DROUGHT MANAGEMENT MAIN POLICIES/STRATEGIES IN UNITED STATE

 The structure of Drought Government

Government + Department and

Agencies

Ministerial Non-ministerial
Agencies & Other public
Department Department
bodies
Department of Drought Government
Commerce
National Drought Mitigation
National Integrated Center (NDMC)
The National Oceanic Drought Information
and Atmospheric System (NIDIS)
Administration’s
(NOAA) Drought Early Warning
System (DEWS)
Department of
Agriculture

United State Department of Agriculture (USDA)

USDA has the science-based solutions and technical experts on the ground today to help
farmers and ranchers through drought and to prepare our country for weather events in the
future. USDA offers technical and financial assistance to farmers and ranchers to cope with
drought across the nation. Every day, USDA is closely monitoring the drought and assisting
farmers and ranchers with implementing voluntary conservation practices that help alleviate
the drought's effects.
USDA has strategic goals as follows:
 Ensure USDA programs are delivered efficiently, effectively, and with integrity and a
focus on customer service.
 Maximize the ability of American agricultural producers to prosper by feeding and
clothing the world.
 Promote American agricultural products and exports.
 Facilitate rural prosperity and economic development.
 Strengthen the stewardship of private lands through technology and research.
 Foster productive and sustainable use of our National Forest System Lands.
 Provide all Americans access to a safe, nutritious and secure food supply.

National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC)

The National Drought Mitigation Center’s mission is to reduce the effects of drought on
people, the environment and the economy by researching the science of drought monitoring
and the practice of drought planning. They collaborate with and learn from decision-makers
at all levels – individual ranchers, communities, regions, watersheds, tribes, states, countries
– across the US and around the world. They organize and present workshops, write shops and
other capacity-building activities, in close cooperation with local partners. The National
Drought Mitigation Center works closely with NIDIS to provide drought-related resources
and information.
NDMC has strategic plans as follows:
 State Plan: They have systematically collected state-level plans that address drought,
including plans focused on drought, water, hazards and climate.
 Tribal Plan: Examples of tribal drought plans.
 International Plan: The NDMC works on drought planning all over the world, partnering
with United Nations agencies and with national governments.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

NOAA is an agency that enriches life through science. The reach goes from the surface of the
sun to the depths of the ocean floor as we work to keep the public informed of the changing
environment around them.
NOAA's Vision of the Future:
 Resilient Ecosystems, Communities, and Economies; and
 Healthy ecosystems, communities and economies that are resilient in the face of change.
NOAA's Mission: Science, Service and Stewardship:
 To understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans and coasts;
 To share that knowledge and information with others; and
 To conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources.
NOAA’s strategies and tactics:
 Improve seasonal prediction
 Build “full natural flow” water resources modeling
 Enhance NOAA internal coordination of drought services
 Design environmental monitoring projects on sub-regional or watershed-specific scales

The National Drought Resilience Partnership (NDRP)

comprises seven federal agencies which work collaboratively to support state, tribal, local,
and private sector approaches to managing drought risks and impacts. NDRP is:
 Strengthening coordination of federal drought policies and programs in support of state,
tribal, and community efforts;
 Serving as a single federal point of contact on drought resilience;
 Leveraging the work of existing federal investments such as the National Integrated
Drought Information System (NIDIS), the development of a National Soil Moisture
Network, and the Bureau of Reclamation-Natural Resource Conservation Service
partnership to improve agricultural water use efficiencies.
 Linking information such as monitoring, forecasts, outlooks, and early warnings with
long-term drought resilience strategies in critical sectors such as agriculture, municipal
water systems, energy, recreation, and manufacturing.
Supporting State and Local Drought Strategies:
 Preparedness, Mitigation, and Risk Management: supporting regional state, local, and
tribal preparedness and planning,
 Actionable, Science-Based Information and Tools: converting data into knowledge for
timely and informed decision-making,
 Sustainable Water Infrastructure: managing resources for a more secure water future •
 Managing Lands & Waters: resilient farms, ranches, and forests that support healthy
watersheds and ecosystems; and
 Programs, Incentives, Outreach, and Education: 21st century approaches to drought
preparedness and water security

