Maryland Water Restrictions 2026

Water restrictions across Maryland right now

Maryland enters the spring and summer of 2026 in a relatively comfortable hydrological position. As of the most recent monitoring data, no active water restrictions are in place anywhere across the state — not in Baltimore, not in Rockville, and not in the dozens of smaller municipalities that draw from the Patuxent River, the Potomac River, or the Susquehanna River basin. Residents can operate irrigation systems, wash vehicles, and fill pools without any mandatory or voluntary curtailment orders currently in force.

That said, water managers are watching the southern boundary of the state with measured concern. Virginia, Maryland's neighbor to the south and west, has experienced emerging drought conditions in several of its planning districts, and that situation creates a degree of hydrological tension along shared tributaries. The Potomac River — which forms the entire southwestern border between Maryland and Virginia — is a jointly managed resource, and drawdown pressure on the Virginia side can affect flow volumes that Maryland utilities count on for raw water intake.

The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE), which coordinates the state's drought response, confirmed through its Water Supply Program that no drought watch, drought advisory, drought warning, or drought emergency declarations are active as of 2026. MDE continues weekly monitoring of streamflows, reservoir storage levels, groundwater well readings, and precipitation totals to ensure early detection of any developing stress.

Baltimore City, which serves roughly 1.8 million people across the metropolitan region through the Baltimore City Department of Public Works, is drawing from the Loch Raven Reservoir and Prettyboy Reservoir system at levels well within normal operating range. The Little Patuxent River and Rocky Gorge Reservoir, which together supply much of the Washington suburban corridor and are managed by the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC Water), are similarly at healthy storage levels.

Montgomery County and Prince George's County residents served by WSSC Water have no watering-day restrictions, no odd-even schedules, and no time-of-day irrigation mandates in place. The situation is genuinely calm — but calm in water management does not mean complacent. Maryland's proximity to a drought zone in Virginia, combined with the state's history of sudden summer rainfall deficits, keeps water utility managers alert through the warmest months of the year.

Officials have encouraged residents to practice year-round voluntary conservation not because of current scarcity, but as a long-term infrastructure strategy. Water that isn't used today extends the operational life of treatment facilities and reduces the energy cost of pumping — an argument that resonates in Maryland's policy environment regardless of drought conditions.

Fines and enforcement in Maryland

Maryland's water restriction enforcement operates at the local utility level rather than through a centralized state authority, which means penalty structures vary across jurisdictions. That said, several common patterns emerge across the state's larger water providers.

Baltimore City DPW uses a warning-then-fine escalation structure during declared restriction periods. A first confirmed violation typically results in a written notice of violation with no monetary penalty. A second confirmed violation within a 12-month period carries a fine of $50 to $150 depending on the nature of the restriction violated. Subsequent violations can escalate to fines of up to $500 per day under Baltimore City Code provisions for water resource violations. In extreme cases, the DPW retains authority to install flow restrictors on service lines — a consequence that affects the entire property, not just outdoor irrigation.

WSSC Water's enforcement approach leans more heavily on education in early stages. Customer service representatives make outreach calls to addresses flagged by smart meter data before a formal violation notice is issued. WSSC Water's Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) network covers a substantial portion of its service area, enabling real-time monitoring of consumption patterns. The system can flag unusual nighttime irrigation — a signal that automatic sprinklers are operating in violation of time-of-day rules — without requiring a field inspector to observe the event directly.

Complaints from neighbors are a significant enforcement trigger in Maryland municipalities. Most utilities operate a dedicated water waste complaint line, and municipal code enforcement officers can respond to substantiated complaints with inspections. In Rockville and Gaithersburg, code enforcement personnel have authority to issue civil citations for water waste violations that carry base fines of $100 to $250 for initial offenses.

Appeals of water restriction violations in Maryland typically go through the utility's customer service appeals process in the first instance. If unresolved, customers in Baltimore City can appeal to the Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals, while WSSC Water customers can pursue appeals through the Commission's formal hearing process. Maryland's Public Service Commission also has jurisdiction over billing disputes involving investor-owned utilities, though most municipal water systems fall outside PSC authority.

