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Towns are still dry, despite a little rain: "It seems like we've got an umbrella over us up here."
Charlotte.com -- Storms that flooded parts of eastern North Carolina on Monday brought little relief to Piedmont towns running out of drinking water because of drought. Officials in Shelby, Cleveland County, Bessemer City, Cherryville and Statesville said the spotty showers helped by providing a few days' water supply, but much more rain is needed over a longer period to make any real difference. Meanwhile, they have no plans to relax mandatory water restrictions. "It seems like we've got an umbrella over us up here," said Butch Smith, director of the Cleveland County Sanitary District, which has 50,000 customers in rural areas north of Shelby. "We've gotten a little rain, but all it's done is buy us time. The drought isn't over. September and October are our driest months." In Statesville, the 0.2-inch rainfall helped little because, while the city needs to cut consumption to 2 million gallons a day, average daily consumption remains at about 2.6 million. Meanwhile, the city temporarily cut off its water pumps from the South Yadkin River this week because heavy rains north of the city brought extremely muddy water into the system. Cutting off the pumps kept the muddy water out of the city's reservoir and treatment plant. Muddy water is harder, and sometimes impossible, to treat, city officials said.

posted by West 6:20 PM