Drought Stricken
I grew up in Melbourne, Australia, during the Millennium Drought — the worst drought to date in Southeast Australia (van Dijk et al. 1040). Local, state, and federal government efforts to dramatically conserve water were in full swing during most of my childhood. This experience made me acutely aware of the importance of the environment on my way of life and completely changed the way I viewed water consumption and the protection of natural resources.
In Year Three when I was eight years old, during social studies, my teacher discussed the drought. She explained to 30 young girls we were running out of water and it was up to all of us and everyone around us to help solve the problem. She tried not to frighten us, but the idea of having no water was alarming. She handed out 4-minute egg timers for us to put in the shower. We then brainstormed other ideas on how to save water: turn the tap off while brushing our teeth and washing our face, use leave-in conditioner to shorten our showers, reuse bath or shower water for watering plants. I was sitting in class terrified at the very real prospect we would run out of water. This was clearly something larger than my classmates and I — it would take all Victorians to act to prevent this catastrophe. The teacher reassured us the Victorian government would soon begin the construction of a desalination plant — a system that would remove the salt from the ocean water to make it drinkable — in order to solve the water crisis, but it would take 10 years to complete. We all had to do our part to save water until the desalination project was completed.
Other initiatives installed across the state were in a staged response to this crisis based on reservoir water storage levels. The government imposed restrictions on water usage, limiting watering outdoors. A government rebate program reduced the cost of rainwater tanks which encouraged homeowners to install them and collect water for use on gardens and for flushing toilets. These were placed outside almost every house in my neighbourhood. Signs popped up in front lawns advertising a greywater system was in place, and neighbours began turning against neighbours who had green lawns or flourishing flowers in their garden. People started complaining of “bucket back” which was being caused by carrying buckets from the shower to the garden to water plants.
This became known as the “Every Drop Counts” campaign. All Victorians were asked to participate in this campaign to reduce water consumption. Even today, before I turn on a tap, I think about how close I was to the reality of not having water. Because I lived through this drought, I wondered: “How could I not have known water was so important before the drought? Why weren’t we always trying to save water? Was it our fault that we were in this predicament?”
It is extreme experiences like these that opens communities’ eyes to the importance of the environment and often initiates permanent changes in behaviour. As Vera Kennedy notes in her work Beyond Race: Cultural Influences on Human Social Life, “during times of natural disasters, people must make cultural changes to daily norms and practices” (22). The changes made in my community drastically altered my way of life causing a shift in culture; daily norms and practices were all carried out with water conservation and the environment in mind. No longer could we wash our cars, take long showers to de-stress, or water a vegetable patch — everything turned brown. Every time the tap was turned on it had to be intentional and fast.
Black Saturday was the next time the realities of drought hit home hard. Our nation realised the impact of a drought could be far worse than running out of food and water. Devastating bushfires swept through my neighbouring community in the summer of 2009, fuelled by intense heat and dry bushland. This happened in the year the drought broke, but the fires were a culmination of ten years of no rain. My uncle’s family tragically perished, causing me to deeply evaluate the immediate and indirect effects of drought. I heard reports the severe nature of these bushfires was amplified by drought conditions, an extremely hot summer, and an El Nino effect — that day it was 46ºC (115ºF).
Growing up with water restrictions and seeing how my community came together to avert disaster gave me hope that with the correct government policies and community engagement much can be achieved to protect the environment. I also felt empowered that I could contribute to the solution by becoming much more conscious about my consumption of not just water but every natural resource.
In 2010 I moved from Melbourne to Charlotte, North Carolina, and experienced a major culture shock with respect to the unchecked use of water. I distinctly remember seeing sprinklers on in the middle of a rainstorm and being horrified at the haphazard use of water. When it rained, I heard complaints from my peers, whereas I felt very thankful. I had barely seen rain in ten years. I saw taps frequently left running, friends taking long showers, water being wasted so carelessly. It was clear there was such limited understanding around the potential that water is a finite resource and therefore can run out. I was frustrated with this lack of knowledge regarding the precious nature of water and the lack of awareness that not everyone has such unlimited access. When I explained how much water was being wasted by keeping the tap running or taking long showers to any of my friends, they became much more aware of their water consumption.
Similar to other environmental issues, drought is not on anyone’s radar unless they become directly impacted with the realities of it. I had no idea I would experience drought conditions living in a big city — I had only seen evidence of drought-stricken people in remote settings. It was a wakeup call for my community and I to be mindful and purposeful with water consumption. I still think about “making every drop count” even living in Vermont where water is abundant. I believe having the education at school on this topic and being informed at the local government level through community-wide campaigns helped me become a better environmentalist. This is why it is so important to be educated from an early age about the possibilities of environmental issues occurring and how to become a part of the solution to reduce the likelihood of these issues escalating to a point of catastrophe.
Works Cited:
Kennedy, Vera. Beyond Race: Cultural Influences on Human Social Life. West Hill College Lemoore. 2018.
van Dijk, Albert I. J. M., Beck, Hylke E., Crosbie, Russell S., de Jeu, Richard A. M., Liu, Yi Y., Podger, Geoff M., Timbal, Bertrand, and Viney, Neil R. “The Millennium Drought in southeast Australia (2001–2009): Natural and human causes and implications for water resources, ecosystems, economy, and society.” Water Resources Research, vol. 49, 2013, pp. 1040–1057, https://doi.org/10.1002/wrcr.20123. Accessed 25 Feb. 2020.
