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SELWYN RURAL LIFE<br />
Wednesday <strong>January</strong> <strong>24</strong> 20<strong>24</strong> <strong>Selwyn</strong> <strong>Times</strong> 37<br />
Advertising Feature<br />
Drought by name,<br />
drought by nature<br />
• By Isabelle Teresa<br />
While we headed into this season<br />
fearing drought, nature has been kinder<br />
than expected and we’re not there yet<br />
(well, at the time of writing, anyway).<br />
However I was intrigued to see a <strong>January</strong><br />
Stuff headline “Meteorological drought<br />
may develop in interior South Island”.<br />
Meteorological drought? Wouldn’t any<br />
drought be, umm, to do with the weather?<br />
Being a fan of words, I looked it up.<br />
It turns out that there are multiple<br />
definitions of the word “drought” –<br />
research in the 1980s turned up as many<br />
as 150 published definitions. These days, it<br />
is accepted that these have boiled down to<br />
four main types.<br />
Meteorological drought focuses on<br />
dryness, comparing current conditions<br />
to an average amount for that region,<br />
and factoring in the length of the dry<br />
period. This is what NIWA addresses in<br />
its “Hotspot Watch” reports, which are<br />
weekly updates describing soil moisture<br />
patterns across the country.<br />
It was phrases like “abnormally dry<br />
conditions in Canterbury” in NIWA’s<br />
<strong>January</strong> 11 Hotspot Watch that sparked<br />
the headline I saw.<br />
Hydrological drought focuses on<br />
water, or specifically the effects of less<br />
water than normal entering subsurface<br />
water supplies (ie, streamflow, reservoir<br />
and lake levels, groundwater). This type<br />
of drought can take longer to become<br />
apparent and to have its impact.<br />
Agricultural drought is what most<br />
people would think of as drought.<br />
Sustained dryness and reduced water<br />
directly affect crops and stock, to a severe<br />
degree that restricts or prevents usual<br />
activity.<br />
Socioeconomic drought is when<br />
the effects of all the above hit the<br />
supermarket. The phrase acknowledges<br />
the social disparity in being able to<br />
weather the imbalance of supply and<br />
demand.<br />
While this might all seem like word<br />
games, having agreed definitions is<br />
essential.<br />
We’re accustomed to hearing on the<br />
news that the government has “declared<br />
a state of drought”, although that’s not<br />
strictly correct – it actually declares<br />
an adverse event. Nevertheless, the<br />
principle is that, like “declaring a state of<br />
emergency”, it’s the declaration that brings<br />
a wide range of legal, financial, practical,<br />
wellbeing and insurance aspects into play.<br />
Which is a pretty compelling reason to<br />
have agreed definitions and to get the<br />
words right.<br />
DSH Contracting,<br />
Excavation and Cartage<br />
021 323 931 dan@dsh.co.nz<br />
www.christchurchexcavation.co.nz
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