What Is a Drought?
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) describes drought as “a period of drier-than-normal conditions that results in water-related problems. This is characterized by a lack of precipitation, such as rain, snow, or sleet, for a protracted period, resulting in a water shortage.” Located in the midwest region of Illinois, it has been mentioned that most have been suffering from severe drought by the U.S. drought monitor. More specifically, in Chicago, Cook County reporters were even surprised by these sudden weather changes.
Chicago has an Increasing Drought
In recent years, drought has become one of the most dangerous natural disasters ever faced. This is because it takes away resources like food and water. In the O’Hare area located in Chicago, they experienced nearly 4 inches below average in rainfall for the month of May, as stated by Fox News. Rain fell roughly eight days during this month averaging just under a tenth of an inch for each occurrence. After this occurrence, we reached up to .71″ or 3.78″ below average making this one of the driest days of May for Chicago.
The Types of Drought
The severity of drought can be separated into five categories: abnormal dryness, moderate, severe, extreme, and exceptional. Chicago has experienced abnormal dryness, moderate drought, and severe drought. To get an idea of how it personally affected Chicago these are the definitions of these terms:
- Abnormally Dry: short-term dryness in crops, slow growth of crops, low fire risk.
- Moderate Drought: dry crops, damage to pastures, high fire risk, water shortages/ restrictions.
- Severe Drought: crop or pasture losses, extreme fire risk, more common water shortages/ forced water restrictions.
Who Does This Impact?
Droughts can begin either with low precipitation levels or higher temperatures. With these conditions it absorbs the moisture from bodies of water, plants, and from the air. Depending on whether the conditions are drastic and how long they last these droughts will minimize any accessible food and water for livestock and wildlife, destroy crops, dehydrate forest and plant life, and hamper recreational activity.
Water is a crucial component of our daily lives. Without it “it makes us lack clean water for drinking, cooking, public sanitation, and personal hygiene.” Note that each of these can lead to a wide range of life-threatening diseases if not maintained.
Water produces energy for electricity. Without this electricity, people who rely on it are left without power or put out of business. A drought can be looked at as a “domino effect.” They impact all aspects of our environment and communities. These numerous effects often fall into “economic,” “environmental,” and “social” impacts.
Solutions to this Issue
With these solutions, we can limit the impacts of droughts and even prevent them from happening again.
- Desalination of water: the process of desalinating water uses technology to turn salt water into fresh water. This is because it separates the water molecules from it. After this process, this water would be free to use.
- Rainwater harvesting: homes can store rainwater and reuse it when in dryer conditions.
- Drip Irrigation: This system delivers optimum moisture to the soil of crops/plants. This also does not result in water wastage.
- Harvesting water from the air: air contains moisture. In theory, if we build something that is able to condense this moisture, we could gather water from the air itself.
- Crop engineering: try to genetically modify crops to survive droughts by relying less on water. Or attempt to build new mechanisms outside of plant and crop beds to keep them safe.
- Solar pumps: this method helps to water crops and provide water for livestock. Solar pumps provide water by pumping it out of the earth. A bonus to this method (that gave it its popularity) was that it does not use up electricity. However, these pumps do rely on fossil fuels.
- Planting more trees: this improves the quality of the environment and increases the success of precipitation.
- More compost: When this compost is added to soil it “becomes a water reservoir.” This means that it moistens the soil for healthy planting. Farmers then won’t have to worry about having to irrigate or water their crops as much.
As drought conditions continue, some suburbs have begun to implement restrictions on water.
By: Khalyse Hemingway
Sources
drought.unl.edu: how does drought affect our lives
fox32chicago.com: Chicago’s drought deepens
drought.gov: drought in the mid west
weather.gov: Drought Conditions Briefing
conserve-energy-future.com: Causes, Effects and Solutions to Drought
ripe.illinois.edu: 8 innovative drought solutions that we can count 0n
Featured image courtesy of Alabama Extension Flicker page – Creative Commons License
Featured image courtesy of ntoine Collet Flicker page – Creative Commons License
