Plymouth Remains in Extreme Drought

James Kelly

He/Him

Editor-in-Chief

10/2/25

Despite scattered storms that dropped more than an inch of rain last week, Plymouth remains in an extreme drought, according to data released this morning by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The drought follows Grafton County’s driest August on record, and is expected to persist through October. 

Nearly all of Grafton County falls into the “extreme drought” category, with only the northernmost portion of the county, near Littleton, in a “severe drought,” one intensity level down. Most of the county entered drought conditions in early August, according to the drought monitor, with the majority of the county reaching “extreme drought” by mid-September. 

Drought conditions actually worsened in New Hampshire last week, despite the rainfall. Though parts of southern New Hampshire around Nashua and Derry had previously been experiencing “abnormally dry” conditions, those areas have now entered moderate drought territory. That puts the entire state – more than a million people – into drought.

The drought has caused wells across the state to run dry, the Concord Monitor reported. Surface water is also running low, including creeks, rivers, and lakes. In Plymouth, the drought, along with a standard summer water usage uptick for irrigation, has brought public water levels down slightly, said Jason Randall, Director of Operations at the Plymouth Village Water and Sewer District. Still, public wells remain resilient and continue to refill normally, he said.

All of Plymouth’s public drinking water comes from groundwater. The Water and Sewer District runs two gravel-packed wells at the end of Foster Street, near the intersection of the Baker and Pemigewasset Rivers. The Water District stores some 3 million gallons of water from the two wells.

If the drought persists through fall, the water district may ask customers to voluntarily reduce non-demostic water use, Randall said. “Voluntary water conservation is always encouraged regardless of drought. A mandatory water use restriction would be implemented if drought impacts worsen or infrastructure malfunctions or fails,” he said.

Last week, New Hampshire issued a ban on open fires on or near woodlands in response to the drought’s increased wildfire risk. The ban includes smoking and campfires, except for those contained within fire rings at staffed campgrounds. Liquid fueled gas grills are also exempt from the ban.

“It is important to note that with the drought conditions we will need multiple rain events to reduce the wildfire risk,” N.H. Forest Protection Bureau Chief Steven Sherman said in a press release. “If the weather pattern does not change allowing the state to receive significant rain, we may not see the wildfire risk reduced through the fall. The current fire restrictions imposed at the state level must remain in effect to protect the state’s citizens and natural resources until the drought conditions improve.”

Plymouth Fire-Rescue has prohibited all outdoor burning and suspended all seasonal fire permits in accordance with the state ban, Deputy Chief Dan Doucette said.  “Individuals could be fined upwards of $2,000.00 for having any type of outside fire during this burn ban,” he added. “We, in Plymouth, have not seen any uptick in responses for outside fires or smoke investigations. The few reports we have received are taken seriously and managed through education, extinguishment and warning violations.”