The Drought

 

This is where a spring once ran out. This is the first time in the 42 years I've lived on this farm
that I have seen it dry.

This is what is left of the pond that the above spring fed into when it was running.

Before last summer, the water came all the way up to the post on the
left. One can see by the shape of the weeds and the changes in the
color of the grass where the water line used to be.

The above pictures indicate just how dry things have become in the watershed that feeds Carvins Cove, one of the water reservoirs that supplies the City of Roanoke and surrounding areas.

Carvins Cove is now nearly 18 feet low. 

This spring fed into this pond, which fed into a larger pond below, which created what is known as Rulman's Branch. Rulman's Branch flows into Tinker Creek. A tunnel made under Tinker Mountain pulls water from Tinker Creek, when the water level is normal, so that the Cove has more water.

Most of the springs have all dried up on our farm, and we've had no rain to speak of, so there has been little water runoff into Rulman's Branch. The pond below this one, which I don't have a photo of, still has an active spring trickling water into it.

But that's not enough to keep things flowing further down the line.