5.4. ERMUSR 02-12-2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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■ 2013 Begins with Severe Drought Conditions The year 2012 brought lower-than-normal levels of precipitation, so 2013 starts with a deficit. James Fallon is a Hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS monitors river and stream water flow and reports low volume for this time of year. "If it stay dry, we don't have a lot of water in the system. We have the ground water but we don't have a lot of extra capacity in the river system that would normally be there for this time of year." t KSTP ' : Greg Fox farms near Rosemount, and he says concern about the current drought should spread beyond farms. "Everybody should be concerned about it no matter if you're a homeowner, or one city water, if you have your own personal well. Yea, it's a major concern." Several shallow wells in the Duluth area have run dry. Mike Convery is a Hydrologist with the Minnesota Department of Health he says dry conditions will be felt beyond the farming community. "The fact that we're in a severe doughy situation has a number of wide variety of impacts on how we do our day to day lives." And while more than 80 percent of the state is in severe drought conditions, Convery says this isn't the first time Minnesota has endured a drought. "It has happened before. It's probably been long enough that most people forgot about it, or actually experienced before." Drought strains Minnesota's water resources By Steve Kamowski on October 19, 2012 http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-10-19/drought-strains-minnesotas-water-resources MINNEAPOLIS (AP)—Drought conditions are straining water supplies in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, leading Minnesota officials on Thursday to urge residents to cut back on their water use. Some companies have even been ordered to switch from streams to alternative supplies.