North Carolina
Is North Carolina at risk of ‘water bankruptcy’?
North Carolina’s drought is pushing water levels lower and putting a sharper focus on whether the state’s water supply can keep pace with growth and a changing climate.
At Falls Lake, Raleigh’s primary source, levels are hovering just 2% above the threshold that could trigger restrictions.
“It is incredibly unusual for Falls Lake to be two and a half feet down in the middle of April,” Raleigh Water Assistant Director Ed Buchan said.
Reservoirs typically refill through the winter and spring. This year’s dry stretch has disrupted that pattern, leaving systems with less cushion heading into warmer months.
But drought is just one piece of a larger strain on the state’s water supplies.
A system under pressure
A recent United Nations report warns that many water systems worldwide are moving beyond short-term shortages and into a more persistent imbalance. Researchers describe it as “water bankruptcy,” when long-term use and damage outpace what natural systems can replenish.
In those cases, recovery to past conditions is no longer realistic.
The report points to a combination of factors, including population growth, overuse, pollution and climate change. Drought plays a role, but increasingly as part of a broader pattern driven by human activity.
Some of the same global pressures are beginning to surface in North Carolina.
Growth, transfers and demand
Across the state, communities are growing and looking for new water sources.
In Fuquay-Varina, officials are seeking to withdraw millions of gallons per day from the Cape Fear River Basin to support future demand, while returning treated water to a different basin. The proposal has drawn opposition from downstream communities concerned about long-term impacts.
Moving water between river basins can reduce the supply where it is taken from, especially during dry periods.
“The more we transfer water out of river basins, the greater that’s going to impact rural communities,” Western Piedmont Council of Governments Executive Director Anthony Starr said.
Those decisions are becoming more common as utilities try to keep pace with growth, but they also raise questions about how much water can be moved — and from where — before systems begin to feel the strain.
Local decisions, limited visibility
At the local level, officials say they are often weighing those questions without a complete picture of long-term impacts.
In Chatham County, commissioners recently approved a moratorium on data centers, driven in part by concerns about water use.
“I think that is probably the single greatest concern, and that is that probably what was weighed by the minds of our commissioners in deciding to pass the moratorium more than anything else,” Chatham Commissioner Karen Howard said. “We know that our climate future is at risk. We are in the process of creating a climate plan and the use of water is a significant concern for us.”
Howard said the pace of development can outstrip the ability to fully study its effects.
That uncertainty extends to smaller systems across the state.
“These rural systems don’t have the resources to do engineering studies so they don’t fully understand the impact before approving these projects,” said Heather Somers, director of the North Carolina Rural Water Association.
“If we don’t get some reins in place to reel that in and have some oversight on what these industrial users are going to pull from our resources, we’re going to be in trouble for sure,” Somers said.
Climate and compounding drought
Climate change is expected to make those challenges more complex.
Higher temperatures increase evaporation, while rainfall is becoming less predictable. That can mean longer dry periods followed by more intense storms, which do not always replenish water supplies in the same way.
Even when conditions improve, recovery may be incomplete.
“It takes a long time to get into a drought, and a long time to get out,” Buchan said.
Some water managers are increasingly looking at drought not as a single event, but as part of a longer cycle. Systems may not fully recover between dry periods, leaving less margin for the next one.
A changing balance
North Carolina’s water system has long depended on balance. Much of the water withdrawn by utilities is treated and returned to rivers, where it becomes part of the supply again.
But that balance can shift as demand changes.
Some large industrial users, including certain types of data centers, rely on cooling systems that remove water from the local system through evaporation.
“That’s water not going back to the Neuse River,” Buchan said. “It’s just gone.”
At the same time, long-term planning is built on projections that can be difficult to predict.
Regional utilities are working together through the Triangle Water Supply Partnership to map out demand decades into the future, but new types of growth and changing climate conditions add uncertainty to those forecasts.
“You’re really making a lot of assumptions,” Buchan said.
For now, utilities say North Carolina has the capacity to manage through the current drought.
But the combination of growth, shifting demand, climate variability and decisions about how water is shared across regions is raising a broader question.
Not just how to respond to this drought — but whether the system, as it exists today, can sustain what is coming next.
North Carolina
‘Seeing is believing’: Local content creator expands tourism growth across WNC post-Helene
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — A budding collaboration between content creators and local tourism leaders is bringing more eyes and visitor traffic to western North Carolina.
Explore Asheville is crediting local content creators like Aisha Adams, a Mills River resident, for helping to expand the mountain region’s digital footprint and draw more tourists to lesser-known spots.
Explore Asheville and the Buncombe County Tourism Authority said they are working with their partners to tell creative stories that get people out to discover the area. Adams said she does not ignore capturing spots on video of areas left with the remnants of Helene’s devastating floods.
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“That’s just a part of our story now, and it adds that texture and culture,” Adams said. “Now we have this mix of art and resilience that I think is going to make the depth of our work and the depth of our community even more attractive.”
When businesses started reopening after Helene, Adams said she began road-tripping around western North Carolina, documenting her travels online.
One of her videos showing the Jackson County farmers’ market gained nearly 60,000 views. Adams said she never expected her Facebook to garner millions of views every month.
“It’s giving me a sense of community that I never thought I could have in a small town, sort of like Asheville, but connecting with people from all over the world,” Adams said.
Explore Asheville said tourism is showing continuous growth since the floods, including hotel revenue, which has increased by 20% in recent months.
Still, during the state’s annual Visit NC Tourism Conference in March, Governor Josh Stein said one challenge western North Carolina’s tourism industry faces is changing perception of those who still tie the area to images they had seen immediately after the hurricane.
