Water watch

Another Wednesday, another 30+ MGD usage day. The good news is that the spikes on allowed watering days (Wednesday and Saturday) seem to have stabilized at around 31 - 32 MGD, and that the 32MGD usage on Thursday the 12th was an aberration. We even had two days this week where usage dropped below 25 MGD, probably the result of late afternoon thunderstorms keeping some folks from sneaking in a lawn watering session.

The bad news is that stream flows continue to drop. The 4.3 cfs recorded at Lake Michie is barely above the previous minimum for this date (3 cfs in 1994). Over at Little River, the .89 cfs is similarly not far above the .43 recorded in 2002. Both numbers are well below the 20th percentile, meaning that in 8 out of every 10 years, streamflows have been higher on this date. The combined 5.2 cfs translates into a 3.3 mgd inflow, or about 12% of what our average daily use has been this month.

Let's see what the next few days brings - highs in the mid-upper 90s, and only slight chances of thunderstorms. I'm predicting a spike in usage above 35 MGD on Saturday barring any significant thunderstorms tonight or tomorrow.