In December 1980, New York Governor Hugh L. Carey established a New York State Drought Management Task Force (DMTF) to coordinate State drought-response activities and assist localities.
"I have named this Task Force to ensure that if the situation warrants it, the State will be able to assist local governments in protecting public health and safety through the provision of adequate water supplies."Governor Carey stated in a press release issued December 1980. The Task Force, chaired by the State Emergency Management Office and made up of various State Agencies, was charged with (1) the development of contingency plans, (2) the establishment of a drought-assessment procedure and reporting system, and (3) the identification of needs for legislation, funding, or other activities to improve the State's drought-response capabilities. One of the products of the Task Force has been the New York State Drought Plan, which helps guide the actions of State and local agencies in response to drought declarations. As a part of this Drought Plan, the Task Force meets regularly to evaluate current water-resource conditions. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) serves as an advisory member of the Task Force and in cooperation with several State, Federal, and local agencies, operates a streamflow- and ground-water- monitoring network that provides much of the information needed to evaluate water-resource conditions. ( See USGS presentation to DMTF on July 7, 1999). The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation compiles information from the USGS other sources and evaluates current conditions. Each agency presents information to the Task Force, which decides whether conditions warrant the recommendation of any level of drought declaration. The Task Force presents its recommendations of to the New York Disaster Preparedness Commission (DPC), which in turn decides, in coordination with the Governor's Office, whether a drought declaration is warranted. A drought declaration has four, progressively more serious, levels - Drought Watch, Warning, Emergency, and Disaster. See Drought Actions for more information on the responses to these levels of drought declaration.
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U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer: New York District URL: http://ny.water.usgs.gov/projects/drought99/how_declared1.html Last update: 13:20:55 Thursday 02 January 2003 Privacy Statement || Disclaimer |
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