The California Department of Water Resources is planning to draft an emergency drought declaration for Gov. Jerry Brown’s consideration as dry winter conditions continue.

DWR Director Mark Cowin told the California Board of Food and Agriculture at a meeting Tuesday that his agency is weighing whether to present the governor with a drought declaration. Spokeswoman Nancy Foley said that declaration could be forthcoming “within a couple weeks.”

“We will likely, given the circumstances, make a recommendation for a drought declaration,” Foley said. “The snow survey last Friday was so dismal and there doesn’t seem to be any storms on the horizon, so it just seems we’ve got to start preparing a drought declaration.”

She was referring to the first regular snow survey of the winter season, conducted by DWR on Jan. 3 at locations throughout the Sierra Nevada. It found the snowpack at 19 percent of average on that date. In the five days since, the snowpack has shrunk to 17 percent.

This comes after two dry years, which left many reservoirs in the state depleted. Folsom Reservoir in the Sacramento area was at 18 percent of capacity on Tuesday. Water agencies that depend on the reservoir have begun enacting water conservation orders. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has cut flows into the American River to levels not seen in 20 years.

By the end of this week, water flows in the American River will be lower than anyone has seen in a generation. And soon, many residents of suburban Sacramento could be banned from watering their lawns.

Unusual winter drought conditions are driving Sacramento-area water agencies to make difficult choices. Starting today, the effects will be visible to anyone who walks, fishes or boats along the American River, one of the largest in California.

Early this morning, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation was expected to cut water releases from Folsom Dam into the river from 1,100 cubic feet per second to 800 cfs. This will drop the river’s elevation within its bed by about 6 inches.

It won’t stop there. Each night this week until Friday, dam releases will be cut in stages until flows reach 500 cfs. At that point, it will likely be easy to walk across the river in many locations.

Such flows have not been seen in the American River since January 1993, according to Reclamation, which operates Folsom and Nimbus dams on the river. In comparison, the median January flow in the river over the past 15 years was about 1,700 cfs.

The reduction is intended to prolong the water supply stored behind Folsom Dam, a source of drinking water for some 500,000 people in the suburban Sacramento area. With no rain in the forecast, and the water level behind the dam shriveled to 18 percent of capacity after a dry start to winter, officials said dramatic conservation efforts are necessary.

Reclamation officials reached the decision on Friday after meeting with area water providers and wildlife agencies.

“The watershed is so dry right now, there’s such limited snowpack and the lake is already so low that we’re trying to look ahead and be conservative,” said Shana Kaplan, a Reclamation spokeswoman. “I think everybody’s trying to be as proactive as we can.”

Dropping the river so low will be deadly to some fall-run Chinook salmon eggs now waiting to hatch from nests, or redds, in the gravel riverbed. Tom Gohring, executive director of the Sacramento Water Forum, said flows of only 500 cfs could mean that 10 to 15 percent of the redds in the river will be lost because they will go dry as the river drops.