
DATE: Thursday, July 10, 1997               TAG: 9707100504

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NIA NGINA MEEKS, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   86 lines

WITH RAINS AWAY, AREA MAY PAY MODERATE DROUGHT STIFLES FARMERS, WHO MAY HAVE TO RAISE PRICES

Anyone with a sweet tooth for sweet corn may be left with a sour taste if the rains don't come soon. Ditto for watermelon, cantaloupe and other summer fruits and veggies.

Hampton Roads is caught in a moderate drought, and people will soon see its effects. Local farmers already have, with crops first suffering from the cold snap during the planting season and now struggling in parched earth.

With some weeks to go, this summer is not the driest on record, according to the National Weather Service. Still, the weather pattern is not the best either, meteorologist Hugh Cobb said.

Rainfall in the area is about 8 1/2 inches below normal for this time of the year. So far this year, 14 1/2 inches have fallen; the norm is 23 inches. July's rate is dribbling along. Just .40 inches of rain has fallen to date. The norm is 1.2 inches, Cobb said.

While Hampton Roads just about swims in water, salt renders it useless for most purposes. The region depends on reservoirs and pipelines to slake its thirst.

On Tuesday, Chesapeake enacted a voluntary conservation measure, in case conditions don't get any wetter any time soon. Dry times elevate salt levels in the Northwest River, which supplies water for more than half the city's residents. The rest of the water comes from reservoirs in Norfolk and Portsmouth.

Portsmouth reported its reservoirs at 88 percent capacity, Norfolk at about 86 percent. That's not near panic stage, with no mandatory or voluntary restrictions in effect as of yet. Still, it is something water watchers are monitoring, said David Rosenthal, who manages the Norfolk reservoirs.

Norfolk pours water into much of South Hampton Roads, Virginia Beach being one of its largest paying customers.

In the past, severe droughts called for severe measures in the Beach. In 1981, residents had to cut their water usage by 20 percent, or else face a surcharge. City Water Conservation Coordinator Bob Montague doesn't see that happening again, even if things stay dry. The Lake Gaston pipeline that is scheduled to start pumping by December should alleviate that scenario, Montague said.

Pipelines do little to help local farmers, though. They need the rain, and that which has fallen came through isolated thunderstorms, leaving many in feast-or-famine mode.

The low waterfall means smaller crop yield, which inevitably will mean higher prices at the store or roadside stand.

Steve Barnes, who has a farm in the city's Princess Anne borough, is already looking at a 25-cent increase on the price of sweet corn.

``You don't have the pound per acre you expect,'' Barnes said. ``When you have a fixed cost, I don't care what it is, the price will go up.''

That seems to be the norm along the East Coast, Louis Cullipher said. He's the director for the Beach's agriculture department.

``All the farmers from Georgia to New Jersey planted at the same time,'' Cullipher said. ``The weather kind of messed up the planting schedule. There is no market for mediocre vegetables.''

The Hampton Roads Water Efficiency Team, a regional conservation effort, already has hit the airwaves with its annual water-conservation campaign. Print ads and television spots will soon follow.

Until the rain starts falling, people will have to watch their water usage a little more, Montague said.

Steve Barnes did see an upside.

``When it rains a lot, you can get big and pretty vegetables and no taste,'' the farmer pointed out. ``Sometimes the smaller vegetable crop has a higher sugar content.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]

RICHARD L. DUNSTON/The Virginian-Pilot

Corn prices may increase as a result of dry farm fields.

GARY C. KNAPP

It looks bountiful, but Chesapeake farmer Bob Bailey's roadside

stand on Military Highwayisn't the cornucopia of fruits and

vegetables it's been in the past.

HOT-WEATHER TIPS

Switch old shower heads with low-flow ones.

Install ultra-low flow toilets.

Turn off water while brushing teeth or shaving.

Use washing machines, dishwashers when full.

1997 rainfall 14.5 inches