Word: droughts
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...there anything we can do? First, says Mark Svoboda, a climatologist at the National Drought Mitigation Center, in Lincoln, Nebraska, "we need to conserve water all the time, not just when we have droughts...
...Thanks to an unusually dry winter, the Eastern seaboard is suffering from what some experts are calling the most severe drought on record; at least five states have declared drought emergencies. And in the Midwest it's almost as bad; crops are withering for lack of rainfall, and reservoir levels have dropped to dangerously low levels...
...According to Svoboda, droughts are a natural and predictable part of the climate cycle, so we really shouldn't be so surprised when water supplies run low. Drought is something we can - and must - prepare for, he says, but getting ahead of the curve requires proactive thinking, and possibly expensive ventures like creating new reservoirs. If we don't take droughts more seriously, Svoboda predicts, the strain on water supplies will just keep getting worse...
...Okay, but what about easing the effects of this drought - right now? Happily for budding conservationists, there are a number of steps you can take to help preserve water. Here, with thanks to Bryan Swistock, is a quick rundown...
...take it outside. Most states with drought emergencies have already banned "nonessential" water use - and that includes washing cars, watering lawns and filling the swimming pools. Why eliminate all these springtime activities? Because, explains Swistock, they use up huge amounts of water with literally no return (to the ground water supply...