Water levels are low at the St. Clairsville reservoir

St. Clairsville, OHIO (WTRF) – After a summer of extreme drought, the water in the St. Clairsville Revervoir appears to be alarmingly low.

There is a lot of dry ground around the edges, where it’s normally under water. And the reservoir is St. Clairsville’s main source of drinking water.

Our viewers alerted us to this, with messages and pictures, and we thank you.

The city’s public service director says it is indeed lower–and dryer–than usual. But they have not had to ask residents to conserve. That’s because they have a backup supply, in fact they have two backup supplies.

“Although the reservoir looks low, we do have a second source of water. We have a Provident Reservoir and what we do is we pump water from Provident to the main reservoir. We also have another source of water, the Belmont County water. And we pull right now we’re pulling about 35% of our daily water usage from the county system.”

Scott Harvey, St. Clairsville Public Service Director

He says that’s working well right now, but there’s no doubt that we need rain. They have not had to go into conservation mode, but has asks everyone to use common sense and don’t overdo it on water.

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