All language subtitles for D D S02E02 Drought 1080p AMZN WEB-DL DD2 0 H 264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

Drought is one of nature’s
most devastating disasters.

It can wipe out crops,

paralyze energy production

and disrupt
the entire economy.

The impact of a drought
on people and the environment,

on animals and the natural
world can be profound.

And they can
devastate ecosystems,

which may take generations
to recover.

Death may come

from dehydration,
starvation,

and the ravages of conflict
over dwindling resources.

It might not seem
as destructive or as instant

as other
more violent disasters...

but more than half the deaths
from natural disasters

are brought on by drought
and associated famine.

Since 1900, drought has killed
over 11 million people.

And over 2 billion have been
directly affected by it,

more than
any other natural disaster.

Water really does underpin
everything that we do,

so when we have water scarcity
and we have drought,

it really profoundly affects
our everyday life.

Droughts don’t just wreak havoc
short term.

They can rip apart countries,

drive communities to war,

cause mass migration

and the displacement

of hundreds
of thousands of people.

With expert insights
and eyewitness accounts,

this episode
of Deadly Disasters

will investigate one of the
longest droughts in history:

the Millennium drought,

that crippled Australia
between 1996 and 2010,

and the unprecedented drought

that devastated much of India
in 2016,

as well as
a cataclysmic disaster

that afflicted the Midwest
of America in the 1930s

and caused the greatest mass
migration in U.S. history:

the Dust Bowl.

Our Earth is often called
the blue planet.

Seventy-one percent of it
is covered with water,

but only around 3 percent
is freshwater,

of which less than half
is accessible

to the 7 billion humans
whose lives depend on it.

We are currently facing
a global water crisis

on an unprecedented scale.

And when the reservoirs
run dry,

cooperation is needed
more than ever,

is often the ugly side
of human nature

that comes to the fore.

Droughts mean different things
to different people

in different places.

Drought occurs
everywhere in the world,

but depending on
where it occurs,

it can have a very different
impact on people

and on ecosystems,

so depending on
where you are in the world,

it can mean the difference
between life and death.

Some parts of our planet exist

in a near permanent
state of drought.

Arid, sparse of life,

only the hardiest plants
can grow

and the most adaptable animals
survive.

In these areas,
it is impossible to grow crops

without constant irrigation.

Other regions,
like parts of Africa and India,

experience regular
seasonal droughts.

Here, crops can be grown,

but only during
the rainy time of year.

Problems occur
when the expected rainy season,

like the monsoons in India,

fail to occur for one
or sometimes many years.

This unpredictable drought
is what causes the most harm.

In developing countries,
though,

people are highly reliant on
rainfall for their livelihoods,

so typically
agriculture is rain-fed,

so they rely
on predictable rainfalls

for agricultural crops
to grow,

whereas in developed regions,
there’s a huge amount

of infrastructure, planning
and policy in place

that manages periods
of severe water shortages.

So the differences are
quite enormous.

Even though the climate
may be the same

and the environment
might be the same,

the way that you deal
with water shortage

has a profound difference

on how people will
experience that drought.

There are four types
of drought.

Meteorological,
where dry weather patterns

dominate a climate.

When these persist,

the drought can become
hydrological

as water starts
to become scarce.

Then agricultural drought
sets in

when crops are affected
and yields decline.

This in turn leads
to socioeconomic drought.

Basic supplies begin to dwindle
and people become threatened

by lack of water,
food and resources.

Drought has
far-reaching effects

on both the environment,
the economy

and society in general.

Droughts are a different
to other natural disasters

because they are cumulative.

So the longer
the period continues,

the period of no rain continues,

the more devastating
a drought becomes.

And for people who rely
intimately on rain

and river flows
for their livelihoods,

the progressive accumulation
of decreased rainfall

compounds the effects of
drought more and more each day.

And basically people are living

with a huge amount
of uncertainty,

not knowing
when it’s going to end

and not being able to prepare

for more years
of water shortages.

The environmental impact

involves the loss
of plants and animals

through the degradation
or complete destruction

of wildlife habitats.

It may take a lot longer
for the environment

and our societies
which depend on water

to recover from a severe drought

than the actual duration
of the drought itself.

Lakes, rivers,

ponds and streams all dry up

with a catastrophic effect
on the whole food chain.

Soil completely lacking
in moisture

will become devoid
of any organisms.

The remaining lifeless dust

leaves the area prone to wind
erosion and desertification.

