A state drought declaration allows the Water Resources Department to offer certain tools to water right holders in a drought-declared county. These tools have an expedited review process, reduced fee schedule, and are intended to be short-term emergency authorizations, not permanent solutions to deal with water supply challenges. Water right holders seeking long-term solutions should first contact their watermaster to help identify what options may exist. These options may include temporary emergency water use permits, temporary transfers, temporary instream leases, temporary substitutions, special option agreements, temporary exchanges of water, or a preference for human consumption or stock water uses.
Click here for more information on potential drought tools.
Drought tools may only be used in counties with a Governor's Declared Drought. View the Department's Drought Declaration Status Map.
Click here for Drought Tool Application Forms. If you need assistance, you may also contact your local watermaster for assistance.
While it is always important to conserve water, during times of drought water conservation becomes more important. We can all do our part to lessen the impacts of limited water supplies. Visit our water conservation page to learn more about what you can do to conserve.