The Cities of Concord and Kannapolis continue to monitor water levels of all the streams that provide raw water for treatment and distribution to their customers. While rainfall contributes to the levels of the water reservoirs, lake levels still remain below full pond and stream flows feeding all reservoirs are below normal.
Measurements taken this morning, August 14, 2008, indicate the lake levels as follows: Lake Fisher is 29.5 inches below full and Lake Concord is 12.2 inches below full. Last year on this date Lake Fisher was 38.5 inches below full and Lake Concord was 4.0 inches below full. Currently Concord is pulling 4.5 million gallons per day from Lake Fisher and Lake Concord that is being treated at Hillgrove Water Treatment Plant. Lake Howell has only 1.72 million gallons coming into the lake from tributaries and rainfall. Concord is pulling out approximately 5.2 million gallons per day to be treated at Coddle Creek Water Treatment Plant and approximately 1.3 million gallons per day is being released to maintain water quality downstream of the dam. Not counting evaporation, which is much higher during the hot summer months, the lake is losing approximately 4.78 million gallons per day.
As of August 14, 2008, the Kannapolis Lake level is 37 inches below full pond. Last year on this date Kannapolis Lake was 29 inches below full pond. In addition to our primary source, Kannapolis is receiving approximately 300,000 gallons of finished water from the City of Salisbury to supplement our supplies. The City is not currently withdrawing from Second Creek or from the Coddle Creek Reservoir due to low stream flows. Kannapolis Lake is losing approximately 2.5 million gallons per day which equals a half-inch in the water elevation of the Lake from evaporation due to the extreme heat during the summer.
We appreciate the continued efforts of our citizens to conserve water, which has produced very positive results and prevented a crisis situation. We encourage our citizens to remain diligent in their conservation efforts. “We have to continue to have this level of cooperation in case we revert to the same low rainfall levels we saw late last summer and through the fall and winter” remarked Concord City Manager Brian Hiatt.
“The potential for evaporation and deleted water supplies remains very real,” said Kannapolis City Manager Mike Legg. “We have had great cooperation from our citizens and will continue to closely monitor the situation.”
Customers are reminded to pursue projects cautiously given the persistent drought conditions that we are experiencing and should remain aware of current water use restrictions. Level III Mandatory Water Restrictions for all City of Concord, Kannapolis, Harrisburg, Landis and Mount Pleasant customers remain in effect.