Cape Coral still in a drought.
CAPE CORAL, Fla. – A Cape Coral boat once marooned is back in the water as heavy rainfall helps replenish canal levels.
The canals in Cape Coral are being replenished with a helpful dose of rain and water being fed from Charlotte County.
In as little as two weeks, Ron Brandich’s boat on the corner of Nelson Road has gone from rock bottom to seaworthy.
"It was very sad.
You make an investment for a boat and you want to have fun but you can’t do a darn thing," said Brandich.
As fewer people rely on irrigation systems, Cape Coral saves millions of gallons of water a day otherwise pulled from the canals.
"Now we got water, it rained, life is good," said Brandich.
That doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods quite yet.
"You dream about retirement, you dream about going on your boat and you can’t and now you can.

The Relentless March of Drought – That ‘Horseman of the Apocalypse.
No wonder then that a major United Nations Convention calls drought ‘one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.’ See what the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) says in this regard.
“Drought, a complex and slowly encroaching natural hazard with significant and pervasive socio-economic and environmental impacts, is known to cause more deaths and displace more people than any other natural disaster.” Drought, Water Scarcity and Refugees On this, Monique Barbut, UNCCD Executive Secretary, reminds that the world’s drought-prone and water scarce regions are often the main sources of refugees.
“Converging factors like political tension, weak institutions, economic marginalisation, lack of social safety nets or group rivalries create the conditions that make people unable to cope.
According to Convention, the geo-political and security challenges the world faces are complex, but a better implementing good land management practices can simultaneously help populations adapt to climate change and build resilience to drought; reduce the risk of forced migration and conflict over dwindling natural resources and secure sustainable agricultural and energy production.
Reversing the effects of land degradation and desertification through sustainable land management (SLM) is not only achievable; it is the logical, cost-effective next step for national and international development agendas…” UNCCD informs that 12 million hectares of productive land become barren every year due to desertification and drought alone, which is a lost opportunity to produce 20 million tons of grain.
“We cannot afford to keep degrading land when we are expected to increase food production by 70 per cent by 2050 to feed the entire world population.” “Sustainable intensification of food production, with fewer inputs, that avoids further deforestation and cropland expansion into vulnerable areas should be a priority for action for policy makers, investors and smallholder farmers.” Meantime, the Convention’s secretariat reports that the increase in droughts and flash floods that are stronger, more frequent and widespread is destroying the land – the Earth’s main fresh water store.
Over 1 billion people today have no access to water, and demand will increase by 30 per cent by 2030.” National Security, Migration With up to 40 per cent of all intrastate conflicts in the past 60 years are linked to the control and allocation of natural resources, the exposure of more and more poor people to water scarcity and hunger opens the door to the failure of fragile states and regional conflicts, according to UNCCD.
Losing productive land is driving people to make risky life choices, it adds and explains that in rural areas where people depend on scarce productive land resources, land degradation is a driver of forced migration.
“This in turn stabilises the income of the rural population and avoids unnecessary movement of people.” The UN Convention to Combat Desertification works with partners such as the International Organization for Migration to address the challenges arising from land degradation, large-scale population movements and their consequences, while aiming to demonstrate how the international community could leverage the skills and capacities of migrants along with the remittances, sent home by migrants, to build resilience.

Surviving drought in South Africa.
Quick facts At least 17 countries in Africa are struggling to cope with two consecutive years of drought.
A senior UN official in March 2017 said that the world is facing "the largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of the United Nations" in 1945.
Since the 1990s, the country has lost a third of its farms due to water scarcity.
Professor Farrant believes they may hold the answer to crops surviving long periods without water.
But should there be a drought, the plant won’t die," Professor Farrant says.
"When the next rain comes, [the crop] will continue growing and the farmer can at least get a harvest.
And you can get another chance of life."
The family has employed a cutting-edge technology called Fruitlook to help run their orchard effectively.
As a result, farmers are able to target irrigation to areas that really need it, thus saving water.

Water saving efforts slipped in April, after drought ended.
Californians used more water this April than they did in April 2016, according to state data, and that jump in water use came thanks to residents of Southern California.
Gov.
Jerry Brown declared an end to the state’ drought emergency in April, following a wet winter across California.
That included lifting the mandatory water conservation limits imposed by the state.
That’s a jump from 77 gallons a day the previous year.
In the Colorado River area, which includes inland parts of Southern California, daily use jumped to 163 gallons per day, from 127 the previous year.
At a State Water Resources Control Board meeting this morning, state scientist Jelena Hartman said the uptick in use may be due to a relatively dry and warm April in Southern California.
Officials will keep a close eye on Californians’ water use during the summer months, which will test whether or not conservation has become a way of life in the state, as officials hope.
With California’s climate changing, scientists say future droughts could strike more often and be more severe — making conservation a perennial issue.

Big Hole group updates drought management plan.
According to Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, river and tributary flows basin-wide have been near double of median flow this time of year and the entire basin average snowpack is 110 percent of average.
But in the event of a hot, dry summer, the committee’s drought management plan coordinates voluntary action for irrigators and water users to reduce water use, maintain minimum river flows and, for the fishing community, to reduce fishing to protect the river.
If conditions decline over the summer, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks will begin enforcement of fishing restrictions to further protect the fishery based on high water temperature, low flow or both.
The plan divides the Big Hole River into five sections.
Actions are determined by water temperature and flow measured in five locations.
The plan was established in the late 1990s and is reviewed annually and updated as needed.
As part of the plan, the committee funds three USGS real-time temperature gauges for the stations Big Hole River-Wise River at Dickey Bridge, Notch Bottom, and Maiden Rock from July 1 to September 30 at $3,600 a year and also sponsors four upper Big Hole River USGS flow gauges.
Visit the “River Conditions” page on the BHWC.org website for the plan, interactive map, current conditions, restrictions, forecasting, and more.
For additional information, visit bhwc.org/fish-water/river-conditions or 406-960-4855.

