You may well ask, what does this have to do with me. Well, it has everything to do with you. Yes, this is largely due to abnormally low rainfall consecutively for multiple years. However, how we contend with difficulties as a community is equally important. This chart in figure one, is the Drought Monitor, a program which is a cooperative product of Federal and educational entities. It is shown here with its current readings as of Friday, February the fifth 2013. You’ll note I hope that Kansas is not just abnormally dry, or in a moderate drought. In fact, severe, extreme, and exceptional are the only descriptors of how dry Kansas is getting. That is a big danger to metropolitan areas like Topeka.
Fig.1 All of Kansas is in the Severe, Extreme, Exceptional range.
Drought has to do with food as well. It is notable in an article from the Witchita AP that herd inventory is the lowest it’s been since 1952. This means higher prices not only for meat, but everything made from these animals; beef, chicken, pork. If things keep going like this there wont be $1 items on the menu and fast food places. What do you have to offset the cost of food in the upcoming year or two?
Crops don’t fair well effecting things like ethanol, corn based sweeteners, feed for cattle. Which all comes out in the cost of breads, peanuts, and produce. Metropolitan areas don’t have much room for citizens to grow their own foods to supplement the rising cost of produce in the face of these horrible conditions. What’s worse it is costly to water home gardens if you don’t conserve drain water from when it falls. Rain barrels should definitely be in use by everyone expecting to water any plants out side.
Maybe you’ll have noticed major bodies of water like Perry, Clinton, and even the small, Lake Shawnee are all down several feet, with docks sitting on dirt. This doesn’t bode well for plant life. Except not being able to water your lawns, which honestly business need to turn off those sprinklers; it leaves us with less and less drinking water. What is worse, is that it’s still going to get worse Continue reading
