Drought Emergency

The Drought Monitoring Task Force (DMTF) strongly advises all water users in the localities listed as suffering from conditions classified as Drought Emergency to enact the following precautions in addition to previous advisories until further notice:

• The Governor will declare a statewide or regional Drought Emergency by executive order and will issue a press release indicating the reasons for the declaration.
• The Virginia Drought Coordinator will notify all local governments within the drought emergency areas of drought emergency status.
• The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) will inform all public waterworks within the drought emergency area of the drought emergency status.
• The DMTF will continue to monitor statewide moisture conditions and provide monthly reports of drought conditions to the Virginia Drought Coordinator.  Significant changes in drought conditions will be reported weekly.
• The Virginia Drought coordinator will update the Governor’s Cabinet concerning drought conditions on a weekly basis.
• The Governor’s Press Office will encourage media outlets within the drought emergency area to publicize updates of drought conditions by developing weekly press releases.
• All public waterworks and self-supplied water users who withdraw more than 10,000 gallons per day will initiate mandatory water conservation requirements contained in drought water conservation and contingency plans that include the mandatory non-essential water use restrictions listed below.
• All public waterworks and self-supplied water users who withdraw more than 10,000 gallons per day that have not developed drought water conservation and contingency plans initiate mandatory non-essential water use restrictions listed below, including the elimination of non-essential flushing of water lines.
• All self-supplied users who withdraw less than 10,000 gallons per day, including private well users, will initiate the mandatory non-essential water use restrictions listed below.
• All executive branch agencies and institutions will implement drought water conservation and contingency plans with the goal of reducing water usage by 15% that include the mandatory non-essential water use restrictions listed below (or on separate page with link)
• Local governments and public waterworks may impose water use restrictions more stringent than the mandatory non-essential water use restrictions listed below consistent with local water supply conditions at any time.
• For the duration of the declared drought emergency, the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality shall be authorized to allocate ground water and surface water resources to meet the necessary beneficial uses as set for the in §62.1-44.36 of the Code of Virginia.  such allocations may apply to any withdrawer and shall override any existing authorizations to use or withdraw surface water or ground water.
• For the duration of the declared drought emergency, the State Forester shall be authorized to declare open burning bans in wild fire susceptible areas of the Commonwealth.
• For the duration of the declared drought emergency, the Departments of State Policy, Transportation, and Motor Vehicles shall be authorized to grant temporary overweight/overwidth/registration/license exemptions to carriers transporting essential emergency relief supplies into and through the Commonwealth in order to support the disaster response and recovery.
• Volume I, Virginia Emergency Operations Plan (COVEOP) Basic Plan, July 1997 as amended shall be implemented by agencies of the state and local government along with other appropriate state agency plans.
• The Virginia Emergency Operations Center (VEOC) and State Emergency Response Team (SERT) will be activated to coordinate state operations in support of affected localities and the Commonwealth, to include issuing mission assignments to agencies designated in the COVEOP and others may be identified by the State Coordinator of Emergency management, in consultation with the Secretary of Public Safety, which are needed to provide for the preservation of life, protection of property, and implementation of recovery activities.
• Local governments of the Commonwealth will be authorized to adopt local ordinances to enforce the mandatory non-essential water use restrictions listed below and to establish, collect, and retain fines for violations of these restrictions.  Nothing contained in this drought response plan should be construed to limit the powers of local government to adopt and enforce local emergency ordinances as necessary to protect the public welfare, safety, and health.