Smart meter penetration continues to grow across Maryland's urban service areas, making anonymous violation increasingly difficult. Frederick's city water system completed a full AMI installation in 2023, joining Baltimore and WSSC as utilities with hourly consumption visibility across their customer bases.

HOA protections in Maryland

Maryland homeowners subject to homeowners association rules governing lawn appearance have a meaningful legal protection when water restrictions make compliance with those rules physically or economically impossible. The relevant statute is the Maryland Homeowners Association Act, Maryland Code, Real Property Article, Title 11B, which governs the rights and obligations of HOAs across the state.

While Title 11B does not contain a single standalone "drought exemption" clause, the Act's provisions regarding enforcement of community standards are interpreted in light of general Maryland contract law principles that excuse performance made impossible by circumstances outside a party's control — a doctrine known as impossibility or frustration of purpose. When a governmental authority — whether MDE, Baltimore City DPW, or WSSC Water — has imposed mandatory water restrictions that make lawn irrigation illegal, an HOA cannot legally fine a homeowner for the resulting lawn browning or landscape decline.

As a general principle, a community association covenant cannot compel an act that violates state or local law, so a fine for a lawn left dormant to comply with a restriction would be difficult to enforce. General information only, not legal advice. An HOA rule requiring "green and maintained turf at all times" would be unenforceable to the extent that compliance would require violating a mandatory water use ban. Attorneys representing Maryland homeowners have cited this principle in correspondence to HOA boards during past drought restriction periods, including during the restrictions imposed following the 2002 drought.

The Maryland Attorney General's Office has issued guidance to homeowners association boards recommending that boards formally suspend lawn maintenance requirements during state or local drought restriction periods to avoid potential liability. Many well-managed HOAs in communities like Columbia, Gaithersburg, and Bethesda adopted drought suspension policies following the 2002 water crisis that spelled out exactly when automatic suspensions take effect.

For residents facing HOA pressure during restriction periods, the recommended first step is to send the HOA board a written letter citing the specific restriction order — by name, the declaring authority, and the effective date — and invoking the impossibility doctrine. If the HOA continues to pursue fines, the Maryland Homeowners Association Dispute Resolution process, administered through the Office of the Attorney General, provides a mediation pathway before litigation becomes necessary.

Residents in condominium communities should reference the parallel Maryland Condominium Act, Real Property Article, Title 11, which contains analogous provisions governing council of unit owners authority and enforcement limits.

Where Maryland gets its water

Maryland's water supply picture is shaped by its unusual geography — a state straddling the Chesapeake Bay, the Appalachian Plateau, and the Atlantic Coastal Plain, with a narrow Piedmont zone threading between them. That variety of landscapes means the state draws from surface water, groundwater, and a mix of inter-basin arrangements that would confuse a simple analysis.

The Susquehanna River is the workhorse of northern Maryland's surface water supply. Flowing south from Pennsylvania and entering the Chesapeake Bay at Havre de Grace, the Susquehanna contributes roughly 50 percent of all freshwater entering the Chesapeake Bay. Maryland utilities in Harford County and Cecil County draw directly from the lower Susquehanna, and Conowingo Reservoir — formed by the Conowingo Dam and straddling the Maryland-Pennsylvania border — provides both hydroelectric power and emergency backup water storage capacity.

The Potomac River, running along Maryland's entire western and southern border with Virginia and Washington D.C., feeds the Washington metropolitan area's water supply through the Potomac River Water Filtration Plant in Potomac, Maryland, operated by the Washington Aqueduct — a federal agency under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. WSSC Water and the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority are among its primary customers.

Baltimore's system is built around a chain of reservoirs in Baltimore and Carroll Counties. Loch Raven Reservoir on the Gunpowder River holds approximately 23 billion gallons at capacity. Prettyboy Reservoir, upstream on the Gunpowder River's north branch, holds roughly 18 billion gallons. Liberty Reservoir on the North Branch Patapsco River adds another 43 billion gallons of storage capacity, making it Baltimore's largest reservoir. Together, this tripartite system gives Baltimore City DPW substantial drought buffering capacity.

On the Eastern Shore, the picture is quite different. Towns like Salisbury, Easton, and Cambridge rely heavily on groundwater drawn from the Aquia, Magothy, and Patapsco-Patuxent aquifer systems that underlie the Coastal Plain. These confined aquifers are ancient water stores, and while they are not subject to evaporation, they are vulnerable to overdraft — a long-term concern as Eastern Shore populations grow and agricultural irrigation demands intensify.

