The present shift in climate has significantly increased the severity of weather extremes such as droughts and floods.
Drought is defined in two ways: according to the WMO, it is based on meteorological events such as a prolonged period of abnormally dry weather, while the disaster preparedness department of the Kenya National Disaster Management Unit perceives drought as a prolonged shortage of water in a particular area in Kenya.
1. Introduction
The consequences of droughts are often more destructive when they occur in middle-latitude regions with agriculture as the main economic activity. Not widely considered a natural disaster, drought commonly brings about various environmental impacts, making it a key topic of concern for climate change experts.
Droughts are normal in all climatic zones, and their frequency and intensity differ from one region to another. Globally, about 70% of countries are affected by drought, which in turn affects more than 1.5 billion people. This means that drought potentially has the largest widespread impact on society.
According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), drought is a natural phenomenon in all climatic zones and is usually associated with socio-economic and environmental impacts. Willis Akhwale compared life skills with drought, stating that life skills are like the deep roots of a tree that anchor individuals firmly in the soil. A decline in resilience in life skills may be similar to having a shallow root base that is easily uprooted in times of storm or drought.
2. Understanding Droughts and Climate Change
This article addresses two primary issues in dealing with the challenge of future droughts in the context of climate change:- Understanding the events and developing strategies to lessen their negative impacts.
- Understanding events considers the nature of drought risks and vulnerabilities. This understanding is important because strategies to build resilience depend on data about the impacts of droughts on the physical environment and ecosystems, the extent to which people are sensitive and exposed to drought impacts, and the efforts of communities and institutions to manage and cope with droughts.
- Understanding and anticipation build the basis for creating coherent, strategic, and specific solutions to reduce vulnerabilities, increase the adaptive capacity of human and natural systems to drought, and build resilience.
Drought has always been a fact of life in the United States. When one occurs, the consequences and impacts on the physical environment, ecosystems, people, and communities are substantial and can be disabling. The situation internationally is considerably worse. Developing countries endure withering droughts that produce catastrophic food shortages and widespread suffering. What is different in our current situation compared to challenges in the past is the reality of sustained changes in the Earth's climate.
These changes are caused by human activities, primarily the release of greenhouse gases. Both the reality and the totality of these changes have been dismissed in national conversations in recent years, driven in part by propaganda from special interests. Global warming has now been recognized as an existential threat, and the challenges ahead have never been more profound.
3. Strategies for Building Resilience
3.1 Utilizing the potential of new technologies and better monitoring of the onset of droughts
The intelligence and information needed to engage in adaptive actions at the early stages of drought can expedite the development of timely, effective, and wise drought response, in turn influencing the outcome of drought mitigation efforts. Advancements in technology can help drive drought resilience and mitigation in a proactive and positive manner.
Future work on drought resilience should not only use new technologies to become more effective at monitoring droughts but should also develop capabilities to respond to droughts early, as timely, judicious action can do much to mitigate the negative impacts of droughts.
3.2 Combined policies and mixed-instrument approaches
The basic tenet is that no single policy or approach can effectively mitigate the negative impacts of droughts. It is important to maintain congruence by optimizing a suite of approaches to reduce the space for increasing negative impacts. It is also necessary to reduce conflicts, increase synergies, and create a variety of protective measures that interact and work together on the future direction of drought management.
Below are some of the key strategies that can contribute to building resilience to droughts: utilizing the potential of new technologies and better monitoring of the onset of droughts; using different blended approaches and making the best use of mixed-policy instruments; policy innovations and institutional mechanisms; strategies for dealing with political and policy uncertainty; and future directions for building drought-resilient economies.
4. Water Conservation and Management
Public supply accounts for the smallest volume of water withdrawn, which includes residential water supply, industrial water supply, and commercial water supply. The amount of water consumed each day by the public sector in the United States, including homes, businesses, schools, and government buildings, is roughly 44 billion gallons per day.
This includes water supplied by public water suppliers, self-supplied groundwater, and self-supplied surface water used in the public sector for drinking, food service, and sanitation activities.
The residential portion of water use is significantly impacted by population growth, and residential water use is projected to increase in the western United States by 2030. The decrease in water supplies is a major issue in Central and Southern areas, such as the Colorado River and the Rio Grande region, which are significantly influenced by population growth and climate change.