The economic impact of drought
is severe.

Farmers have to sink
costly wells or buy water

to irrigate crops
and for animals to drink.

Crop yields are reduced
or lost entirely.

As farmers lose money,
they spend less on equipment,

so the manufacturing sector
is hit.

Hydroelectric power generation

is adversely affected
by low water levels,

and coal-fired plants can’t
operate without water either.

Businesses often resort
to generators powered by fuel,

greatly increasing their costs.

Meanwhile, governments are
forced to increase spending

to mitigate
the effects of drought.

Lack of water can have serious
consequences on public health.

Droughts are both
a physical process,

they’re a physical manifestation

of lack of water supply,

but the impacts on humans
are so potentially devastating

that they’re also fundamentally
a social phenomenon,

a social problem,

because ultimately
a drought starts off

with a lack of rainfall
in the sky,

it makes its way through to
a lack of water in the ground,

and ultimately
it affects humans,

and it affects societies

with potentially
devastating effects.

Drought is often accompanied
by very high temperatures.

Dehydration exacerbates
heat-related illness

and can cause problems
with the cardiovascular system

and with breathing.

Lack of safe drinking water

leaves the population exposed

to deadly waterborne diseases,

such as cholera and typhoid.

And a shortage of food
due to crop failure

can lead to malnutrition,
anemia and starvation.

Vitamin deficiency leaves
people prone to scurvy

and neurological problems.

In countries with upper
middle-income economies,

people take for granted
that they can turn on a tap

and have access
to plentiful water

to service their every need.

Many people think
that we have lots of water

and so there’s not a need
to use it wisely or carefully.

And in that sense,
we can be quite wasteful

with the amount of water
that we have.

Also, there is a lot of
what’s called "embedded water"

in things
that people don’t realize.

So, for example,
it takes 300 pints of water

to produce one pint of beer.

The Global Wealth Report 2018

found that Australians enjoy
the highest average wealth

of any country in the world.

But no money can safeguard
people from deadly disasters.

Living in the driest
inhabited continent on Earth,

Australia has suffered
a major drought

somewhere on the continent

for 82 out of the last
150 years.

But the Millennium drought

was one of the worst
in recent history.

In such a hot country,

even frequent rain
can’t protect you from drought.

And for the past 40 years,

rainfall in southern areas
of Australia

has been on a steep decline,

with the result that often,

large parts of the country
experience drought.

Lack of water has become
a fact of life.

Some experts suggest that
Australians need to accept

that their climate
has permanently changed.

Almost every year,

the country is becoming
drier and hotter.

In Australia, climate change
is well and truly here and now.

In 2018,

New South Wales declared
100 percent drought.

These conditions spread
to affect

most of Queensland
and South Australia,

and every region in the country
was affected.

Once thriving farmland
was reduced

to lifeless dust and dirt.

If somebody had said to us
five years ago

that it would be drought
or lack of water

that might put our horticultural
business out of business,

I would have laughed at them.

But this should really be seen

as a pattern
of ongoing water insecurity.

At the turn
of the 21st century,

the country began suffering
from a drought

that would drag on
for 14 years.

The so-called Millennium
drought began in 1996,

and held the country
in its grip until 2010.

While previously droughts
had often been restricted

to a particular region,

this one ravaged
most of the continent.

The drought was
particularly harsh

in the most densely
populated areas.

All the major cities
were struck.

In Melbourne, the country’s
most densely populated city,

water stocks decreased
to 33 percent.

Cities like Adelaide
were issued

Level 3 water restrictions.

Watering your lawn was banned,

and things like car washes
were out of the question.

Wildlife was badly affected.

Kangaroos were so desperate
to find food and water

that they began
invading cities.

The iconic koala bear
was at risk,

as its only food source,
the eucalyptus trees, withered.

Entire rivers dried up.

The water in the Murray River
became so salty and acidic

that along
a 1500-kilometer stretch,

gum trees began to die.

In 2002, there was
so little water in the river

that it failed to flow
into the sea.

Some experts feared
that this precious ecosystem

would be damaged
beyond recovery.

Some lakes were at their lowest
for a thousand years.

The Coorong, a lagoon at
the mouth of the Murray river,

became five times saltier
than the sea,

killing native plants
and animals.

Once plentiful shorebirds,

such as black swans
and pelicans,

all but disappeared.

And the drought
seemed relentless.

