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Hydrological Hazards: Droughts

Hydrological Hazards: Droughts. By Payne Inman and Matt Beal. Preparation. A drought can be very hard to prepare for due to the fact that they are extremely long, drawn out events that humans have no control over. The EPA has several recommendations on how to properly prepare:

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Hydrological Hazards: Droughts

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  1. Hydrological Hazards: Droughts By Payne Inman and Matt Beal

  2. Preparation • A drought can be very hard to prepare for due to the fact that they are extremely long, drawn out events that humans have no control over. • The EPA has several recommendations on how to properly prepare: • Using efficient irrigation systems such as drip hoses as opposed to sprinklers. • If you must water your lawn and garden, do so early or late in the day to minimize evaporation • Use plants that are adapted to current conditions and require less water. • Retrofit your home with water efficient fixtures (sinks, toilets, shower heads) inside your home to conserve as much as possible. • Having a good supply of water stockpiled on hand is never a bad idea for any type of disaster preparation

  3. Different Kinds of Protections • Droughts are extremely hard to protect against, but luckily, it is fairly easy to see when they are coming. • They may not fully develop until years after the signs of one are present, however. An area could start slowly drying out, and progressively get worse, year after year. • Macro-Protection: • The most common way of combating drought in the US is water restrictions. • A certain limit is set for daily water usage, and if someone is observed to be repeatedly violating it, they will be fined. • Dams and pipelines are also used for long term storage or transfer of water • Reservoirs are responsible for most all urban water supplies and can even deliver adequate water during severe droughts, with a small (~2%) chance of failure. New York City Reservoir Thames River Dam that supplies water to London

  4. Different Kinds of Protections • Micro-Protections: • The best micro-protection form of drought resistance is the use of water saving practices, fixtures, and appliances in your home. • Simple procedures like regularly checking for leaks, shorter showers, not using washing clothes unless you have a full-load, and many others could drastically cut down on water use • There are many water-efficient appliances and fixtures available on today’s market. • If regularly practiced, the above methods would make dealing with a drought a bit easier if one ever does happen. A study shows that 14% of household water is wasted on leaks.

  5. Adaptation • Community Preparedness- the key to drought hazard reduction. • Drought will come and go, but it is how we deal with them that determines how devastating they are. • Dealing with them is largely a matter of where you are at in the world and what your situation is. • For example, in America, the best way to prepare is to stockpile water while you can, and take measures to save water. • In extremely dry areas, like the Sahel, it is a much more difficult process. • These people are often nomadic herders. • In years of surplus rainfall, they will grow their herd in order to have insurance for a drought. • In the harshest of droughts, they would have to resort to eating whatever they could, including things that would otherwise kill, unless they were boiled for several hours before consumption. • These are the groups affected the most by droughts. A cow that has been starved due to insufficient food source in Africa

  6. Predictions, Forecasts, and Warnings • Droughts could wreak havoc on an areas food supply. That is why it is best that they are detected in advance, so appropriate measures can be taken to minimize the impact. • There are two major systems used in the world for forecasting drought: • The UN Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) • The US Famine Early Warning System (FEWS NET)

  7. Land Use Planning • Smart use of land is a key component in reducing the severity of droughts. • Things like overgrazing, poor crop management, deforestation and poor soil conservation amplify the severity of droughts. • To prevent over grazing, farmers should ensure that there is a limited number of animals grazing a certain amount of land so that it can not easily be consumed. • To combat poor crop management and soil conservation, crop rotation is best used along with irrigation systems. • Deforestation is best prevented by planting trees or vegetation in areas where they were cut down, or better yet, not cutting them down at all. An area deforested in Thailand then struck by drought

  8. Notable Events Leader, Mao Zedong, who began the great leap forward campaign • There have been many droughts over the course of world history, but one of the worst documented ones caused the Great Chinese Famine from 1958-1961. • It is an example of a hydrometeorlogical drought. Rain was largely absent for three years and food stockpiles continued to dwindle until 1962. • Poor policy making that was part of the Chinese “Great Leap Forward” campaign along with little rainfall would start one of the world’s worst famines. • Estimates vary, but as many as 15-40 million people are thought to have been killed because of this drought. Chinese Farmers celebrating the tractors delivered by the great leap forward, which would ultimately lead to famine.

  9. Notable Events • Dust Bowl (1930’s) • This is an example of an agricultural drought. • Poor farming methods like lack of crop rotation, lack of wind-breaking trees, and no soil terracing contributed to its beginning. • Intense farming of the land in central North America left only a thin, nutrient-deficient layer of topsoil. • This thin layer was not enough to hold, however, and strong gusts of wind would pick up dirt from the top layer and blow it away. • This often created gigantic rolling clouds of dust referred to as black blizzards that traveled all the way to the Atlantic ocean.

  10. Drought in Maharasthra, India Video (2:19)

  11. Conclusion • Drought is a devastating phenomenon that is slow to develop and hard to counteract. • Drought has been directly and indirectly responsible for more fatalities than any other type of disaster. Between 1900 and 2006 almost 12 million were killed. Behind that, flooding had killed about 7 million. • Responsible use of land, water management, and crop management are all necessary factors to help prevent them from occurring.

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