2/22/2024
WT Staff
HAPPENING NOW
East Palestine, Nelsonville BWAs
Severe drought area expanding
Water news for Thursday, February 22, 2024 updated 303 pm EST
Drinking Water Matters
East Palestine experienced a water service outage following a water main break at corner of Market St and Rebecca St on Tuesday. A boil water advisory is in effect until further notice.
Nelsonville has issued a boil water order for all customers on Adams Street from West Washington Street to Jingleburg Alley until noon Friday, Feb. 23 following a water line break yesterday.
Streamflow Situation from USGS Waterwatch based on real-time flow monitors across Ohio
Ohio appears to have plunged into a statewide low flow scenario midweek, much below seasonal normal streamflows dominating the map on both sides of the drainage divide.
Loramie Creek is registering an extreme low flow value in the Upper Great Miami River basin Thursday. Cuyahoga River flow level monitored at Newburgh Heights is 3rd percentile low.
Drinking Water Matters
Lake Erie is the drinking water source for 12.5 million people in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario, Canada, including 3 million people in Ohio.
Countdown is on to the critical window for Lake Erie water quality 2024. WTOH.us is observing and reporting streamflow levels in the west Lake Erie drainage basin, also known as the Maumee River watershed, check back here for a daily update on the moisture conditions in this sensitive landscape with the potential to accelerate or manage the Lake Erie HAB for the upcoming season.
Drought map from USGS Waterwatch 7-day average streamflow compared with historic flow for today's date
Severe drought rating has been applied to Muskingum basin Wills Creek watershed Thursday, matching Ashtabula-Chagrin River watershed rating north of the divide.
Grand River watershed remains at moderate drought in the Lake Erie basin, matching an expanding area in the northwest, moderate drought now claiming not only the Auglaize and St Mary's River watersheds, now including Blanchard River watershed. Upper and Lower Maumee River watersheds are below normal, along with all remaining surface area draining to Lake Erie, still sparing the northwest corner, St Josephs and Tiffin watersheds.
South of the divide, all watersheds drain to the Ohio River. Shade River, Raccoon-Symmes watersheds are rated moderate drought. Three watersheds evade the drought map in the Ohio basins Thursday, Wheeling Creek, Scioto River - Tygarts and Laughery Creek in Hamilton County are not included in the drought ratings.
The height-of-land divide in Ohio runs from Mercer County in the west angling northeast up to Ashtabula County on the east state border. Streamflows north of the divide feed Lake Erie, flows south of the divide run to the Ohio River, part of the Mississippi River basin that drains the majority of interior North America to the Gulf of Mexico.
Harmful Algal Bloom HAB Update
A clear image captured by satellite on Feb 21 at a surface wind speed of 17.6 mph is mostly cloud obscured. The previous image of Feb 20 shows Lake Erie open water, shoreline and islands with localized HABs appearing along the shoreline near Camp Perry, in east harbor of Catawba Island and along the north shore of Kelleys Island. Localized HABs appear along shore near Huron River outlet. All HABs match the concentration 100 thousand cells per 100 ml.
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