, depending on future rainfall events."

The City is still asking everyone to remain mindful of their water usage. The good news is Raleigh's conservation efforts are paying off. Residents are saving millions of gallons of water each week compared to our usual demand.
• This week's water usage averaging about 60 million gallons a day, compared to about 69 million gallons daily before the irrigation restrictions were implemented.
The drought is ongoing, but with your help in saving water, we're all in this together.

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