The Commonwealth Drought Task Force has declared a drought watch for 36 counties in the center and eastern parts of Pennsylvania, and asks for voluntary water conservation in those counties.

The counties included in the drought watch are: Berks, Bucks, Bradford, Cameron, Carbon, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Columbia, Dauphin, Delaware, Juniata, Lackawanna, Lebanon, Lehigh, Luzerne, Lycoming, McKean, Mifflin, Monroe, Montgomery, Montour, Northampton, Northumberland, Perry, Philadelphia, Pike, Potter, Schuylkill, Snyder, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, Union, Wayne and Wyoming counties.

Residents on drought watch are asked to reduce their individual water use by 5 to 10 percent, or a reduction of three to six gallons of water per day.

The Department of Environmental Protection makes drought watch, warning or emergency declaration recommendations based on four numeric indicators: stream flow, groundwater level, precipitation and soil moisture. There are normal ranges for all four indicators.

The DEP makes its drought declarations after assessing the departures from these normal ranges for periods of three to 12 months. DEP also factors in information it receives from public water suppliers.