The hot, dry conditions continue to scorch the Lehigh Valley.
After one of the driest months of May the Lehigh Valley has ever seen, water levels are down. In fact, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) water flow map, every waterway in the Lehigh Valley is below where it should be for this time of year.
We’re not in a drought watch yet in the Lehigh Valley, but it might not be far off.
“I suspect that we’re going to get to that point in the next few days, if not the next week,” said Stephen Repasch, the Executive Director of the Bethlehem Water Authority.
The City of Bethlehem’s drinking water comes from the Penn Forest and Wild Creek reservoirs, and Repasch said they’re both in pretty good shape.
“It is low for this time of year, because typically by this time of year we’re, this time last year we were at 100 percent of capacity, so it is trending downward, but we’re still in very, very good shape,” said Repasch.
The Lehigh County Authority also hasn’t issued a drought watch yet, but one of their streams, the Little Lehigh Creek, is extremely low. It’s lost more than 30 cubic feet per second of flow over the past month.
“We’re keeping an eye on things, and as conditions change we would be communicating with the public,” said Communications Director Susan Sampson.
The Lehigh County Authority relies on three “trigger points” before declaring a Drought Watch: The Upper Macungie Park Quarry, The Lower Macungie Monitoring Well, and The Little Lehigh Creek.
The creek is the only one below normal levels right now, but a Drought Watch could be issued as early as next week if we continue to go without rainfall.
“In that phase, we’d be asking customers to voluntarily cut back on water use by about five percent,” said Sampson.
Before we get to that point, Sampson is asking people to watch their water usage anyway.
“Running your washing machine and appliances only when you have a full load, decreasing the amount of water that you’re using to water a lawn,” said Sampson.
While the DEP has not issued any drought watches yet for any part of the state, the U.S. Drought Monitor says some parts of our region are already considered to be in a “moderate drought.”
That includes parts of Berks, Schuylkill, and Carbon counties.