Southwestern Drought Conditions Increased Up To Fivefold Last Year
It’s well known that source water scarcity is one of the American Southwest’s most pervasive drinking water problems. But it may be hard to believe just how dramatically the problem grew last year.
“Drought conditions in parts of the Southwest have intensified by up to five times in the last year and the prospects for significant relief are slim for the foreseeable future,” according to Weather.com. “An increase in the severity of the drought by two to five categories over a large area of the Southwest over the last year is most noticeable.”
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor’s final report of 2020, the Southwest went from having areas of moderate and severe drought in the early spring of last year to widespread extreme and exceptional drought by the end of the year, the two worst drought categories listed by the monitor.
“One of the main reasons this happened is that showers and thunderstorms fueled by moisture from the summertime monsoon barely made an appearance in 2020,” per Weather.com. “That’s important since most of northwestern Mexico and the southwestern U.S. receive over half of their annual precipitation from the monsoon.”
Source water scarcity has been an ongoing issue in the region, leading to state showdowns over water bodies, fundamental changes to distribution compacts, and disputes over creative ways of stretching the resources as far as they’ll go. But it may still surprise some to see just how significantly the problem grew last year.
Water managers in Arizona’s capital city, for instance, saw drought records topple.
“Although 2020 barely missed out on that title of hottest-ever year, July and August 2020 will go down as the two hottest months in Phoenix history,” KJZZ reported. “Phoenix saw 53 days above 110 degrees in 2020, smashing the previous record by about 20 days. It also broke records for the highest number of days above 95 degrees (172 days), days above 100 degrees (145), days above 105 degrees (102 days) and days above 115 degrees (14 days).”
Water systems point to climate change and growing drinking water demand as primary causes of drought. But whatever the underlying reason, the region’s drinking water providers will have to get innovative in delivering this critical resource moving forward.
To read more about drought, visit Water Online’s Source Water Scarcity Solutions Center.