--- title: What to Do and What Not to Do During a Drought | WeatherBug | WeatherBug description: With drought concerns resurging as the warm months return, let’s take a look at what to do and what NOT to do during an active drought. canonical: https://www.weatherbug.com/news/What-to-Do-and-What-Not-to-Do-During-a-Drought og:title: What to Do and What Not to Do During a Drought | WeatherBug | WeatherBug og:description: With drought concerns resurging as the warm months return, let’s take a look at what to do and what NOT to do during an active drought. og:url: https://www.weatherbug.com/news/What-to-Do-and-What-Not-to-Do-During-a-Drought og:site_name: WeatherBug og:locale: en_US og:image: https://cms-assets-con.cdn.weatherbug.net/assets/contentitems/5a/5a743ef0-3d79-4cd7-a91a-872b27c03850/52e0ce98-d40a-4283-82d1-d0fe816ebf4b/c7343070-d12d-4a4d-a255-63f51ad56be5.jpg og:image:width: 800 og:image:height: 600 og:image:alt: Drought via Pixabay og:type: article article:published_time: 2022-06-10T09:59:41Z article:modified_time: 2022-06-10T09:59:41Z article:author: By WeatherBug's Ali Husain article:tag: drought article:tag: prevention article:tag: weather article:tag: West twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What to Do and What Not to Do During a Drought | WeatherBug twitter:description: With drought concerns resurging as the warm months return, let’s take a look at what to do and what NOT to do during an active drought. twitter:image: https://cms-assets-con.cdn.weatherbug.net/assets/contentitems/5a/5a743ef0-3d79-4cd7-a91a-872b27c03850/52e0ce98-d40a-4283-82d1-d0fe816ebf4b/c7343070-d12d-4a4d-a255-63f51ad56be5.jpg --- [](/) [Back to forecast](/) # What to Do and What Not to Do During a Drought June 10, 2022 at 05:59 AM EDT By WeatherBug's Ali Husain  With drought concerns resurging as the warm months return, let’s take a look at what to do and what NOT to do during an active drought. Much of the western United States remains locked into drought in the early portions of meteorological summer, raising concerns as the warm season begins across much of the nation. With that in mind, let’s examine what you should and should not do during an active drought. **Conserve Water: Indoors and Out!** Water usage is a key concern during an active drought. In order to reduce your water footprint (and water bill!), some measures need to be taken. Take shorter showers during a drought, and similarly, turn off the tap when shaving or brushing your teeth. Avoid washing your car if possible, and never pour water down the drain when it could be used elsewhere, like for watering indoor plants. Be sure to fully turn off your faucets! A faucet that’s leaking one drop per second would waste 2,700 gallons of water in a full year. Avoid watering your lawn if possible! A heavy rain can eliminate the need to water for up to two weeks. Most of the year, lawns only need one inch of water per week. In extreme drought scenarios, allow lawns to die in favor of preserving trees and large shrubs. **Fire Prevention: Be Aware!** When water is scarce, plants dry out. This helps create favorable conditions for fire development, another major concern during a drought. To help prevent fires from starting, watch your actions! Don’t set off fireworks when conditions are dry, as an errant spark could quickly spread into a raging wildfire. The same goes for cigarette butts, charcoal grills and anything else that’s been ignited: a small mistake could lead to devastation. Be careful! **Follow Guidance from Local Officials** When local officials offer guidance, it’s best to heed their words. Follow along with any burn bans that have been put in place, and if there’s any official restrictions on water usage, be sure to heed them! The guidance has been put out for a reason, so listen to instructions from your local officials to protect yourself and the community. _Credit:_ Ready.gov, NWS \----- _Story Image via Pixabay_ We use technologies, such as cookies, to analyze your use (i.e., pages visited), to customize content, for our internal analytics purposes and for security and other purposes. By continuing to use this website, you agree to this usage. Please review our [privacy policy](/legal/privacy) for more details as well as for information on how to contact us to object to these activities. [Ad Choices](/legal/privacy#digitaladvertisingandyourchoices) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.weatherbug.com/news/What-to-Do-and-What-Not-to-Do-During-a-Drought"},"headline":"What to Do and What Not to Do During a Drought","description":"With drought concerns resurging as the warm months return, let’s take a look at what to do and what NOT to do during an active drought.","image":["https://cms-assets-con.cdn.weatherbug.net/assets/contentitems/5a/5a743ef0-3d79-4cd7-a91a-872b27c03850/52e0ce98-d40a-4283-82d1-d0fe816ebf4b/c7343070-d12d-4a4d-a255-63f51ad56be5.jpg"],"datePublished":"2022-06-10T09:59:41Z","dateModified":"2022-06-10T09:59:41Z","dateCreated":"2022-06-10T09:59:41Z","articleSection":"Weather News","keywords":"drought,prevention,weather,West","articleBody":"With drought concerns resurging as the warm months return, let’s take a look at what to do and what NOT to do during an active drought.
