Response
Certain regions within the United States are more susceptible to droughts than others. Droughts can be more damaging than tornadoes, tropical cyclones, winter storms and flooding combined. Unlike a hurricane, tornado or flooding, the onset of droughts happen gradually over a long period of time.
In the Nevada "cash for grass" program, the people are paid to remove grass and put in desert landscaping. Xeriscaping calls for the planting of vegetation which is local in origin and more resistant to drought.
When California suffered a severe drought from 1985 to 1991, a California company, Sun Belt Water Inc. was established for the purpose importing water from Canada in marine transport vessels formerly used for oil transport and converted to water carriers. The idea was commercially viable and Sun Belt Water Inc., was selected by the Goleta Water District to enter a long term contract. When the government of British Columbia a province of Canada reversed its existing bulk water export policy, the change in government policy led to a claim by Sun Belt Water Inc. against Canada under the provisions of Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
The National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) Act was signed into law in 2006 (Public Law 109-430). The Western Governors' Association described the need for NIDIS in a 2004 report, Creating a Drought Early Warning System for the 21st Century: The National Integrated Drought Information System. The NIDIS Act calls for an interagency, multi-partner approach to drought monitoring, forecasting, and early warning, led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NIDIS is being developed to consolidate data on drought’s physical, hydrological and socio-economic impacts on an ongoing basis, to develop drought decision support and simulation tools for critical, drought-sensitive areas, and to enable proactive planning by those affected by drought. NIDIS (www.drought.gov) draws on the personnel, experience, and networks of the National Drought Mitigation Center, the NOAA Regional Climate Centers, and the Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISAs), among others. Federal agencies and departments partnering in NIDIS include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Geological Survey, NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Read more about this topic: Drought In The United States
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)