Water Management under Drought Conditions: Overview of Practices

Abstract

The management of water resources under drought conditions has received added emphasis recently because of prolonged droughts affecting all regions of the United States. The American Society of Civil Engineers Irrigation and Drainage Division has supported a task committee to review this topic. This paper summarizes some of the more important findings of this task committee. The paper provides an overview of drought-response practices by federal and state agencies and discusses specific experiences by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the states of Colorado and California. The experiences of these organizations show the importance of having a coordinated, interagency, well-defined response that is flexible enough to adapt to the unique nature of a situation.