The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced on August 24th that after a meeting of the Commonwealth Drought Task Force that a drought watch has been lifted for 47 counties and remains for 20 counties. One of the remaining counties that remains under a drought watch is Montgomery County.

Other counties that remain under a drought watch are Adams, Berks, Bucks, Cameron, Chester, Clarion, Cumberland, Dauphin, Fayette, Franklin, Fulton, Huntingdon, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Northampton, Perry, Venango and York.

A drought watch has been lifted for Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Blair, Bradford, Butler, Cambria, Carbon, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Columbia, Crawford, Delaware, Elk, Erie, Forest, Greene, Indiana, Jefferson, Juniata, Lackawanna, Lawrence, Luzerne, Lycoming, McKean, Mercer, Mifflin, Monroe, Montour, Northumberland, Philadelphia, Pike, Potter, Schuylkill, Snyder, Somerset, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, Union, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Westmoreland and Wyoming counties.

For a map of drought declarations updated daily, see the DEP drought web page.

The DEP suggests that residents under a drought watch reduce their individual water use by 5 to 10%, or a reduction of three to six gallons of water per day.