Drought Management Plan for the State of Georgia
Objectives
Schedule
Drought Mgmt Info
Workshop Archives
Introduction
The state of Georgia is currently suffering
one of its most severe droughts. Water supply reservoirs are at all-time
lows and many farmers are facing extreme financial losses due to a lack of
rainfall. These events have led the state of Georgia to develop a statewide
drought management plan. The plan will be designed and executed by state
personnel and will be led by researchers from the University of Washington,
the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the National Drought Mitigation
Center. worked at the University of Washington will center on the
development of computer models of water supply and the development of a
shared vision of the region's resources. In addition, the University of
Washington will design and direct a virtual drought exercise to illustrate
the institutional and policy needs of the region to better deal with
drought.
Objectives and Approach
Through this process, we will develop a statewide framework for managing
drought, and we will apply that framework to develop a drought plan for the
Atlanta Region. We see our role in this process as providing the expertise
and guidance to help the State take charge of managing drought, and to
enable the State to develop drought plans for other regions.
1. Build a drought planning team and
identify problems. We will conduct meetings and interviews with water
resources managers, agency representatives, and stakeholders to help the
State:
 | define the range and severity of drought
problems. |
| develop an organizational structure and
circles of influence for agencies and individuals responsible for
decisions during drought. |
| identify decision makers, stakeholders,
advocacy groups and independent experts that should be involved in the
process. |
| formulate a Drought Task Force, a
monitoring committee, a risk assessment committee, and a mitigation and
response committee. |
| develop objectives and tasks for each of
the committees. |
2. Develop goals, objectives, and metrics for
drought plan. Through additional
consultation with managers, representatives, and stakeholders, we will help
the State to:
| determine goals and planning objectives
for managing water during drought, such as economic efficiency, equity,
environmental protection. |
| identify performance measures that
decision-makers, water managers, and stakeholders use to judge the
adequacy of water management systems. |
| determine the types of effects of water
management decisions, how they are related to goals and objectives, and
how they could be measured. |
| identify multiple and conflicting water
management goals at the state and local levels, and ways they could be
reconciled in a drought plan. |
3. Identify drought risks and potential risk
reduction activities. Together with
participants in the drought planning process, we will:
| determine the areas, sectors, and groups
most vulnerable to drought impacts. |
| identify the range of drought impacts:
economic, environmental, and social. |
| identify and assess the appropriateness of
different drought indicators. |
| identify the range of actions that can be
taken before, during, and after a drought to mitigate impacts.
|
4. Develop and evaluate the drought plan.
| develop a "shared vision" process, using
computer simulation models of water systems, to discuss drought scenarios
with water managers, representatives, and stakeholders. |
| determine indicators and triggers for each
stage of the drought plan, both progressing and receding. |
| determine strategic, tactical, and
emergency responses, and link them with each stage of the plan.
|
| conduct "virtual drought exercises" with
water managers, agency representatives, stakeholders, and other
participants to test and evaluate the drought plan. |
5. Institutionalize the drought plan
| write a report that clearly explains the
drought plan, the findings, and the recommendations. |
| identify the actions that will be
necessary to institute, exercise, and update the recommended plan, and
provide models of legislation and regulations from other states’ drought
plans. |
| recommend a set of coordination and
management activities to take before, during, and after drought events,
including post-drought evaluations. |
Schedule
This project
research will begin in the fall of 2000 and will be completed by the summer
of 2001.
Updated
05/13/2005
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