South Struggles to Adapt to Dry Season

Nearly five million people have been deprived of their drinking water for over five months in the Southeast. Although life continued to exist as it had before for a while, by September outdoor water use had finally been banned. Last Saturday Governor of Georgia declared it in a state of emergency and requested federal assistance. Restricting indoor water use has been held off due to the lose of jobs that would follow it. The state of Georgia still has failed to record water usage during normal rain periods, and even more has failed to come up with a plan to handle dry periods if it does resort to empty faucets. Similarly the state of Alabama, which experiences worse droughts, does not have a plan in case of an emergency. The only state in the region to have a adopted a water plan is Florida. For now, response to this drought continues to be taken care of in slow motion.

The 1930's Dust Bowl Drought was another major dry time for the United States. Between abuse of the land and long periods of little to no rain, the dust bowl effect became infamously known throughout this time period. "Black blizzards" of great clouds of dusts lifted from winds covered the sun's rays for days at a time. The Great Plains region was especially effected during this period. Farmers during this time were also trying to recover economic loss due to the Great Depression prior to this event. Economy continued to spin as production went up and prices went down. Many farmers were unable to withstand the effects the drought had on the economy. Following this major drought in American history, farmers adapted new methods to control soil erosion in dryer areas.