Drought watch advisory expands to 61 counties, 18 cities in Virginia

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has expanded its drought watch advisory to 61 counties and 18 cities throughout the state.

The update was released on Tuesday, Jan. 13 in coordination with the Virginia Drought Monitoring Task Force, and comes several months after initial watch and warning advisories were issued.

A drought watch aims to help Virginians prepare for a potential drought, with this particular update citing "continued precipitation deficits" that have resulted in "much-below normal streamflow, groundwater, and soil moisture levels throughout most of the Commonwealth."

The following areas of the state are currently under a drought watch:

• Chowan: Brunswick, Dinwiddie, Greensville, Lunenburg, Nottoway, Prince George, Southampton, Surry, and Sussex counties and the cities of Emporia and Franklin. 
• Middle James: Albemarle, Amelia, Amherst, Appomattox, Buckingham, Chesterfield, Cumberland, Fluvanna, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, Nelson, Powhatan, and Prince Edward counties and the cities of Charlottesville, Colonial Heights, Hopewell, Lynchburg, Petersburg and Richmond. 
• New River: Bland, Carroll, Floyd, Giles, Grayson, Montgomery, Pulaski, and Wythe counties and the cities of Galax and Radford. 
• Northern Coastal Plain: Caroline, Essex, Gloucester, King George, King William, King and Queen, Lancaster, Mathews, Middlesex, Northumberland, Richmond, and Westmoreland counties.
• Northern Piedmont: Culpeper, Greene, Louisa, Madison, Orange,  Rappahannock, Spotsylvania, and Stafford counties and the city of Fredericksburg. 
• Upper James: Alleghany, Bath, Botetourt, Craig, Highland, and Rockbridge counties and the cities of Buena Vista, Covington and Lexington. 
• York-James: Charles City, James City, New Kent, and York counties and the cities of Hampton, Newport News, Poquoson and Williamsburg. 

A drought warning advisory, which aims to let Virginians know that the "onset of a significant drought event is imminent," has also been issued for 22 counties and 13 cities:

• Northern Virginia: Arlington, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, and Prince William counties and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas and Manassas Park. 
• Roanoke River: Bedford, Campbell, Charlotte, Franklin, Halifax, Henry, Mecklenburg, Patrick, Pittsylvania, and Roanoke counties and the cities of Danville, Martinsville, Roanoke and Salem. 
• Shenandoah: Augusta, Clarke, Frederick, Page, Rockingham, Shenandoah, and Warren counties and the cities of Harrisonburg, Staunton, Waynesboro and Winchester.  

In response to this update, DEQ is working with local governments, public water works and water users in the impacted regions to make sure people are following conservation and drought response plans and ordinances.

DEQ also encouraged Virginians to save water resources through minimizing water use, watching drought conditions and looking out for leaks.

For more information about the advisories and to see the most current drought status, click here.