Ongoing drought leads to low river levels, some cities conserving water

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (Iowa's News Now) — Iowa has remained in a drought for more than a year now with no end in sight.

"Droughts can be and oftentimes are very long-term events," says Tim Hall, Hydrologist Resources Coordinator at the Iowa DNR.

The current drought of 2021 look a lot like it did back in 2020. The difference is that in 2021, there was no soil moisture in place and long periods of dry weather.

Jessica Brooks is the Service Hydrologist at the National Weather Service in the Quad Cities. She says that these ongoing dry conditions have led to a drop in river and stream levels. However, most rivers are sitting between the 25th and 50th percentile. She says concern starts to rise when we hit that 10th percentile.

"River levels can rebound with a couple decent rainfall events," says Hall.

Those rainfall events may not occur, though. In the coming weeks, the area is expected to be drier than normal with above normal temperatures.

"River levels are already at lower levels than normal at this time, so one can only assume that those levels will continue to drop as we go into the next couple of months," says Brooks.

Dry conditions can ultimately have major impacts including an increased fire threat and more algae growing in shallow water. "You do get really low river levels, you do get more stagnant water as you don't have a lot of movement in your rivers so you can get more algae," says Brooks

A drop in water levels won't just impact water quality for Iowans. It will impact wildlife as well. "All of the cattle, beef, and poultry that are raised in the northwest corner of the state rely on the same water supply as people do," says Hall.

To avoid these issues, some cities, like Palo, are limiting water usage for the time being. Residents are asked to water their lawn by following this schedule:

• Even addresses: Monday, Wednesday and Friday
• Odd addresses: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
• No watering on Sundays

This schedules goal is to help replenish the well and allow the water plant time to catch up.

Other advice on how to limit water consumption includes:

• Only running the dishwasher and washing machine when necessary
• Don't run water when brushing teeth
• Water plants in the early morning and evening to prevent water from immediately evaporating