Global Drought Check

Africa
Southern Africa: Rising Indian Ocean Temperatures Will Bring Escalating Drought - New Report
DJIBOUTI: Pastoralists Suffer Drought

BOTSWANA: Drought relief measures announced Drought-stricken Botswana may ration water

Gaborone - Botswana is facing a "desperate" situation and may have to ration water and purify sewage after a drought that has left the capital's main dam at just over 20 percent of its normal capacity, officials say. Water is always a scarce resource in Botswana, a country dominated by the Kalahari Desert where the currency is named the "pula" or "raindrop" because the commodity is so valuable, but officials say this year is one of the worst on record.

Purifying sewage comes up later in this update.  Look for it by name!

Asia/Middle East
Drought-stricken delta region may receive emergency funds

Europe

Parts of Spain Losing More than Half of Grain Crop
Fires rage in drought-hit Portugal
France rations water as drought takes hold

France brings in water rationing after worst drought for 30 years

France is facing its worst water shortage since 1976, with rivers drying up, reservoirs struggling to meet demand, and rationing measures introduced in the most severely hit areas.
…
Teams of "water police" have been patrolling farming areas to enforce the restrictions on irrigation and handing out fines of up to €1,500 (£1,000).

But faced with losing their crops many farmers are prepared to risk being caught. "Those who are watering their fields know they are doing so against the regulations," Marylise Boche, president of the Association of Irrigators, said.

"They're not doing it to be provocative, but quite simply to save their business."

One farmer caught watering despite the ban said: "If I stop irrigating, I will lose €20,000 and have to lay off all my workers."

Americas

Right now, the Midwest is going through a nasty drought, especially in Central Illinois.

Drought worsens
Farmers try to remain positive as drought conditions fail to subside

Bloomington, Il:  Rain does little to ease state's ongoing drought

By Sharon K. Wolfe
swolfe@pantagraph.com
BLOOMINGTON -- Central Illinois welcomed some rain Monday and Tuesday, but the National Weather Service said north-central Illinois still is 7 to 10 inches short for precipitation so far this year.

"One rainfall isn't going to make a huge dent in it, " said Matt Barnes, meteorologist for the weather service's Lincoln office. An analysis from the Midwest Regional Climate Control Center in Champaign showed moisture levels in the top 12 inches of soil are at least 30 percent to 40 percent below normal across central and southeastern Illinois. It was last updated Monday on the weather service Web site.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported 91 percent of Illinois farmland is short of topsoil moisture, and 37 percent of the state's corn crop is in poor or very poor condition, triple a month ago.

For soybeans, 27 percent of the crop is in poor or very poor condition.

Been talking to my sister about the drought that's hitting Central Illinois - she just took a new job at Illinois State.  Much like Central Indiana, drought means the farmers start hitting the news in very visible ways.  A major radio station like WGN still does a farm report every morning, in between chatter about Mayor Daley and interviews with Barack Obama.  Good to see some rain is hitting the plains, finally.  Especially since this whole past month in Florida has been almost record-setting, with only two days without rain in the Orlando area.

The soybeans have been hard hit in Brazil because of the drought there, too.

Drought, economics slow Brazilian soybean blitz

Oceania

I have been keeping track of Goulburn, AU, over the last month, where things have gotten bad and worse.  So let's spotlight Goulburn.

Parched Dam on Farm Near Goulburn, Australia


FEATURE - Australian Drought Towns Run Out of Water

GOULBURN, Australia - Severe drought is drying up drinking water in cities and towns across Australia, threatening to shut down major population centres but also creating conditions for a revolution in water use.

Worst hit is the farming town of Goulburn, population 25,000, southwest of Australia's biggest city, Sydney. Its main dam, Pejar, is a cracked-earth dustbowl holding less than 10 percent of its 1,000-megalitre (220-million-gallon) capacity. The town will become the first in Australia to run out of water in six months, if it gets no substantial rain and if emergency action for new water supplies fails to work.
…
The worst drought in 100 years is forcing Australians to close the tap on profligate water use and turn treated waste, most of which flows into the sea, into drinking water. Some waste water is already recycled to irrigate gardens and sports fields and this is set to increase.

Goulburn residents are likely to become the first Australians to start drinking treated sewerage returned directly to their water supply -- a practice long-shunned elsewhere.

"Someone's got to do it. And then it will probably go through the rest of Australia," Goulburn mayor Paul Stephenson said.

That was the other recycling sewage mention, for those of you keeping track.  We finish up with these depressing gems.

Study finds drought breaking up families
Govt concerned about psychological impact of drought

Drought prompts new type of mental stress

Rural Australians may be suffering from a recently identified psychological condition known as solastalgia, says a researcher conducting the nation's first study into the effects of drought on mental health.

Gina Sartore, from the University of Newcastle's Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health revealed preliminary results of a pilot study at a Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists congress in Sydney this week. Sartore says solastalgia, or "drought as traumatic environmental change", is among a number of psychological problems afflicting drought-stricken rural communities.
...
Solastalgia describes the pain experienced when the place a person lives is under assault and destruction, a loss of a sense of belonging to a particular place and a sense of desolation about its disappearance, says Dr Glenn Albrecht, a lecturer in environmental studies at the University of Newcastle. ... "It's the homesickness you feel when you're still at home," he says.

Comments

[Glenn Albrecht]

If anyone feels that their own experience of drought or any other form of negative environmental change (flood, earthquake, mining, storm) resonates with my concept of 'solastalgia', then I would very much like to hear from you. I am on sabbatical leave in Canada at the moment (October 11 2005) and have good email connections.

Regards,

Glenn