We’re Still in a Drought – but it’s a Better Drought

ENVIRONMENT

By Fraser Sherman
Correspondent

“You don’t really understand how significant the lack of rainfall is until you’ve invested $300,000 in a crop,” Orange County farmer Stephen Finley says.

“The drought has taken a toll on everything,” Finley, a Cedar Grove resident, told The Local Reporter. “It probably cut the small-grain yield — wheat, oats, barley — in half. It kept us from planting soybeans because there was no use.”

Dry as Dust

North Carolina has been in a drought since August of last year. 2026 is the state’s driest year since 1895, which is as far back as the federal government keeps rainfall records. Until July, the drought had worsened with each passing month; by June, Orange County was in “exceptional drought,” the highest level in the U.S. Drought Monitor’s classification system.

North Carolina’s Drought Advisory Council describes the levels as follows:

• Abnormally dry: lawns are brown.
• Moderate drought: wildlife, trees, and landscapes suffer from water stress. Lake and reservoir levels decline.
• Severe drought: it’s harder to put out wildfires. Governments and utilities may discourage nonessential water use.
• Extreme drought: stream levels are low. There may be mandatory water-use restrictions, with fines for violations. Wildfires may become common.
• Exceptional drought: reservoirs are low, well water is low, and utilities are calculating how long the water can keep flowing.

The Rains Came

July’s heavy rainfall has eased some of the pressure on local water resources. “Our reservoirs have gotten up to 75.7 % today from 70.7 % on July 21,” Orange Water and Sewer Authority (OWASA) Public Information Officer Katie Hall told The Local Reporter July 30. “We issue a water shortage advisory if we get to 70 %. So, we are very happy about that!”

Hall says OWASA’s main water sources are University Lake, Cane Creek Reservoir and Quarry Reservoir, which is “water storage in an old mining pit — it can store water when we have excess, then we bring it in when we need it.” University Lake and Cane Creek rely primarily on rain to refill them. It’s a slow process because their watersheds — the area from which water drains into the reservoirs — are small, so not much rain falls on them.

At the end of June, the reservoirs were down to 71% full. Hall said in June that she anticipated OWASA issuing a water shortage advisory in July. While 75 percent is a long way from “full,” the heavy rain has postponed the need for an advisory.

Mart Bumgarner, an Orange County agent for the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, told The Local Reporter July 30 that Orange County’s drought level has improved from exceptional to extreme. While that’s good, it’s still a seriously bad drought with rain well below normal levels.

Fellow Extension Service agent Alex Kissinger agrees that July’s rains “aren’t going to be the silver bullet” — what the county needs are consistent, small showers for an extended period. With a single heavy rain, much of the water runs off without being absorbed by the dry soil. “If we got 12 inches of rain in two days, the soil can only absorb so much at one time. Especially if it’s been dry for so long.” Kissinger compared it to pouring a five-gallon bucket of water on a dry sponge.

Bumgarner said part of the problem is that the sandy soil in much of the county can’t retain water once it reaches saturation. If Orange County gets five inches of rain in a relatively short time, most of the water will run off rather than soak into the sand. Clay soils absorb more water, but there are limits to how much they can take up.

Water that doesn’t seep into the ground, Bumgarner said, will run off into creeks and ponds and eventually replenish the reservoirs. He hopes August will deliver more rain without any Chantal-class storms that could do more harm than good.

Farming in a Time of Drought

Orange County crops, Bumgarner said, include tobacco, corn, soybeans and hay made from fescue grass, plus fruits and vegetables. Drought isn’t good for any of them. Fescue goes dormant in summer, so acreage that might normally produce 40 to 50 bales of hay now provides seven to 10 bales. Grass is growing more slowly, too, which means farmers have to either feed hay to their own herds or sell them off. If they sell, that floods the market and depresses the amount farmers earn from beef.

Other crops, such as soybeans and corn, suffer from the drought in different ways. Many fruit crops are irrigated, which puts more pressure on the wells when there’s no rain to replenish the aquifer.

Finley says it’s been hard getting his crops the way he wants them when there’s been so little rain. Tobacco requires lots of water to thrive, but even irrigating at 300 gallons per acre hasn’t always been enough; he had to replant 30 acres of tobacco because the soil sucked up the water and the plants died.

Planning is key to keeping the farm going, he said. Saving soybean seed for next year rather than planting it now. Factoring in crop insurance on tobacco and federal disaster relief. Budgeting for farm workers, fertilizer and diesel when there’s less money coming in. “You have to be very financially responsible with every move you make, or it’ll break you.”

Fraser Sherman has worked for newspapers, including the Destin Log, the Pensacola News-Journal and the Raleigh Public Record. Born in England, he’d still live in Florida if he hadn’t met the perfect woman and moved to Durham to marry her. He’s the author of several film reference books and has published one novel and several short story collections. This reporter can be reached at: Information@TheLocalReporter.press