Drought and its list of woes

If it stops raining where you live and stays that way for long enough, your life must change. Unless you can find water from other sources - drilling new wells, importing it from a distance, desalination of ocean water - you'll be forced at least to ration your uses of water, as will everyone in the affected region. No more watering the lawn or washing the car. No more filling the pool and taking those long showers. The cost to you of whatever water is left may rise to cover the expenses of importing, manufacturing or preserving it.

I've subscribed to Google Alerts for "drought," which gets me a daily email of stories containing that word. I get a lot of sports stories describing baseball players and their "hitting droughts." But there are plenty of places in the world currently suffering prolonged lack of water. The impacts range from ranchers destroying livestock to starving elephants raiding villages to recreational lakes drying up and leaving boats sitting in the mud. Of course, drought dries up agricultural land and raises the risk of fires. Drought indirectly raises the prices of agricultural products. It stresses trees, making them vulnerable to bugs and disease.

Farmers are the most directly affected by drought. They will seek relief from the government if their crops can't grow. Those whose businesses are indirectly affected by the drought - markets that sell fruits, vegetables, dairy and meat products - don't get that kind of relief. They seek other sources and raise their prices accordingly. The consumers bear the brunt of the passed-along costs.

Extended drought, which can go on for years and even decades, can not only drive farmers and ranchers out of business, but can lead to whole communities being uprooted and whole regions becoming dustbowls. Water tables drop and wells dry up. Rivers shrink. Water rationing becomes so severe that residents move to other moister climes. Vegetative cover dies off, leaving the soil vulnerable to severe erosion if and when a good rain storm happens.

In areas subject to flooding, you can move to higher ground. In an area going through a long period of drought, there's no refuge.

Here's the constantly updated U.S. Drought Monitor map, provided by the National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. Note the "exceptional" drought conditions in the Southeast.