Drought Warning

The DMTF advises all water users in the localities listed as suffering from conditions classified as Drought Warning to enact the following precautions in addition to previous advisories until further notice:

• The Virginia Drought Coordinator will declare a statewide or regional Drought Warning and will issue a press release indicating the reasons for the declaration.
• The Virginia Drought Coordinator will notify all local governments within the drought warning area of drought warning status.
• The Virginia Drought Coordinator will advise the Governor and his Cabinet regarding the necessity of authorizing the Departments of State Policy, Transportation, and Motor Vehicles to grant temporary overweight/overwidth/registration/license exemptions to carriers transporting essential emergency relief supplies into and through the Commonwealth in order to support disaster response and recovery.
• The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) will inform all public waterworks within the drought warning area of drought warning status.
• The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) will cooperate with the Virginia Association of Counties (VACo), the Virginia Municipal League (VML), Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE), the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation (VFBF, and the Virginia Agribusiness Council (VAC) in notifying agricultural communities, agriculture interest groups, and local governments within the drought warning area of the potential for federal agricultural drought disaster designation.  VDACS will also work with VACo, VML, VCE, VFBF, and VAC in communicating the appropriate procedure for local governments to use in applying to the Governor for federal disaster designation.
• The DMTF will continue to monitor statewide moisture conditions and provide monthly reports of drought conditions to the Virginia Drought Coordinator.  Significant changes in drought conditions will be reported biweekly.
• The Virginia Drought Coordinator will update the Governor’s Cabinet concerning drought conditions on a biweekly basis.
• The Governor’s Press Office will encourage media outlets within the drought warning area to publicize updates of drought conditions by developing biweekly press releases.
• All local governments will be encouraged to review existing local ordinances requiring mandatory non-essential water use restrictions or adopt such ordinances consistent with the mandatory non-essential water use restrictions listed below.
• All public waterworks and self-supplied water users who withdraw more than 10,000 gallons per day will initiate voluntary water conservation requirements contained in drought water conservation and contingency plans.
• All public waterworks and self-supplied water users who withdraw more than 10,000 gallons per day that have not developed drought water conservation and contingency plans will be encouraged to voluntarily reduce or eliminate non-essential uses of watering including the elimination of non-essential flushing of water lines.
• All persons who utilize any source of water for outdoor irrigation will assure that the minimum amount of water is utilized in the most efficient manner practical.
• All self-supplied users who withdraw less than 10,000 gallons per day, including well users, will be encouraged to voluntarily reduce or eliminate non-essential uses of water.
• All executive branch agencies and institutions will initiate the reduction or elimination of non-essential uses of water with the goal of reducing total water usage by 5-10%.
• VDH will continue monitoring problems incurred by public waterworks on a monthly basis.
• Local governments and public waterworks may impose water use restrictions consistent with local water supply conditions at any time.

Drought Watch

• The Virginia Drought Coordinator will declare a statewide or regional Drought Watch and will issue a press release indicating the reasons for the declaration.
• The Virginia Drought Coordinator will notify all local governments within the drought watch area of drought watch status.
• The Virginia Drought Coordinator will report the drought watch declaration to the Governor’s Cabinet and request the assistance of all state agencies in the implementation of the drought response plan.
• The Virginia Department of Health will inform all public waterworks within the drought watch area of drought watch status.
• The Virginia Cooperative Extension Service will cooperate with all state agencies owning or controlling impoundments and/or river access to identify sources that may be used by livestock producers for emergency livestock watering during declared drought emergencies.  VCE will inform livestock producers of these opportunities and will provide contact information necessary to access these sources.
• The DMTF will continue to monitor statewide moisture conditions and provide monthly reports of drought conditions to the Virginia Drought Coordinator who will update the Governor’s Cabinet.
• The DMTF will make monthly reports of drought conditions available to media outlets within the drought watch area.
• The Virginia Drought coordinator will encourage all public waterworks and self-supplied water users who withdraw more than 10,000 gallons per day to develop or review existing drought water conservation and contingency plans.
• All DMTF agencies will include water conservation information on their websites and will distribute water conservation information as broadly as possible.
• All executive branch agencies and institutions will review existing drought water conservation and contingency plans or develop new plans with the goal of reducing water usage by 15% during declared drought emergencies.
• VDH will continue monitoring problems incurred by public water works on a monthly basis.
• VDH will encourage all public waterworks to aggressively pursue leak detection and repair programs.
• Local governments and public waterworks may impose water use restrictions consistent with local water supply conditions at any time.