New South Wales experienced
below-average rainfall

for seven consecutive years

and above-average temperatures
for 11 years in a row.

Through the history books,
like into the late ’30s

and early ’40s,
there’s very big droughts.

The late 1800s,
there’s 10 years of drought.

So drought’s nothing new
to Australia.

We’re used to dealing
with droughts in Australia,

and we’ve got standard formulas

and government assistance
packages to do that,

but this is not
a normal drought.

Once those
really hot days come,

like we’re talking 47s, 48s,
they’re typical out here,

the water security goes
in front of your eyes,

the dams dry up.

It was as if the whole area

had shifted 150 kilometers
closer to the equator.

Scientists described
the drought

as a once-in-a-thousand-year
event.

The Millennium drought came
about in Australia

following a period of
extensive decrease in rainfall,

well below normal
for the southeast of Australia.

The effects
of the Millennium drought

were long-lasting
and severe.

Farming was badly hit.

Although agriculture
had once been

the major industry
in Australia,

by 2013, it made up less
than 4 percent of the economy.

But it still soaked up
two-thirds

of the country’s water supply.

The wheat belt in the southwest
was severely hit.

As was the Murray-Darling
river basin in the southeast,

which covers an area the size
of France and Spain

and is responsible
for nearly 40 percent

of the country’s agriculture.

The effects of the drought
scarred the landscape.

Once-green fields turned
to dusty, arid wilderness.

Farmers were forced
to graze their cattle

wherever they could,

even if it meant eating grass
at the side of the road.

There’s nothing to eat,

so if we don’t feed them,
they don’t eat.

I’ve used
so many different methods

that I’ve never used before
to keep my sheep alive.

And-- And, you know, to me, um,
I think the policies have to--

We have to do something
now. We have to...

I’m worried
that this is a trend

that is going to continue.

Australia used to have

10 times more sheep
than people.

That number halved
during the drought.

Agricultural yields were
substantially reduced.

Rice production collapsed.

Cotton fields languished.

The 2006 wheat crop was down
to about 60 percent

from the previous season,
the worst in 12 years.

Seeing crops fail and animals
suffer can be very devastating.

And many people
have gone to desperate measures

to try and cope.

They still can’t tell us
when it’s gonna break.

They’ve got no idea,
so we just...

We’ve gotta, well, run blind,
you know?

We’ve just gotta plan and hope
and pray that it rains.

The natural world

was making things
very difficult.

As the soils dried
and the water table sank,

The countryside became prone
to wildfires

and ferocious dust storms.

In September 2009,

one such storm created
a massive red cloud.

One thousand kilometers long
and 500 kilometers wide,

it reached Sydney,
where it blotted out the sun.

Flights were canceled,

and people were forced
to take shelter

from the toxic air.

With the pollution
10 times worse

than ever recorded, people
with breathing difficulties

were hospitalized
across New South Wales.

There were some brief respites
from the drought,

but what rain did come
fell out of season

at the hottest times
in the year,

meaning the water
quickly evaporated

before it could replenish
the scorched earth.

Failure of the rains and huge
decreases in flows in the river

substantially affected
their agricultural productivity,

crop growth.

And many farmers, you know,

suffered tremendous
economic losses,

a loss of income.

It affected the region
massively.

They had-- Experienced loss
in regional productivity,

and it had an impact on
gross domestic product, on GDP,

for the whole country.

After more than 10 years,

many feared that parts of
Australia would have to endure

a state of severe
water shortage forever.

Then, in 2010,
the heavens finally opened.

These heavy rains
managed to replenish

a substantial amount of water
in the Murray-Darling basin

and bring an end
to the Millennium drought.

But it soon became clear

that this was part of
a much larger ongoing problem.

The transitory domination of
the warm-season weather system

that produced
abundant summer rain

did not alter
the overall effect

of a lack of rain
in the cool season.

This had been
the primary feature

of the terrible drought.

In the future,
it’s looking like, um,

under climate change
particularly,

droughts are set
to become more frequent

and more intense
both in the southwest

and southeast parts
of Australia,

and these are the most populous
parts of the country.

So droughts are set
to become worse,

more intense and more frequent.

With water

an increasingly
scarce commodity,

storing it has become a hotly
debated political issue.

Across Australia,
dams are used

to reduce the flow of water
downstream,

which can help control the
supply of water in a drought.

