More than 96% of Montgomery County is under extreme drought conditions, and the rest of the county is under moderate drought conditions, according to the latest data from the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) available as of Wednesday.
“We’ve not seen things this dry in 20 years. We ask all residents and businesses in the county to take voluntary measures to conserve water, to help reduce demand on the region’s water supply,” County Executive Marc Elrich said during his weekly online news briefing Wednesday. “Drought conditions endanger crops and pastureland; they can prompt water shortages or restrictions.”
Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Earl Stoddard said rainfall from incoming Hurricane Debby later this week could potentially ease conditions and inform how the county addresses the drought moving forward.
The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG) issued a drought watch on July 29 due to conditions throughout the region. According to NIDIS, 100% of county residents are being affected by drought conditions and it is the seventh driest summer on record in the region in 130 years. Water flow in the Potomac River is low and has been affecting farmers, according to officials. The drought is related to record-breaking high temperatures over the past two months.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 95% of the Potomac River Basin is experiencing “abnormal to extreme drought” and precipitation levels have dropped almost 4 inches below normal in the past 60 days.
“Water shortages scare me a whole lot more than power outages do,” Stoddard said Wednesday during the news briefing. “Think about things like hospitals and their autoclaves, their ability to sterilize materials, [treating] dialysis patients. There are water dependencies, and in many cases [the need] is even more severe than power is.”
MWCOG has issued advisories asking residents to take actions to preserve water, including limiting car washing, reducing the length of showers and washing full loads of dishes and clothes. However, the county has not placed official restrictions on water use yet.
Stoddard said the county has been in communication with the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, which is tracking water levels in the Potomac River, to determine if and when restrictions could be necessary.
“We would issue warnings around conservation first, and when you start to see those, the next phase would be actual restrictions,” Stoddard said. “When we talk about those kinds of measures–water restrictions–those are in light of there being real risks of impediment to provision of critical services that rely on water like hospitals and dialysis and other things of that nature.”
According to Dr. Nina Ashford, the county’s chief of Public Health Services, the drought poses similar health risks as high heat to residents.
“We need to stay home and make sure that folks are staying hydrated and taking the appropriate precautions that they are able to access water, whether that be from their homes or some of the other resources that are provided in the county,” Ashford said.