When I think of drought regions around the world, it seems simple: places where a lack of water or reduced water is found (or not found) at various water resource points. I thought drought primarily happened in desert-prone areas, so I figured a study on drought would be mainly for those regions. It turns out I was wrong! With climate change effects on the rise, drought actually affects many regions as well as economies, gender, food security, and so much more. For the past few months at Akvo, we have been slowly integrating Desk study: Resilient WASH systems in drought prone areas, by CARE Nederland (on drought and making water systems more drought resilient) into Akvopedia, Akvo’s online encyclopedia for everything WASH-related.
Drought does mean less water availability, but this can cause a [[Drought_and_links_to_other_disasters|myriad of other problems]]. For instance, without a consistent water supply, crops can fail which leads to not only food insecurity, but it intensifies poverty. Women and children will be more impacted by drought than men, because they generally tend to agricultural activities and will need to travel further to get to water in the case of a drought. Ethnic tensions can escalate into wars over water resources, and hydropower can be cut dramatically, leading to greater and greater economic losses.
Drought can even affect the making of cement, which can result in a poor quality if not done properly. Cement is used in the construction of most everything! So if a community has a weak infrastructure, failing crops, stressed and depleted caretakers (women), and economic and civil instability, how is that community supposed to survive at all? I realised more and more how integrating the drought study into Akvopedia was crucial, not only for [http://www.iisd.org/casl/asalprojectdetails/asal.htm arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs)], but most all areas experiencing even temporary drought. As these areas were likely to be the least prepared. With so many factors being affected by drought, '''efficiency''' and water technology '''appropriateness''' (for a specific geography and climate of a region) became emphasised the most throughout the CARE study.