Drought Preparedness and Response Plan 

The purpose of the Connecticut Drought Preparedness and Response Plan (pdf 176 KB) is to preserve essential water uses during a drought by providing a framework for the appropriate assessment of and response to drought conditions.

 The Plan:

1. Defines a process to guide state agencies to address drought-related activities, including monitoring, impact assessment, and the preparedness for successively more severe drought stages,

2. Identifies activities that may be implemented to coordinate drought assessment, response and impact mitigation,

3. Identifies the state, local, federal and private sector entities that are primarily responsible for managing drought-related activities, and

4. Promotes effective mobilization of public and private resources to manage drought mitigation efforts.

Drought Matrix

					Palmer Drought Index
	Precipitation	Groundwater	Streamflow	Reservoirs	Severity	Crop Moisture	Fire Danger
ADVISORY	2 months (cumulative) below %65 of normal	3 consecutive months below normal *	2 out of 3 months below normal *	Average levels less than 80% of normal	-2.0 to -2.99	-1.0 to –1.99 abnormally dry,	Moderate
WATCH	3 months cumulative below 65% of normal	4 consecutive months below normal *	4 out of 5 months below normal *	Average levels less than 70% of normal	-3.0 to -3.99	-2.0 to –2.99 excessively dry	High
WARNING	More than 4months cumulative below 65% of normal,	4 consecutive months below normal *	6 out of 7 months below normal *	Average levels less than 60% of normal.	-4 or less	-3 or less	Very high
EMERGENCY	More than 6 months cumulative below 65% of normal	8 consecutive months below normal *	7 months below normal *	Average levels less than 50% of normal or less than 50 days of supply	-4 or less.	-3 or less, severely dry	Extreme
* Normal levels for Groundwater and Streamflow are defined as the 25th percentile of the period of record.