According to the 2015 U.S. Geological Survey water use report, the United States used a total of 322 billion gallons of freshwater per day, with the largest use coming from thermoelectric power plants, irrigation, and public supply. The energy sector withdraws more water than any other sector, mostly for cooling at thermoelectric power plants.
Once-through cooling is currently used at roughly 45% of all thermoelectric power plants, but this method is being phased out due to its detrimental impact on local aquatic life populations.
For example, more than 106 plants using once-through cooling, representing 13% of the United States' current thermoelectric power capacity, withdraw water from freshwater sources, impacting local aquatic populations.
Withdrawals resulting from cooling have been a major concern in regions such as the Midwest, where the Mississippi River Basin and the Great Lakes have been significantly impacted by high volumes of water withdrawal.
4.1 Diversification of Water Sources
Economic arguments generally favor centralized water supply, treatment, and delivery systems that share costs across a large customer base. Decentralized systems, including direct-use rainwater systems and individual desalination, are generally more expensive, particularly when distributed over small per-customer volumes. Climate change could lessen this economic impediment to diversity, primarily by changing temperatures.
Miguel et al. found that each 1.8°F (1°C) increase in temperature brings a 0.8 to 1.4% incremental increase in annual water purchase and delivery costs for an individual source from a desalination plant with land or sea discharge.
Conservation and efficient use of water resources is an essential element in adapting to climate change and variability, particularly where traditional sources are diminishing in response to flow reductions caused by rising temperatures and increased water demand.
In addition to managing existing sources more efficiently (often described as economic efficiency), an additional approach gaining prominence is to diversify water sources, usually described as supply reliability.
Diverse alternative sources of water, such as stormwater, rooftop collection, treated wastewater, brackish water, seawater, water harvested from fog, or water from surface water or groundwater storage, can create a more flexible urban water system that can be used to buffer climate, regulatory, and other uncertainties. Diversifying water sources increases the resilience of a water supply system by increasing the availability of supplies under a broader set of conditions.
The growing interest in diversity reflects the fact that many of the low-cost, supply-side water options urban areas traditionally relied upon, especially in the American West, are no longer available. As traditional water sources diminish, urban water managers are focusing more attention on thermal and health-related constraints that limit acceptable options for meeting urban water demand.
4.2 Improving Agricultural Practices
Improving commodity efficiency means improving the use of water, land, or energy for productive purposes, which tends to reduce pressure on specific resources. For example, increasing the production of a specific crop per ton of water consumed achieves greater production per unit of water applied ("crop per drop") and can reduce pressure on that particular water resource.
These practices vary widely between countries and regions, depending on the types of crops grown and climate conditions. Options for improving performance range from technical improvements, such as improving crop variety or fertilization strategies, to broader policy interventions like incentives or regulation. Several implementation challenges must be considered when improving commodity efficiency, especially regarding economic, social, and equity impacts.
For example, improving water productivity at the plot level should account for direct and indirect economic, social, and environmental impacts to ensure a more inclusive strategy.
Agriculture is both a victim of drought and a major water user. From 1980 to 2014, agriculture accounted for 20% of economic losses due to natural disasters worldwide, with 42% of those losses due to droughts. At the same time, agriculture is deeply dependent on water resources, with 70% of all freshwater withdrawals used for agriculture.
Yet agriculture is often considered a "low-hanging fruit," since economically efficient solutions exist that also improve crop productivity and resilience to increasing pressures on the resource and growing uncertainties under climate change. It is relatively straightforward to implement more efficient economic behavior (for example, through pricing mechanisms), improve productivity, and reduce damage to agriculture while safeguarding the environment.
4.3 Enhancing Early Warning Systems
Incorporating an early warning system for fire management at the municipality level, alongside existing effective local responses, creates a sustainable framework for early action. A major challenge for early warning systems in most parts of the world is operational capacity in terms of knowledge, staff, and investment.
As is clear from implementation gaps, detailed scientific information is of limited value to most communities experiencing unexpected fire impacts. Engaging local fire experts (fire brigades) as early as possible has major potential for improving this situation. The priority should be identifying available local resources and designing methods for integrating these data sources to produce solutions that are most effective in the local context. Accurate risk forecasts are essential, but they are often not enough on their own, and poorly communicated forecasts can even disrupt action.
