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<br />nOZ:,if <br /> <br />Statement of Need and Purpose <br /> <br />The western United Slales is a drought.prone region. portions of which recently have <br />experienced as many <l'\ six consecutive years of severe drought These drought conditions have <br />continued into 1994, especially in portions of the Pacific Northwest and California. The <br />economic. social. and environmental costs and losses a'\socialed with this series of years were <br />staggering and will linger for some time. Local. state. and federal government; regional <br />organizations: and the private sector responded with a wide range of emergency actions imended <br />to mitigate some of the impacts associated with the water shortages that en.o;;ued. Many states <br />within the region developed contingency plans to improve drought response in the short term and <br />preparedness in the long term. This series of drought years raised serious questions about western <br />waler and natur..u resources policies. lhe apparent growing regional vulnerability to extended <br />periods of w3tershonage, and lhe sustainabiJity of current natural resource management systems. <br />Reducing the effects of future droughts in the region wilJ require improved monitoring and <br />information dissemination techniques. bener mitigation technologies. contingency planning, <br />increased institutional flexibility and coordination within and between levels of government'i. <br />and intensive public education programs aimed at developing and implementing a wide range <br />of water.conserving technologies. <br />The purpose of lhis conference is to explore how to make drought management an integral <br />pan of water management in a changing West. The conference is being organized to capila.lize <br />on lhe lessons learned from recent droughts and the recommendations emanating from several <br />recent studies, including the IntemationaJ Drought Information Center's report toSes . Drought <br />Mitigation Technologies in the United States (1993); GAO's Federal Efforts to Monitor alld <br />Respond to Drought (1993); the Corps of Engineers' National Water Managemem During <br />Drought Study (1993): and lhe Congtessional Office of Technology Assessment's Preporingfor <br />an Uncertain Climate (1993). The conference program also will seek to provide substantive input <br />to the comprehensive review offedeml activities in the 19 western Slates th.'1t affect thealloc3tion <br />and use of water resources called for in the Western Water Policy Review Act of 1992. <br /> <br />.' <br />'. <br /> <br />" <br />;,.. <br />