Local drought watch lifted

Recent rainfall has allowed the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority to lift Charlottesville and Albemarle County’s 10-month drought watch.

The watch — which encourages voluntary water conservation — was lifted because of healthy rainfall this month. Ac-cording to the University of Virginia’s McCormick Observatory, 4.25 inches of rain has been recorded in the area in the first 12 days of May. That compares with an average of 4.86 inches for the entire month.

“For May, our water supply is in good shape,” said RWSA Executive Director Thomas L. Frederick Jr. “We believe it will continue to be in good shape heading into early and mid-June. It’s very, very difficult to forecast beyond that.”

The area received 3.2 inches of rain Friday and an inch more since then. Year to date, the area has received 13.48 inches of rain versus an average over the same period of 12.25 inches, Frederick said.

The drought watch was initially declared in July, and even though rain persisted, officials were wary of the drought situation because streams were still low on water. Now, streams are again healthy.

“To my mind, it’s always a fine line, but you don’t want to be crying wolf when the wolf isn’t there,” said Albemarle County Service Authority chairman Donald Wagner, who said he supports RWSA’s decision to call off the warning.

“As of right now, things look pretty good,” he said. “It’s pretty obvious looking at our records that our customers and city customers are understanding the benefits of conserving water.”