Global Drought Threatens Water, Food Supplies. Get Used to It.

NBC News | September 10, 2014

The U.S. is hardly alone when it comes to drought. A worldwide weather phenomenon threatens the future of water and food supplies, as well as the global economy, experts say. Colombia, Pakistan, Somalia, Australia, Guatemala, China and Kenya are just a few of the other countries suffering severe drought conditions.

"The effects of droughts happen over time and aren't just a single event," said Lynn Wilson, academic chair at the online school, Kaplan University, and an environmental researcher. "When it comes to food and having safe drinking water, water is not an unlimited resource, and we have to manage it better across the globe."

Will Sarni, who is director and practice leader in water strategy and sustainability at Deloitte Consulting, said the full economic effect from the current global drought is just taking shape.

"We don't hear much about how water scarcity impacts where businesses locate," he said. "Water-rich states will be able to lure manufacturing and agriculture away from water-scarce nations. That can lead to limits in economic growth."

But what's clear to some analysts is that more severe weather episodes like drought are on the way.

"We'll see more droughts and floods in the decades to come," said LaDawn Haglund, a professor of justice and social inquiry at Arizona State University and an urban water expert. "Warming temperatures are changing when and where how much water falls from the sky."

Cost projections from the drought are hard to pin down, but the World Economic Forum (WEF) says that drought across the globe costs $6 billion to $8 billion a year from losses in agriculture and related businesses.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/global-drought-threatens-water-food-supplies-get-used-it-n196841