“Drought Is an Insidious and Patient Killer”: Water Currents’ Jay Famiglietti Testifies to Congress

This week Water Currents’ own Jay Famiglietti came to Washington from California to testify before Congress on the importance of supporting research on drought and hydrology science.

Famiglietti, a professor at the University of California, Irvine’s Department of Earth System Science and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is perhaps best known for his satellite-based research on over-pumping of aquifers.

Famiglietti told Congress, ”Drought is an insidious and patient killer of food and fuel crops, of livestock, of flora and fauna, and of humans, and it has emerged as a major threat to our nation’s food, health, economic, and water security.”

He added that these impacts may be a greater threat in the coming decades since temperatures are expected to go up.

“In spite of its enormous emotional and financial toll, current investment in drought forecasting, monitoring, and planning tools remains far too small to affect timely progress toward critical improvements,” Famiglietti warned.

Famiglietti calls for a national-scale drought monitoring and prediction strategy. He said we need to build on recent successes, which include greater coordination of research, a drought early-warning system, and collaboration with the U.S. Drought Monitor.

But he added that current gaps in funding “drastically limit the confidence of predictions and the accuracy of early warning systems.” Famiglietti said the most important areas are related to deficiencies in the nation’s hydrological assets, and a lack of observations of the water environment and their integration.

“Our nation’s ability to monitor and predict the state of its water environment is well behind where it needs to be to address issues of drought, but also water availability, flooding, groundwater depletion, of human vs ecological requirements, and of the impact of global change,” he said. “We are falling behind the capabilities of other nations while significantly constraining our domestic efforts to ensure sustainable water management.”

National Geographic: Water Currents