US Drought Spans Coast to Coast; Dancing for Rain

December 31, 2007
Earthtimes

Leesburg, Virginia - Surveying some of the 3,240 hectares he farms in a semi-rural area outside Washington, Chris Tranchitella looks out on empty fields that produced a harvest much lower than he had hoped. "The drought has withered crops, lowered lake levels and led to water restrictions across three-quarters of the southeastern United States. Much of the US West is also suffering severe drought, although it is less serious than that in the south-east," he said.

Governors declared emergencies because of drought in nine states, mainly in the south and mid-Atlantic regions.

The California fire season claimed 17 lives, destroyed 2,000 homes and forced the evacuation of 340,000 households at one point near San Diego and Malibu. Atlanta's water supply has dwindled to almost nothing.

In short, the drought gives a glimpse of what climate scientists are predicting for the coming century if global warming continues and greenhouse gasses are not brought under control. The irony of a drought in the US is not lost on environmental advocates who blame the US - the world's second largest carbon emitter after China - for not adopting mandatory limits on emissions.

In Virginia's Loudon County west of Washington, Tranchitella does substantial business selling straw and hay to the horse farms that dot the area and this year had to import from across the US to satisfy his customers. He saw his yield fall by 50 to 75 per cent on corn and soybeans and up to 50 per cent in straw.

"I have never seen anything like this," he says, after showing a reporter a small, shriveled ear of corn whose kernels did not fully form alongside a the robust ear nearly twice as long from a good year. Many stalks actually produced no ears at all.

He had to keep much of the grain he'd usually sell for a profit just to feed his own livestock and turn to crop insurance to cover his losses.

And he's not alone - much of the generally green south-east is suffering from extreme drought as are the dry, desert regions of the west, where burgeoning populations have put a drain on already sparse resources.

Western state authorities have been renegotiating decades-old water agreements, including one first penned in 1922 for the major Colorado River that serves nine states, as greater demand in cities like Las Vegas eats up resources for newer towns.

The negotiations look likely to grow in importance as climate change scientists predict changes to longstanding weather patterns leading to more drought, floods and desertification.

Drought contributed to what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration called an "extremely active" fire season, destroying about 3.6 million hectares of land across by December.

In Georgia, a south-eastern state not known for being dry, residents turned to American Indian-style rain dances and prayer vigils in hopes of a little wet stuff.

Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue had a high profile spat with federal authorities over how water from a dam should be used - and whether US efforts to control water flow to protect endangered fish like the Gulf sturgeon and purple bankclimber mussel would leave residents of Atlanta without drinking water.

Atlanta, the state's largest city has more than doubled since 1960 to more than 8 million people from under 4 million. Atlanta received just 62 per cent of its normal rainfall total - down 48 centimetres - for the year.

"If we don't receive ample winter rains, further operational changes will be necessary to protect vital drinking water supplies," Perdue said.

The Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the dams, is also worried water may run short next summer and reluctantly agreed to let supplies build up in reservoirs.

"We live here too, and fully understand what is at stake in the negotiation about how to allocate water," Sam Hamilton, director of the regional branch of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, said.

But he also noted how important a healthy watershed is for wildlife and humans.

"Because if this drought has shown us anything, it has shown us we cannot thrive as a citizenry on an unhealthy river system," he said.

Perdue is working with governors from neighbouring Alabama and Florida to address how to handle their shared water resources. As Alabama Governor Bob Riley noted, the states "can't continue to operate under the same system we operated under for the last 30-40 years."

Forecasters predict a warm, dry winter and spring, meaning the region won't recover any time soon and mandated water restrictions will likely continue well into the new year.

Meanwhile, Tranchitella, the Washington-area farmer, worries about another long-term impact of the drought - his way of life.

His region is fast converting to suburbs as Washingtonians in search of affordable housing are pushed further outward, and he worries that an extended drought could cause farmers around him to cave into development pressure.

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