In 2019, politicians
in New South Wales

committed a billion dollars

to build new dams upstream

in an attempt to stop
the taps running dry.

But communities downstream

say the project will leave them
starved of the water they need.

This dispute is typical
of the struggles

that are playing out
across the globe

over the world’s dwindling
supplies of water.

With its far-reaching impacts

on the environment
and the economy,

the Millennium drought
had a traumatic effect

on the national psyche.

People are now more aware
of climate change

and how fragile
their ecosystems really are.

And with droughts becoming
increasingly frequent,

the people of Australia face
an ongoing battle.

Climate change means droughts
are getting longer

and more intense.

But they are far
from a new phenomena.

America’s most devastating
recorded drought occurred

over 80 years ago.

In the midst
of the economic hardship

of the Great Depression,

the people of the Midwest
of America

were struck by another crisis.

And this one came
from the natural world.

In the early 1930s,

the rains on the Great Plains
unexpectedly stopped.

The ensuing drought lasted
almost a decade

and turned vast swathes
of the Midwest

into an uninhabitable
wasteland

which became known
as the Dust Bowl.

The drought spread
and ultimately affected

over 400 square kilometers.

As crops failed...

countless farms
had to be abandoned...

resulting in
the largest mass migration

in the history
of the United States.

By 1940, 2.5 million people
had fled their homes.

I’ve lived here 25 years
on this land.

Up to four years ago, we always
made a living and had plenty.

Now after four years of drought,
we have to move away,

go someplace else
to make a living.

The Dust Bowl was caused
by two main factors.

The first is inappropriate
agricultural techniques

for the region,
for the climate of the region.

And the second was
an extensive period of drought

that dried up the soil

and left it vulnerable
to wind erosion.

Lack of rainfall started the
worst environmental disaster

in American history.

The Dust Bowl was made
even worse

because of the lack of
windbreaks along the prairies,

which meant that dust can get--

Become accumulated
and can get transported

for thousands of miles,

unencumbered by any friction
in the landscape.

So the availability
of friable soil

desiccated by the drought,
the lack of vegetation

and the lack of windbreaks

accentuated
these huge dust storms

and made them the sort of
famous storms that they are.

But it was another extreme
bout of weather

that caused
its defining feature.

When farmers started
cultivating the Great Plains

in the 1920s,

they were encouraged to use

new mechanical plows

that ripped up
the native grasslands...

as well as the fertile topsoil.

With the grasses gone
and no crops to replace them,

the exposed soil dried out
in the soaring temperatures.

Unusually high winds

whipped acres of parched soil

into the air...

creating vast clouds of dirt.

At their worst,
these black blizzards

would block out the sun
for days.

In 1934,

one such storm traveled
nearly 2500 kilometers,

carrying dust
from the Great Plains

all the way
to the eastern U.S.A.

Once the dust is in the air,
there’s nothing you can do.

There was nothing--
The dust storms,

some of them dumped up
to 5000 tons of dust off-site.

So we’re talking about huge
wind-erosion events here.

People just had
to flee from them.

There was nothing
they could really do

to deal with those effects.

With little rainfall

and the sun’s rays unable
to penetrate the black air...

farmers were trapped in
a deadly cycle of crop failure.

I haven’t got much
feed for this winter.

Don’t know what I’m gonna do.

I’ll have to depend
on somebody else...

Somebody else’s feed,
if I can get it,

to feed my livestock
through the winter.

The dust cloud
didn’t just affect

the agricultural industry.

Breathing in the toxic dirt

caused a public health
emergency.

The dust began to build up
in people’s lungs,

and hundreds of people died
from this dust pneumonia.

And the decade
of extreme drought

didn’t just affect humans.

The swirling dust
blinded animals,

while others suffocated with
their stomachs full of sand.

The whole ecosystem
was thrown out of balance.

There were plagues of
grasshoppers and jackrabbits.

Inhabitants were forced to
stage rabbit drives in towns

to round up and kill the pests.

President Roosevelt was even
quoted saying:

"What the sun left,
the grasshoppers took."

People were helpless
as once-fertile farmland

turned into parched desert,

and their homes were buried
under huge drifts of dust.

My name is Thomas Thompson,

from the east end
of Los Alamos County.

I’ve been in the cattle
business all of my life.

I’m 60 years old,

I never saw the country
in the condition it is today.

The only way to survive
the Dust Bowl

was to abandon everything
and leave.

When the Dust Bowl happened,

it was the first
of its events of its kind.

