From 7 a.m. Tuesday to 7 a.m. Wednesday, nearly one and a half inches of cold rain fell over a wide swath of Orange County adding to lakes surrounded by new grasslands and streams that have long been dry or barely trickles. But don’t expect any declarations of victory over the drought.
According to Wednesday morning readings, University Lake rose about an inch and Cane Creek stayed even. Prior to the rainfall, the Orange Water and Sewer Authority reported that University Lake was eight feet below full and Cane Creek Reservoir more than 13 and a half feet below full. Together, the two reservoirs were at 43 percent of their capacity with 216 days of water.
With about seven months of water, OWASA is in much better shape than most of our neighbors, and utility officials announced an agreement to help supply the City of Durham with 1.5 million gallons per day for 30 days. Durham’s water supply has dwindled to about 126 days.
OWASA officials cite Durham’s history of helping out Orange County, especially during a water crisis in 1977 and the drought of 2002. The water agreement is temporary, with the Town of Cary likely to send more water Durham’s way by the end of January. Durham is also working on a pipeline upgrade that will allow it to draw more water from the Cary system.
Should Durham require the entire 1.5 million per day, the transfer would reduce OWASA’s water supply by roughly 3 percent, or six days.
An OWASA press release announcing the water-sharing agreement with Durham also noted that discussions continue on regional water-sharing agreements that would allow OWASA to work with other systems during droughts. OWASA has an as-yet untapped 5-million-gallon-per-day allocation from Jordan Lake.
— From staff reports
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