"If we don't have replenishing rains that really begin to fill the reservoirs and ... start refilling some of the groundwater tables, then we're going to continue to deplete our water resources and the economic and environmental impacts of that are going to just be devastating."
- Don Wilhite, Director, National Drought Mitigation Center, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, March 29, 2002
Graphic of intensifying drought in the U.S., February 9 - March 15, 2002, courtesy National Drought Mitigation Center, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska.
March 30, 2002 Narrowsburg, New York - Since the dry, warm fall and winter of 2001-2002, rivers on the East Coast of the United States have reached the lowest levels on record. In December, it was so bad in the Cannonsville Reservoir of the Delaware River watershed that its muddy bottom was exposed for the first time since it was built. That reservoir, which helps provide water to Manhattan, had only 3% of its water capacity. In fact, half the drinking water for New York City comes from three reservoirs in the Delaware River watershed and all three right now have less than half their normal water levels.
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