It was a huge learning
experience for the United States

and Canada in terms
of learning from that drought

and that
wind-erosion event.

But there wasn’t any substantial
research before that

for people to understand how
to manage land conservatively

and how to farm
more conservatively

and protect the soil
during the process.

At the edge of the town,

we came upon a scene

that is part and parcel
of an eroded land:

Migrants.

Landless, homeless people.

They had fire but no food.

Finding other work in a country

already in the grip
of financial ruin was tough.

Over 200,000 migrants
descended on California.

Many ended up in tented camps,

refugees in their own country.

We came out here last year
just to--

’Cause we couldn’t make
a good living.

We decided to come
to California,

stay here and try it a while.

Immediate governmental relief

must be forthcoming,

because Southern California
residents

are not financially able
to cope with this situation.

The sudden influx
of desperate newcomers

led to an increase
in conflict,

unemployment and poverty.

By the end of the decade,

2.5 million people
had fled the Great Plains

for other parts of America.

That was almost 2 percent

of the entire population
at the time.

Over eight decades on,

some lands blighted
by the Dust Bowl

still haven’t recovered.

In the long term, the Dust Bowl
had devastating consequences

for the farmland in those areas.

It decreased
the quality of the soil

through the massive wind
erosion events that happened,

and most of the land quality
suffered tremendously.

It declined in its quality

and in its ability
to support plant growth.

And the ghost towns left behind

serve as stark reminder

of this ecological disaster
of the past

and a salutary warning
for mankind’s future.

The Dust Bowl of the 1930s

was a drought that affected
so many people

that it has entered
American folklore.

In the 21st century,

drought is causing
human suffering

on an even greater scale.

Some regions of the world are
much more prone to drought,

they’re already living
on the edge.

They’re already dealing
with aridity

and low water conditions.

And in those regions,

some of the poorest regions
of the world,

who are highly dependent
on rainfall and the land

for their livelihoods, a drought
can seriously push them

towards
a life-or-death situation.

India is a country

that is undergoing
extraordinary change

with a growing economy
and population.

But the challenges posed by
the environment are enormous.

Monsoon season
is India’s water lifeline.

These stormy summer months
account

for more than two-thirds
of the country’s total rain.

But since the 1940s,

the annual rainfall across Asia
in this vital period

has been on the decline
while at the same time

the population has grown
by nearly 1 billion

and the economy accelerated,

fueling an unprecedented rise
in the demand for water.

In the decade
from 2001 to 2011,

the amount of water available

for each person
in India per year

fell by 300 cubic meters.

With over 15 percent
of the world’s population

but only 4 percent
of its freshwater,

it is easy to see how demand
easily outstrips supply.

What makes countries like India
particularly precarious

to drought is
the lack of infrastructure

and rapid response policies

that would enable people to
survive in periods of drought.

And coupling that
with rapid urbanization,

a huge overuse of groundwater

means that more and more people
are being exposed

to water shortage

and suffering the devastating
effects of drought

because their only lifeline
is the rain

that replenishes all
the water stores in the ground.

In 2016, the water shortage

in the world’s
second most populated country

reached crisis point.

After two
inadequate monsoon seasons,

drought was declared
across 11 states.

The ensuing disaster
affected 330 million people,

a quarter
of India’s population,

making this
the worst water crisis

that India has ever
had to face.

The potential economic
and social effects of drought

are phenomenal.

And it really points to the need
to manage in advance

and put in place
robust plans and measures

to deal with it when
the crisis actually happens.

One of the worst-hit areas
was Karnataka,

where over 8 million farmers

had little or no access
to water.

Dams were holding just
3 percent of their capacity,

and many rivers
dried up completely.

People had to travel for hours
to fetch water.

With wells drying up,

children were sent
down the narrow shafts

to try and reach
the water at the bottom.

To make matters worse,

the drought coincided
with a heat wave.

In Rajasthan,
southwest of Delhi,

the temperature reached
51 degrees Celsius,

the highest ever recorded
temperature in India.

Special heat-stroke wards
were set up in hospitals,

but thousands
still lost their lives.

Many people were forced
to queue for water daily.

This could mean
they were standing in the heat

for hours at a time

whilst waiting for their turn
at the well.

Meanwhile,
India’s 800 million farmers

were facing a dire situation.

The pressure to feed
1.3 billion people is immense

and comes at a cost.

Agriculture uses 90 percent

of the country’s
available water.

