It is more important than ever for every Californian to do their part to help conserve water.  Water is one of California's most precious natural resources. Here in Yolo County, we would like to ask as many residents as possible to help Save Our Water.  Below are some links to informational websites that can help you learn more ways to save water:

• Invest from the Ground Up
• Save Our Water
• Rural Repair and Rehabilitation Loan and Grant (Section 504) Program
• Rural Housing Direct Loan (Section 502) Program
• Groundwater Assistance Program

 Local Jurisdictions & Special Districts

Several Counties, Cities and local water districts have already declared a drought emergency. If your local government or water district needs to declare a drought emergency, customizable templates are below. You will also find customizable voluntary conservation resolution templates below. 

• Water Conservation Leadership Guide: Issues for Local Officials to Consider
• Template - Local Government Drought Proclamation
• Sample - Ordinance Adopting Water Conservation Program
• Template - Public Water Supply, Water Shortage Emergency Resolution (Water Code 350)
• Template - Municipal Water Districts CSDs Drought Emergency Resolution
• Local Government Mandatory Reduction Policy - Sample Waiver Process
• Emergency Community Water Assistance Grants (ECWAG)
• Natural Resources Conservation Service - Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Program
• Community Facilities (CF) Program
• Summer Food Service Program

Farmers & Ranchers

Agriculture-related disasters and disaster designations are quite common. One-half to two-thirds of the counties in the United States have been designated as disaster areas in each of the past several years, even in years of record crop production. The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to designate counties as disaster areas to make emergency loans (EM) to producers suffering losses in those counties and in counties that are contiguous to a designated county. In addition to EM eligibility, other emergency assistance programs, such as Farm Service Agency (FSA) disaster assistance programs, have historically used disaster designations as an eligibility requirement trigger. The FSA streamlined the USDA Disaster Designation process to make assistance more readily available to those in need.

• USDA Disaster Designation Process Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
• Emergency Conservation Program (ECP)
• Livestock Forage Disaster Program
• Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)
• Rural Energy for America Program (REAP)
• Drought Assistance for Farm Labor Workers
• Summary of Programs

Well & Water

Private Wells Resources

Approved Water Haulers - California Department of Public Health Certified Potable Water Haulers List

Yolo County worked with KSN Inc. to provide spatial flood mapping data and pdf outputs for residents and public safety personnel.

Following the completion of that project, Yolo County worked with Esri and Sidwell to convert the data that was stored in multiple file geodatabases with heavy annotation into one authoritative dataset per type of data with field attributes. This change allowed for the data to be easily published to the web with dynamic labels.

The map layouts were migrated from ArcMap to ArcGIS Pro and were recreated using the streamlined data sources, with field attribute labels replacing annotation in the resident and public safety maps.

The story map describes the steps Yolo County took to streamline the data for the web while maintaining the details pdf map layouts.

Also, visit the Yolo County Flood Mapping to view your city's flood risk, and evacuation routes. 

Additional Resources:

River and Creek Water Levels

View the Red Cross Flood Safety & Preparedness. 

Call 2-1-1 for information on free sandbags to protect your property.

Anyone can experience a heat-related illness.

But adults age 65 and older and those with chronic conditions are among the most vulnerable to extreme heat.

Yolo County officials urge all county residents to take protective measures during the summer heat. Vulnerable populations include individuals over 65 years of age, children under 4 years of age, those who work outdoors, those with underlying health conditions, and those who take medications that affect fluid balance.

Are you aware that medications you take may increase your sensitivity to heat? Hear are some of the common medications that may make you more sensitive to heat:

• Antidepressants like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, may increase sweating, increasing the risk of dehydration.
• Others, like tricyclic antidepressants, or TCAs, may decrease sweating, making it harder to cool off.
• Antipsychotics may impair sweating and alter the body’s internal thermostat.
• Anticholinergic drugs, a large category of medications commonly used to treat an array of conditions such as urinary incontinence, overactive bladder, allergies, and Parkinson’s disease, may interfere with sweating and the body’s internal thermostat. They may also reduce blood flow to the skin.
• Patients with heart disease may be prescribed multiple medicines, including diuretics and ACE inhibitors. Such drugs can cause dehydration, affect kidney function, and limit the body’s ability to redirect blood flow.
• Dehydration can increase the blood levels of some medications. Even slight increases can lead to toxic effects for certain drugs, such as lithium. These effects can range from tremors and weakness to agitation, confusion, and even death.

Sign up for Flex Alert notifications, and for learn more about California Flex Alerts.

If you need a  place to go to cool down during extreme heat, please visit Yolo County Places to Cool.

Yolo County's Office of Emergency Services and public works crews and public safety personnel in all our communities to monitor our waterways and drainage systems, and to prepare for issues as they may arise.

As with all rainy seasons, there continues to be some localized flooding and road closures which are mapped and provided on the road closures page.

FEMA Avoiding Earthquake Damage: A Checklist for Homeowners. Safety tips for before, during and after an earthquake.

Please visit the Yolo County Fire Safe Council  for the most up today information on Wildland fire preparedness. 

To see a map from CalFIRE of current fires, visit: current fires.

State Resources

CalFresh: If you are an individual who has been impacted by a recent disaster and needs food assistance or additional information on Disaster CalFresh or general CalFresh emergency response efforts, please contact your local County Welfare Department.

Federal Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) benefits are now available for workers, business owners and self-employed individuals who lost their jobs or businesses or had their work hours reduced as a result of the wildfires. 

A legal hotline is now available for survivors of the fires in Northern California (including Yolo County) providing free legal assistance with: FEMA and other government benefits; life, medical and property insurance claims; home repair; replacement of wills and other important, destroyed documents; counseling and more. Call the hotline at (888) 382-3406. 

Federal Resources

If you are on Medicare, and are impacted by a declared disaster or emergency, check out this website that will describe steps to ensure your healthcare is not interrupted at Medicare getting care during a disaster or emergency.

The American Red Cross is providing monetary compensation to households whose homes were confirmed to have been destroyed or sustained major damage from the recent California Wildfires.

IRS Tax Relief  The IRS can postpone certain tax-filing and tax-payment deadlines for taxpayers who reside or have a business in the disaster area.

FEMA offers federal financial assistance, like rent, home repair, home replacement, childcare, and medical and dental expenses.

FEMA may provide financial assistance to applicants who have Critical Needs Assistant because they are displaced from their primary dwelling. Immediate or critical needs are life- saving and life-sustaining items including, but not limited to: water, food, first aid, prescriptions, infant formula, diapers, consumable medical supplies, durable medical equipment, personal hygiene items and fuel for transportation. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) assistance for agricultural producers affected by disasters to help eligible farmers and ranchers reestablish their operations.

Small Business Association (SBA) provides low-interest disaster loans to help businesses and homeowners recover from declared disasters. Assistance Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.