By admin 
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Despite recent rain, North Carolina remains in a drought and it’s considered extreme in some areas.
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But several inches of rain in the last two days has water levels trending in the right direction.
According to David Schwartz, a Park Ranger for Army Corps of Engineers, the rainfall has given Falls Lake a much-needed boost.
“We’ve got three inches of rain in the last 48 hours, which is a whole bunch,” he said. That’s good news. We’ve actually gone up a foot and a half since yesterday.”
The lake is now just 3.79 feet below where it should be, compared to nearly five and a half feet earlier this week.
Last week, according to the City of Raleigh, the lake was recorded at 66%, compared to 65% a week prior.
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The water level rose as usage went down. The city remains in stage 1 water restrictions as the statewide drought continues.
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality is encouraging people to conserve water, saying recent rainfall hasn’t made up for several months of receiving less rain than we need.
“It’s definitely nice having some rain, making the lake come up, making it a bit more back to normal,” Schwartz said. “It’s definitely a good sign. We just keep and need more.”
Falls Lake isn’t the only body of water seeing some relief.
Data from the Corps of Engineers shows after all the rain, Jordan Lake is now just about a foot and a half below normal, a large improvement from 3.1 feet below normal earlier this week.
According to a representative with Raleigh, water use was down by nearly two million gallons last week from the week prior.
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