What’s the difference between a drought advisory watch and a warning?

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — After a drought advisory was declared across Virginia, over 100 localities are currently under either a watch or a warning. What’s the difference?

95 Virginia localities are currently under a drought watch, including the City of Richmond, Chesterfield County and Henrico County. Appomattox River Water Authority Executive Director Robert Wilson said it’s a voluntary precaution.

“We just ask everybody to be water wise. If you’re washing the pavement off, maybe you could use a leaf blower,” Wilson said. “Anything you do at home that has maybe a partial load, we ask that you do that it in full. Like, dishwashers full, your washing machines full, anything you can do to just conserve water.”

Conserving water is at the heart of both watches and warnings. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued a warning in 12 other counties, mostly in northern and northwestern Virginia.

“If you’re [in] an actual warning, usually, each county will have an ordinance requirement,” Wilson said. “It will stipulate what the restrictions are that the residents have to follow to reduce their water consumption.”

Reducing water consumption is key to preventing a drought warning from becoming an emergency. Wilson said that, while the main reason for the drought is a lack of rainfall, the extreme heat is not helping.

“With the heat, we have evaporation and evapotranspiration out of the lake,” he said. “That is taking a certain volume out through evaporation.”

To prevent an emergency from happening and to help ease the drought advisories across the states, it’s important to conserve water in any way possible.

“At the end of the day, we need water for everything we do in life,” Wilson said. “The more water that we use, or the less that we can serve, that means it could become a time, if we ever get into emergency conditions, where we can’t allow you to do certain things.”

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