Drought Planning Guidance

There are four levels used to describe drought in Massachusetts. These levels guide restrictions on nonessential outdoor water-use and should be incorporated into every DMP.  

Create a Drought Management Plan

A local drought management plan will strengthen your community’s ability to provide enough water during a drought. A DMP should outline key actions to be taken in preparation for and during a drought. It should define drought levels and assign actions appropriate to each level.

The Massachusetts Drought Management Plan, Section 8 provides guidance on local drought planning, including the following key steps in developing a local drought management plan:

• Form a drought response team and establish coordination and communication strategies within and between municipal departments, with the community, and among all relevant partner agencies and organizations.
• Forecast Supply in Relation to Demand: The goal of this step is to develop a reasonable estimate of how much water will be available under various shortage conditions, including multi-year droughts.
• Assess Options for Balancing Supply and Demand: This step focuses on two general types of drought mitigation options: reducing customer demand and augmenting supply. Demand reduction actions during a drought should be intensified as drought levels increase (see step 5).
• Establish Triggering Levels: This step identifies the specific conditions that will trigger each drought stage (for example, reservoir depths dropping below a specified level).
• Develop a Staged Drought Response: In this step, each drought stage is assigned response actions. Table 12 from the MA Drought Management Plan shows an example of a Drought Response Matrix .
• Adopt the Plan.
• Implement the Plan.

Resources for developing a local drought management plan:

• Massachusetts Drought Management Plan (2019), Section 8.1
• Drought Preparedness and Response Manual of Water Supply Practices M60 from the American Water Works Association (2^nd edition, 2019).

Key Resources

• Andover Drought Management Plan
• Ashland Drought Management Plan
• Drought Outreach Materials
• Massachusetts Drought Management Plan
• MassDEP Guidelines for Public Water Systems Chapter 12: Emergency Response Planning
• MassDEP Drinking Water Program: Emergency Response Planning Guide for Public Drinking Water Systems
• Emergency Planning for Water and Wastewater Utilities M19 from the American Water Works Association (5^th  edition, 2018)

More content for Water Suppliers and Municipal Officials:

• Water Conservation Planning Guidance
• Drought Planning Guidance (you are here)
• Water Loss Control Resources
• Customer Outreach Materials
• Healthy Lawn, Happy Summer Toolkit
• Water Rates and Data Management
• Model Bylaws
• Tools for Funding Your Water Conservation Program

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