Abstract
Drought has been a common feature in large portions of the United States during the past decade. To the casual observer, the frequency of recent droughts may signal a change in climate, a possible forewarning of global warming. Viewed in the context of the nation’s climatic history, the pattern of the past decade is not unusual. Recent droughts in the United States have resulted in significant economic, environmental, and social impacts. Many people are well acquainted with the serious impacts of the droughts of the 1930s and 1950s. The Dust Bowl of the 1930s is known worldwide as a classic example of the disharmony that can exist between human activities and nature, a pattern that has been repeated again and again in other areas of the world in the past several decades. The images of the Dust Bowl in the United States are now fading because a large percentage of the populace is too young to remember the hardships and suffering that resulted from this nearly decadal episode of drought. Droughts of the past decade have reminded us of our continuing vulnerability to extended periods of water shortage and the urgent need to prepare for their recurrence. Although technology has reduced our vulnerability to drought to some degree, it has also exposed new sensitivities.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Blaikie, P., T. Cannon, I. Davis, and B. Wisner (1994) At Risk: Natural Hazards, People’s Vulnerability and Disasters. Routledge Publishers, London.
Bruwer, J.J. (1993) Drought policy in the Republic of South Africa. in D.A. Wilhite (ed.) Drought Assessment, Management, and Planning: Theory and Case Studies. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston.
California Department of Water Resources (1992) Report to the California Water Commission. Sacramento, CA, May 1.
Domeisen, N. (1995) Disasters: Threat to social development. STOP Disasters: The IDNDR Magazine 23 (Winter) IDNDR Secretariat, Geneva, Switzerland.
General Accounting Office (1979) Federal response to the 1976-77 drought: What should be done next? Report to the Comptroller General, Washington, D.C.
Great Lakes Commission (1990) A Guidebook to Drought Planning, Management and Water Level Changes in the Great Lakes. Great Lakes Commission, 61 pp.
Houghton, J.T., G.J. Jenkins, and J.J. Ephraums (eds.) (1990) Climate change. The IPCC Scientific Assessment. Report prepared for the IPCC by Working Group I. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. (1995) World Disasters Report 1995. Geneva, Switzerland
Interstate Council on Water Policy. (1987) Statement of Policy 1986-87. Interstate Conference on Water Policy, Washington, D.C.
Interstate Council on Water Policy (1991) Statement of Policy 1991-92. Interstate Conference on Water Policy, Washington, D.C.
McKee, T.B., N.J. Doeskin, and J. Kleist (1993) Drought monitoring with multiple time scales. American Meteorological Society Preprints, Eighth Conference on Applied Climatology, 17-22 January, Anaheim, CA, pp. 179–184.
National Academy of Sciences (1986) The National Climate Program: Early Achievements and Future Directions. Washington, D.C.
Colorado Office of Emergency Management (1990) The Colorado Drought Response Plan. Denver, Colorado.
Orville, H.D. (1990) AMS statement on meteorological drought. Bull, of the Amer. Meteorol. Soc. 71:1021–23.
Palmer, W.C. (1965) Meteorological drought. Research Paper No. 45. U.S. Weather Bureau, Washington, D.C.
Parry, M.L. and T.R. Carter (1987) Climate impact assessment: A review of some approaches. in D.A. Wilhite and W.E. Easterling (eds.) Planning for Drought: Toward a Reduction of Societal Vulnerability. Westview Press, Boulder, CO, Chapter 13.
Riebsame, W.E., S.A. Changnon, Jr., and T.R. Karl (1990) Drought and Natural Resources Management in the United States: Impacts and Implications of the 1987-89 Drought. Westview Press.
Shafer, B.A. and L.E. Dezman (1982) Development of a surface water supply index (SWSI) to assess the severity of drought conditions in snowpack runoff areas. Proceedings of the Western Snow Conference, pp. 164–175.
Smith, J.B. and D. Tirpak (eds.) (1989) The Potential Effects of Global Climate Change on the United States. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA-230-05-89-050).
U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment (1993) Preparing for an Uncertain Climate, Volume 1. OTA-0-567. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
Western Governors Policy Office (WESTPO) (1978) Managing Resource Scarcity: Lessons from the Mid-Seventies Drought. Institute for Policy Research.
White, D.H., D. Collins, and M. Howden (1993) Drought in Australia: Prediction, monitoring, management, and policy. in D.A. Wilhite (ed.) Drought Assessment, Management, and Planning: Theory and Case Studies. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, MA.
Wilhite, D.A. (1983) Government response to drought in the United States: With particular reference to the Great Plains.J, of Climate Appl. Meteor. 22:40–50.
Wilhite, D.A., N.J. Rosenberg, and M.H. Glantz (1986) Improving federal response to drought.J, of Climate Appl. Meteor. 25:332–342.
Wilhite, D.A. (1991) Drought planning: A process for state government. Water Res. Bull. 27:29–38.
Wilhite, D.A. (1992a) Preparing for Drought: A Guidebook for Developing Countries. Climate Unit, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi.
Wilhite, D.A. (1992b) Drought management and climate change. Contractors#x2019; report prepared for the Office of Technology Assessment, Washington, D.C.
Wilhite, D.A. (ed.) (1993a) Drought Assessment, Management, and Planning: Theory and Case Studies.Kluwer Academic Press, Boston, MA.
Wilhite, D.A. (1993b) An assessment of drought mitigation technologies in the United States. Final Report to the Soil Conservation Service/USDA. IDIC Technical Report 93–1.
Wilhite, D.A. and D.A. Wood (1994) Drought Management in a Changing West: New Directions for Water Policy (Proceedings of a conference). IDIC Technical Report Series, 94–1. University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1998 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wilhite, D.A., Hayes, M.J. (1998). Drought Planning in the United States: Status and Future Directions. In: Bruins, H.J., Lithwick, H. (eds) The Arid Frontier. The GeoJournal Library, vol 41. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4888-7_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4888-7_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-6049-3
Online ISBN: 978-94-011-4888-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive