Drought is “The New Normal”

By Samantha Murray, photo by Lacey Jarrell Last week, some of the nation’s best and brightest water scientists, lawyers and policy-makers convened in Eugene, Oregon to think big about drought in the West. And the take-home message was that these dry periods are not going anywhere. In fact, they are more likely to grow in frequency and severity, thanks to climate change. Since populations have shifted over the years to the most arid parts of the country and much of our food comes from those same places, experts believe we’d be better off looking at drought as a “familiar common enemy" that unites us, rather than a natural disaster that ...