Virginia has been experiencing serious drought conditions, and nowhere in the state have those conditions been worse than in Gloucester, Mathews, and the rest of the Middle Peninsula. Recent rainfalls have helped, but thus far they’ve done little to solve the underlying problem.
Andrew Noyes, water supply planner for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s Office of Water Supply, said that the reporting period from Oct. 1 until the end of April was the second driest on record since record-keeping began in 1890. Only the year 2001 was drier, he said, and not by much. This year, rainfall was down on average across the state by 7.99 inches, while in 2001, it was down by 8.38 inches. Across the Middle Peninsula, he said, rain is down by an average of 12 inches.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Gloucester and Mathews had received around 3-3.5 inches of rain, said Noyes, but because there was so much rain in a short time, some of that will run off the land and end up in the Chesapeake Bay. In addition, part of the rain will be lost to evapotranspiration, or evaporation combined with the taking-up of moisture by trees and plants, and only some of it will end up making its way down into aquifers to replenish wells. He said all of that leaves the Middle Peninsula with a probable remaining rain deficit of about 10 to 11 inches.
Replenishing water stores after such a long period of drought is a long-term issue, said Noyes. It will take several months of above-normal precipitation to make up the deficit. This could be accomplished by several steady rainstorms spread out over time.
He said that the groundwater systems in the eastern part of Virginia are more resilient to drought, but they’re also susceptible to longer periods of drought and higher rates of pumping water out of the water supply than western Virginia.
There are conservation efforts that people and localities can make to offset the effects of drought, said Noyes. Localities should be reviewing their drought plans and drought ordinances and putting measures in place that they think are necessary to conserve their water supply.
On an individual basis, people should be taking shorter showers, using lower water settings on their washing machines, and reducing the amount of water they use for such activities as washing cars and boats and sidewalks, he suggested. Lawns should be watered at night to reduce the amount of water lost to evaporation, Noyes added.
For those who get their water from wells, “the more water you can conserve, the more you’ll have for later,” he said. “With such big deficits since last summer, you want to pay attention to the water you use and cut back when you can.”
Noyes was scheduled to give a presentation on the drought issue to the Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission on Wednesday night. He said he would be raising awareness of the problem and highlighting the importance of conservation while urging localities to implement appropriate conservation measures.
The MPPDC is composed of two elected officials and one citizen representative from each of the six counties and three towns on the Middle Peninsula.
For more information, visit deq.virginia.gov/water/water-quantity/drought.
To keep up with what’s going on in a particular locality, access Virginia’s drought monitoring dashboard at datascience.deq.virginia.gov/Drought-Monitoring.