Monday, October 17, 2022

Drought Watch Continues for Schuylkill County and 19 Other Pennsylvania Counties


The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced on Monday after a meeting of the Commonwealth Drought Task Force that the drought watch has been lifted for 16 counties and remains for 20 counties. 

Residents in those counties are asked to continue their voluntary water conservation.

“While significant recent rainfall has helped, groundwater and some public water supply levels remain lower than normal ranges in some counties,” said DEP Acting Secretary Ramez Ziadeh. “We ask Pennsylvanians in these and adjacent counties to continue to use water wisely and follow simple water conservation tips to ease the demand for water.”

The following counties remain on drought watch: 
  • Cameron
  • Carbon
  • Centre
  • Clearfield
  • Clinton
  • Columbia
  • Dauphin
  • Juniata
  • Lebanon
  • Luzerne
  • Lycoming
  • Mifflin
  • Montour
  • Northampton
  • Northumberland
  • Perry
  • Potter
  • Schuylkill
  • Snyder
  • Union

Drought watch has been lifted for Berks, Bradford, Bucks, Delaware, Lackawanna, Lehigh, McKean, Monroe, Montgomery, Philadelphia, Pike, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, Wayne, and Wyoming counties.

Residents on drought watch are asked to reduce their individual water use by 5% to 10%, or a reduction of three to six gallons of water per day.