Ongoing drought conditions are straining some local water systems, and state officials are urging people to conserve water where they can. Meanwhile, some people are reporting that their residential wells are going dry. Fires are also catching across the region.
It’s an unusual state of affairs for November in New Hampshire, when drought is relatively uncommon. And experts say the little rain that fell this week isn’t enough to fix the problem.
Ted Diers, with the state’s Department of Environmental Services, said water levels typically rise as plants start to shut down for the winter. But without much rain, they’re going down instead. Soils are dry, lake levels are low, and some small streams have dried up.
“Almost the entire state, every river in the state, is in the lowest 5% of observed levels for this day in recorded history,” Diers said on Thursday. Most of those historical observations go back between 50 and 100 years.
Nine of the state’s 10 counties are experiencing moderate drought conditions, with severe and extreme conditions in the southern part of the state.
Rain this week will offer some reprieve, alleviating the most extreme conditions for surface waters – kind of like an “ecological shot in the arm” for lakes and rivers, Diers said. But it won’t have much impact on groundwater, the source of much of the state’s drinking water.
That’s particularly a concern as the ground starts to freeze. When that happens, surface water will no longer be able to recharge the groundwater until a thaw.
To refill aquifers before the ground freezes, the state would need to get about two inches of precipitation every week for about four or five weeks, Diers said. But don’t expect things to return to normal.
“The outlook again over the next three to four weeks is warmer than normal and normal precipitation,” he said. “That won't really allow us to gain ground necessarily on the situation that we're in right now.”
A snowy winter could help store water for spring.
Without more intervention to reduce the effects of climate change, these kinds of drought conditions could become more common. Though New Hampshire is generally getting wetter as the climate warms, short-term droughts are also likely to increase, according to the state’s 2021 climate assessment.
Impacts on water supply, skiing and more
The lack of rain has caused issues for some public water suppliers, who have started getting water delivered in trucks or tried to find other solutions. Diers said people should conserve water where they can, and watch for notices from their supplier with more instructions.
Officials have also gotten several calls from people with dry wells, particularly those with dug wells that are shallower and don’t reach bedrock.
Fire danger has also been high in the southern part of the state, and more wildfires have been reported than are usual for this time of year.
Steve Sherman, chief of New Hampshire's forest protection bureau, said the state usually has about four acres of land burn in wildfires throughout the fall. This year, 65 acres have burned.
"The rain we received in the past day or two has helped really knock down the fire danger. However, with the drought conditions that we had coming into this, we'll need more rain or snow events to really help out the situation for the long term," he said.
Officials are still watching over a fire in Brentwood, which burned deeply into the ground and may not be extinguished by the rainfall.
"Moving through the fall, unless we see a lot more rain, people should really be looking to wait to burn any brush piles or anything until snowfall," he said.
Ski areas, which use large volumes of water to make snow, are also hoping the drought subsides soon.
Jessyca Keeler, president of Ski New Hampshire, says most ski hills are doing fine with the water they have right now. But they’re hoping for more rain before December to help snowmaking systems.
Keeler said ski areas have made significant investments in snowmaking systems in recent years, as climate change has made New Hampshire’s winters warmer and less snowy. Many are using newer, more efficient equipment that can make snow in less time at higher temperatures.
“Those are really, really important for our vitality, for our existence,” Keeler said. “Those snowmaking systems allow the ski areas to take advantage of what are really shorter windows of opportunity to make snow.”