The Patuxent River feeds Rocky Gorge Reservoir and T. Howard Duckett Reservoir in Prince George's and Howard Counties, which together provide critical storage for WSSC Water's southern service zone. The Patuxent watershed is one of Maryland's most carefully managed river systems, with a dedicated Patuxent River Commission overseeing watershed land use and water quality protections.

Western Maryland's Garrett County draws from Deep Creek Lake, a man-made reservoir on the Youghiogheny River tributary, as well as smaller streams in the upper Potomac headwaters. This area receives higher annual precipitation than the rest of the state and generally enjoys the most resilient water supply conditions in Maryland.

How Maryland's drought framework works

Maryland operates its drought response through a tiered declaration system administered by the Maryland Department of the Environment under the authority of the Maryland Water Resources Act, codified at Maryland Code, Environment Article, Title 5. MDE's Water Supply Program acts as the primary monitoring and coordination body, working in close cooperation with local utilities, the Maryland Water Infrastructure Program, and the Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health.

The state uses a four-stage drought classification ladder. The first stage is a Drought Watch, declared when streamflow indices, groundwater levels, and reservoir storage begin trending below normal — typically triggering when any two of the three indicators register below the 25th percentile for 60 consecutive days. Utilities at this stage are asked to begin voluntary conservation campaigns and update their emergency supply contingency plans.

The second stage, Drought Advisory, activates when conditions worsen across multiple regions simultaneously. At this stage, MDE formally notifies the Governor's Office and requests that utilities implement voluntary use reduction targets — generally a 15 percent reduction from a utility's baseline average daily demand. Public outreach campaigns become mandatory at the utility level.

The third stage is a Drought Warning, which carries teeth. Under a Drought Warning, large water users — defined under Maryland regulations as facilities withdrawing more than 10,000 gallons per day — may receive formal use-reduction directives. Agricultural withdrawals may face prioritization reviews under the State's Water Appropriation and Use Program, which issues withdrawal permits tracked through MDE's Water Management Administration.

The most severe classification, a Drought Emergency, triggers executive authority. The Governor may invoke emergency powers to curtail non-essential withdrawals, mandate inter-utility transfers of stored water, and activate the emergency interconnects that link Baltimore's Patapsco River system to the Susquehanna aqueduct infrastructure. During a declared Drought Emergency, outdoor irrigation bans and car-washing prohibitions become enforceable across all participating utilities.

MDE also uses the U.S. Drought Monitor as a contextual reference, but Maryland's own trigger framework is based on quantitative thresholds specific to Maryland's nine river basins. The Patuxent, Susquehanna, Potomac, Chester, Choptank, Nanticoke, Wicomico, Pocomoke, and Patapsco basins each carry their own reference streamflow gauges and groundwater monitoring networks.

Local jurisdictions retain authority to impose their own restrictions above and beyond what the state declares. A county or utility can implement mandatory odd-even watering schedules even during a Drought Watch if their local storage situation justifies it. This layered authority structure means that conditions can vary meaningfully between jurisdictions even in the same declared drought stage.

Conservation programs in Maryland

Maryland operates several substantive water conservation programs that reward efficient fixtures, appliance upgrades, and landscape transformation — programs available to residents even in years when no drought declaration is active.

The Maryland Energy Administration's WaterSense Rebate Program is the state's broadest residential conservation incentive. Through this program, qualifying Maryland homeowners can receive rebates for the installation of WaterSense-certified toilets (up to $100 per toilet, maximum two per household), WaterSense-certified faucet aerators ($10 per aerator), and WaterSense-certified showerheads ($15 per showerhead). Applications are processed online through MEA's rebate portal, and the program typically runs on an annual funding cycle with a total annual allocation of approximately $1.2 million statewide.

WSSC Water runs its own parallel rebate program, the WSSC Water Conservation Rebate Program, which offers residential customers $100 for high-efficiency toilet replacement and $75 for smart irrigation controller installation. Smart irrigation controllers — devices that adjust watering schedules based on local weather data — are a high-priority rebate category for WSSC because their territory encompasses some of Maryland's densest suburban landscaping, where irrigation accounts for a disproportionate share of summer water use.

