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<br />I <br /> <br />Improving Drought Management in the West: The Role of Mitigation and Preparedness <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />Most States lack the financial resources necessary to provide drought relief to <br />individual citizens during times of emergency, However, it is often within <br />the mission and capacity of State agencies to provide technical assistance to <br />municipalities and others. During recent droughts, States assisted by <br />providing advice on potential new sources of water and evaluating the quality <br />and quantity ofthose supplies. Agencies also assisted municipalities in <br />assessing the vulnerability of water supply systems, States encouraged the <br />adoption of voluntary water conservation measures and established stronger <br />economic incentives for water conservation within the private sector. Water <br />metering and leak detection programs were implemented, <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />Some would not consider emergency response programs as a mitigative <br />action; however, if these measures are implemented to reduce the risk of <br />future impacts or as part of a long-term mitigation program, they represent a <br />proactive approach to drought management, State responses included a wide <br />range of measures, such as lowering well intakes on reservoirs for rural water <br />supplies, establishing water hauling programs for livestock, extending boat <br />ramps in recreational areas, and creating a tuition assistance program to <br />enable farmers to participate in farm management classes. <br /> <br />Conflicts between water users increase during water-short periods. Timely <br />intervention to resolve these conflicts will become increasingly necessary as <br />demands on limited water supplies continue to expand in number and <br />complexity. The best approach is to anticipate these conflicts well in advance <br />of drought and initiate appropriate actions to avoid conflict. Many of the <br />actions taken focused on the growing conflicts between municipal and <br />agricultural water use. <br /> <br />The growing number of States with drought plans is an indication of greater <br />concern about the impacts of drought and the acceptance by States of the role <br />that planning can play in reducing some of its most adverse effects. The <br />optimal time to plan for drought is during nondrought periods; however, <br />considerable progress in establishing a basic response framework is often <br />accomplished during the period of peak severity, as occurred in several <br />drought-stricken States in 1996. The challenge is to transform this <br />framework into a response/mitigation plan during the postdrought period. A <br />brief window of opportunity usually exists to initiate a longer-term mitigation <br />program between the panic stage of the hydro-illogical cycle at the peak of <br />drought severity and the beginning of the apathy stage when rainfall returns <br /> <br />24 <br />