Drought in Pennsylvania, October 1 to 31, 2002

October 2002 brought to Eastern Pennsylvania the first widespread wetter than normal month since March. Every county was wetter than normal and in most cases received over twice the normal monthly precipitation for October. On October 10th and 11th, more rain fell across the region than is normal for the entire month. Groundwater monitoring wells in Montgomery and Bucks Counties jumped a foot after the heavy rain. October is usually the driest month of the year. Most of Eastern Pennsylvania remained under drought emergency status with mandatory watering restrictions in place. Residents were required to conserve water by 15 percent and could face penalties for violating regulations. Only Carbon and Monroe Counties were in drought watch status. The Delaware River Basin Commission, which oversees water supply throughout the Delaware River Basin declared a "drought" on December 3, 2001 when the supply of water in the New York City reservoir system dropped below a designated level for early December. The commission declared a drought emergency on December 18, 2001. Both triggered additional reductions in the amount of water released from the reservoirs into the Delaware River and the amount diverted out of the Delaware River Basin to New York City and New Jersey. Diversions to New York City dropped from 800 million gallons a day to 520 million gallons a day. The emergency declaration gave the commission the power to restrict the amount of water suppliers could draw from the basin. It gave the commission the authority to take water from municipal reservoirs to maintain river levels. It could also call for water releases from federal, state and privately owned reservoirs. Water from Lake Nockamixon, the F.E. Walter Reservoir and Lake Wallenpaupack could be used to maintain river levels. Releases from the F.E. Walter Dam were reduced to one-third of normal to save water. They were last used for this purpose in the 1960s. The releases help protect the riverbank and aquatic life and also prevents salt water from flowing up the Delaware River. Salt water intrusion causes corrosion problems for industries and increases water treatment costs for municipalities that depend on the river for their water supply. Maintaining river levels are also important for groundwater reserves that are recharged by the river itself. Due to the heavy rain during October, the salt front went from mile marker 88 on October 1st to mile marker 68 on October 31st, 13 miles farther downstream than normal for October. The emergency declaration also gives the commission the power to request that utilities and other companies that use more than one million gallons of water a day to prepare contingency plans to use less water and submit the plans to the commission. The heavy precipitation in October came too late to help farmers throughout the state. It was estimated that the drought will cost farmers about 300 million dollars in Pennsylvania. The projected corn harvest should be 30 percent below levels of last year and soybeans were expected to be down about 25 percent. Dairy farmers were pinched on both sides. Milk prices were depressed and feed prices were rising because of the drought. On a county weighted average October monthly precipitation totals ranged from 5.7 inches in Bucks County to 8.3 inches in Carbon County. More precipitation fell from the south to the north. Normal monthly precipitation is around 3.2 inches. The New York City Reservoirs which feed the Delaware River increased from 50.4 percent of capacity on October 1st to 57.6 percent of capacity on November 1st. Late October was the first time since early 2001 that reservoir capacity was higher than normal. On October 31st, the salt front on the Delaware River was about thirteen miles farther downstream (mile marker 68) than normal. For the month stream flow on the Delaware, Schuylkill and Lehigh Rivers was about 200 percent of normal. October monthly precipitation was 7.20 inches at the Reading Regional Airport, 6.85 inches at the Lehigh Valley International Airport (4th wettest on record) and 5.90 inches at the Philadelphia International Airport (5th wettest on record).