To Rocky Mount officials, the drought and subsequent call for voluntary water conservation are temporary setbacks.

"Under no condition is the town of Rocky Mount about to run out of water," Councilman Jerry Greer said. "Our tanks are full."

The July 28 initiation of stage two of the town's drought response plan was a simply a call for residents to use water wisely, he said.

Flow in the Blackwater River, the town's sole water source, reached low levels, prompting the decision.

The move was necessary considering the small amount of rain the area has seen, Assistant Town Manager Matt Hankins said.

Last summer's drought and the lack of significant snow in the winter contributed to the situation, he said.

This week town officials will re-evaluate the situation to see if mandatory conservation is needed. If so, the town would declare a local emergency, implement a water abuse hotline and end bulk water use and sales.

Other than the inconvenience of everyday use, Hankins doesn't think the water issues will affect the town, including ongoing economic development.

"I think most people realize this is just a cyclical thing," he said. "Normally we have a very robust supply of water."

Even so, resident Mary Arrington said she's trying to conserve.

She has put a hiatus on watering her lawn and taking long showers, she said.

While town officials continued to monitor the Blackwater, a broken river gauge supplied incorrect information for almost a week.

The culprit was a float in the gauge that measures the river's discharge that "went dead," said George Devlin, a regional biologist with the Department of Environmental Quality.

It remained inoperable until Thursday afternoon when employees from Charlottesville were able to get the parts needed.

Hankins said he uses a variety of sources, including the U.S. Geological Survey Web site that displays readings from the river gauge. The decision to enter stage two was not based on the incorrect numbers because the gauge broke July 26 and Hankins received a reading before that, he said.

Gauges sometimes need new parts, but they don't break often, Devlin said.

As of 1:45 p.m. Tuesday, the gauge put the river's flow at 7.6 cubic feet per second, down from a brief spike of more than 10 cubic feet per second on Sunday.