Baltimore City DPW administers the Baltimore City H2O Calculator and Home Water Audit Program, which offers free indoor water audits to single-family residences and small multifamily buildings. Trained DPW auditors inspect toilets, faucets, water heaters, and irrigation connections, then provide a customized conservation report. Participating households receive a free water efficiency kit that includes aerators, leak detection tablets, and a hose nozzle — valued at approximately $35 retail.

For landscape transformation, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources' Bay-Wise Landscape Recognition Program certifies residential and commercial properties that have converted conventional turf areas to native plant gardens, rain gardens, and bioretention features. While Bay-Wise certification does not carry a direct cash rebate, certified properties often qualify for local stormwater fee credits from municipal governments — with credits ranging from $25 to $150 per year depending on the municipality.

The Maryland Agricultural Water Quality Cost-Share Program, administered through local Soil Conservation Districts, provides agricultural producers with cost-sharing for irrigation efficiency improvements, including drip irrigation system conversions, soil moisture monitoring equipment, and variable-rate irrigation technology. Agricultural water use represents a significant proportion of Maryland's overall withdrawal, particularly in the Coastal Plain and on the Eastern Shore.

Lawn care in Maryland's climate

Maryland straddles two distinct turfgrass adaptation zones — the cool-season zone in the Piedmont, Blue Ridge, and western counties, and the warm-season transition zone in the lower Eastern Shore and southern coastal counties. Choosing the wrong grass species for a specific Maryland location is one of the most common causes of unnecessary irrigation demand, as mismatched grasses require far more water to compensate for their climate stress.

In central Maryland — including the Baltimore metropolitan area, Howard County, Montgomery County, and Frederick — the dominant appropriate grasses are tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass. Tall fescue is the workhorse of Maryland's suburban lawns because of its relatively deep root system (reaching 18 to 24 inches when established), which allows it to access subsoil moisture during summer dry spells that would stress shallower-rooted species. Maryland Cooperative Extension recommends tall fescue as the single best all-purpose turfgrass for the state's Piedmont region, requiring approximately 1 inch of water per week during active summer growth but able to survive extended dry periods through dormancy.

Kentucky bluegrass produces the dense, fine-textured lawn that many Maryland homeowners prefer aesthetically, but it demands more consistent moisture than tall fescue and is better suited to the slightly cooler microclimates of Carroll, Frederick, and Garrett Counties in western Maryland. It performs poorly in the heat and humidity of Maryland's hottest July and August periods without supplemental irrigation.

Fine fescues — including creeping red fescue, chewings fescue, and hard fescue — are gaining significant traction in Maryland's sustainability-oriented landscaping community because of their exceptional drought tolerance and low fertilizer requirements. Fine fescue blends are now recommended by the University of Maryland Extension as the preferred choice for shaded areas and for homeowners who want to minimize irrigation inputs. Fine fescues can survive on as little as 0.5 inches of water per week during summer dormancy.

On Maryland's lower Eastern Shore — particularly in Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester Counties — the climate transitions toward a warmer profile where zoysiagrass and bermudagrass perform better during summer heat. Zoysiagrass in particular has become popular in Ocean City-area communities because of its heat tolerance and moderate drought resistance once established, though it turns brown and dormant in winter — a trade-off Maryland's eastern coastal residents accept for its summer performance.

Across all regions, Maryland Cooperative Extension recommends raising mowing heights to at least 3.5 inches during summer dry spells, deep and infrequent irrigation cycles over frequent shallow watering, and avoiding late-afternoon irrigation that promotes fungal disease in Maryland's humid climate.

Drought history and 2026 outlook in Maryland

Maryland has a well-documented history of drought events that have tested both its infrastructure and its regulatory response systems. Understanding that history gives current conditions meaningful context and informs why the state's monitoring apparatus remains engaged even when conditions appear normal.