National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS)

This is a growing collection of information about what has been tried in responding to and
preparing for drought in the United States. It’s categorized by sector, that is, information of
interest for farming, livestock production, water supply and quality, energy, recreation and
tourism, fire, plants and wildlife (environment), and society and public health. Each sector is
further divided into subsectors.
NIDIS’ goal is to improve the nation’s capacity to manage drought-related risks by providing
the best available information and tools to assess the potential impacts of drought, and to
prepare for and mitigate the effects of drought. Toward that end, NIDIS seeks to create a
DEWS for the nation.
Together with federal, state, local, tribal and private sector partners, NIDIS:
 develops the leadership and partnerships to ensure successful implementation of an
integrated national drought monitoring and forecasting system at federal, state, and local
levels;
 collects and integrates information on the key indicators of drought in order to make
usable, reliable, and timely forecasts and assessments of drought, including assessments
of its severity and impacts;
 fosters and supports a research environment that focuses on risk assessment, forecasting,
and management;
 provides accurate, timely, and integrated information on drought conditions and
associated risks to facilitate proactive decision-making; and
 offers a framework for increasing public awareness and education on how and why
droughts occur, and how they impact human and natural systems.
A Drought Early Warning System (DEWS) utilizes new and existing partner networks to
optimize the expertise of a wide range of federal, tribal, state, local and academic partners in
order to make climate and drought science readily available, easily understandable and usable
for decision makers; and to improve the capacity of stakeholders to better monitor, forecast,
plan for and cope with the impacts of drought.
In 1996, the Western Governors Association (WGA) sought to change the way the U.S.
prepared for and responded to droughts. Their efforts paved the way for Congress to enact
Public Law 105-199, the National Drought Policy Act in July 1998. This law established “an
advisory commission to provide advice and recommendations on the creation of an
integrated, coordinated Federal policy designed to prepare for and respond to serious drought
emergencies.” The law established the National Drought Policy Commission and directed
them to “conduct a thorough study and submit a report on national drought policy.”
NIDIS strategics as follows:
 Develop the leadership and networks to implement an integrated drought monitoring and
forecasting system at federal, state, and local levels
 Foster and support a research environment focusing on risk assessment, forecasting, and
management
 Create an “early warning system” for drought to provide accurate, timely, and integrated
information
 Develop interactive systems, such as drought.gov, as part of the early warning system
 Provide a framework for public awareness and education about droughts
NIDIS supports drought research which focuses on:
 advancing the scientific understanding of the weather and climatic mechanisms that lead
to drought onset, persistence and recovery;
 improving drought prediction skill by identifying sources of drought predictability across
timescales and regions to improve forecasts;
 improving drought information systems by incorporating the latest scientific advances
into metrics relevant for various societal sectors, and advanced information delivery
platforms; and
 improving coordination and delivery of information through in-person drought outlook
forums and weekly webinars using networks of experts at the state and local level.

