Drought watch

Saturday's rain, about an inch and a half throughout the Triangle, had no appreciable affect on Durham water supplies. INflows at Lake Michie, for example, barely reached 10 cfs, compared to the median of about 65 cfs for this time of year, recorded over the past 81 years. There's now 39 days of "easily accessible" water left in the reservoirs, down from 45 last week. The only good news is that the connection to the Teer Quarry resrvoir should be online inthe next week or so, adding about a month's worth of water to the system. The number of Stage IV exemptions has grown to 19 this week. An exemption allows an organization to do things like use outdoor watering systems or wash vehicles provided "it can be shown to the manager's satisfaction that the licensee's use of water will result in an overall fifty (50) percent or greater reduction in water use." We assume that the golf courses and country clubs with exemptions are simply not watering anywhere near as much as over the summer in order to meet the 50% reduction. Duke University remains conspicuous by its absence from the list of Stage Iv exemptions.

There's a chance of rain in the forecast for the weekend. Let's hope for an early Christmas present of a real gully washer