While recent rainfall has improved water levels in parts of Wake County, some neighboring communities remain under water-use restrictions as they continue to deal with the effects of a dry summer.
At Falls Lake, one of the area's busiest boating destinations, drivers lined up Monday at the boat ramp to take advantage of the holiday weekend and cooler temperatures.
"Today was a beautiful day," said boater Scot Schwichow. "Even though I didn't catch as many fish as I wanted, I just enjoyed being out in the water, seeing the wildlife, the sun. Nice cool breeze. It was awesome."
Falls Lake serves as Raleigh's primary drinking water source. According to the city, the current water supply pool stands at 84%, above the 75% threshold that previously triggered conservation measures. Lake Benson, its secondary supply, is at 53%.
"Water levels do look great," said Dylan Lucas, who visited the lake with his family.
Boaters said conditions have improved noticeably in recent weeks.
"It wasn't really bad to me when I came out here for the first couple times the past two months, but it's definitely better today," Schwichow said.
"It looks much better than it has previously," said Matthew Cooper. "We were out a few weeks, a month ago; it was very, very shallow. I'm seeing a big improvement."
Others said recent rainfall has made conditions safer, though caution is still needed in some areas where low water levels have exposed hazards.
"Crazy boaters get out here and act up," said Jerry French. "I don't think they realize there were some bad spots. There are some places six inches underwater. These guys got blasting across it. You just got to pay attention; other than that it's awesome out there."
French said low water can create serious risks for both boats and passengers.
"Tearing up lower units, knocking holes in their boat, throwing people out of the boat, hitting stumps and rocks that they don't know are there," he said.
Some boaters said the drought has had an unexpected benefit by reducing traffic on the water.
"It's definitely super noticeable at lighter places that we like to swim out to, and that's not as nice anymore. (However), it's actually been probably better for us just because fewer boats can be out in the water," said Cooper, who brought paddleboards to Falls Lake on Monday.
Drought conditions persist
Despite those improvements, drought conditions remain widespread across central North Carolina.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, all of Wake County remains in moderate drought. Most of Durham, Orange and Alamance counties are also classified as being in moderate drought, while northern portions of those counties are experiencing severe drought conditions. Significant portions of Rockingham, Caswell and Person counties remain in extreme drought.
The contrast is particularly noticeable between Raleigh and Durham.
Raleigh lifted its water restrictions last month, but Durham remains under a Stage 2 Water Shortage Response.
According to city data, Durham's water supply dropped from 147 days of supply in mid-August to 113 days as of Wednesday. As of last Monday, the city's lakes were at 49% capacity. A city spokesperson told ABC11 that while the recent heat wave likely contributed to increased water consumption, demand appears "unusually high" given the restrictions already in place.
Cooper, who lives in Durham, said the drought remains noticeable even if it has not dramatically affected his daily routine.
"We have definitely noticed it," Cooper said. "We like to go to (Durham) Bulls games a lot, and we've been concerned, like, if they could even do fireworks, things like that. But yeah, it hasn't impacted us too much, but you can just tell how kind of nasty things are outside."
To avoid moving to a Stage 3 Water Shortage Response, Durham officials are taking several steps, including increasing the volume of Jordan Lake water purchased through the Town of Cary, continuing to pump water from Teer Quarry and promoting awareness of existing restrictions. City officials are hopeful those measures, combined with additional rainfall, will help stabilize water supplies in the coming weeks.
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