Transparent and timely information flow to all involved decision-makers and stakeholders is vital to ensure the intended use of drought and fire risk forecasts. This need is confirmed across case studies in Spain, Brazil, and the U.S., where research revealed challenges in integrating risk forecasts within the context in which potential actions become available and feasible.
Results show that forecasts alone will likely not ensure the successful use of an early warning system, because decision-makers generally apply their own context and discount the probabilistic information provided by the forecast.
Therefore, early warning systems should be designed in connection with the needs and responsibilities of drought and fire management, and with decision-makers' perceptions of risk and current vulnerability conditions. Identifying effective communication pathways and formats is necessary so that risk forecasts are correctly interpreted, integrated with available information, and translated into concrete actions to reduce fire hazard or severity.
5. Implementing Solutions
Innovative, demand-driven, bottom-up measures that support communities and individuals should be developed more broadly, aligning the overall working principles advocated by the CARE-WWF Vulnerable Twenty (V20) Group with local stakeholder needs, and empowering communities to lead their own initiatives.
In Madagascar, for example, weather index insurance provided a safety net for the most vulnerable households in the southwest of the country, who face annual food shortages following recurrent drought events.
Specific, direct action can be taken at the community level, enabling risk reduction through collective action and mutual assistance. Local communities possess a wealth of valuable knowledge on management strategies that help them cope with and recover from drought stress.
National authorities need to work closely with community representatives, providing the necessary support in setting up local private or community drought insurance, micro-credit schemes, social safety nets, water conservation schemes, early warning systems, and knowledge transfer, and improving the general information base for intervention.
Given the high frequency of drought events, the prolonged duration of the associated suffering, and the negative feedback loop between drought vulnerability and poverty, there is a case to be made for incorporating droughts into the list of high-profile hazards, such as cyclones or floods, with established crisis management systems, coordination, and response measures.
Given the magnitude and complexity of the interventions required to bridge the institutional and policy gap in enhancing drought resilience, several considerations are essential. First, it is crucial to integrate drought risks into national development plans, recognizing the economic and social impact of drought disasters in developing countries.
This is necessary for mainstreaming disaster risk reduction into development policy and for aligning disaster responsiveness with longer-term development objectives.
5.1 Policy and Governance
Evidence on the relationship between climate change, drought, and social dimensions (associated with gender, education, literacy, age, occupation, farming experience, etc.) is useful for devising climate information and extension services programs.
There has also been a call for mainstreaming gender issues into the policy process, for gender-sensitive planning, information delivery, participatory management, and gender equity. Periodic review and updating of administrative policies and procedures are necessary for the effective implementation of risk management processes. Coordinated and holistic sectoral policies are also significant.
National, state, and district-level authorities must promote policies that allow for science- and evidence-based, coordinated, and integrated drought risk management processes. Enhancing public-private partnerships, which allow the private sector to be leveraged for technology transfer and innovation spending, has also been suggested as a way to enhance resilience.
Efforts to achieve resilient farming systems are constrained and influenced by various policy, governance, and societal issues. Enhanced government support through policy and governance mechanisms can improve resilience.
Many policies and institutions already have a strong influence on the resilience of rural communities to climate variability. Improving these existing mechanisms, or developing new ones, can accelerate resilience-building. At the same time, progress on long-standing development challenges, such as poverty eradication and food security, can both directly increase resilience and provide valuable lessons for other complex systems.
In contrast, some policies and institutions have had a negative influence on resilience, in part because they encouraged societies to adapt to hazards as they exist today, through projects and schemes designed to cope with current drought conditions, rather than with the drought that is likely under climate change.
5.2 Community Engagement and Education
Activities that make drought and climate research personally relevant and easy to understand for communities are the most effective, especially when they are rooted in or inspired by local realities.
Community meetings and participatory planning exercises are usefully complemented by widely accessible and customizable content made available by partners.
Ideally, such a tool would provide users with key resources, such as a community education activity guide, a community hazard planning template, and drought-relevant educational content customizable to partners.
Through this, community leaders, educators, and scientists can all be on the same page, ensuring that the benefits of research are clearly communicated and directly applicable to the issues communities prioritize around drought and other hazards.
Effective water planning and long-term management decisions often face a major challenge: gaining public trust while ensuring full transparency. When communities do not clearly understand current and future drought risks and their long-term impact on water availability, they may naturally oppose policies that involve significant social or economic costs.
