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Drought watch lifted
A three-month drought watch in Pennsylvania last week gave way to flood watches as rainfall increased in the Fay-West area.
In April, the state Department of Environmental Protection put all 67 counties under a drought watch and called on residents to voluntarily reduce water use by 5 percent.
A drought watch is the lowest of three levels of drought status. The next stage, a drought warning, calls for a voluntary reduction of 10 percent to 15 percent in water usage. A drought emergency, the final stage, includes mandatory water-use reductions of at least 15 percent. The state's last drought emergency was declared in 2002.
The drought watch was recently lifted.
According to the National Weather Service, the total inches of rainfall in April was 3.02, compared with 3.72 in April 2005.
In May, 2.96 inches of rain fell, compared with 4.09 inches the previous May. June experienced 4.37 inches of rainfall, greater than the rainfall in June 2005 of 3.35 inches.
In the three-month period, counties such as Fayette and Westmoreland were 50 percent below normal precipitation levels.
One of the first places to see the result of the summer rain is the Youghiogheny Dam in Confluence, which had reported low water levels in April.
Brian Luprek, park manager there for the Army Corps of Engineers, said the reservoir reached normal levels by the end of May, which is later than average.
An increase came with the July weather.
"It's slightly higher than expected," Luprek said. "The heavy rains brought that up quickly."
Luprek said the increase of water did not affect recreation along the river during the Fourth of July weekend.
Although recent heavy rains have caused widespread flooding in Pennsylvania, groundwater was slow to rebound. Flooded rivers and streams generally move water away too quickly to allow the ground to recharge underground aquifers.
Groundwater is especially important in Pennsylvania, which has more private water wells than any other state. Nearly a million private wells draw from groundwater sources.
Groundwater also provides the base flow for streams and rivers, which will be critical as floodwaters recede and the hottest, driest months approach. In the summer, when vegetation intercepts rainfall, it takes more precipitation to have a measurable impact on groundwater.
