Drought
One of the most pressing issues for New England communities at this time is water quantity. With continued below-normal levels of precipitation, water quantity is an issue of increasing concern for residents in the region.
The CSREES New England Regional Water Quality Program is responding to the region's desire for drought-related information. Through phone calls, emails, public presentations, websites, and conferences with municipal officials, the program is continuing to teach practical water conservation techniques to New England communities.
Online Resources
New England Cooperative Extension Resources
University of Connecticut
UConn Home and Garden Education Center
University of Maine features a website devoted exclusively to the 2001-2002 drought.
University of Massachusetts
UMass Drought Information
University of New Hampshire
Drought in New Hampshire
Water Conservation in the Home factsheet
"Water Conservation 101" Slideshow
Long Term Water Protection through Community Conservation:
Community Conservation Assistance Program
University of Rhode Island
Home*A*Syst: Water Conservation Tips
University of Vermont
Drought Information
Current Research
Researchers at Tufts University are working on developing a user-friendly
evapo-transpiration (ET) and Crop Water Stress (CWS) estimation tool
that can be used for agriculture, water resources, and forest management applications
using routinely available remote sensing data. This new tool will decrease the complexity
of estimating ET and CWS over large areas allowing land managers to make large-scale
decisions, and will be available to a wide variety of users within many different regions.
State-Specific Resources
Connecticut
Institute of Water Resources
Regional Water Authority
Maine
Drought Task Force
(hosted by the Maine Emergency Management Agency)
Emergency Management Agency
Massachusetts
Department of Environmental Management
Emergency Management Agency
New Hampshire
Department of Environmental Services
Water Conservation in the Home
Information About Wells, Groundwater, Water Testing, and Water Supply
Rhode Island
Water Resources Board
Vermont
Department of Agriculture, Food & Markets
Office of the State Climatologist
Emergency Management (brief list of links)
USGS State-Specific Drought Information Pages
Connecticut
Maine
New Hampshire & Vermont
Massachusetts & Rhode Island
National-scale Resources (mostly Federal government agencies)
Financial Assistance for very low income families with dry wells
USDA Rural Development 504 program
American Red Cross
National Drought Mitigation Center
National Agricultural Library: Water Quality Information Center
NOAA Climate Prediction Center
USDA Water Quality Information Center
Drought and Water Allocation Bibliography
Drought and Water Allocation Bibliography (II)
New England Online News Sources (search articles for "drought"):