Congressional Digest

Excerpt

Drought, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is usually defined as “a prolonged period of dry weather caused by a lack of precipitation that results in a serious water shortage for some activity, population, or ecological system,”A NASA study found the drought of 1934 to be the driest and most widespread of the last 1,000 years, extending across 71.7 percent of western North America. Today, the West is experiencing a drought of proportions that some say rivals that of the 1930s Dust Bowl.

Now in its fourth year, the California drought is classified as “extreme to exceptional” by the …