Recent rains ease local drought concerns.
Now, those concerns have since been subdued after a few wet weeks during March and more precipitation expected to come.
The long-term average precipitation for the month is 2.05 inches.
Guinan also said some locations in northeast Missouri received a total of about six inches of precipitation between October and March.
“Just within a few weeks some areas have received as much precipitation that they had received in five months,” Guinan said.
Over the next week, Guinan said he expects the northeast Missouri area to get more precipitation, which he said is a good sign as we move forward into spring.
Balliew explained the city does have a drought plan and the city manager can authorize reasonable restrictions on city water if there is a drought.
Balliew said during that period “Kirksville was never in jeopardy of running out of any water.” During this winter, Balliew said water levels at the Hazel Creek Reservoir dropped about 33 inches, while Forest Lake dropped about 24 inches.
After recent rains, Balliew said Hazel Creek has gained 18 inches and Forest Lake is full.
“The fact that we had no moisture during the winter at all and we supplied the entire city and county through the whole winter on that one lake and only dropped (33 inches) — there’s some places in that lake that’s 70-feet deep — so, we’ve got plenty of water,” Balliew said.