drought (redirected from Water Scarcity)

drought, abnormally long period of insufficient rainfall. Drought cannot be defined in terms of inches of rainfall or number of days without rain, since it is determined by such variable factors as the distribution in time and area of precipitation during and before the dry period. Since ancient times droughts have had far-reaching effects on humankind by causing the failure of crops, decreasing natural vegetation, and depleting water supplies. Livestock and wildlife, as well as humans, die of thirst and famine; large land areas often suffer damage from dust storms or fire. Drought is thought by some to have caused migrations of early humans. In India and China drought has periodically brought widespread privation and death. In 1930 lack of rainfall devastated the Great Plains of the United States; called the Dust Bowl, its area spread to alarming dimensions (about 50 million acres). During 1962 much of the eastern part of the U.S. experienced the worst drought in more than 50 years; more recent severe droughts have afflicted countries in many parts of Africa. Clearcutting of trees for firewood, overgrazing, and overcultivation, which lead to land degredation, contribute to this drought cycle.

Bibliography

See C. S. Russell et al., Drought and Water Supply (1970); W. C. Palmer and L. M. Denny, Drought Bibliography (1971); R. V. Garcia and J. Escudero, Drought and Man (1986).

---

drought

Lack or insufficiency of rain for an extended period that severely disturbs the hydrologic cycle in an area. Droughts involve water shortages, crop damage, streamflow reduction, and depletion of groundwater and soil moisture. They occur when evaporation and transpiration exceed precipitation for a considerable period. Drought is the most serious hazard to agriculture in nearly every part of the world. Efforts have been made to control it by seeding clouds to induce rainfall, but these experiments have had only limited success.

---

drought

a prolonged period of scanty rainfall

---

drought [drau̇t]

(climatology)

A period of abnormally dry weather sufficiently prolonged so that the lack of water causes a serious hydrologic imbalance (such as crop damage, water supply shortage, and so on) in the affected area; in general, the term should be reserved for relatively extensive time periods and areas.