Lawn watering in Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks just got simpler after drought declared over.
Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks have relaxed their water irrigation restrictions in response to Gov.
The Thousand Oaks City Council last week lifted Level One water restrictions, returning the city to its more flexible permanent water conservation measures.
Read more: The Simi Valley council in July adopted the Water Supply Shortage Resolution, which restricted irrigation to three days a week in the spring and summer and two days a week in the fall and winter.
It is essentially a voluntary conservation program, in which customers are requested to conserve and use water efficiently, Fuchiwaki wrote.
Under permanent water conservation regulations, adopted by the council in 2009, residents cannot irrigate between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. and in general cannot irrigate more than 15 minutes a day.
There are other restrictions as well.
In addition to those measures, the governor’s prohibition against watering during, and 48 hours after, measurable rain remain in effect, as it also does in Simi Valley.
Homeowners who have let their lawns die or go brown in response to the drought will need time to reestablish landscaping, Spurgin wrote.
Accordingly, while city code compliance staff will respond to complaints immediately, property owners be given until Nov. 30 to comply, Spurgin said.

City water usage reaching highs during drought.
Superintendent Duane Friesz said the facility has reached pumping levels it doesn’t normally see until July or August, at times reaching 7.5 million gallons of its 12 million-gallon capacity.
The heaviest usage is in the morning and evenings.
Citywide and in Lincoln, customers have been asked to reduce outdoor water usage, including sprinkler systems, and lawn watering due to the dry weather conditions.
Even numbered houses and businesses are asked to only water lawns on Monday and Thursday.
Michelle Klose, Bismarck’s director of utility operations, said the water tower is the only water source for that area of town, while other locations have multiple sources.
Coupled with a high growth rate, going from 4,100 customers in May 2015 to 4,500 today, not including South Central Regional Water customers, the water tower has not been able to keep up with demand in the current drought conditions.
Klose said her department will be taking a look at its operations and infrastructure to determine what improvements need to be made in order to prevent these northwest area water shortages in future hot weather situations.
With the drought, average water use has increased from 300 gallons per house per day in May 2015 to 450 gallons per house per day throughout May.
Bismarck water customers can track their water usage online by setting up an account at www.bismarcknd.gov/wateranalytics.

Drought causing ranchers to sell cattle.
The drought conditions, coupled with a depleted hay supply from the tough winter, have left ranchers without feed and with little hope for a good hay crop this summer.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, the state has had less-than-average precipitation during the past three months, with portions of central and south-central North Dakota receiving only 25 percent and 50 percent of normal precipitation during this period.
Spring so far has been the seventh driest on record in Bismarck.
“They’re trying to save grass for their best cow-calf pairs,” said Lachenmeier, who said smaller operators have been bringing in 10 to 15 animals.
The larger ones have been selling off about 50 head or even as many as 100 head.
Ranchers may need to drive 200 to 300 miles to get hay, which is cost prohibitive.
Ellingson said some are getting creative and feeding their animals on a dry lot rather than turning them out to pasture.
Cow-calf pairs on the other hand are going for $300 to $600 less than they were several months ago.
They started selling for about $2,600 in the spring and have gradually crept down to the $1,700 to $1,900 range, Lachenmeier said.

Drought-hit Cape Town braces for gales, flash floods, mudslides.
South Africa’s tourist hub of Cape Town was braced for its worst winter storm in 30 years on Tuesday and had closed schools and activated emergency protocols with flash floods, heavy rain and mudslides expected within hours, city officials said.
South Africa’s Weather Service said the storm, expected to hit land at about 2000 GMT, could also dump more than two inches of rain in some areas and make waves of up to 12 meters (yards).
Millions of people in shanty towns, already having to cope with the the region’s worst drought in a century, have historically borne the brunt of bad weather, with floods and heavy rain washing away homes built of planks and zinc sheets.
"Residents living in informal settlements will probably be the hardest hit," Charlotte Powell, Cape Town city’s disaster management spokeswoman said.
She said the army, police and other emergency services were on stand-by to evacuate anyone stranded by the storm and to provide emergency shelter and food.
The provincial education department sent out a circular closing schools on Wednesday as a precaution.
"The storm may damage some schools, which may could place learners and staff at risk," the department said in a statement.
Schools will reopen on Thursday when the storm is expected to have subsided.
(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Southwest Florida has undoubtedly turned the corner on dry season. And though rain amounts have varied widely over the past three days, there is much more to come for the state’s west coast this week. As rain opportunities increase and rain gauges get dusted off after our arid spring, the forecast looks promising for the region to shake off the drought status we’ve been in for months. WHAT’S HAPPENING? The transition from dry season to rainy season is a process. What’s helping the transition this year though is a large tropical air mass slowly moving from the Gulf toward Florida. This slice of the tropics is water-logged, meaning it contains a lot of what’s known as precipitable water. Precipitable water, or PWAT for short, is a meteorological term identifying air masses able to generate a lot of rain. The higher the PWAT, the more rain one can theoretically squeeze out of the atmosphere. Right now for example, the PWAT value in southern California where the air is dry is about .13. This means if you were to condense all of the water vapor in a column of the air in California, you’d get .13″ of rain in the window of time you’re looking at. Today in Southwest Florida, our PWAT values are around 2.3. And so, if we were able to rain out all of the available water vapor, 2.3″ of rain would fall. As we work through the forecast tonight, on Tuesday, and through Wednesday, PWAT values for South Florida vary from 2 to…