WSP04710

• File Number: 8056
• Description: Drought Preparedness
• State: CO
• Basin: Statewide
• Date: 6/1/1997
• Author: Donald Wilhite
• Title: Improving Drought Management in the West
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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Improving Drought Management In the West The Role of Mitigation and Preparedness

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assumed a relatively passive role in drought management, States have now
assumed a greater responsibility for drought planning, but drought relief
remains largely a Federal responsibility.

Although Federal drought assistance programs in recent decades have been
directed increasingly toward short-tenn or emergency assistance programs,
earlier response efforts (i.e., the 1930s and 1950s) were characterized by a
combination of both short- and long-tenn assistance programs. For example,
in response to the 1930s drought, the Soil Conservation Service (SCS)' was
fonned to develop and promote soil and water conservation techniques
nationwide, but with special reference to the Dust Bowl area of the Great
Plains. The Great Plains Conservation Program was created following the
severe drought of the early to mid.1950s to help farmers in the region
preserve the natural resource base, In contrast, the Federal response effort in
1977 was characterized by 40 separate emergency drought assistance
programs that were administered by 16 different Federal agencies (General
Accounting Office, 1979). The administration of these programs was criticized
by the GAO as inefficient and poorly coordinated. In 1988, Federal drought
legislation in the fonn of grants and low-interest loans constituted most of the
$5 billion authorized by Congress to deal with the severe drought conditions
that affected more than 40 percent of the Nation. The funds allocated by
Congress in response to both the mid-1970s and 1988 drought can best be
categorized as postimpact government interventions that did little, if
anything, to reduce the Nation's underlying vulnerability to drought. In the
future, the emphasis of Federal programs should be on risk management in
conjunction with a systematic postdrought evaluation of the effectiveness of
the preparedness and response effort.

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Postdrought evaluations or audits are not routinely completed in the United
States. However, following the severe droughts of 1976 to 1977 and the
demonstrated inability of Federal Government to adequately cope with the
problems that emerged, scientists and policymakers expressed considerable
concern about the inefficiencies of this effort and repeatedly issued "calls for
action" for the development of drought plans, including the development of a
national drought policy and plan. These calls include recommendations from
the Western Governors' Policy Office (1978), General Accounting Office
(1979), National Academy of Sciences (1986), Great Lakes Commission (1990),
American Meteorological Society (Orville, 1990), and Interstate Council on
Water Policy (1987; 1991). In light of a possible increase in the frequency and

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3 Since completion of this study, the Soil Conservation Service of the U,S, Department of
Agriculture has been reorganized as the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

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