The California Drought Contingency Plan (DCP), released by the Department of Water Resources,  represents the first State drought plan. The DCP is a planning and implementation document that identifies strategies and actions state agencies should take to prepare for and respond to future droughts or other water shortage events.  The goals of the DCP are to minimize drought impacts through improved agency coordination; enhance monitoring and early warning capabilities; improve assessments to drought impacts; and to implement more effective responses to drought emergencies. This state report demonstrates that conservation and preparedness will be essential to future water management in California.

The DCP is intended to become part of the California Water Plan Update process which occurs every five years. While this plan does not mandate specific actions for state agencies, responsibilities are outlined, and as such, we are loosely considering this an "agency guidance" document. Specifically, the potential roles and responsibilities of agencies and organizations which may be involved in drought management are defined in Attachment 1. State agencies participating in the Task Force are expected to function within existing agency authorities, responsibilities, and funding.

Section V defines the communication and coordination structure for drought management and drought response. As part of this structure an Interagency Drought Task Force (Task Force) will be convened to provide coordination among agencies. The Task Force will be chaired by the DWR Drought Coordinator with assistance from the California Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA) Drought coordinator. The roles of DWR and Cal EMA are defined and key duties of the Drought Coordinators are listed in this section.

Section VI provides an overview of drought preparedness strategies from the California Water Plan Update (see separate entry). Section VII provides a brief description of local, utility, and State agency drought response roles.

Situation and assessment reports will be distributed to appropriate agencies and will be posted on the DWR Drought website (www.water.ca.gov/drought).