Drought Relief Act

Major droughts, including more intense ones than this, have always been a fact of life in the West. We can’t expect government to stop drought, but we do expect it to assist in planning for it and to provide a measure of relief when it strikes.

The last Congress, however, actually made the current drought a little worse for the West: It failed to reauthorize the Drought Relief Act, allowing key parts of the law to expire in 2012.

Never heard of the Drought Relief Act? You’re not alone. This obscure statute, originally enacted in 1992, is administered by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. It provides for “drought contingency plans” identifying various actions to help areas of the West become more drought-resistant.

More importantly, it allows Reclamation — either after a plan is adopted, or upon request of a state or tribal government — to take certain actions to mitigate drought-related water shortages. These actions may include drilling new wells or providing temporary water supplies.

Benson wrote a more detailed analysis of the act and related federal water law questions in the Ecology Law Quarterly last year.