The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced today after a meeting of the Commonwealth Drought Task Force that, despite recent rainfall, 36 counties remain on drought watch and continued voluntary water conservation is requested in those counties.

“Conditions have improved with the recent rain, but we need to see continued meaningful precipitation over several months and have public water suppliers in affected counties returning to normal operations before the drought watch can be lifted,” said DEP Acting Secretary Ramez Ziadeh. “We ask Pennsylvanians in these counties to continue to use water wisely and follow simple water conservation tips to ease the demand for water.”

The following counties are on drought watch: Carbon, Lehigh, Monroe, Northampton, and Schuylkill counties.

Residents on drought watch are asked to reduce their individual water use by 5 to 10%, or a reduction of 3 to 6 gallons of water per day.

DEP is notifying all water suppliers in these counties of the need to monitor their supplies and be prepared by updating their drought contingency plans as necessary.