Although education alone cannot fully improve public understanding of drought and climate science, collaboration between research institutions, local communities, and partner organizations can strengthen communication, improve awareness, and support informed decision-making.
Key Takeaways
- Building public trust is essential for effective water management policies.
- Transparency helps communities better accept long-term water strategies.
- Limited understanding of drought and climate risks can lead to resistance.
- Policies with high societal costs often face public opposition.
- Research organizations and local partners can help close communication gaps.
5.3 Infrastructure Development
The development environment in Africa is changing rapidly. Climate change will have significant and negative impacts on a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, water, energy, infrastructure, and human security. Infrastructure is a crucial enabler of inclusive growth and poverty reduction in most countries.
Africa's infrastructure landscape is evolving rapidly through strategic investments in renewable energy, high-speed transport, and sustainable urban planning, driving long-term economic and environmental growth.
The continent will remain heavily dependent on seasonal rainwater for its socio-economic development. Therefore, efficient and effective development and delivery of agricultural infrastructure that supports food and crop production is a prime prerequisite for Africa's development.
According to Africa's Agriculture Status Report, most leading economies use agriculture as a key driver of production and employment to achieve growth targets. It follows that if Africa is to achieve significant development success, its infrastructure, including agricultural infrastructure, should receive due attention.
A central theme in the climate change discourse is how Africa will cope with the adverse impacts of climate change. Sub-Saharan Africa bears the brunt of this challenge due to its heavy reliance on agriculture, the backbone of its economy.
With agriculture still largely rainfed and highly dependent on weather and climate, vulnerability to climate change and variability limits the continent's potential to achieve the growth needed to address poverty, setting back its development relative to international goals.
Innovations in infrastructure and in the agriculture sector, which still employs more than 65% of Africa's labor force, should be an integral part of broader strategies aimed at achieving sustainability, growth, and prosperity, ending poverty, buffering shocks, and helping countries thrive despite the new challenges brought by climate change.
6. Research and Innovation
Research needs are numerous, as the latest multi-project national drought assessment report shows. Issues of particular relevance to drought management include the regionalization of drought severity indicators, the improvement of impact assessment methods, the effectiveness of decision support systems, the impacts of water infrastructure, the impacts of dried soil layers, water loss mechanisms, and so-called second-order effects.
To resolve these issues, and to help drought management plans gain traction in societal practice, research must not confine itself to studying technical or administrative measures alone. Monitoring and addressing "information deficits," the erosion of trust in drought managers or authorities, and changes in personal or cultural attitudes are also important research topics.
This research represents the long-term approach needed to improve our understanding of droughts and their impacts, under present conditions and amid increasing climate change. It also forms the basis for innovation, helping to optimize existing drought management plans and improve their adoption, application, and acceptance among stakeholders.
A systematic approach follows the process from policy recommendations to strategy formulation, implementation, and evaluation, and back again through adaptive management. The basic concept is a cycle of progress driven by:
- Periodic review and assessment to detect problems or opportunities and to generate changes in policies, procedures, or activities.
- Adaptive management, based on revised strategies or solutions.
7. Practical Water Conservation Steps for Individuals and Households
While national policies and large-scale infrastructure are essential, individual households also play a meaningful role in building drought resilience. Small, consistent actions at home can add up to significant water savings, especially when adopted widely across a community.
7.1 Simple Daily Habits That Save Water
Some of the most effective water-saving measures cost nothing and take only a few seconds to apply. Turning off the tap while brushing your teeth can save more than 100 gallons of water per month. A single dripping faucet left unrepaired can waste around 300 gallons a month, and a faucet that drips once per second can waste roughly 2,700 gallons a year. Taking shorter showers, running dishwashers and washing machines only when fully loaded, and avoiding unnecessary toilet flushing are all low-effort habits that make a real difference over time.
7.2 Fixing Leaks and Upgrading Fixtures
Checking household plumbing regularly for leaks, and having any leaks repaired promptly, prevents ongoing water loss that often goes unnoticed. Installing low-flow toilets, showerheads, and faucet aerators can cut water use in these fixtures by roughly half without sacrificing performance. Products carrying the EPA WaterSense label are certified to be at least 20% more water-efficient than standard alternatives, while meeting the same performance standards.
