Carolina drought grows worse. Residents asked to conserve water and energy.

Catawba River Basin residents are being asked to start conserving more water and energy as drought conditions worsen.

The Catawba-Wateree Drought Management Advisory Group announced Tuesday morning it is upgrading the area drought status based on continued dry conditions. The group asks for voluntary irrigation cutbacks to Tuesdays and Saturdays. Duke Energy, the company managing lakes on the Catawba River, will monitor lake levels and determine if and when any boat ramps need to be closed.

Lake levels Nov. 1 are almost 2 feet below target level, according to lakes.duke-energy.com.

“The lack of widespread precipitation the past few months, especially in the upper basin, has resulted in additional loss of reservoir water storage,” said Ed Bruce, coordinator of the drought management group and an engineer with Duke. “We are asking the community to conserve water and energy as we move through the typically dry late-fall period.”

The new Stage 1 listing is the second of five tiers in a low inflow protocol Duke and stakeholders created as part of a hydroelectric relicensing agreement a decade ago. The protocol is designed to ward off serious drought conditions. Future stages include mandatory water-use restrictions to emergency measures from water providers and the community. For now, use restrictions remain voluntary.

Water storage in local reservoirs is down since the summer, and stream flows are “well below normal for this time of year,” according to a release announcing Stage 1 conditions. The area was in Stage 0, or drought watch conditions, in August.

There are several state and federal drought listings impacting the Catawba basin. The low inflow protocol is important because the drought management group is a combination of Duke and municipal water providers throughout the basin. Municipalities have agreed to act together during drought, so what they ask the public to do is fairly uniform. Officially, water-use restrictions still come from the municipal providers.

Residents with questions should contact their water providers.

S.C. Department of Natural Resources on Oct. 26 upgraded the drought status for York and 14 other counties to moderate status after state and local experts cited low rainfall as a concern.

The North Carolina Drought Advisory issued by the Drought Management Advisory Council updated drought conditions Oct. 25 classifying Gaston County in moderate drought and Mecklenburg County as abnormally dry.

This story was originally published November 1, 2016 at 1:02 PM with the headline "Carolina drought grows worse. Residents asked to conserve water and energy.."