Time to start worrying about drought?

Although only the town of Orange has implemented water restrictions in the area, local officials are hoping Charlottesville area residents will be judicious in their consumption.

Thomas L. Frederick Jr., the executive director of the Rivanna Water &Sewer Authority, said that the risk assessment analysis computer program that the authority uses isn’t showing a need for water restrictions right now.

“We’re watching things very, very closely,” Frederick said. “It is very dry outside at the moment.”

Frederick asked Charlottesville and Albemarle County residents to consider holding off on fall planting until it is cooler and wetter, and to water plants between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. to ensure that the water gets to the roots instead of evaporating in the summer heat.

The Rapidan Service Authority, which serves parts of the counties of Orange, Madison and Greene, has mandatory water restrictions in part of its system that serves Route 3 of Orange County. Dudley Pattie, the authority’s general manager, said the agency is monitoring the river in Greene in case more widespread restrictions are necessary.

In the town of Orange, officials instituted mandatory water restrictions on Sept. 13 after the water level in the Rapidan River reached a 14-day rolling average of 44 cubic feet per second or less. John S. Bailey said Monday’s two-week average was 19 cubic feet per second and the daily reading was 10 cubic feet per second.

The low levels triggered restrictions under the town’s water permit through the state’s Department of Environmental Quality, including only allowing watering of residential plants from a watering can, not washing outdoor surfaces, not using ornamental fountains and not using fire hydrants except for fire suppression.

However, Bailey said, the town has plenty of water. After the 2002 drought, the town built a basin with a 45-day water supply that remains full. Orange also added a diversion barrier below the water plant to slow the water’s flow.

“We’re not running out of water, but we do need a whole lot of rain,” Bailey said.

According to the National Weather Service, the Charlottesville area has seen 22.54 inches of rainfall as of Sunday. The normal year-to-date rainfall is 35.87 inches. As of Monday, the weather agency predicted a 30 percent chance of rain Saturday and Sunday.

The U.S. Drought Monitor maps showed abnormally dry and moderate and severe drought conditions throughout most of Virginia as of Sept. 14. Dry conditions have prompted Albemarle officials to warn residents not to conduct open burning because any fire may spread quickly.

The lack of rain also has hurt local farmers. Dave Norford of Old Mountain Farm said most of the summer thunderstorms never hit northern Albemarle and that he has never seen it this dry in that part of the county in his 30 years of farming. Some other farmers have started hauling water, he said.

Norford said he had to start feeding his cattle hay in June at his Stony Point farm when he normally wouldn’t give it to them until the end of the year. The farmer said he sold 40 cows because he couldn’t feed them.

“I think I’ve bought enough hay to make it through, but we’ll have to keep buying feed,” Norford said. “I was hoping if got a little rain in the last month, the grass would be back for fall grazing.”

Steve Hopkins, the extension agent for the Orange County office of Virginia Cooperative Extension, said the growing season for most crops that use irrigation is over but the water shortage will affect other plants and feed availability for farm animals. He said corn prices have been rising for the last six weeks, which in turn raises farmers’ costs and has led to farmers culling their livestock numbers.