What city leaders are doing to increase Monroe’s water supply during drought

MONROE, N.C. — Monroe has been in a stage one drought since January, and is now in an exceptional drought.

That is the worst drought possible, but city leaders says weeks of work have now paid off, and they can get more water into their system.

“Honestly right now, I have a little sigh of relief saying that Monroe has this water source available to it,” said Jay Voyles with the City of Monroe.

Voyles helps manage water for Monroe.

Crews have been working for months to get a pump connected to the Rock Quarry lake, which has 120 million gallons of water that was previously unused.

As of last Friday, the pump now helps 2 million gallons of water a day travel from the quarry, along 6,500 feet of pipes to Lake Lee.

The quarry was recently acquired by the city from the state Department of Transportation for this purpose.

“We’re using this water to pump Lake Lee to keep the water supply up here,” Voyles said.

That’s critical because the water in Lake Lee is part of the process to eventually get clean water to customers. That has been getting more concerning as lake levels drop during the drought.

On Monday, a dock wasn’t even touching the water at Lake Lee.

This quarry is even more important because Lake Lee was being supplemented by Lake Monroe, which was also critically low.

“We’re put into a position where we have to look at alternative sources to supplement our water supply needs,” said Voyles.

Officials say the other benefit the quarry brings is in how it replenishes itself. Lake Monroe and Lake Lee refill from rainfall and stormwater. The quarry refills from a natural spring. That means it can refill itself even during a drought. Crews are working to find out how quickly it can do that, and if this could become a permanent part of Monroe’s water supply.

The city and state have also done extensive testing on the water in the quarry to make sure it is safe for consumers.

It has passed all tests, and will continue to be tested while it is used.