Since December 26, 2025, California American Water has injected over 240 acre-feet of excess Carmel River flows—equivalent to roughly 78 million gallons—into the Seaside Groundwater Basin through its two-decade-old Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) network. The system comprises six high-capacity wells, four booster pump stations and 3.5 miles of conveyance pipe along General Jim Moore Boulevard, enabling strategic recharge of the sedimentary rock aquifer beneath Pacific Grove. Last water year, the company stored 715 acre-feet (approximately 233 million gallons) for future dry periods, demonstrating year-over-year growth of 34%. Management has committed $12 million in 2026 capital expenditures to upgrade ASR monitoring instrumentation and expand pipeline capacity, underlining American Water’s focus on resilient supply infrastructure and regulatory compliance with California’s strict capture-only-excess-flows mandate.

In response to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s expanded drought watch—now covering 40 counties, including 21 served by Pennsylvania American Water—the company is urging a voluntary 10–15% reduction in nonessential water use, equating to about 11–16 gallons per customer per day. Those 21 counties, from Berks and Lancaster in the southeast to Clarion and Jefferson in the northwest, account for one-third of the utility’s 2.4 million-customer base. While current reservoir and well levels remain adequate, Director of Water Quality Brandy Braun warns that sustained low precipitation, declining surface flows and stressed groundwater levels could trigger escalated restrictions. To support customers, Pennsylvania American Water has allocated $250,000 for leak detection kit distribution and is promoting its Water Use Calculator, seeking to mitigate demand spikes and preserve system reliability without invoking mandatory curtailment.