Mandatory water conservation may not be far behind

Staff Writer

rseaborn@pickenssentinel.com

PICKENS COUNTY - Five upstate counties, including Pickens, have been upgraded into extreme drought status following a June 30 meeting of the S.C. Department of Natural Resources Drought Response Committee.

Wes Tyler, with the state's Office of Climatology, said that the counties received the most serious of drought ratings after the area missed two months of rainfall, resulting in a deterioration of conditions and placing a negative impact on agriculture and forestry.

"Extreme is the highest level of drought conditions," Tyler said. "The five upstate counties received that rating due to the lack of rain in the area coupled with the heat and high demand on energy."

Tyler said that the extreme drought condition rating would allow local governments to put into play those steps necessary to begin conserving the usage of water.

"It just lets those in water management in Pickens County, and the other counties, to make those decisions that would balance the needs of (usage) against conservation," he said. "It is up to local government leaders to make those decisions."

The area received no soaking rainfall during the winter and early spring months, and only saw slight precipitation the year prior, he said.

"We would need two or three months of average rainfall to even stabilize the situation," he said. "We are hoping that this will change and we will see some moisture from the Gulf of Mexico come up and the Upstate will receive some rain."

Recent storms in the mountainous area of Pickens County only provided about a quarter of an inch of rainfall, not enough to impact the extreme drought conditions, he said.

Other Upstate counties include Oconee, Greenville, Spartanburg, and Cherokee, he said. Residents of not only these counties, but of all of South Carolina, should increase their efforts to conserve water, he said.

Brad Witt, a spokesman for the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, said that 13 of 17 streams the agency is monitoring are in extreme drought conditions.

"It's not looking good," he said. "And it doesn't appear to be looking to get better, unless we catch a break."

Hurricane season could bring some moisture into the state, he said.

"We need a substantial amount of rainfall," he said. "This inch of two isn't cutting it."

Witt said that although neither the Drought Response Committee nor the Office of the Governor has issued any mandatory water conservation rulings, DNR is encouraging everyone in the state to use water wisely.

"I realize that when people hear talk about water conservation, they think it is something that is done out west," Witt said. "But with development and people moving into the state, water conservation issues will be on the forefront from now until the problem is resolved, which is not in the foreseeable future."

Of course, a meeting of the Drought Response Committee later this month could result in their recommendation of water conservation becoming required, he said.

"This drought has been going on for the past five or six years," he said. "And drought is a natural occurrence.

"But with more people moving into the state, and with more development, the impact of this drought has hit us harder," he said. "We've got to balance our utilization of our resources with development."