INDYGO Cape Town drought-affected residents now on 50 litres of water per day as crisis worsens South Africans living outside the drought-stricken Western Cape province are being urged by charities to donate water to be taken to Cape Town, as more stringent conservation measures take effect. “Day Zero”, when reservoirs supplying Cape Town are deemed to be critically low and the taps are turned off, is now calculated to be 16 April; previously the date was set at 21 April, and then 12 April. If and when it happens, citizens will have to collect water from 200 standpipes around the city. Yesterday the daily limit per person using the municipal supply was reduced by 43 per cent to 50 litres. Western Cape was declared a disaster area in May 2017 after successive years of sharply lower rainfall. Reservoirs, known…

The drought monitor was updated with the start of February, and more than 97% of Virginia is abnormally dry, and almost half of the commonwealth is in a moderate drought. Most of our area is still in a moderate drought, and some parts of the state are even in a severe drought. We received just over half of the rainfall we normally receive in the month of January, and after starting the year with drought conditions carried over from 2017, we could be facing a serious drought this spring and summer. John Miller, with the Virginia Department of Forestry, said a drought like this is unusual in Virginia, especially because we normally recharge our ground water in the…

NEW ZEALAND Southland, Otago farmers offered drought relief 2 Feb, 2018 1:29pm 2 minutes to read Drought-stricken farmers in Southland and parts of Otago are the latest to be offered special relief payments. Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni said today that the Government’s Rural Assistance Payments would be extended to the districts of Southland, Invercargill, Gore, Clutha, Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes. The payments, available from Monday to January 21 next year, help farmers meet essential living expenses and have already been offered to farmers in the Lower North Island and the West Coast this season. Sepuloni…

After Sunday’s soaking rain, drought conditions took a big hit during Thursday’s United States Drought Monitor update. The entire area of the northern Midlands covered by the second stage of drought known as moderate drought have been downgraded to the first stage known as abnormally dry. Just last week, drought expanded and encroached on every portion of the Midlands. Some areas in the southern Midlands were not included prior to last Thursday’s update. In the latest USDM outlook, those areas still remain in the first stage of drought. Looking at last Sunday’s precipitation, some areas recorded nearly two and a half inches of rainfall. The National Weather Service observed 2.42 inches in Saluda County’s Ridge Spring area while Newberry County’s Prosperity saw 2.40 inches. Irmo, Elgin, Manning and Blythewood recorded more than two inches of rain. “Sunday’s storm system really dropped some impressive numbers in areas that desperately needed the rain,” says SkyWACH…