By BRITT WALLER
AUBURN, Ala., Oct. 28, 2000 (U-WIRE)— Auburn is facing one of the most severe droughts it has seen. The city continues to ask Auburn residents to conserve water.
Lake Ogletree, Auburn's primary source of water, is down from 270 acres in surface area to 135 acres, about 40 percent of its normal stored volume.
Rex Griffin, Water and Sewer director of the City of Auburn, said this year's drought will continue until at least the middle of November.
"October and early November are the driest months of the year," Griffin said. "And even though August and September had above-average rainfall, the ground has been so dry most of that water became ground water.
"There has only been three-fourths of an inch of rainfall reported for October so far, so we are asking people to keep conserving water in Auburn," Griffin said.
Griffin also said water can be conserved by cutting back on outside watering, especially since growing season is nearing its end.
If one does have to water outside, Griffin said, it should be done in the early morning, but that "people tend to put out more water than they need to."
Right now Lake Ogletree is about three inches above its critical level for this time of year, an improvement of about 15 inches since the water board first asked Auburn residents to start conserving water in July.
The Auburn Water Board has advised residents living north of Glenn Avenue and Martin Luther King Drive to water outside their homes on even calendar days and residents living south of those streets to water outside on odd days.
In addition to voluntary water conservation measures, the City of Auburn is bringing in about 3.5 million gallons of water a day from the Opelika water system, most of which comes from Opelika's secondary water source, the Betts Water Treatment Plant at Halawakee Creek/Lake Harding.
Lake Saugahatchee, Opelika's primary water source, is not being used at this time because of its condition because of low rainfall.
"We're not depending on Lake Saugahatchee right now," said Dan Hilyer, general manager of the Opelika Water Works Board. "The lake is about 149 inches below its full pool — and that is 24 inches below its lowest level ever.
"The water quality is a little more difficult to treat than normal. We can treat it, but right now we're relying on the Betts plant. Lake Harding is full so everything is OK there," Hilyer said.
"If the current drought continues, mandatory water conservation is a possibility," Hilyer said, "but I don't foresee that at this time."
Historically, recovery from the drier weeks of the fall has occurred from the middle of November to the middle of December.
"Really we are hoping for a gradual recovery so that the ground water as well as the surface water can be replenished," Griffin said.
© 1999 The Auburn Plainsman via U-WIRE