The most severe modern drought in Maryland's recorded history struck in 1999 and 2002. The 1999 drought was characterized by a dramatically dry summer that saw streamflows on the Patuxent River fall to record lows. Rocky Gorge Reservoir dropped below 30 percent of its usable storage capacity, forcing WSSC to activate emergency drawdown protocols and impose mandatory odd-even outdoor watering bans across Montgomery and Prince George's Counties — the first such mandatory restrictions in more than a decade. By 2002, after a dry autumn and winter intervened, Baltimore's Loch Raven Reservoir had fallen to levels that prompted Baltimore City DPW to impose the most comprehensive water restriction regime the city had seen since World War II-era conservation measures.

The 2007-2008 drought, while less severe than 1999-2002, created significant stress in central Maryland. Prettyboy Reservoir fell below 60 percent of capacity during the late summer of 2007, and MDE elevated several Piedmont-region jurisdictions to Drought Warning status. Anne Arundel County utilities, which draw from the Severn River, activated voluntary 15 percent demand reduction targets.

In 2012, an extremely hot and dry July produced flash drought conditions across much of the mid-Atlantic, including Maryland's Western Shore counties. The Potomac River at the Little Falls gauging station — a critical monitoring point for Washington metropolitan water supply planning — registered its lowest July flow in more than 30 years, prompting the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin to convene emergency coordination meetings among Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington D.C. water utilities.

The 2015-2016 drought brought another round of Eastern Shore groundwater concerns, particularly in Wicomico and Dorchester Counties where the shallow Quaternary aquifers that supply smaller private wells showed measurable water table declines. MDE elevated portions of the Eastern Shore to Drought Advisory status in late summer 2015, the only declaration that year to reach that tier.

Maryland's water supply situation entering 2026 is normal across all major metrics — but the outlook carries enough variables to warrant attentive monitoring through the summer months. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's seasonal outlook for the mid-Atlantic region for spring and summer 2026 indicates above-average probabilities for warmer-than-normal temperatures, which accelerates evapotranspiration from watersheds and increases lawn and agricultural irrigation demand simultaneously.

The Virginia drought zone immediately south and west of Maryland's border is the most consequential external variable. If that drought expands northward into the Shenandoah Valley and upper Potomac headwaters — as the westward extension of the drought pattern could allow — Maryland Potomac River intakes could see reduced flows at exactly the time when summer demand peaks. The Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin's Low Flow Allocation Agreement would then govern how Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington D.C. share reduced flow volumes.

MDE's Water Supply Program will be monitoring three leading indicators closely: the streamflow at the Point of Rocks gauge on the Potomac River (a bellwether for western Maryland tributary contributions), storage percentages at Loch Raven Reservoir and Rocky Gorge Reservoir, and groundwater levels at key index wells in the Eastern Shore's Coastal Plain aquifer system.

The Chesapeake Bay Program's watershed models also suggest that agricultural demand in the upper Patuxent and Choptank watersheds will be elevated in 2026 due to crop water stress from projected heat. That demand competes with municipal withdrawals during low-flow summer months.

Barring an unusually dry May and June — the months when Maryland reservoirs typically recover from winter — the state is well-positioned to navigate summer 2026 without entering formal drought declaration territory. But the margin for error is narrower than the current calm might suggest.

Frequently asked questions about Maryland water restrictions

Are there any water restrictions currently active in Maryland in 2026?

No. As of 2026, no water restrictions are active anywhere in Maryland. The Maryland Department of the Environment has not issued any Drought Watch, Drought Advisory, Drought Warning, or Drought Emergency declaration for any region of the state. Both urban utilities like Baltimore City DPW and suburban providers like WSSC Water — which serves Montgomery and Prince George's Counties — are operating under normal conditions with no mandatory or voluntary curtailment orders in place. Residents may irrigate, fill pools, and use outdoor water without restriction under current conditions, though voluntary conservation is always encouraged.

Why is Maryland monitoring Virginia's drought if Maryland itself isn't in drought?

The Potomac River forms Maryland's entire border with Virginia and is a shared source of raw water for the Washington metropolitan region's water utilities, including WSSC Water and the Washington Aqueduct, which serves Washington D.C. and portions of northern Virginia. If drought conditions in Virginia reduce Potomac River tributary flows — particularly from the Shenandoah River and the South Fork Potomac — the reduced volume at Maryland's intake points on the Potomac could create supply pressure. The Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin coordinates water allocation among the states sharing the river, but lower-than-normal flows affect all jurisdictions simultaneously. Maryland monitors Virginia's conditions as a matter of standard operational prudence.

