Drought
Only about 30% of the water in Falls Lake in North Carolina remains this year, because of drought and population needs.
All seems ordinary until you breach Woodpecker Ridge and descend to Falls Lake. That's when you can see that the water is almost gone, creating a moonscape with an exposed lake bed.
A severe local drought - one of three in the US right now - has nearly emptied Falls Lake, the only water supply for North Carolina's capital city.
After the skies stayed Carolina blue for too long and water users failed to cut consumption by 15 percent, the city last week started handing out $1,000 fines - some of the heaviest in history for a city in the East - for violating watering restrictions. In Raleigh, seven detectives rely on tips to investigate illegal taps.
November 23, 2005 6:30 AM | Category: Drought