An important clarification is appropriate regarding the Sept. 23 article, entitled "Durham drought officially over." The article was based in part on an interview conducted over the telephone with the reporter, Grace Schutze, and background material I provided to her before the interview. Perhaps due to space limitations, the effects of the drought on our ground water resources were omitted from the article. Although it is safe to say that the drought is over relative to our surface water resources, the same cannot be said with regard to subsurface conditions. Water levels in many wells throughout North Carolina remain well below average. It will take sustained above-normal rainfall for at least several months, to perhaps more than a year, to replenish those resources.
Miguel A. Medina, Jr.
Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
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