WATER CUSTOMERS ENCOURAGED TO CONSERVE - WATER CUSTOMERS ENCOURAGED TO CONSERVE Following Governor Mark Sanford's request for voluntary water conservation, the S.C. Department of Natural Resources has contacted state water system administrators to promote

WATER CUSTOMERS ENCOURAGED TO CONSERVE

Following Governor Mark Sanford's request for voluntary water
conservation, the S.C. Department of Natural Resources has contacted
state water system administrators to promote conservation efforts.
Despite recent rains, drought conditions continue to deteriorate
and in a letter on Monday to water providers, S.C. Department of Natural
Resources (DNR) renewed Governor Sanford's request for voluntary water
conservation and asked providers to encourage customers to conserve
water.
"In light of Governor Sanford's call for voluntarily water
conservation, we're asking water providers to encourage their individual
customers to curtail water use," according to Steve de Kozlowski,
DNR-Land, Water, and Conservation Division Interim Deputy Director. "Due
to the statewide severity of the drought both in our state and in the
headwaters of our river basins in North Carolina and along the Savannah
River, DNR is seeking widespread cooperation in this effort to conserve
water. Voluntarily conserving now will hopefully help avoid more
stringent restrictions later if the drought continues."
The majority of the State's unregulated streams are at or near
record low flows for this time of year. Most of the lakes are at much
below normal levels, lower than levels during the 1998-2002 record
drought. According to the DNR hydrology office, rivers in the Pee Dee
Basin responded to heavy rains last week, which helped to temporarily
stabilize flows. However, without continued rainfall the flows will
quickly decline to below normal levels. Elsewhere in the state rainfall
amounts were generally less than 1" resulting in only minimal flow
increases.
The long-range outlook, for the remainder of fall and winter,
calls for below normal precipitation, according to state climatologist
Hope Mizzell. DNR is encouraging water administrators to report
conservation measures to DNR and to monitor water system conservation
efforts on the DNR Web site at
www.dnr.sc.gov/water/climate/sco/Drought/drought_water_restriction.php.
The site includes some of the conservation actions already in place.
DNR protects and manages South Carolina's natural resources by
making wise and balanced decisions for the benefit of the state's
natural resources and its people. Find out more about DNR at
www.dnr.sc.gov.


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