Advisory group downgrades Lake Hickory drought status.
HICKORY – The drought status of the Catawba-Wateree river basin, which includes Lake Hickory, has been downgraded considering the area’s rainfall the past few months.
The Catawba-Wateree Drought Management Advisory Group announced Wednesday in a press release the drought condition, or Low Inflow Protocol, of the basin was lowered from Stage One to Stage Zero.
The drought advisory group consists of a number of regional partners that track the drought status of the basin and make recommendations for “coordinated actions” among the group’s members.
The Stage One drought condition, which has been in place since November 2016, includes recommendations for voluntary reductions in water use.
“So with those two improving to this point, the health of the system overall is much better; so that is actually what moved us to that Stage Zero condition,” Greer said.
Stage Zero “is the first of five drought stages and alerts the CW-DMAG members to monitor conditions,” according to the release.
In the past few weeks, the water level of Lake Hickory has exceeded the 97-foot target.
Chad Burel, who has lived on Lake Hickory for the past 20 years and runs the river cruise Lake Hickory Adventures, said in a phone interview the water level he has seen recently has been fairly normal.
Based on his own experiences seeing "the highest of the high and the lowest of the low," the water level is around the normal level, Burel said.