March 13, 2002
DROUGHT EXTENDS TO WEST VIRGINIA!
Water
levels in wells are low and rivers and streams throughout
West
Virginia are flowing at new record lows for March 13.
Water in wells of
Brooke, Grant, Jefferson, Pocahontas, and Webster Counties are at low levels
for this time of year. USGS monitor wells in these counties show water levels
25 to 40 percent below normal.
Groundwater recharge which usually occurs during the winter months was
deficient. The only exception to this
trend are wells in Mingo and Wyoming Counties which are only slightly below
normal. These monitor wells received significant recharge during the floods of
July 2001 which affected southern West Virginia.
Rivers gaging over the
last 100 years in West Virginia puts the current drought into historical
perspective. Many unregulated streams
are flowing less than 20 percent of normal for March 13, and new record
minimums for this date have been set at several gaging stations. For example, Patterson Creek at Headsville
is flowing at 17 cubic feet per second (cfs) which is 17 percent of normal
based on 60 years of record. Even flow
of some regulated rivers such as the Kanawha are far below normal for March 13
because of reductions in reservoir releases to conserve water in case the
drought continues into the summer season.
Notably, Kanawha River at Kanawha Falls, which has been gaged for 122 years,
is flowing at a new record low for March 13 of 3,800 cfs. This is far less than the previous minimum
flow for March 13 of 5,800 cfs.
Monitor well graphics
and a table showing March 13 river flows and their comparison to historical
measures can be obtained from the world wide web at the USGS Drought Page for
West Virginia http://wv.usgs.gov/drought/.
Return to Water Resources of West
Virginia Home Page
ContactsInformation: Data Inquiries Maintainer: WV Webmaster |
|
Last Modified: Thursday March 14, 2001, 08:45 EST |