Drought Management Plans of Major Cities in Alabama v. California

abstract:Water security in urban areas is at risk in many regions of the world, including the Southeastern US. To compound matters, these issues are magnified during drought. Without adequate management and planning, drought impacts are likely to become more severe. This study focused on drought management plans of major cities in Alabama. However, it is important to understand how Alabama’s approach compares with other regions, particularly those with greater experience with drought. For this task we chose California. We selected the seven most populated cities in Alabama and seven cities of comparable population in California for the study. We then evaluated their drought plans based on the overall scope of the plan, three key elements of sustainable policy (social, environmental, and economic), and three stages of drought management (pre-, during-, and post-drought). Alabama and California plans received similar scores for the overall scope and the during-drought period. However, Alabama plans completely neglected the pre-drought period, were less comprehensive in all other areas, substantially weaker in detail, and lacking in enforcement and penalties. Furthermore, most Alabama plans were not available online to the public; whereas all California plans were available online and included public participation in the design process.