Jul 27, 2015

USAToday: On four continents, historic droughts wreak havoc(Record-Breaking Drought - US-CA40Years, N.Korea100Years, Brazil50Years, S.Africa20Years) - July 27, 2015

California's historic drought appears to be matched by severe dry spells on three other continents. Brazil, North Korea and South Africa are bearing the brunt of much lower-than-average precipitation, wreaking havoc on millions of peoples' lives and livelihoods.

While the causes vary from country to country, the chance of more intense droughts in the future as a result of man-made climate change is only increasing as regional extremes of precipitation — both more and less — remain likely, according to the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Every drought is unique, said Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute, a global water think tank in Oakland. "The same drought in California would have very different impacts in other countries," he said.

What's considered a drought in Bali, Indonesia — where six days without rain is unusual — would certainly not be considered a drought in Libya — where annual rainfall is just 7 inches — the National Drought Mitigation Center reported.

In some parts of the world — such as the Middle East — drought is simply a permanent part of life because of the chronic lack of water, making desalination and the reuse of wastewater far more commonplace there, said Charles Iceland of the D.C.-based World Resources Institute.

Overall, tracking droughts globally is difficult: No country outside the U.S. has a comprehensive effort to monitor it, said climatologist Brian Fuchs of the National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln, Neb.

BRAZIL



The Cantareira water reservoirs, in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, are shown on May 27, 2015. (Photo: Carlos Villalbra R., epa)

The South American nation's worst drought in 50 years is impacting a fifth of Brazil's 200 million people, including those in the megacities of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janiero. Brazil is "really suffering," Gleick said. "It's pushing its infrastructure to the limit," he said.



While Brazil has a decent system of dams and reservoirs, no human-built infrastructure is adequate if the drought is extreme enough, Gleick said. Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city, is now running on emergency reserves of water and has started rationing because of the lack of precipitation, the Global Drought Information System reported.

Water in Brazilian cities and reservoirs is extremely polluted, Iceland said, meaning access to clean water even in rainy times is challenging. The drought makes that situation even worse.

What little water is left in the rivers and reservoirs is "just about unusable in its current state," Iceland said. "In Brazil, wastewater is not treated and just dumped into rivers, which are almost like open sewers."

CALIFORNIA