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“Are dry conditions abated in the
Piedmont of North Carolina or just
disguised by the recent heavy rains that
rapidly ran off into the Neuse River?”
That is the question Terry
M. Brown, water control manager for the
Wilmington District of the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, posed in his weekly
update about the status of Falls,
Jordan, Kerr, Kerr Scott and Philpott
reservoirs.
So far for June, the
rainfall total at Falls Dam is 8.77
inches and 10.16 inches for Jordan.
However, the other three reservoirs have
received little: 2.57 inches for Kerr,
0.45 for Kerr Scott and 0.65 for
Philpott.
Falls has been three feet
above the guide level, 251.5 feet above
mean sea level, but the level is
falling. It was at 254.5 earlier this
week – and even higher over the weekend
– but it was at 254.12 at noon today
(Wednesday).
The Corps has ended its
operational deviation – that is
Corps-speak for releasing less water to
keep Falls at or near normal levels –
and is now releasing much more than the
100 cubic feet per second it was held to
earlier.
Brown noted that the average
inflows into Falls thus far in June are
1,351 cfs, well above the normal 250 cfs
for this month.
“However, inflows over the
past two days after the runoff from
Alberto’s rains have averaged about 100
cfs.” This week the hourly inflow rates
decreased at each reading, and one from
a Little River tributary was down to
zero today.
Falls Lake is the sole
source of water for residents in the
City of Raleigh, Wake Forest, Rolesville,
Garner, Knightdale, Wendell and Zebulon,
and the city withdraws and processes
about 45 to 60 million gallons of water
a day to serve about 350,000 customers.
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