7.3 Drought-Resilient Gardens and Landscaping
Outdoor water use, particularly for lawns and gardens, is one of the largest sources of household water consumption during dry periods. Xeriscaping, a landscaping approach developed in Denver in 1981, focuses on reducing or eliminating the need for supplemental irrigation through smart plant selection and garden design.
Practical steps for a more drought-resilient garden include:
- Choosing native or drought-tolerant plants suited to your regional climate and soil type
- Grouping plants with similar water needs together to avoid overwatering
- Applying mulch around plants and garden beds to reduce evaporation and retain soil moisture
- Raising the lawn mower blade to at least three inches, which encourages deeper root growth and better moisture retention
- Reducing the size of lawn areas that are rarely used
- Watering during cooler parts of the day and avoiding watering paved surfaces
It's worth noting that newly planted drought-tolerant species still require regular watering during their first growing season to establish a strong root system. Only after this establishment period can they reliably withstand extended dry spells with minimal intervention.
7.4 Capturing and Reusing Water
Rainwater harvesting allows households to collect and store rainwater for later use during dry periods, and is increasingly encouraged in both urban and rural settings. Reusing household water for secondary purposes, such as using leftover water from cooking or rinsing to water indoor plants, is another simple way to reduce overall demand without any additional cost or equipment.
7.5 Knowing Your Local Drought Risk
Understanding whether your region is prone to drought, and how frequently, helps households and communities plan ahead rather than react. Free tools such as the U.S. Drought Monitor and the Drought Impact Reporter allow residents to check historical and current drought conditions in their area, while resources like the Climate Prediction Center provide seasonal drought outlooks.
Being informed about local water sources, whether they come from surface water such as rivers and reservoirs, or from groundwater, also helps households better understand which conservation measures will have the greatest impact in their specific area.
7.6 The Hidden Health Connection
Water conservation during drought isn't just about supply, it's also about quality. When water becomes scarce, contaminants and pollutants often become more concentrated in the remaining water sources, increasing potential exposure risks for households relying on private wells or aging municipal systems. Understanding these hidden health risks is just as important as managing water quantity.
What's really in the water you're conserving, and how is it affecting your health without you even knowing it? The Invisible Threat: How Environmental Pollution Is Destroying Your Health uncovers the silent ways pollution infiltrates your daily life, drawing on over 30 years of hands-on experience in environmental monitoring and wastewater analysis.
Frequently Asked Questions About Drought Resilience
How can I save water at home during a drought?
Simple daily habits make the biggest difference: turning off the tap while brushing your teeth, taking shorter showers, running dishwashers and washing machines only when fully loaded, and fixing dripping faucets promptly. A single leaky faucet can waste around 300 gallons of water a month, so repairing leaks early is one of the most cost-effective steps any household can take.
What plants are best for a drought-resistant garden?
Native and drought-tolerant plants suited to your regional climate are the best choice, since they are naturally adapted to lower precipitation levels. Grouping plants with similar water needs, applying mulch to retain soil moisture, and choosing species based on your local soil type all improve a garden's resilience. Keep in mind that even drought-tolerant plants need regular watering during their first growing season to establish a strong root system.
How do I know if my area is at risk of drought?
Free public tools such as the U.S. Drought Monitor and the Drought Impact Reporter allow you to check current and historical drought conditions in your specific region. The Climate Prediction Center also provides seasonal drought outlooks, which can help households and communities plan ahead rather than react once a drought is already underway.
Is drought becoming more frequent because of climate change?
Yes. Climate change is projected to reduce water supplies significantly in several regions, particularly in the southwestern, central, and southeastern United States. Today, around 10% of counties face high or extreme risk of water shortages, and that proportion is projected to grow to roughly 32% by 2050.
What is the difference between water conservation and water diversification?
Water conservation focuses on reducing the amount of water used through everyday habits and efficient fixtures, while water diversification involves accessing alternative water sources, such as rainwater harvesting, treated wastewater, or desalination, to reduce reliance on a single supply. Both strategies work together: conservation reduces demand, while diversification increases the overall resilience and flexibility of a water system.
Can drought affect the quality of drinking water, not just the supply?
Yes. When water becomes scarce, contaminants and pollutants can become more concentrated in the remaining sources, which raises potential exposure risks, especially for households relying on private wells or older municipal infrastructure. Managing water quality during drought is just as important as managing water quantity.
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