There is officially a drought across the Washington DC metropolitan area, but will this impact local drinking water supplies?
The US Drought Monitor has declared that western parts of the Washington region are experiencing a “moderate drought.” But will the low rainfall in September affect local drinking water supplies?
It’s dry out there. Unusually dry. So dry that the US Drought Monitor has declared the western parts of the Washington region to be in a “moderate drought.”
But will the low rainfall in September affect local drinking water supplies? Unlikely, says the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin (ICPRB).
According to a report released Thursday by the US Drought Monitor, parts of Fairfax, Loudoun and Montgomery counties are experiencing a “moderate drought,” while most of Virginia and much of Maryland’s eastern coast are considered “unusually dry” but not drought-affected.
Despite the drought, drinking water supplies in the region are currently stable and it is not likely that the opening of reservoirs upstream into the Potomac River will be necessary to supplement the water supply in the Washington region.
The ICPRB, which coordinates work with regional water utilities, said it began daily drought monitoring this week at a river flow meter in Point of Rocks, Maryland, upstream of the Potomac River intakes for the Washington Aqueduct, WSSC Water and Fairfax Water.
In its report on Thursday, the ICPRB said the Potomac River basin above Washington DC received above-average rainfall in August and that “water flow is currently near normal.”
Daily drought monitoring was started on September 11 as the river flow had fallen below the limit of 2,000 cubic feet per second, but the ICPRB does not believe that any extraordinary measures need to be taken.
“Currently, the flow of the Potomac River is sufficient to meet the water needs of the Washington metropolitan area without the need to release water from upstream reservoirs,” the ICPRB wrote.
If the drought worsens, the region’s water utilities will have to share three reservoirs.
The closest is the Little Seneca Reservoir in Black Hill Regional Park in Boyds, Maryland, in Montgomery County.
It would take about a day for the water discharged into the Potomac to reach the downstream intakes of Fairfax Water, WSSC Water and the Washington Aqueduct and be treated for drinking water.
A few miles upstream, the larger Jennings Randolph Lake, which stretches across Maryland and West Virginia, and the Savage River Reservoir in northwest Maryland can be tapped.
The last reservoir withdrawals were necessary in 2010, 2002 and 1999.
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