Virginia DEQ expands drought warning to 39 counties, 16 cities

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is expanding its drought warning to 39 counties and 16 cities due to the ongoing drought conditions in the Commonwealth.

In an update shared by the department the morning of Monday, Feb. 9, in coordination with the Virginia Drought Monitoring Task Force, the department issued an expanded drought warning and maintained a previously issued drought watch advisory.

The warning advisory has been expanded to include 39 counties and 16 cities, and the existing drought watch advisory has been maintained in 44 counties and 15 cities in Virginia. Twelve counties and seven cities are not currently under drought watch or warning advisories.

This news comes a few weeks after the DEQ announced a drought watch advisory on Tuesday, Jan. 13.

Per the DEQ, a drought watch aims to help Virginians prepare for a potential drought. In the new update, the department wrote that "continued precipitation deficits" have led to "much-below normal streamflow, groundwater, and soil moisture levels" throughout most of the Commonwealth.

The following localities are under a drought warning:

• Chowan: Brunswick, Dinwiddie, Greensville, Lunenburg, Nottoway, Prince George, Southampton, Surry and Sussex counties and the cities of Emporia and Franklin.
• Northern Piedmont: Culpeper, Greene, Louisa, Madison, Orange, Rappahannock, Spotsylvania and Stafford counties and the city of Fredericksburg.
• 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.  

The department has also maintained the existing drought watch advisory, which aims to let Virginians know that the “onset of a significant drought event is imminent." The following localities are under the said watch advisory:

• 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 and Queen, King George, King William, Lancaster, Mathews, Middlesex, Northumberland, Richmond and Westmoreland counties  
• 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. 

DEQ is working with local governments, public water works and water users in the impacted regions to ensure people are following conservation and drought response plans and ordinances as part of Monday's update.

The department urged Virginians to preserve water resources by minimizing water use, monitoring drought conditions and looking out for leaks.

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