{"id":197860,"date":"2025-10-02T19:33:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T19:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/197860\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T19:33:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T19:33:09","slug":"drought-watch-expands-to-all-21-n-j-counties-residents-urged-to-conserve-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/197860\/","title":{"rendered":"Drought watch expands to all 21 N.J. counties. Residents urged to conserve water."},"content":{"rendered":"

New Jersey officials have expanded the drought watch that had been in place<\/a> for parts of South Jersey to all 21 counties.<\/p>\n

The statewide drought watch strongly urges all New Jersey residents and businesses to voluntarily conserve water \u201cas a result of prolonged below-average precipitation that is stressing water supplies,\u201d the state Department of Environmental Protection said in a press release issued Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

On June 11, after the state was hit by frequent rain showers and thunderstorms, the state lifted the drought warning<\/a> that had been in place since November 2024. <\/p>\n

But it issued a drought watch<\/a> for eight counties in South Jersey, where rainfall totals and stream flows weren\u2019t as high as they were in other regions of the state.<\/p>\n

Now, nearly four months later, most of South Jersey isn\u2019t experiencing unusual drought conditions, but much of the northern half of the state is.<\/p>\n

About 50% of the state \u2014 mainly in northern and central counties \u2014 is currently considered \u201cabnormally dry,\u201d according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor status map, issued Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

Almost 15% of the state is experiencing moderate drought conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past year, New Jersey has experienced extreme weather variability that is consistent with a changing climate,\u201d DEP Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast fall and winter were among the driest on record, leading to a drought warning in November that was followed by a very wet May and even severe flash flooding in parts of the state in July,\u201d LaTourette added. \u201cBut with the return of prolonged dry conditions over the latter part of this summer and early fall, water supplies are showing signs of stress again.\u201d <\/p>\n

The DEP said the statewide drought watch is \u201cintended to increase public awareness and appreciation of the stress water supply sources are facing.\u201d<\/p>\n

While no mandatory water restrictions have been imposed, the \u201cwatch encourages the public to practice voluntary water conservation measures,\u201d the DEP said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf conditions do not improve, the state could declare a drought warning followed by a drought emergency, under which mandatory water use restrictions would become necessary,\u201d the agency noted.<\/p>\n

Rainfall totals across New Jersey have been 1 to 6 inches below normal over the past three months, \u201ccontributing to diminished streamflow, reservoir, and groundwater levels,\u201d the DEP said. <\/p>\n

\u201cA dry late summer and early fall, along with most (months) over the past year coming in with below normal precipitation, are contributing to water resource concerns across the state,\u201d New Jersey State Climatologist David Robinson said.<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Jersey officials have expanded the drought watch that had been in place for parts of South Jersey…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-197860","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}