Drought keeps Upstate in its hot grip

Reporter

rseaborn@pickenssentinel.com

PICKENS COUNTY - With little to no rain falling in South Carolina's Upstate, adding to the impact of the long-term drought that has plagued the region, many residents are looking more toward water conservation, while others are seeing their wells run dry.

"Pickens and Oconee Counties have received even less rain than other parts of the Upstate," said Hope Mizzell, state climatologist. "The good news is we have received no calls from water systems that are in a crisis situation yet.

"We have gotten calls from people whose wells are going dry and they are struggling to either come into a water system or dig a deeper well," she said.

Mizzell said that planning by local utility systems has helped toward sustaining a water source.

"Water systems have planned and made appropriate adjustments," she said. "And it's a good thing because they are not seeing a water crisis now."

On June 30, the drought response committee upgraded five Upstate counties, including Pickens, Oconee, Greenville, Spartanburg and Cherokee, to extreme drought conditions.

Fourteen counties either were upgraded or maintained at severe levels, with 21 counties being graded as moderate. Six coastal counties maintained the status of incipient in drought conditions.

Another meeting of the committee, scheduled by the state's Department of Natural Resources, will meet again this week to review the state's stream flows and lake levels, the climate and other impacts of the on-going drought.

Gov. Mark Sanford released a statement last week urging Upstate residents to use water wisely now, before mandatory water restrictions are deemed necessary by state officials.

"As this drought continues, we believe it's very important for South Carolinians in the Upstate to take individual initiative to conserve water," Sanford said. "We...would urge citizens to do what they can at home and at work to impact their water use, because doing what we can to conserve water now could help avoid restrictions later on."

While state mandated water restrictions are a possibility, a water conservation effort by the citizens of South Carolina - particularly by Upstate residents - could play a significant roll in whether or not mandatory restrictions are imposed, Joel Sawyer, a spokesman with the state's Office of the Governor, said.

"It is a possibility," Sawyer said. "But if everyone should watch what they consume now so we don't have to go to mandatory water restrictions."

DNR Region I Coordinator of Land and Water Conservation Leslie Morgan said that the extreme drought conditions being endured by the Upstate is having the largest impact on the area's pasturelands.

"I see a lot of impact on the un-irrigated crops, with the leaves turning brown and curling up," he said. "But it's the pastures that are being hit the hardest."

Morgan said that many farmers will be forced to re-seed their pasture land this fall due to the lack of water killing the root system of much of the area's grasses.

"This is killing the cool-season grasses that live stock depend upon during the fall and winter," he said. "And this is really going to hurt the farmers this fall when they discover that their fall plants are injured or dead, and they will have to re-seed the pasture."

While fescue grass remains dormant during the hot, dry summers, it will re-sprout during the cooler months of autumn, he said.

"This is what farmers depend on to feed their cattle," Morgan said. "But even now, many farmers are forced to feed their cattle the hay they were storing for the winter months.

"That is going to place us in a hay crunch early on, with farmers having to feed their winter hay to their cattle now."

But while lake levels are lower than normal, Morgan said that they are not as low as would be expected, considering the extreme drought conditions.

"Hartwell is down, but not as much as you would expect, with the drought situation," he said. "Hartwell seems to be holding its own."

Morgan said that planning and control on behalf of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could play a major factor in the slower than expected decline in Hartwell Lake's water levels.

"Of it just could be those recent thunderstorms we've had in the area," he said.

While trees are stressed due to drought conditions, Morgan said he doesn't see very many of them dying from lack of water.

"I just don't see that many trees dying from the drought," he said.

Still, this long-term drought that has embraced the state for almost a decade has made everyone more aware of the importance of using water wisely, Mizzell said.

"We can no longer take our water resources for granted," Mizzell said. "Whether you are currently in the extreme drought area or not, we can all do our part to be better stewards of our limited water resources."