{"id":235979,"date":"2026-07-05T10:27:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T10:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/235979\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T10:27:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T10:27:33","slug":"pennsylvania-doubles-the-counties-under-a-drought-warning-to-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/235979\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania doubles the counties under a drought warning to 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pennsylvania\u2019s Commonwealth Drought Task Force<\/a> this week doubled the number of counties under a drought warning status.<\/p>\n

Berks, Lancaster, Lebanon and Lehigh counties worsened from drought watch to drought warning as rain recovery in southeastern Pennsylvania remains limited, and some areas continue to deteriorate.<\/p>\n

Several counties that showed improvement in May have since declined, prompting the expansion of the drought warning to four counties bordering the southeastern region.<\/p>\n

The escalation brings the total number of counties under drought warnings to eight. Chester, Cumberland, Franklin and Fulton counties remain under warning status from previous declarations.<\/p>\n

Eleven counties remain under drought watch: Adams, Bedford, Blair, Bucks, Dauphin, Delaware, Montgomery, Northampton, Perry, Philadelphia and York.<\/p>\n

The remaining 48 Pennsylvania counties maintain normal status.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania does not base drought declarations on a single factor. DEP considers four key indicators: stream flow, groundwater levels, precipitation and soil moisture. Declarations are made after assessing how far conditions have deviated from normal over the past three to 12 months.<\/p>\n

Residents are encouraged to voluntarily conserve nonessential water use, according to the task force.<\/p>\n

Local water suppliers may ask residents to continue conservation measures based on varying localized conditions, even in areas not under official drought declarations.<\/p>\n

Visit the task force\u2019s website at pa.gov<\/a> for a complete list of public water suppliers requiring mandatory conservation or requesting voluntary efforts.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania American Water on Wednesday called on customers to conserve water<\/a>. It\u2019s the largest regulated water utility in the state with some 1,200 employees serving around 2.5 million people.<\/p>\n

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor<\/a>, approximately 30% of Pennsylvania is experiencing abnormally dry conditions.<\/p>\n

The drought coverage represents the highest percentage of national drought in nearly four years, according to Pennsylvania American Water. Forecasts calling for above-normal temperatures and below-average rainfall this summer are expected to increase pressure on water resources and seasonal water demand.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s recommendations include watering lawns and gardens in the early morning or evening to minimize evaporation. As much as 30% of water can be lost by watering during midday. Other conservation measures include collecting rainwater in rain barrels, checking sprinkler heads to ensure water isn\u2019t being wasted on pavement, and using a broom instead of a hose to clean patios and driveways.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania American Water also recommends mulching garden beds with a 2- to 3-inch layer to retain moisture and setting mower blades higher, as grass cut to 2.5 to 3.5 inches is more drought-resistant. The company notes that 10% of homes have leaks that can waste 90 gallons or more per day.<\/p>\n

more lehigh valley weather<\/p>\n

Read the original article on lehighvalleylive.com<\/a>. Add lehighvalleylive.com<\/a> as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania\u2019s Commonwealth Drought Task Force this week doubled the number of counties under a drought warning status. Berks,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[101681,101684,101682,101683,31843,57234,28,30,29],"class_list":["post-235979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-commonwealth-drought-task-force","tag-counties-bordering","tag-drought-declarations","tag-drought-warnings","tag-drought-watch","tag-lehigh-counties","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}