Preparing for drought: the sooner the better

Drought is in the news again this week. Unfortunately. This past Friday (2/27/09), California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, aka "The Governator", declared a drought emergency after three years of below-normal rainfall. With the state agricultural industry expecting to lose $2.8 billion and 95,000 jobs this year due to drought alone, mandatory restrictions of up to 20% for urban water agencies are likely, unless spring storms stage a miraculous rescue.

And California is not alone. As reported by The U.S. Drought Monitor,…