This is the week when southern Connecticut’s drought ended.
If there is an “official” time when the drought ended in Fairfield and New Haven counties it was 8:30 a.m. Thursday, May 11, 2017 when U.S. Drought Monitor released its weekly report.
It was the first time in more than a year that Fairfield and New Haven counties has no serious water worries Now, more than 75 percent of Connecticut now has no drought conditions.
Last October, Gov.
Dannel P. Malloy ordered the drought watch after three years of below normal rainfall.
The end of the drought watch came after several months of beneficial rainfall.
This week, Aquarion also started to remove a temporary pipeline that was pumping millions of gallons of water a day from Bridgeport to points the Stamford/Greenwich area.
More than 2 inches of rain was measured last weekend at the city’s Laurel and North Stamford reservoirs, according to Peter Fazekas, a spokesman for Aquarion Water Co. Stamford reservoir levels rose to 90.5 percent on Tuesday, up from 87 percent on April 11.
ClimateCentral.com reports that after years of intense, record-setting drought across the U.S., particularly in the Great Plains and California, the country is now experiencing its lowest level of drought in the 17 years since the U.S. Drought Monitor began its weekly updates.
Less than 5 percent of the U.S. was in some stage of drought as of May 4, compared to the 65 percent in September 2012.

UN chief: drought-stricken Somalia ‘hangs in the balance’.
LONDON — British Prime Minster Theresa May and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Thursday for more support for drought-stricken Somalia, with the U.N. chief requesting another $900 million in aid this year.
They spoke at a high-level conference to address the Horn of Africa nation’s deepening humanitarian and security crisis.
"Here in London we can tip the scales from danger to safety."
Guterres said some 439,000 people are at risk of famine and more than 6 million are "severely food insecure."
Somalia is also facing new military interest from the United States, as President Donald Trump has approved expanded operations, including airstrikes, against the extremist group al-Shabab.
Aid agencies have expressed concern that the military moves could endanger the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the drought.
Pressure is growing on Somalia’s military to assume full responsibility for the country’s security as the 22,000-strong African Union multinational force, AMISOM, that has been supporting the fragile central government plans to leave by the end of 2020.
The U.S. military has acknowledged the problem.
Save the Children chief Keven Watkins said the African country "continues to drift toward an avoidable famine."

Kampala — Uganda’s electricity exports to Kenya grew 300 per cent in the four months to April as drought cut the neighbouring country’s local generation of hydro-electric power by 347 million kilowatt hours.
Kenya imported 92.3 million kilowatt hours (kWh) from Uganda in the four months compared to 13.66 million units in the same period last year – marking a 302 per cent growth, according to official data.
This is a departure from last year when Kenya cut by half electricity imports from Uganda following the injection of the additional 280 megawatts geothermal power to the national grid a year earlier.
But the drought, which follows low rainfall during the October and November rainy season, has left at least 1.3 million people in need of food aid and driven down water levels in dams.
Around 910 million kWh of the energy supplied to the Kenyan grid came from hydropower in the four months, down from 1.25 billion units in the same period last year.
The supply shortfall was plugged by increased intake of imports and expensive diesel-fired electricity.
Kenya has a direct electricity transmission line connecting with Uganda via Tororo, enabling bulk power imports.
Kenya bought 870,000 units of power from Ethiopia in the first quarter, up from 740,000 units in a similar period last year.
Official data shows that Kenya’s electricity exports to Uganda fell 95 per cent to 740,000 units in the four months, reversing a trend where the exports have been rising.
Uganda has been exporting electricity to Kenya under an agreement signed during colonial times but renegotiated at Uganda’s insistence in 1997.

Drought is over, but restricitons remain.
The task force uses a five point scale to designate drought conditions, with normal being the lowest designation.
Although Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew Beaton still has to approve these recommendations, it would be safe to say that the drought in Foxboro is officially over.
That’s because these restrictions are designed to keep Foxboro’s water use under 65 gallons per-person, per-day, and are not a response to a drought designation, or lack thereof.
Houses with wells are exempt from all these restrictions.
This small overage made it so Foxboro had to put in place draconian water bans in town when the area was under a drought designation last summer, a designation that stretched into this very month in one form or another.
Worthley said that unless the town falls under a high drought designation again, the restriction will stay in place.
Brown water Additionally, Worthley spoke to recent incidents involving the town water system.
On the April 20 to 24 low water pressure and brown water experienced by residents in the Main Street area, Worthley said that a new valve, designed to move water from the high pressure part the of the system around Route 1 to the lower pressure area around Main Street let in a big surge of water, kicking up sediment and causing brown water.
Worthley said that high water use during this time period exacerbated the low pressure and brown water situation, and that only additional rainfall allowed for the water tower on Route 1 to refill, allowing for enough water to enter the system and solve both issues.

