Concern grows as severe drought conditions take over in eastern part of Orange County
NEWBURGH, N.Y. -- The landscape is awfully brown in Orange County.
As CBS2's Tony Aiello reported Monday, the eastern part of the county is now officially in the severe drought stage.
A sign says "No swimming," not that you would be able to in the upper pond at Algonquin Park in the town of Newburgh.
"Where there once was a pond, there's just dryness and muck. Where there once was a stream, there's plain old rocks," resident Danielle Derham told CBS2's Tony Aiello.
READ MORE: Residents in parts of Connecticut, Long Island asked to limit water usage
Bushfield Creek is babbling no more, as severe drought settles on part of Orange.
"We're seriously worried about this because the prognosis going forward is we don't have any rain in the near future. Occasional scattered showers, but nowhere near what we need to replenish the damage that's been done over the last couple of weeks," County Executive Steve Neuhaus said.
Neuhaus said Orange just completed the fifth-driest July on record, with rainfall 2.6 inches below normal.
"We are concerned, not only with drinking water, but how it's going to impact our farms," Neuhaus said.
Residents in neighborhoods with private wells are using as little H2O as possible.
The town of Newburgh has parked a tanker truck for well water users to supplement supplies. The assistant supervisor told Aiello so far only a couple wells in town have run dry.
But virtually every lawn is dead as residents heed the request to conserve.
"It's sad. I mean, I feel like you want green grass in your yard. You want the kids to be able to play on grass, but hopefully it starts to rain," resident Allaura Pagano said.
At Chadwick Lake Park, the lake is almost 14 inches lower than normal.
Resident Raymond Flotard pointed out hurricane season is approaching and September is often rainy.
"It's gonna happen. We're gonna get rain again and we're probably gonna get a lot of it to the point folks will be like 'I can't believe it's raining again,'" Flotard said.
Time will tell if he's correct.