News

Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop and fellow kayakers had to cut a river adventure short last week after alternating back and forth between being paddlers and being pedestrians. 

“We launched at the new Thornton Road boat ramp. We passed Horseshoe Farm Nature Preserve — it’s a really beautiful area,” Samantha said. “But it was just too low. We had to get out and pull our kayaks every few minutes. So, we found out just how low is too low.”

Drought continues to plague much of North Carolina, with the Triangle area particular hard hit.

“We’re in an extreme drought. We did not get the rainfall we need to replenish Falls Lake in the month of October, and it sounds like we need a hurricane-level rain event to replenish the lake, and no one wants that, either.”

According to WRAL, only 78 days of water remains in Durham’s reservoirs and Falls Lake is nearly 7 feet below its target level.

Samantha saw the results firsthand during her paddling trip: low water and a low flow.

“The US Geological Service’s gauge at Falls Lake dam was less than a foot, where the median would be 1.6 feet, and the water was flowing at 60 cubic feet per second,” Samantha said. “To put that into context, the average flow is 279 CFS and it was 60.”

Samantha said the low water levels she’s seeing are a sign of climate change. According to the USGS, Climate change exacerbates droughts by making them more frequent, longer, and more severe.  Climate change also directly intensifies heavy rain events in other areas because warmer air holds roughly 7% more water vapor for every 1°C increase in temperature.

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