Drought

image of dry conditions in the area of Lake Mendocino in Mendocino County following two critically dry years. — Dry conditions in the area of Lake Mendocino in Mendocino County. DWR/2021.

Visit drought.ca.gov for water shortage assistance and information on drought-related financial assistance.

California is no stranger to drought; it is a recurring feature of our climate. We recently experienced the 5-year event of 2012-2016, and other notable historical droughts included 2007-09, 1987-92, 1976-77, and off-and-on dry conditions spanning more than a decade in the 1920s and 1930s.

Paleoclimate records going back more than 1,000 years show many more significant dry periods. The dry conditions of the 1920s-30s, however, were on a par with the largest 10-year droughts in the much longer paleoclimate record.

Droughts cause public health and safety impacts, as well as economic and environmental impacts. Public health and safety impacts are primarily associated with catastrophic wildfire risks and drinking water shortage risks for small water systems in rural areas and private residential wells. Examples of other impacts include costs to homeowners due to loss of residential landscaping, degradation of urban environments due to loss of landscaping, agricultural land fallowing and associated job loss, degradation of fishery habitat, and tree mortality with damage to forest ecosystems.

Unfortunately, the scientific skill to predict when droughts will occur – which involves being able to forecast precipitation weeks to months ahead – is currently lacking. Improving long-range weather modeling capabilities is an area of much-needed research.

Defining Drought

Defining drought is based on impacts to water users. California is a big state and impacts vary with location. Hydrologic conditions causing impacts for water users in one location may not represent drought for water users in a different part of California, or for users with a different water supply. Individual water agencies may use criteria such as rainfall/runoff, amount of water in storage, or expected supply from a water wholesaler to define their water supply conditions.

Drought is a gradual phenomenon, occurring slowly over a period of time. Storage, whether in surface water reservoirs or in groundwater basins, buffers drought impacts and influences the timing of when drought impacts occur. A single dry year isn’t a drought for most Californians because of the state’s extensive system of water infrastructure and groundwater resources buffer impacts.

Drought impacts are felt first by people most dependent on annual rainfall – such as ranchers using dryland range or rural residents relying on wells in low-yield rock formations. Drought impacts increase with the length of a drought, as carry-over supplies in reservoirs are depleted and water levels in groundwater basins decline.

Provisions of California’s Emergency Services Act have been used to declare a statewide drought emergency for only two of our droughts, the 2012 to 2016 event and its immediate predecessor in 2007-09.

California Water Watch

Current Water Conditions in California

Percent of Average Precipitation Water Year to Date

Departure from Average Temperature Water Year to Date

Comparison of Current Water Year Natural Flow to Drought WYs 2014 & 2015

Central Valley Project Water Allocations (Historical and Present)

State Water Project Allocations (Historical and Present)

Colorado River Reservoir Conditions, Lower Basin

Colorado River Reservoir Conditions, Upper Basin

Groundwater Level Change Maps, Spring

Groundwater Level Change Maps, Fall

CEQA Suspensions on Groundwater Recharge Projects

On March 28, 2022, the Governor issued Executive Order N-7-22, which included the suspension under specific circumstances of the California Environmental Quality Act, also known as CEQA (Public Resources Code, Division 13 (commencing with section 21000)).

Projects must be consistent with Executive Order Action 13 to use the CEQA suspension. Projects must carry out groundwater recharge on open and working lands and need to offset drought impacts on groundwater. Local agencies carrying out recharge projects must submit a Self-Certification Form. DWR will review that the proposed activities are eligible under the Executive Order provisions.

DWR will maintain on its website a list of activities eligible for the CEQA suspension, as directed by the Executive Order.

To submit an eligible project, review the information below:

Temporary Water Rights Permitting Regulatory Assistance

Based on the intense changes in climate and the need to adapt to a hotter, drier future, the state is committed to helping local agencies advance their groundwater recharge projects and secure the necessary temporary water rights permits to capture peak flows when water is available and to store that water underground for use during drought periods.

The State Water Resources Control Board has regulatory authority to review and approve all water rights permit applications, including the 180-day temporary water rights permits for groundwater recharge. DWR, in our assistance role, is working with GSAs that have identified applicable local groundwater recharge projects to facilitate the water rights permitting process. These projects are consistent with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) and drought recovery strategies in the Governor’s “California Water Supply Strategy, Adapting to a Hotter, Drier Future.”

For more information on available regulatory assistance and eligibility, see our fact sheet on DWR’s regulatory assistance for temporary water rights for groundwater recharge.