Rain dilutes drought

Tougher water rules forestalled

It's still a drought. It's just a chilly, wet drought now.

By this morning, the Triangle will have absorbed about 2 inches of rain, enough to push Falls Lake up two-tenths of a foot and stave off any tougher water restrictions in Raleigh.

But the region still needs another 7 inches to climb back up to normal levels -- several storms' worth of water.

"Certainly the drought is not over," said Mike Strickler, meteorologist with the National Weather Service. "One event is not going to do it for us. It's certainly a step in the right direction."

With much of the Triangle under mandatory conservation rules, water use has fallen far.

Over the weekend, Raleigh citizens consumed about 41 million gallons a day. That's down from 60 million in pre-drought days.

Public Utilities Director Dale Crisp said he was certain that without any rain by the end of this week, Raleigh would have moved into stage 3 conservation, which would ban using irrigation systems and punish first-time violators with a $1,000 fine.

Now, he said, the city might dodge stage 3 altogether.

"We may be in a recurring pattern," Crisp said.

For now the city remains in stage 2, which restricts watering to twice a week and fines violators $200.

It will take a few days for all of the fallen rain to make its way into the region's lakes.

In Durham, city staff said Lake Michie was holding steady and wouldn't show signs of rising for one to three days. Crisp expected to know Falls Lake's post-rain depth on Wednesday.

With showers predicted for early next week, the region's parched lake bottoms could get even soggier.