AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
The city of Raleigh will lift water restrictions next week after several days of wet weather helped to replenish the main local water source.
Read more Chatham County landowners are uniting against a proposed natural gas pipeline
“Rain over the past two weeks, including several periods of heavy rain, has helped increase water levels in Falls Lake,” Raleigh officials wrote Wednesday, July 29 in a news release. “The current water supply level meets the requirement to lift restrictions under the City’s Water Supply Plan.”
Restrictions are set to end Monday, Aug. 3. But residents are still urged to be mindful about their water use.
The city’s Water Shortage Response Plan identifies an “exit trigger” to stop water restrictions: When Raleigh’s portion of Falls Lake is 75% full in July and 70% full in August. The city said Wednesday that the water supply at Falls Lake is 84%, up from 66% a week ago, and hasn’t reached full capacity.
Since April, Raleigh has been under Stage 1 restrictions, which call for limited use of in-ground sprinklers and include penalties for people who don’t comply, according to the city’s website. The water restrictions cover 650,000 people in Raleigh, Wake Forest, Rolesville, Knightdale, Wendell, Fuquay-Varina and Zebulon, The News & Observer previously reported.
Earlier this month, elected officials gave Raleigh staff the ability to enact stricter rules and stronger enforcement, after water use didn’t decline in June, The News & Observer previously reported.
There have more than 1,100 usage violations reported with 213 official warnings, eight $50 penalties and two $200 penalties issued for Raleigh Water customers for violations, according to Julia Milstead, public information officer for the city.
North Carolina saw its largest rain event in over a year last week with some parts of central North Carolina seeing 4 to 6 inches of rain. Raleigh gained 2.4 inches over 24 hours, according to the National Weather Service.
Read more Chatham County landowners are uniting against a proposed natural gas pipeline
As July comes to an end, 12.16 inches of rain has fallen so far at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, just 0.2 inches shy of the 1931 record, making it the second-wettest July, according to the National Weather Service.
More rain fell in July at RDU than the first six months of the year, with just 11.88 inches of rain falling between January through June, the driest on record.
Parts of Wake, Durham and Orange counties were in “exceptional drought” in June, but conditions improved enough to move Wake County to “severe drought,” the second-worst drought category, with most of Durham and Orange counties in “extreme drought,” the third-worst category, The News & Observer reported previously.
The North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council will release a new drought update Thursday, July 30.
It’s possible for the lake to make a “meaningful recovery” while still being in a high level of drought, said Ed Buchan, assistant director of Raleigh Water, last week.
As of Wednesday, there are more than 100 water systems with mandatory or voluntary drought restrictions, according to the North Carolina Division of Environmental Quality Division of Water Resources.
Portions of this story were previously reported by The News & Observer.
Questions about life in North Carolina? Or have a tip or story idea you’d like to share? The service journalism teams at The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer want to hear from you.
Read more NC quietly ends decades of tracking racial disparities in policing
You can submit your question by filling out this form.
This story was originally published July 29, 2026 at 10:39 AM.