The laundromat at Ripal Patel’s variety store in Napanee has been bustling this year due to the lack of rain and its effects on people’s groundwater, and Thursday was no exception, despite the steady and much-needed drizzle of rain.

Patel has owned Camden Variety for 15 years, and he says he’s seen traffic to his laundromat increase dramatically this summer due to the lack of rainfall the Kingston region has experienced since June.

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Patel lives in Belleville, but has another property in the Belleville area where the well has suffered due to drought conditions, and he’s had to purchase water eight times over the summer.

“I know some people who come here, normally they don’t, but because of the drought they are coming,” he said. “A lot of people don’t want to waste wate

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