The First State may be in its first intense drought since 2002. 2026 saw Delaware’s fourth driest January-April on record since 1895, according to the National Integrated Drought Information System.
Severe droughts come with a series of consequences, including wildlife moving to farms for food, trees becoming brittle, specialty crops suffering and poor water and air quality.
UD’s Water Resources Center Director Gerald Kauffman said there’s been deficit rainfall, putting Delaware five inches short for the calendar year.
“With the soil being really dry, what that means is if it should rain, and it looks like there's some rain in the forecast,” Kauffman said. “A lot of that rain will get caught in the soil before it starts running off to the streams or infiltrating into the groundwater. It'll just, the soil will just soak up the rain and it won't do any good with regard to recharging our drinking water supplies.”
For now, Kauffman said Newark and Wilmington are in decent shape as their reservoirs are full.
But he still advises folks to try to conserve water as they hope for rainfall. Kauffman does that by collecting water in a rain barrel and using that for outdoor watering. He says people can also just cut down on outdoor watering.
The drought also means trees are susceptible to insect infestations and water and air quality are poor.
Delaware saw five fewer inches of rain this year compared to the average year. Sheep farmer Steve Breeding said the agricultural community is feeling the effects of that.
“It doesn't sound like much, but it is,” Breeding said. “I mean, things are getting pretty rough. And the problem is, if we don't get rain now, that really – corn, beans, if they don't get a good start, they're behind from from the day you put them in the ground, and that yield is determined the day you put them in the ground.”
Breeding said if those plants are chasing water all summer, the yield will be low and farmers won’t make much money.
Kauffman added another concern is worsening water quality.
“What that means is with less water, it means if there's any pollutants in the stream itself, then the concentration will be higher,” Kauffman said. “With regard to the air, I mean, that's the dust that we see with the drying out of the soils, you know, there'll be dust plumes out there, and you know, you'll see that as things get drier."
