Drought in the Southeast U.S.

I recently returned from a trip to Georgia. Everywhere that I went the drought was the number one topic. I did not travel into the worst areas.

Drought

The parched country

Oct 25th 2007 COLUMBIA
From The Economist print edition

America's south-east has been wracked by more than a year without much rain

AFTER 18 months of sunny skies and scorching heat, crops are shrivelling, lawns are crisping and lakes are drying up. This is not scorched California or America's arid south-west, but its normally lush south-east. The Department of Agriculture's “drought monitor” says that 32% of the region is in “exceptional drought,” the most severe designation and one expected on this scale only once or twice a century. The problem is exacerbated by the south-east's inexperience with lack of rain, and by the area's booming population.

In Atlanta, the largest metropolitan area in the south-east, 3m residents will lose their main source of drinking water by January if the level of...(complete article here).

One of the biggest problems is that the Southeastern U.S. doesn't know how to cope with drought. Let's hope that reservoirs can be replenished before this truly becomes a disaster -- not just for agriculture, but for the city dwellers who will have little or no water.