Maryland Drought Information and Current Status

A drought watch was declared for the Central Region at the end of November 2016. As of the end of February 2017, conditions in the Central region have worsened to drought warning and the Eastern Region has moved from normal conditions to drought watch.

While the conditions in the Central Region are in drought warning, they are better than they were in February during our last significant water supply drought of 2002. Furthermore, many water suppliers in Central Maryland have made improvements in system capacity since 2002 that have improved their resiliency to ensure adequate supplies under drought conditions.

The warning status in the Central Region and the watch status in the Eastern Region trigger a number of actions including water conservation, public notification, and in some instances reduction in water use; however, MDE has the discretion to postpone the requirement when the watch or warning status is in non-growing/winter season.

More information about what a drought watch and a drought warning entail can be found here.