Release of Reservoir Water Puts Drought to the Test

In an extraordinary measure aimed at determining whether the Washington region truly is in a drought, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a torrent of water yesterday from a dam in far Western Maryland to test how long it will take the water to reach this region.

The release of 200 million gallons of water a day through tomorrow from the Jennings Randolph reservoir will allow experts to fill in a crucial data point they say is missing from their drought predictions.

Despite the desiccated cornfields and front lawns, the declarations from political leaders and this fall's unseasonable heat, water experts remain uncertain whether the region's dry spell will ultimately lead to a drought for the water supply.

The Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin is predicting there is only a 1 percent chance that major water suppliers will have to tap backup sources through the end of the year. Without the water flow data from the dam, though, it doesn't know for certain.

"It's very rare to have full reservoirs late in the season with low flows [in the river], so we are taking advantage of it to test the time of travel from the reservoir to the intake," said Erik Hagen, the commission's director of operations.

In 1992, the last time the Corps of Engineers tested water flow from the reservoir, about 150 miles northwest of the District, it took nine long days to go downriver to the Potomac basin. That was one of the worst dry spells the region has experienced recently, a year when the water flow in the Potomac could not sustain the region's water supply needs. The nine days become something of a benchmark: If it takes longer for the water to get downstream this week, experts could decide that they have a problem.

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