River Report: New Record for Dry-streak
lot happened this past week (that wasn’t election-related). Last Friday, ICPRB initiated daily drought monitoring and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Government’s Drought Coordination Technical Committee recommended to keep the region under the Drought Watch that was declared back in July. On Wednesday, the DC area beat the longest dry streak on record at 35 days with no rain. A small spritz is in the forecast for today, but it may not be substantial enough to end the dry streak.
We continue to encourage wise water use by taking actions such as reducing your shower time, only running full loads of dishes and laundry, and turning the faucet off when not in use.
The colorful map below shows the entirety of the Potomac River watershed ranges from abnormally dry to extremely dry. Over 50% of the area is in Moderate Drought (D1).
River levels continue to drop well below the 50th percentile, as seen in the graph of the adjusted flow at Little Falls.
The dry conditions have spurred the states of Maryland and West Virginia as well as the regions of Shenandoah Valley to declare a burn ban to prevent fires.
We will be publishing a November Water Supply Outlook in the next week. Typically, the reports are only published April through October, but due to the current conditions, we are continuing to publish through the fall.
Protecting our drinking water is a group effort
Yesterday, members of the Potomac River Basin Drinking Water Source Protection Partnership (DWSPP) met for their annual meeting at the offices of Loudoun Water in Ashburn, VA. DWSPP is a coalition of water suppliers and government agencies working together on source water protection issues. ICPRB coordinates the partnership.
During the meeting, the group heard a series of presentations about the importance of communicating their good work on protecting our sources of drinking water. We are grateful to Loudoun Water for hosting the event and for providing the tours of their Broad Run Water Reclamation Facility and the Beaverdam Reservoir Park.
We would like to thank Kishia Powell of WSSC Water for her leadership as chair over the past year. During the meeting, she “passed the gavel” to Jayne Brown of DC Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE), who will serve as the 2025 chair of DWSPP.
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