U.S. Water News Online
AUGUSTA, Maine -- Even though recent rains have assuaged
the appearance of
drought in Maine, experts estimate that rainfall of four to six
inches over a
period of weeks will be needed to return water-supply and
soil-moisture
conditions to normal. Across most of the state, streamflows are at
10- to
20-year lows, although some rivers are at their lowest ebb in 50 to
100
years.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has reported that nine of the
15
groundwater wells it monitors in Maine are at record low levels.
"These conditions break records which date from the Maine droughts
of the
1940s, '50s, and '60s," said Derrill Cowing of the USGS office in
Augusta.
The Palmer Drought Index, developed at Cornell University in Iowa,
shows that
Maine is suffering from a moderate to severe drought. Throughout most
of the
summer, rainfall across Maine was below normal, and dry conditions
actually
began with reduced snowfall last winter.
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