A rain gauge at The Courier-Times office measured nine-tenths of an inch of rainfall from a system that passed through this past weekend.

As of Monday, the level at City Lake, the city’s primary water supply, was 12 inches below normal. The water level at Lake Roxboro, which serves as a backup water source for the city, was 104 inches low.

Last Friday, City Lake was 17 inches below normal and Lake Roxboro was 103 inches below normal.

Pumps that send water through a creek from Lake Roxboro to City Lake are turned on when the lake level at City Lake reaches 24 inches below normal. The pumps run continuously until City Lake reaches a level of 12 inches below normal.

“The pump was shut off Monday,” Roxboro City Manager Jon Barlow said Tuesday, explaining that he would not be surprised at all if the lake levels were even better when he received a report today.

“With a rain like we had this weekend, you are not going to see the full effect of that for two or three days after the rain,” Barlow said. “I would at least expect to see the levels stay where they were at when I received the report for Monday if not better.

During last week’s meeting of Roxboro City Council, Assistant City Manager Tommy Warren told council that without significant rainfall before the end of 2007, the city may want to consider implementing voluntary Stage I restrictions in January. At present, there are no water restrictions in place in Roxboro, unlike many surrounding municipalities who are reaching dangerously low water supply levels. >>

With Stage I restrictions, water conservation would be done strictly on a voluntary basis. According to city code, the voluntary actions that council would ask the public to take would include: limiting lawn watering to that which is necessary for plants to survive; reusing household water when possible; limiting vehicle washing and refraining from washing down outside areas such as sidewalks, patios, etc.

Barlow said Tuesday that council opted last week to wait and see the levels of the lakes in January before making any decisions.

“They’re going to talk about it again next month,” Barlow said. “I think they want to see where we are two weeks from now, three weeks from now and so on.”

Barlow said earlier this month that the city’s water supply exceeded 400 days.

The rainfall this past weekend was the first for Roxboro since November when measurable rainfall was collected on only two dates at The Courier-Times office. The unofficial gauge showed three-tenths of an inch on Nov. 15 and one-tenth of an inch on Nov. 25.

“The rain definitely helped,” Barlow said. “I think that helped bring the level at City Lake up faster than it would have by pumping alone.”

If the National Weather Service forecast is correct, there is little hope of much rainfall the remainder of this week in Person County. The extended forecast from the NWS calls for only slight chances of showers Thursday night (20 percent) and Saturday night (30 percent). There is a 40 percent chance of showers included in Sunday’s forecast.

Person County is among 78 North Carolina counties experiencing “exceptional drought,” as of Dec. 11, according to the N. C. Drought Management Council.