Drought conditions persist across Virginia – with the Roanoke Valley and areas further southeast, including Bedford, Danville and Martinsville, reaching an emergency status this week. Local, regional and state officials are stressing the need for more Virginians to conserve water.
Standing beside the drier-than-usual Smith Mountain Lake, Governor Abigail Spanberger made something abundantly clear…
“As governor, I do not want to put an executive order in place," the governor said. "I do not want us to need mandatory practices to conserve water.”
So far, the ask has been voluntary – only washing your car if necessary, taking shorter showers, things like that. But mandatory restrictions could be necessary at some point – as the situation has reached historic levels.
“We are in the second driest water year on record," Spanberger added. "Wells are at record daily lows. Smith Mountain Lake is 5.5 feet down, and the soil moisture remains well below normal.”
While this particular region is the hardest hit, most areas across the state are about eight inches below where they should be from a total rainfall perspective this year. In other words, your typical, pop-up shower or storm in the summer months isn’t going to solve the problem. That's because it's very hot — so any rain that does fall is often offset by evaporation. Sustained and prolonged rainfall for at least several days is needed, which doesn't appear to be in the cards for our region in the near future.
Virginia was in a similar situation about 24 years ago – according to David Bulova, Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources. In the wake of that drought, which lasted several years, the state took a couple of steps to prepare for future ones. That included creating the Drought Monitoring Task Force and developing a plan for coordination between the state and its localities, which is vital for Virginians who are used to just turning on a faucet when they need water.
“And Virginians rely on a lot of different systems. We’ve got the really large, public systems. You’ve got smaller systems. You’ve got individual wells. The water comes from reservoirs," Bulova said. "That’s why a coordinated and well-communicated program is really so critical.”
For its part, the Drought Monitoring Task Force, which recommended the emergency status for the Roanoke Evaluation Region this week, is now meeting weekly.
Right now, the water systems that supply water to the Roanoke Valley and significant parts of Central and Southside Virginia are managing. The Bedford Regional Water Authority, which draws water from Smith Mountain Lake, says that while the water body is lower than usual, those draw downs can continue. Brian Key, the authority's Executive Director, added that the water it pulls from the lake is much smaller than evaporation takes away.
However, the lower water levels at Smith Mountain and Leesville lakes this summer are contributing to dangerous conditions for boaters.
The dams that form the lakes are operated by Appalachian Power as a hydroelectric project. And the company has to release a mandated volume of water to keep the Roanoke River flowing downstream.
Now, the company says it has permission from state regulators to release less water. That will help slow the drops in lake levels if the drought continues.
Appalachian says there will still be enough water moving downstream for ecological purposes, but recreation activities could be impacted.
Nearby, the Western Virginia Water Authority implemented voluntary conservation efforts this week for the first time in its more than two decade history. For now, Sarah Baumgardner, Director of Public Relations for WVWA, said those efforts are adequate, but further, potentially mandatory restrictions may be needed closer to the fall if the precipitation situation doesn't turn around.
State, regional and local officials hope that the plea they are making right now for everyone to take voluntary measures to conserve water will stymie the need for mandatory ones.
And of course, we all can hope and pray for rain...
