Drought causes layoffs

November 05, 2007
By Aaron Taube, Daily Tar Heel

The drought being endured by the South has developed into one of the worst the area has ever seen, and some are wondering why the government left them hanging high and dry.

The entire western part of North Carolina has fallen into "exceptional" drought conditions, the most severe level on the Palmer Drought Severity Index.

"This is a pretty severe situation," said Brian Fuchs of the National Drought Mitigation Center, adding that the type of drought conditions seen this year in the South are a "once-every-50-years event."

Gov. Mike Easley, who testified on the drought's effect on farmers for the U.S. House agriculture committee last month, has exhorted North Carolinians to cut their water consumption in half.

But the state's landscapers say they have been hit hardest by the drought and by a lack of government preparation.

According to a recent study by the N.C. Nursery & Landscape Association, the drought has been responsible for layoffs of 15 percent of laborers, a loss of 18,750 jobs.

The industry has also sustained a huge economic loss as a result of the drought.

"It's had a big impact," said Ron Gelvin, executive vice president and CEO of the association.

"A lot of the landscape jobs we're normally doing this fall - with no water use, you can't do those. It's something you won't be able to do later in the year when it rains, so it's a lost opportunity."

Gelvin was highly critical of the state government despite claims that drought management officials had been holding meetings as early as April. "Raleigh has known since 2002 that in 2008 to 2009 they would not have enough water to supply all the demand if we had perfect weather, much less a drought," he said.

N.C. Water Supply Planning Section Chief Linwood Peele said that there is only so much the state can do to prevent water supply from running out.

"Drought is based on impacts, so the state can issue drought advisories but people at the local level have to implement those," he said.

The drought is the fourth in the Southeast during the past three decades, leading some to think there should have been more comprehensive prevention plans.

"State water planning groups did not keep track of what was going on year-to-year, day-to-day," said Mark Crisp, a consultant with the C.H. Guernsey engineering firm in Atlanta, where the rapidly dwindling water supply led to confrontations between Georgia politicians and their Southern peers about the federal allocation of water.

"Our drought plans are woefully short on details relative to this significant of an event," Crisp said to explain the severity of his area's water shortage.

Though preventive measures were not taken prior to the drought, state governments affected by it have taken significant action since.

"One of the best things I've seen out of this has been the public service announcements coming out across the South just getting the message out there that if people do not conserve water, there could be problems down the line," Fuchs said.

Despite the 3.3 inches of rainfall Chapel Hill saw between Oct. 25 and Oct. 27, drought conditions remain severe, with climatologists predicting a dry winter, and local water restrictions remain in place. Visit owasa.org for more information.