Off‐Peak Sales for Drought Relief

THE east drought will go of down 1965 as in one the Northof the east will go down as one of the most severe in history. Although its results were not so harmful as those of the drought of 1290-1305 ad, which wiped out the Indian population in the Southwest, it almost created a catastrophe in many of the cities of the area. Only by massive interchanges of water was it possible to prevent some cities from being completely out of water for extended periods. These interchanges also resulted in giving the system with an off-peak surplus a 100 per cent load factor the year round. Since the beginning of the drought in 1961, with rainfall about 30 per cent less than the average, the accumulated deficiency in the area amounted to 47 in. Even the pattern of rainfall was irregular and did not produce so much runoff as could be expected from the totals reported. Shortages became critical for most of the supply systems, particularly those dependent on large storage reservoirs. In New Jersey, the Passaic Valley was very hard hit. This valley has a drainage area of 800 sqmi, a population of 2,550,000, and a normal peak month water consumption of about 390 mgd.