East Coast U.S. Drought Spurs Voluntary and Mandatory Water Restrictions

Johnston County, North Carolina, asked residents and businesses served by the county water system to voluntarily cut water use as low river levels threaten the primary water supply. The county reiterated its existing alternate‑day irrigation schedule and swimming‑pool filling rules but imposed no new mandatory limits.

Elsewhere on the Eastern Seaboard, officials have moved to mandatory cuts. Virginia counties—including Caroline, Louisa, Orange, Fauquier and Shenandoah—activated Tier 3 drought plans that ban lawn watering, limit car washing to hand‑wash, schedule garden irrigation by address and require written approval for filling pools over 1,000 gallons. Durham, North Carolina, ordered businesses consuming over 100,000 gallons a day to reduce use by 30 percent, while Connecticut’s governor declared a Stage 2 drought advisory for Fairfield, Middlesex and New Haven counties. The drought now covers about 38 percent of Virginia and has pushed parts of central North Carolina into the highest, “exceptional,” drought category.