 Drought Management overview

Fig. 1. Drought Density on August 11, 2020

As the United States moves into the last weeks of climatological summer, one-third of the
country is experiencing at least a moderate level of drought. Much of the West is approaching
severe drought, and New England has been unusually dry and hot. An estimated 53 million
people are living in drought-affected areas.
The map above shows conditions in the continental U.S. as of August 11, 2020, as reported
by the U.S. Drought Monitor program, a partnership of the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the University of Nebraska–
Lincoln. The map depicts drought intensity in progressive shades of orange to red and is
based on measurements of climate, soil, and water conditions from more than 350 federal,
state, and local observers around the country. NASA provides experimental measurements
and models to this drought monitoring effort.
According to the Drought Monitor, more than 93 percent of the land area in Utah, Colorado,
Nevada, and New Mexico is in some level of drought; 69 percent of Utah is in severe
drought, as is 61 percent of Colorado. More than three-fourths of Oregon, Arizona, and
Wyoming are also in drought. The effects of “severe” drought include stunted and browning
crops, limited pasture yields, dust storms, reduced well water levels, and an increase in the
number and severity of wildfires. Most of those areas had no sign of drought in the mid-
summer of 2019.
The map below shows surface soil moisture as of August 10, 2020, as measured by the
Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) satellites. The colors
depict the wetness percentile; that is, how the levels of soil moisture compare to long-term
records for the month. Blue areas have more abundant water than usual, and orange and red
areas have less. The darkest reds represent dry conditions that should occur only 2 percent of
the time (about once every 50 years). Note that the Mississippi and Missouri river watersheds
are still quite moist from persistent winter and spring rains.

Fig. 1. Drought Density on August 11, 2020

The GRACE-FO satellites detect the movement of water based on subtle shifts in Earth’s
gravity field from month to month. Variations in land topography or ocean tides change the
distribution of Earth’s mass and gravity field, as does the addition or subtraction of water.
GRACE-FO data are integrated with data from the original GRACE mission (2002-2017) and
with current and historical ground-based observations using a sophisticated numerical model
of water and energy processes at the land surface.
Warm air temperatures and minimal snowfall in spring set the stage for the advancing
drought. A ridge of high pressure over the northeastern Pacific Ocean has sent the jet stream
farther north than usual. And meteorologists pointed to another failure of the southwestern
monsoon for much of the parched landscape. In a typical summer, atmospheric high pressure
over the southern Rocky Mountains draws moisture in from the Gulf of California and Gulf
of Mexico and make July and August the rainiest time of year in Arizona, New Mexico, and
the Four Corners region—providing half of the year’s precipitation in some areas.
But this year the monsoon has failed to deliver. Atmospheric high pressure has been centered
farther south than usual, drawing in westerly winds. Extreme heat has baked the region, with
several states averaging temperatures 3 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. Phoenix has
already set a record for the most days above 110°F in a calendar year (34), with five months
to go. According to the Weather Channel, Las Vegas has not seen measurable rainfall since
mid-April, and Cedar City, Utah, has recorded just 0.05 inches of rain this summer, making it
the driest on record.
Forecasts from the NOAA Climate Prediction Center suggest that conditions in the West
won't get better any time soon. According to NOAA climatologists, hot and dry weather are
expected through late October.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using GRACE data from the National
Drought Mitigation Center and data from the United States Drought Monitor at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Fig. 2. Drought Information in US

Source: https://www.drought.gov/drought/
 Fig. 3. Current Drought Monitor in US
Source: https://www.drought.gov/drought/

 Drought-related strength and difficulties

Beneficial Harmful
Strength Weakness
Internal - As a developed country, the US - Lots of money was spent on
has a high government financial drought
budget - The planning and legal hurdles
- The US has good governance, necessity
high integrity, and clean
government
- Having good cooperation with
various lines to reduce the
impact of drought
- Have an integrity system to
cope with drought
- The actual information
regarding drought is well
presented and structured
- Increased awareness of
environmental problems
External Opportunities Threats
- The great relationship between - Continuous severe drought in the
United State and other state will US can cause climate change
have a high impact related to which causes various other
water (investment, problems such as forest fires etc.
infrastructure, policy and forth) - Drought-causing factors from
- United Kingdom have a various aspects can affect the
potential position in numerous performance of other fields
organization related to drought - Climate Change and
management “Atmospheric Thirst” can caused
- US make it easier to monitor to Increase Fire Danger and
drought data monitoring and Drought as it happened in
 solve the problem quickly Nevada and California
References
https://www.usda.gov/
https://www.drought.gov/
https://drought.unl.edu/
https://www.drought.gov/drought/resources/national-drought-resilience-partnership
https://www.noaa.gov/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311549917_California
%27s_drought_as_opportunity_Redesigning_US_agriculture_for_a_changing_climate