The California Drought – Part 1

The California Drought – Part 1

There has been a lot of news recently about water shortages in California. On June 4, Governor Schwarzenegger made it official, declaring a drought in California. This proclamation will trigger water-efficiency and water conservation programs across California. Fortunately, the Water District’s member cities have planned ahead.

Here is information about the drought in California:

• First statewide drought since 1991
• Rainfall the past two years has been well below normal
• Some Southern California communities received only 20% of their expected rainfall in 2007
• The Sierra snowpack – which supplies much of the State’s water – is 67% of normal; runoff into California rivers is expected to be 55% of normal

The Concept of Drought

Drought is a normal, recurrent feature of climate, although many erroneously consider it a rare and random event. It occurs in virtually all climatic zones, but its characteristics vary significantly from one region to another. Drought is a temporary condition; it differs from aridity, which is restricted to low rainfall regions and is a permanent feature of climate.

Drought is a hazard of nature. Although it has scores of definitions, it originates from a deficiency of precipitation over an extended period of time, usually a season or more. This deficiency results in a water shortage for some activity, group, or environmental sector. Drought is related to rain and water conditions such as precipitation, timing, evaporation, frequency, absorption, and intensity. Other climatic factors such as high temperature, high wind, and low relative humidity are often associated with drought in many regions of the world and can significantly aggravate its severity.

Its impacts on society result from the interplay between a natural event (less precipitation than expected resulting from natural climatic variability) and the demand people place on water supply. Human beings often exacerbate the impact of drought. Recent droughts in both developing and developed countries and the resulting economic and environmental impacts and personal hardships have underscored the vulnerability of all societies to this “natural” hazard.