\r\n
\r\nMuch of the western United States remains locked into drought in the early portions of meteorological summer, raising concerns as the warm season begins across much of the nation. With that in mind, let’s examine what you should and should not do during an active drought.
\r\n
\r\nConserve Water: Indoors and Out!
\r\n
\r\nWater usage is a key concern during an active drought. In order to reduce your water footprint (and water bill!), some measures need to be taken. Take shorter showers during a drought, and similarly, turn off the tap when shaving or brushing your teeth. Avoid washing your car if possible, and never pour water down the drain when it could be used elsewhere, like for watering indoor plants. Be sure to fully turn off your faucets! A faucet that’s leaking one drop per second would waste 2,700 gallons of water in a full year.
\r\n
\r\nAvoid watering your lawn if possible! A heavy rain can eliminate the need to water for up to two weeks. Most of the year, lawns only need one inch of water per week. In extreme drought scenarios, allow lawns to die in favor of preserving trees and large shrubs.
\r\n
\r\nFire Prevention: Be Aware!
\r\n
\r\nWhen water is scarce, plants dry out. This helps create favorable conditions for fire development, another major concern during a drought. To help prevent fires from starting, watch your actions! Don’t set off fireworks when conditions are dry, as an errant spark could quickly spread into a raging wildfire. The same goes for cigarette butts, charcoal grills and anything else that’s been ignited: a small mistake could lead to devastation. Be careful!
\r\n
\r\nFollow Guidance from Local Officials
\r\n
\r\nWhen local officials offer guidance, it’s best to heed their words. Follow along with any burn bans that have been put in place, and if there’s any official restrictions on water usage, be sure to heed them! The guidance has been put out for a reason, so listen to instructions from your local officials to protect yourself and the community.
\r\n
\r\nCredit: Ready.gov, NWS
\r\n-----
\r\nStory Image via Pixabay","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"By WeatherBug's Ali Husain","url":"https://www.weatherbug.com"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"WeatherBug","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.weatherbug.com/images/sharing/f1ff28ba-6f06-4745-a782-011a20397e16.png"}}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebSite","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.weatherbug.com/news/What-to-Do-and-What-Not-to-Do-During-a-Drought","relatedLink":"https://www.weatherbug.com/news/What-to-Do-and-What-Not-to-Do-During-a-Drought"},"name":"WeatherBug","url":"https://www.weatherbug.com/news/What-to-Do-and-What-Not-to-Do-During-a-Drought","headline":"What to Do and What Not to Do During a Drought","description":"With drought concerns resurging as the warm months return, let’s take a look at what to do and what NOT to do during an active drought.","dateModified":"2022-06-10T09:59:41Z","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"WeatherBug","url":"https://www.weatherbug.com","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/WeatherBug","https://instagram.com/WeatherBug","https://www.linkedin.com/company/weatherbug","https://www.pinterest.com/weatherbug","https://twitter.com/WeatherBug","https://www.youtube.com/user/WeatherBugVideo"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.weatherbug.com/images/logos/weatherbug_logo_620x447.png"}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"WeatherBug","url":"https://www.weatherbug.com","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/WeatherBug","https://instagram.com/WeatherBug","https://www.linkedin.com/company/weatherbug","https://www.pinterest.com/weatherbug","https://twitter.com/WeatherBug","https://www.youtube.com/user/WeatherBugVideo"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.weatherbug.com/images/logos/weatherbug_logo_620x447.png"}}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","name":"WeatherBug","logo":"https://www.weatherbug.com/images/logos/weatherbug_logo_620x447.png","url":"https://www.weatherbug.com","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/WeatherBug","https://instagram.com/WeatherBug","https://www.linkedin.com/company/weatherbug","https://www.pinterest.com/weatherbug","https://twitter.com/WeatherBug","https://www.youtube.com/user/WeatherBugVideo"]} ```