Drought in Delaware, March 1 to 31, 2002

Delaware entered arch 2002 with considerably dry conditions. Twenty-one of the thirty gaged streams in Maryland and Delaware as well as seven of the seventeen monitored groundwater wells were at record low levels. They were lower than the levels set during the 1950s and 1960s droughts including the Christina River. The Brandywine Creek was flowing at record lows in spite of being bolstered by a 5 million gallon a day release from the Marsh Creek Reservoir in Chester County. The state also asked Pennsylvania to preserve as much water as it can in case of emergency. On March 5th Governor Ruth Ann Minner declared a statewide drought warning with special emphasis on New Castle County because of its reliance on surface water. The governor asked residents to voluntarily conserve water by restricting all non-essential uses such as washing cars and using wise water habits such as running the dishwasher and clothes washer with full loads. The state cancelled the annual trout stocking at Gravel Hill Pond near Georgetown because water levels were too low. Plans were also made to tap the Hoopes Reservoir for water if necessary. The lack of precipitation in the Delaware River Basin forced the Delaware River Basin Commission to continue its drought emergency declaration for its entire drainage basin. Conditions improved as the month wore on. Precipitation events on March 2nd and 3rd, 12th and 13th, 17th and 18th, 20th, 26th and 27th and 31st caused monthly precipitation in Delaware to be above normal. This was the first month since June of 2001 that the entire state was wetter than normal. On a county weighted average, March monthly precipitation totals were 4.0 inches in New Castle and Kent Counties and 4.6 inches in Sussex County. Normal is around 3.7 inches. The monthly precipitation total was 5.40 inches in Georgetown (Sussex County) and 4.05 inches at the New Castle County Airport. In spite of precipitation returning to normal levels, concern remained about crops, especially the winter wheat crop. At the end of the month 38 percent of the state's soil was short or very short of moisture. The percentage last year on March 31st was 25 percent.