Drought and the Commonwealths Assessment and Response Plan

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Drought and the Commonwealths Assessment and
Response Plan

• Commonwealth of Virginia
• Department of Environmental Quality

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Drought????
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Drought????

• Deficiency in precipitation for an extended
  period of time, generally a season or more
• Normal, recurrent feature of climate
• Temporary in nature as opposed to an arid climate
• Impacts are due to the interplay of the natural
  event and the societal demands placed on water
  resources

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Types of Drought

• Meteorological Drought
• Agricultural Drought
• Hydrological Drought
• Socioeconomic (Water Supply) Drought

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Executive Order 39, Virginia Water Supply
Initiative

• Issued December 13, 2002
• Assure an adequate supply of clean, safe drinking
  water
• Prepare a preliminary drought assessment and
  response plan by April 1, 2003

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Drought Response Technical Advisory Committee

• Composed of 26 individuals representing federal,
  state, and local government, agriculture,
  commercial and industrial, and environmental
  interests
• TAC received technical support from the existing
  Virginia Drought Monitoring Task Force
• TAC met three times in February and March 2003
• Draft plan is based on review of Maryland,
  Pennsylvania, and North Carolina plans

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Drought Evaluation Regions
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Drought Assessment Plan

• Drought conditions will be monitored by the DMTF
• Based on four preliminary indicators
• Precipitation Deficits
• Streamflows
• Ground Water Levels
• Reservoir Levels
• DMTF will review all other available information
  when making drought recommendations to the
  Drought Coordinator

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Precipitation Deficits
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Streamflows
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Streamflows

• Normal Greater 25th percentile
• Drought Watch 10th to 25th percentile
• Drought Warning 5th to 10th percentile
• Drought Emergency Less than 5th percentile

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Ground Water Levels
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Ground Water Levels

• Normal Greater 25th percentile
• Drought Watch 10th to 25th percentile
• Drought Warning 5th to 10th percentile
• Drought Emergency Less than 5th percentile

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Reservoir Levels

• Normal Greater than 120 days storage
• Drought Watch 90 to 120 days storage
• Drought Warning 60 to 90 days storage
• Drought Emergency Less than 60 days storage

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Drought Declaration

• Three stages of drought severity
• Drought Watch
• Drought Warning
• Drought Emergency
• Declaration of drought watch and warning by
  Drought Coordinator
• Declaration of drought emergency by the Governor
  utilizing an executive order

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Drought Watch

• Climatic conditions indicative that a major
  drought event is possible
• Actions initiated to raise public awareness of
  potential for onset of drought conditions
• Encourage all public water supplies and major
  water users to review existing or prepare new
  drought response plans

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Drought Warning

• Climatic conditions indicative that the onset of
  a major drought event is imminent
• Require implementation of drought response plans
• Typical actions would be voluntary water use
  restrictions
• Goal of reducing water use by 5-10

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Drought Emergency

• Drought has impacted water supplies to the point
  that unrestricted use is not possible
• Require implementation of mandatory water use
  restrictions contained in drought response plans
• Require mandatory water use restrictions for
  supplies without drought response plans
• Goal of reducing water use 10-15

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Mandatory Water Use Restrictions

• Unrestricted irrigation of lawns and athletic
  fields
• Unrestricted irrigation of golf courses
• Washing paved surfaces
• Unrestricted vehicle washing
• Operation of ornamental fountains
• Unrestricted use of water for swimming pools

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Water Rationing

• May be required when mandatory use restrictions
  are not sufficient
• Individual case decision based on impacts to a
  particular water supply
• Drought Coordinator will work closely to assure
  that any available State resources are utilized

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Sources of information

• U.S. Drought Monitor
• http//www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html
• U.S. Drought Monitor- Virginia
• http//www.deq.virginia.gov/watersupply/drought.ht
  ml
• U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook
• http//www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/expert_assessment
  /seasonal_drought.html
• National Drought Mitigation Center
• http//drought.unl.edu/
• Virginia Precipitation
• http//www.climate.virginia.edu/

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Sources of information

• Virginia Streamflow and GW levels
• http//waterdata.usgs.gov/va/nwis/rt
• Virginia Drought Assessment and Response Plan
• http//www.deq.virginia.gov/watersupply/pdf/drough
  tresponseplan.pdf
• Virginia Drought Monitoring Task Force
• tdwagner_at_deq.virginia.gov