Raleigh’s water supply on Falls Lake continues to drop as extreme drought persists

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — The City of Raleigh’s water supply on Falls Lake continues to decline, dropping from 77% last week to 75%.

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The drop comes as the Army Corps of Engineers says the lake’s levels are now nearly four feet below normal.

“It’s dropping pretty quick,” said Matt Reddy, who visits the area often to walk or fish. “I fish off that pier. That piping off the corner of the pier was under just three weeks. Now, it’s out probably a foot.”

According to state climatologists, it will take weeks of good rainfall to help ease drought conditions across central North Carolina.

“There’s an old saying, how do you eat an elephant?” said Corey Davis, the assistant state climatologist with the North Carolina State Climate Office. “One bite at a time. That’s how we’re looking at these rainfall deficits.”

The recent snap of dry days and temperatures soaring into the 90s can also cause drought conditions to accelerate.

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“That moisture that we got earlier in the month is pretty much gone by now,” Davis said. “It has evaporated with that recent warm weather. Over the last week, we’ve had very little new rainfall.”

As the dry weather causes lake levels to continue dropping, it’s now been a month since most homeowners across Wake County have been under Stage One water restrictions.

To enter Stage Two in May, it would take the city’s supply dropping all the way down to 55%. While unlikely, city officials said it would take a recovery of its pool to 95% this month to roll back the restrictions.

“Luckily, we are nowhere near those Stage Two restrictions yet,” Davis said. “Those Stage One restrictions do go a long way in at least making sure we’re not pulling too much water out of Falls Lake and our main water supplies.”

As water levels on Falls Lake keep dropping, the Army Corps of Engineers is releasing close to the minimum amount of water from the dam into the Neuse River.

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