No, you did not just read a huge typographical mistake. Those were the exact words spoken by Roxboro City Manager Jon Barlow Friday morning.

Believe it or not, the lake levels at Roxboro’s two water sources have reached full status. Probably nobody would have thought that possible this past December when the water level at Lake Roxboro, the city’s secondary water supply, had dropped to 100 inches below normal. During that time, water was being pumped from Lake Roxboro to City Lake, the city’s primary water source, in an effort to bring the latter to just one foot below normal. The pump was turned on each time last year that the water level at City Lake dipped to two feet below normal.

On the heels of nearly 2.5 inches of rain Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, however, both lakes are full, Barlow said Friday.

He noted that he was not surprised that City Lake was full, but was quite shocked to learn the news about Lake Roxboro’s water level status.

“[Lake Roxboro’s] level rose about five feet in two days,” Barlow said. “That rain we had Tuesday was all runoff, and it just filled the lakes up very fast.”

The levels should no doubt stay at a maximum level for quite some time. Rain began again in Person County Friday morning, and it was expected to continue through today. At 1 p.m. Friday, an unofficial rain gauge at The Courier-Times office had already registered three-tenths of an inch of rainfall, and weather forecasters were indicating that the total for Friday and Saturday could easily surpass the two-inch total again.

“The rain today won’t do anything to our lake levels since they are full, but I’m sure the region, especially those downstream will continue to benefit,” Barlow said.

Prior to recent rains, the City of Roxboro, while in no way near the dangerously low levels experienced by areas such as Durham and Wake counties, was considering implementing voluntary water restrictions at the beginning of this year.

Assistant City Manager Tommy Warren told Roxboro City Council in December that barring rainfall before the end of 2007, voluntary restrictions on water might need to be considered.

At that time, Barlow indicated that, despite the dropping water levels, the city still had a water supply that exceeded 400 days.

Friday, Barlow said the two full water supply lakes equated to a supply “in excess of 700 days,” or nearly two years.

“We’re in good shape, there’s no doubt about that,” Barlow said. “I am somewhat surprised that Lake Roxboro filled as quickly as it did, but that is good news for us.”