LAFAYETTE (CBS SF) — Some East Bay MUD customers are upset over the news that their water rates will likely be going up despite conservation efforts during the California drought.
Like many in the state, East Bay residents did their best to cut down on water use over the past few years.
The cost of running that system has gone up by over $100 million in the past 10 years.
When asked the 300 new workers the utility district has hired in the past two years, Coate replied.
“We need to continue to maintain this system to ensure that it provides water that is safe.” EBMUD also has to pay the bill from buying water from other districts to help out in the drought.
“That water when you are buying water in a drought is much more expensive,” explained Coate.
“Whether you consume 10 gallons or 30 or 150, it still cost the same amount to put that water though the pipes,” said East Bay MUD Director Marguerite Young.
Director John Coleman plans to vote “no” on the rate hike.
Young disagreed.
The… More from Phil Matier

(Teddy Feinberg/GameTimePA.com) It had been a long time since Gettysburg won a division title in baseball.
But with Wednesday’s 5-4 win over West York, the Warriors claimed the YAIAA Division II title — their first since winning the Blue Mountain League in 1981.
"This was our top goal coming into the season," Gettysburg coach Ryan Brady said of winning the division.
"There’s been a lot of bumps in the road to get here.
But these kids never dropped their heads."
Gettysburg (12-6, 10-4) started the season by winning its first eight games and sat as high as fifth in the District 3 Class 5A power rankings.
Thursday will not be the Warriors’ final game of the season, regardless.
It certainly wasn’t easy.
"These guys have played together for so long and not just with this team," Brady said.
"They’ve played countless games together in travel ball and legion ball, too.

Kansas drought-free following steady rainfall, heavy snowfall.
For only the fifth time since 2000, Kansas is entirely drought-free.
As The Wichita Eagle reports, the late-April winter storm brought more than two feet of snow to some parts of western Kansas and double-digit accumulation to a narrow band that stretched north to south in the western third of the state, erasing the final remnants of a drought that has been gradually receding during a remarkably wet spring.
By the end of 2016, nearly 83 percent of the state was experiencing some degree of drought.
National Weather Service meteorologist Kevin Darmofal said much of western Kansas is inherently dry.
That is due in part to strong winds, which lends to frequent droughts that set the stage for the largest wildfire in the state’s history in March.
Steady rains and the record-breaking snowfall erased the nearly 15 percent of severe drought that gripped much of southwest Kansas at the beginning of the year.
The U.S. Drought Monitor is projecting Kansas to remain drought-free through at least the end of July.

Her father, Mohamed, watches over her from the other end of the bed.
They all started to improve after a visit to a local health center, but just after midnight Falastine took a turn for the worse and began vomiting.
She was taken by ambulance to the IRC clinic in the camp, where she was put on the drip and given medication.
When he’s not at the clinic with Falastine, Mohamed has been looking for odd jobs, including strenuous stone-breaking, to support his family until they can return to their farm and start over.
Mohamed and his family survived the drought that devastated Somalia in 2011 by drawing water from a river that kept flowing despite scant rainfall.
“We have no rain and the river is dry … and disease on top of that.
People don’t know where to go.” In all, more than 1 million Somalis have been displaced inside their country by drought and terrorism.
“There is lack of food, there is lack of medical supplies and health assistance.” Falastine needs more intensive care than the clinic can provide.
Her doctor has referred her to the nearby Banadir Hospital, also supported by the IRC.
They pray that they will be able to get their daughter the treatment she needs to survive.

STAMFORD — City reservoir levels have surged following a week of heavy rain, and a temporary pipeline that was pumping millions of gallons of water a day from Bridgeport to points South is no longer needed.
They are two signs the drought has subsided.
More than two inches of rain was measured last weekend at the city’s Laurel and North Stamford reservoirs, according to Peter Fazekas, a spokesman for Aquarion Water Co. Stamford reservoir levels rose to 90.5 percent on Tuesday, up from 87 percent on April 11.
Gov.
“The emergency order gave the authority to keep the temporary pipeline in place — the emergency order has ended,” Fazekas said.
“Second, with the two Stamford reservoirs full and spilling, any water from the temporary pipeline would be wasted at this point.” The state drought group says reducing outdoor water use is an effective conservation measure.
During irrigation season, many people use more water for lawns than for all other purposes combined.
They said the limit was established after consulting with sprinkler contractors about the amount of watering is needed to keep grass and plants healthy.
Aquarion will address violations with its customers, while Stamford, Greenwich, New Canaan and Darien officials will enforce the limits with private well owners, Fazekas said.
mcassidy@stamfordadvocate.com

Farmers cultivating chillies in Marungapuri block in Tiruchi district have reported a sharp drop in yield due to drought. Marungapuri is a major production centre for chillies, which are marketed to Kerala. Every village in the block accounts for a vast area under chillies. The red loam soil is suitable for the cultivation of chillies. Marungapuri is famous for the ‘samba’ variety or long-shaped chillies. Depletion in groundwater Of the total 1,160 hectares under chillies in the district, Marungapuri block has a major share of 343 hectares. Farmers say the failure of monsoon has resulted in serious depletion of…