OU meteorology students and faculty participated in a town hall meeting June 2 at the National Weather Center to inform the public about becoming “drought ready.”

A project was launched in 2008 by the Oklahoma Climatological Survey in association with the National Drought Mitigation Center and other universities to learn how communities prepare for and respond to drought, said Mark Schafer, director of climate services at OCS.

Speaking to a group of Norman residents, Schafer explained how drought conditions affected Norman in 2006, when enough interest was raised to start the “drought-ready community” program with a federal grant.

“It will come back again,” Schafer said. “We are trying to better prepare ourselves.”

OU meteorology students completed a compilation of reports for the drought-ready study as a part of their Applied Climatology and Meteorology course in the spring semester.

The students analyzed different sets of data for Norman and the surrounding region to determine when drought has occurred in the past. They gathered information on local reservoir levels, precipitation totals, temperature, water usage, population increase and the stream-flow rates of local rivers, and assembled the findings in a packet.

“We have been in a very wet period,” meteorology professor Renee McPherson said. “We have a generation of Oklahomans who are very used to a wetter-than-average period of time.”

Drought is measured using a scale called the Palmer Drought Severity Index, which uses observations or estimates of precipitation, temperature and soil water content. The drought scale ranges from D0, or dry conditions, to D4, exceptional drought conditions. The year 2006 was identified as a D4, according to the packet.

“We talk about the drought in 2006,” McPherson said. “But if you compare that in intensity and length to some of the previous periods, then you will have noticed that we have not experienced a significant drought in Norman for a generation.”

During the drought of 2006, Norman resident’s water consumption actually rose, despite city orders to conserve.

“Even though we were in severe drought, we had the largest usage of water than we’ve had for years,” McPherson said.

During these times, the City of Norman is forced to purchase water at a significantly higher rate from Oklahoma City. The city had to buy water almost daily from mid-May to late August 2006, according to the packet.

“The largest use in the city of Norman for water is for landscaping at homes,” said McPherson. “People want to keep their grass green.”

Norman gets 72 percent of its water from Lake Thunderbird, 26 percent from the Garber-Wellington aquifer and 2 percent from the Oklahoma City pipeline, according to the packet.

“Everybody today has a washing machine, a dishwasher, three bathrooms, a sprinkler system,” McPherson said. “Homeowners didn’t have that 50 years ago, so our per capita consumption is significantly higher.”

And with the population of Norman projected to increase to 158,000 by 2040, a larger burden will be placed on the city’s utilities division to deliver water.

“We encourage Norman officials, businesses and residents to be prepared for a prolonged, extreme drought,” McPherson said. “Because we have shown, the students have shown, this has happened in our area in the past.”

The Oklahoma Climatological Survey has applied for funding for next year to work on implementing the plan in more drought-ready communities and is still waiting to hear back, McPherson said.

“Awareness is the main thing,” Schafer said. “If everybody used just a little less water, we might not have to buy as much water from Oklahoma City.”

For more information, contact drought@mesonet.org.