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Vic Isley, president and CEO of Explore Asheville, said, “Seeing is believing.”
Isley said content creators like Adams are showing both the rebounded and still-recovering areas of Helene, providing a more balanced perspective of places that define the mountain community.
“It’s just really important for people to see not only the shiny parts of Asheville, but the deep inner beauty of Asheville,” Isley said.
Adams, who founded her own media company, Aisha Adams Media, supporting small businesses and nonprofits in bringing profitable and conscious content to social media, said she believes more individuals are looking for authenticity from both online content and their travels.
“People are looking for resilience and healing, and I think that’s what we offer here,” Adams said.
Some of Adams’ recent partnerships with Explore Asheville include content for Black Wall Street AVL, which celebrates Black-owned businesses, along with other work for Martin Luther King Jr. Park located at the intersection of downtown and the East End/Valley Street neighborhood.
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Both Explore Asheville and Adams said they have been experimenting with artificial intelligence as a tool, not a replacement, for their online content.
Adams said she hopes to partner on some more professional projects with Explore Asheville in the future.
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — A state Senate bill that would delay property tax reappraisals for some North Carolina homeowners is moving forward at the General Assembly with a last-minute change.
Lawmakers gave initial approval Tuesday to the Property Tax Revaluation Moratorium Bill (SB 889), which would block counties that completed property reappraisals in 2026 from using those new values for the upcoming tax year. Instead, those counties would be required to use older property values this year before switching to the updated numbers in 2027.
The move is in response to sharp increases in property values across parts of the state, in some cases jumping by 50% to 60%, which could translate into higher tax bills for homeowners.
“We’ve seen an extensive increase in property values, in the double digits,” said state Sen. Steve Jarvis (R-Davidson County, Davie County).
The moratorium would apply to a dozen counties, including Guilford, Buncombe and Pender, where reappraisals are already underway.
During debate Tuesday, state senators approved an amendment carving out an exemption for three smaller counties to allow them to move forward with their reappraisals as planned.
“This will impact only three counties, Clay, Chowan and Pamlico,” said State Sen. Kevin Corbin (R-Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Swain, Transylvania counties). “These smaller counties face a relatively higher financial burden during the reappraisal process.”
The updated bill also includes new language clarifying the appeals process, ensuring property owners still have the ability to challenge their property values in both 2026 and 2027.
Senate leader Phil Berger says the goal of the bill is to give lawmakers time to address larger issues tied to rising property values.
“In many instances, the folks that are getting hit the hardest are folks at the lower end of the income scale, especially folks that are on fixed income,” Berger said.
The bill has cleared initial Senate approval and now heads to a final vote, before potentially moving to the House. Berger also acknowledged the proposal’s future in the House is still unclear.
“I don’t know that they haven’t embraced it. We’ll see once it gets over there,” he said.
The NC Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at Monday, May 4, 2026 results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from May 4 drawing
30-36-42-60-63, Powerball: 13, Power Play: 2
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 3 numbers from May 4 drawing
Day: 0-5-9, Fireball: 8
Evening: 5-4-0, Fireball: 7
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 4 numbers from May 4 drawing
Day: 8-3-9-5, Fireball: 0
Evening: 4-8-7-4, Fireball: 9
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Cash 5 numbers from May 4 drawing
01-10-21-27-37
Check Cash 5 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Double Play numbers from May 4 drawing
02-09-15-23-34
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from May 4 drawing
08-17-22-34-39, Bonus: 05
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize
All North Carolina Lottery retailers will redeem prizes up to $599.
For prizes over $599, winners can submit winning tickets through the mail or in person at North Carolina Lottery Offices. By mail, send a prize claim form, your signed lottery ticket, copies of a government-issued photo ID and social security card to: North Carolina Education Lottery, P.O. Box 41606, Raleigh, NC 27629. Prize claims less than $600 do not require copies of photo ID or a social security card.
To submit in person, sign the back of your ticket, fill out a prize claim form and deliver the form, along with your signed lottery ticket and government-issued photo ID and social security card to any of these locations:
- Asheville Regional Office & Claim Center: 16-G Regent Park Blvd., Asheville, NC 28806, 877-625-6886 press #1. Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. This office can cash prizes up to $99,999.
- Greensboro Regional Office & Claim Center: 20A Oak Branch Drive, Greensboro, NC 27407, 877-625-6886 press #2. Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. This office can cash prizes up to $99,999.
- Charlotte Regional Office & Claim Center: 5029-A West W. T. Harris Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28269-1861, 877-625-6886 press #3. Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. This office can cash prizes up to $99,999.
- NC Lottery Headquarters: Raleigh Claim Center & Regional Office, 2728 Capital Blvd., Suite 144, Raleigh, NC 27604, 877-625-6886 press #4. Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. This office can cash prizes of any amount.
- Greenville Regional Office & Claim Center: 2790 Dickinson Avenue, Suite A, Greenville, NC 27834, 877-625-6886 press #5. Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. This office can cash prizes up to $99,999.
- Wilmington Regional Office & Claim Center: 123 North Cardinal Drive Extension, Suite 140, Wilmington, NC 28405, 877-625-6886 press #6. Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. This office can cash prizes up to $99,999.
Check previous winning numbers and payouts at https://nclottery.com/.
When are the North Carolina Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 10:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 11 p.m. Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky for Life: 10:38 p.m. daily.
- Pick 3, 4: 3:00 p.m. and 11:22 p.m. daily.
- Cash 5: 11:22 p.m. daily.
- Millionaire for Life: 11:15 p.m. daily.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Carolina Connect editor. You can send feedback using this form.
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