Who do I call to report water waste in Maryland?

The reporting pathway depends on your utility. Baltimore City residents should contact Baltimore City DPW's customer service line at 311 (or the DPW water division directly) to report outdoor water waste such as sprinklers running during prohibited hours. WSSC Water customers in Montgomery and Prince George's Counties can report suspected water waste through WSSC's customer service line or the online service request portal on the WSSC Water website. Most Maryland counties also have a general code enforcement complaint line that handles outdoor water use violations during active restriction periods. If you are unsure which utility serves your address, MDE's website maintains a utility locator tool by county.

Can my HOA fine me for a brown lawn during a water restriction period?

No, not lawfully. Under Maryland's general legal framework, a homeowners association covenant cannot require a homeowner to perform an act that would violate state or local law. When a government authority imposes mandatory water restrictions that prohibit or limit outdoor irrigation, an HOA's lawn appearance standards are legally suspended to the extent that compliance would require violating those restrictions. The Maryland Homeowners Association Act under Real Property Article, Title 11B, is interpreted in light of this impossibility principle. If your HOA sends a violation notice during an active mandatory restriction period, respond in writing citing the specific restriction order and requesting that the HOA suspend the fine consistent with Maryland law. The Maryland Attorney General's Office can also provide guidance through its Consumer Protection Division.

Does Maryland offer any rebates for water-efficient appliances?

Yes, through multiple programs. The Maryland Energy Administration's WaterSense Rebate Program offers up to $100 per qualifying toilet (maximum two per household), $15 per WaterSense showerhead, and $10 per qualifying faucet aerator. WSSC Water operates its own Conservation Rebate Program offering $100 for high-efficiency toilet replacement and $75 for smart irrigation controller installation for customers in Montgomery and Prince George's Counties. Baltimore City DPW offers free home water audits that include a complimentary efficiency kit for participating single-family homeowners. Residents on the Eastern Shore and in western Maryland should check with their local utility, as several smaller Maryland utilities have partnered with MDE to offer toolkit distribution programs funded through the Maryland Water Infrastructure Program.

What triggers a formal drought declaration in Maryland?

Maryland's drought declaration process is triggered by MDE's Water Supply Program when quantitative thresholds across multiple indicators are crossed simultaneously. A Drought Watch is typically declared when streamflow indices and groundwater levels across a region both register below the 25th historical percentile for 60 or more consecutive days. A Drought Advisory follows when conditions deteriorate further and reservoir storage in the affected basin also trends below normal. MDE evaluates these metrics across each of Maryland's nine major river basins — including the Patuxent, Potomac, Susquehanna, Patapsco, Choptank, and Pocomoke — rather than statewide, so declarations are often basin-specific rather than covering the entire state simultaneously.

What happens to my water bill during a voluntary conservation appeal?

Voluntary conservation does typically reduce your water bill proportionally, since Maryland utilities bill on a volumetric basis — you pay for what you use. However, most Maryland utilities employ tiered rate structures where the per-unit cost increases as consumption rises. This means that reducing consumption during high-use summer months — when many households exceed their baseline tier — produces savings at the highest rate tier, making voluntary conservation economically advantageous even without a formal restriction order. WSSC Water's tiered pricing structure, for example, charges roughly 40 percent more per thousand gallons in the highest consumption tier compared to the baseline tier, so reducing summer irrigation can produce meaningful bill reductions beyond simple volumetric proportionality.

What should Eastern Shore residents know about groundwater during drought?

Eastern Shore residents who rely on private wells or small community water systems drawing from Coastal Plain aquifers face a different risk profile than residents connected to surface water utilities. The Aquia, Magothy, and Patapsco-Patuxent aquifer systems that underlie the Eastern Shore are confined aquifers — meaning they recharge slowly and are vulnerable to sustained overdraft during drought periods. During the 2015 Drought Advisory that affected Wicomico and Dorchester Counties, MDE documented measurable water table declines in shallow residential wells in several communities. Eastern Shore residents with private wells should maintain a regular log of static water levels as a baseline, and contact MDE's Water Supply Program or their County Health Department if they notice unusual drops in well yield or pump cycling patterns during summer months.