Is Cape Cod Really in a Drought?

Click on image to watch short story about Cape Cod’s drought!

28 August 2026 – CAPE COD, MA – A long-standing Level 2 drought on Cape Cod continues; water experts explain why and what might come next.

More coverage from our drought series!
	Part 1 –  Is Cape Cod really in drought? Click here to read and view what drought means in Massachusetts and how the Cape is unique.
	Part 2 – Understanding Cape Cod’s Water Restrictions Click here to read and view details on Cape Cod water restrictions.
	Part 3 – Cape Cod’s patchwork of water management Click, read, and watch here to learn about aquifer lenses, water withdrawal permits, and more challenges to the Cape’s water supply.
	Let’s Talk Nature Column Click here to read and listen to horticulturist Shannon Goheen on a plant-eye view of drought.

Is Cape Cod in a drought?

Close your eyes and listen to the sound of rainy days on Cape Cod … rivulets of water streaming down the windows, summer activities shuffled, grey clouds opening up, the smell of salt mixed with fresh droplets from the sky.

And yet the region remains in a multi-year Level 2 drought. How can this be?

Why is there a drought?

“This is a really popular question, especially right now,” said Tim Pasakarnis, a water resources analyst at Cape Cod Commission.

“We’re dealing with a multi-year deficit of precipitation. If you have several year of below average precipitation it doesn’t just take one weekend of above average or even one month of above average. It takes long time to claw your way back,” he explained.

In addition, he said, the rain we’ve seen seems to be coming in larger storms so we have the perception of a lot of rain, but the net amount of water still remains under historical averages.

Is drought becoming more common?

Vandana Rao,  director of Water policy at the exec office of energy and environmental affairs, chairs the Massachusetts Drought management task force. For the past decade,  she said, drought has become increasingly common.

“We’ve been experiencing drought in Massachusetts since 2016, almost very year,” she said.

What is drought?

She also points out that drought isn’t a one time event, easily pointed out.  “Drought is something that is experienced over a long period of time,” she explained.

Experts define drought as a prolonged shortage of precipitation – in the form or rain or snow- compared in to normal. During a drought, levels of water in surface water bodies like ponds and in underground water like aquifers, dips.

What does drought look like on Cape Cod?

The drought that Massachusetts – and Cape Cod sees – looks different from the desert images many of us picture when we hear the word, but it represents a water shortage none-the-less.

A drought in the Commonwealth looks different than a drought in a western state or in other parts of the world, because it is based on a variation from what is considered historically normal.

“We need to see what is considered as a normal condition in this state and then how far off we are from that normal,” Rao explained.

“Normal in Arizona looks very different from normal in Massachusetts.”

She pointed out that Cape Cod can be in a drought but people can see green trees and water in ponds. More difficult to see? How much water is missing.

What defines a drought?

The state’s Drought Management Task Force collects a variety of data, including tracking monitoring wells and precipitation, to follow the status of each region of the state.

On the Cape, virtually all those wells register low levels and perception is also below average, leading to the on-going level 2 drought status.

Do droughts cause water use restrictions?

A drought can lead to water restrictions. Restrictions are handled on a water supplier by water supplier basis says the Commission’s Pasakarnis.

He explains that contracts betwen water supplier and the state have triggers built in; ig water levels drop to certain points, restrictions kick in.

The challenge, he adds, is that the region has many suppliers, even within the town. Each supplier has a contract and a permit, and the terms of the contract may vary. The result becomes something of patchwork.

“It’s all over the board” he said.

What types of water restrictions are in place on Cape Cod?

When restrictions come into place, they focus on the use where water loss is greatest: irrigation. Big green laws requiring heavy watering from sprinker heads draw down the reserves from the region’s sole-source aquifer.

While water used for showers and flushes typically returns to the groundwater at some point after treatment, water sprayed in the air to water a lawn evaporates and does not refill water reserves.

 What is unique about Cape Cod’s water?

In addition, the Cape’s unique geography impacts it ability to respond to drought conditions. Rao, from the Drought Management Task Force,  says that while the whole state has been under a drought, the Cape’s has lingered.

“On the Cape on particular,  because the system on Cape Cod is so ground water driven  … that ground water responds much more slowly to what’s happening above the ground,” she explained.

She said the Cape seems to have a response lag time of 5 to 6 months in drought recovery, compared to the rest of the state.

Are droughts becoming common?

Rao and other experts say that droughts have become more common both around the world and in Massachusetts. In the 15 years prior to 2016, drought was rare she said, but that has shifted in the past decade.

“Everything we do on an everyday basis needs water,” she said.

“Bottom line is that we just need to be more mindful of this precious resource.”

For more information:

• Massachusetts drought status page
• Massachusetts water resources toolkit
• MassWaters on Instagram

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