COLUMBIA, S.C. — “If you have seen the Congaree River in the last month you might have thought that it looks rather low. You’d be thinking correctly. In the past week, the river has reached 2.5 feet which is in the lowest 100 river levels here in Columbia on record.
Not only has the river been running low but the current levels are the lowest we have seen here in Columbia in 12 years when the Congaree was at 2.42 feet in 2011.
This is quite the feat considering that back in April of this year the Congaree was running over 19 feet at this same location due to heavy rainfall.
The Congaree River is part of the much larger Santee River Watershed. Rivers like the Catawba, Saluda, and Broad all feed into this Basin. When you look at where drought has built over the past month you can see that it lines up over the upper parts of this watershed that feed the Congaree and Santee rivers.
This lack of rain upstream is the main reason we are seeing low river levels here in the region.
With 22% of South Carolina in Moderate Drought with drought conditions extending up into North Carolina there is little change expected in the short term as shown on the latest river forecast from the National Weather Service.
Looking at the extended forecast, we’re really not expecting any appreciable rain totals here in the Upstate or in North Carolina so, that means that the drought will likely continue and our rivers could continue to run below average, although it will be hard to say if we can expect any lower water levels in the near future.