Drought in Pennsylvania, August 1 to 31, 1999

The drought continued throughout the first half of August across Eastern Pennsylvania. Crops were decimated, especially in Berks County. Crop losses were estimated at exceeding $500 million dollars throughout the state of Pennsylvania. The drought started to break during the second half of the month as the strong ridge of high pressure was suppressed farther to the south. This was especially true for the southeast part of the state. For the first month since March, monthly rainfall totals for August were around or greater than normal. For the state of Pennsylvania, August's rainfall total averaged 3.21 inches, 86 percent of normal. On a county weighted average August monthly rainfall totals ranged from 2.7 inches in Carbon County and 3.4 inches in Berks County to 7.0 inches in Bucks County and 7.9 inches in Philadelphia County. The August normal monthly rainfall for Eastern Pennsylvania is around 4.2 inches. The first half of August continued the dire drought conditions across Pennsylvania. Mandatory water restrictions were already in place since Governor Thomas Ridge declared a drought emergency on July 21st. Water consumption fell 10 to 20 percent throughout the state and up to 25 percent in Bucks County. On August 6th, The Army Core of Engineers started storing additional water behind the F. E. Walter Dam in Carbon County. In spite of the mandatory restrictions the continued lack of rain made wells go dry. Hardest hit were wells in Berks, Carbon and Montgomery Counties. In Montgomery County there were 93 well failures alone. Drillers were reporting a three to six week backlog. On August 13th, with five residential wells going dry in Franklin Township (Carbon County), the commissioner's office declared a state of emergency. All outdoor and non-essential water use was strictly prohibited. Carbon County now had the tightest water restrictions in the state. On August 18th, the Delaware River Basin Commission voted to tap into water supplies normally reserved for power, recreational and flood control to maintain flow along the Delaware River and some of its tributaries. Releases would be rotated from the F. E. Walter Dam (Carbon County), Lake Wallenpaupack (Pike County), Lake Nockamixon (Bucks County) and the Mongaup System (Upstate New York). The Commission also asked big industries that use their own source of water to develop contingency plans to cut back on water usage if the drought persisted. Crop losses due to drought throughout the state were estimated to exceed 500 million dollars. The losses don't include the drop in milk production. Corn losses alone were estimated to reach 100 million dollars. Many farms in the Lehigh Valley and Berks County reported corn losses of around 90 percent. Berks County was one of the hardest hit counties in the whole northeastern United States with crop losses estimated to reach 50 million dollars. Farmers in the county averaged 60 percent crop losses. Farmers were hit with a double whammy of both drought and low commodity prices because of a worldwide crop glut and ideal growing conditions in the central part of the country. While the corn crop was hit the hardest, it was not the only one. Soybeans, alfalfa, pasture grass, pumpkins and Christmas trees were all hit hard. In Carbon County, one tree grower lost half of the 18,000 young fir trees planted this spring as well as thousands of six year old trees. On August 10th, Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman declared 19 counties in New Jersey a drought disaster. This made adjoining counties in Pennsylvania also eligible. The secretary extended the drought disaster declaration to all of Pennsylvania on August 13th This made farmers in those counties and adjacent ones eligible for low interest loans of up to $500,000. Farmers eligible for help must have lost at least 30 percent of their crops, have adequate security, be turned down by two banks and be able to repay the loan. The Department of Agriculture also will provide $20 million dollars in grants to provide emergency services to low income migrant and seasonal farm workers in declared drought disaster areas. The Small Business Administration will also make federal disaster loans available to small agriculture dependent businesses. The drought continued to have other affects across the state. The burning ban remained in effect in all state forests and gamelands. Many hemlock trees were getting decimated by both the drought and parasites. In Mid-August about 75 percent of all the streams in the Middle Atlantic States were at or setting record streamflow lows for the date. The upstream advancing salt front along the lower Delaware River (near Philadelphia International Airport) stressed fish and wildlife and some groundwater was contaminated with salt and must be treated. The Schuylkill River Watershed's volume was four times lower than it should be even with supplemental releases from the Blue Marsh Dam to try to keep the Delaware River salt line in check. High water temperatures, low water flows was promoting algae blooms, oxygen depletions and fish suffocations. Low streamflows was causing problems for some sewage treatment plants which need a certain volume of water to dilute the pollutants. The lack of food and water forced animals to spread out in search of them. There were over 2,400 bear sightings in New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania. Bats diving into pools,. deer drinking from bird baths and rats leaving sewers and entering homes were all too common occurrences. Landscapers and garden shops continued to suffer as the restrictions halted plant and flower sales and the dormant grass did not need cuttings. Philadelphia school officials barred the use of the city's athletic fields to prevent further damage and put the football season on hold.