Officials say Falls Lake, Raleigh's main water source, is down nearly 7 feet. The city is only in stage 1 water restrictions, but stage 2 could be just days away, which means residents would only be allowed to water their lawns once a week. Restrictions would also be placed on commercial car washes.
In Hillsborough, car washes have been shut down since last month. All outdoor watering is banned.
"We're probably about two weeks away from going into stage 6 restrictions," engineer Kenny Keels said.
Hillsborough draws from Lake Orange. Without any rainfall, officials say it is losing an average of 1 inch of water per day. Engineers are hoping for a wet winter.
"We should, at mininum, get into lesser stages of restrictions, but it's certainly possible we could stay in them until the summer," Keels said.
The Cane Creek Resevoir is at a record low. Carrboro and Chapel hill are already in emergency mode restrictions. In Durham, it is the same story. Officials say Lake Michie and the Little River Resevoir are down by more than 12 feet.
"We don't foresee lifting these restrictions until our lakes refill," said Vicki Westbrook, conservation coordinator for Durham.
Town and city officials from around the Triangle area are recommending people not reseed their lawns or do any new plantings this fall.
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