With reservoirs at their
lowest levels for decades,

more and more farmers
are having to resort

to using groundwater
to irrigate crops.

India takes more water
from the ground

than any other country
on Earth,

more than China and America
combined.

Eighty-five percent of
the country’s drinking water

comes from these aquifers.

Since 2007,

the country has lost

over half of its water table.

More water is being taken
from the ground

than is being replenished,

meaning that this natural
reservoir of water

will also eventually run out.

For countries like India,
droughts can be very deadly,

and it’s not just about
queuing up for water,

it’s about the effects
that it has on their livelihoods

through the huge reliance
on monsoonal rain.

So if a monsoonal rain fails,
crops don’t grow,

cattle and livestock die

and people are really dealing

with severe drinking water
shortage as well.

Meanwhile,
other sources of water

are also under threat.

It is the summer melt
from the ice of the Himalayas

that feeds the rivers
of northern India.

These mountains are so vital

that they have been dubbed
the Water Towers of Asia.

But record-breaking
temperatures

and even shorter winters

has seen less snow cover
and shrinking glaciers.

Despite its ever-increasing
demand

on a diminishing resource,

a report published
in February 2016

stated that India was one
of the most inefficient users

of water in the world.

For instance, China,

despite having
50 million more people,

uses 25 percent
less freshwater.

One problem is that many
farmers have switched

from traditional crops
like maize and millet

to those
with higher profit margins,

such as rice and sugarcane,

even though these require
much more water to cultivate.

Rice is a particularly
thirsty crop,

needing 2500 liters of water
to produce just one kilo.

During the drought,
the struggle

to keep these crops growing
on a large scale

was near impossible.

Over 70 percent
of India’s population

lives in areas
where there is stress

on water and food production.

This has led
to increasing conflict

over dwindling resources

and the so-called water wars.

Disputes over water are common,
and it’s frequently said

that many wars will be fought
over water rights.

Governmental decisions
to divert water

to certain areas over others
led to serious riots.

The deaths of some protestors
caused Prime Minister Modi

to deploy military forces
to control the situation.

Droughts can make people
selfish.

It comes down to uncertainty.

Droughts can carry on,
and if the rain doesn’t come,

then the situation becomes
increasingly difficult.

India’s political makeup

meant that
these water shortages

became more than
just a natural disaster.

Like America,

the country is
a federal republic.

Its 29 states all have
their own government.

But they have to share
India’s major rivers:

The Ganges, the Godavari
and the Brahmaputra.

Interstate spats
over water rights

have been part
of Indian political life

since independence in 1947.

But as the supply
of water dwindles,

the fight to secure access
to the remaining sources

has got more acrimonious.

Political leaders in Punjab

sparked outrage
in neighboring Haryana

when they pulled out
of a long-planned undertaking

to build a canal
between the states in 2004.

The project had long been
mired in controversy.

Work had begun in 1980,

but after over 20 years,

was still not complete.

Across India,
many states resent

their water being sent
to a neighboring state.

These disputes are
often only resolved

when taken
to the supreme court.

The court ruled that Punjab
had to share the water.

Much of India
is an arid environment,

and some states rely on water
sources outside their borders.

Control over canals can be
an important political tool,

especially in places
where it is already scarce.

Droughts tend to cover
larger areas.

So if there’s a community
in a particular drought area,

they may not be able to benefit
from their neighbors.

They might have to go
quite far away to get water.

So water management
in this regard is essential

to understand these issues
when there isn’t a drought,

and put in place
policies and plans

to make sure that communities
are still supplied with water

when a drought happens.

As natural resources
become more scarce,

disputes over who owns
and controls them

could well shape
future global conflicts.

Former U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon
is not alone in the belief

that disputes over water
pose an increasing threat

to peace and stability.

Water management
is vital for peace.

Without it we will only have
increased conflict.

Inter-ethnic tensions
have also been exacerbated

by the drought.

In Bangalore,

India’s Silicon Valley,

two people died
during violent protests

following a water-sharing deal

between Karnataka
and neighboring Tamil Nadu.

During droughts,
things can get contentious.

Sometimes resources
are not shared evenly.

And in India, there were some
cases of water being hoarded.

In high-pressure environments,

violence can break out
and people can take to rioting.

Riot police and the army
are often called in

to control situations such
as water and aid distribution.

Caste protests flared up as
a result of the ongoing crisis.

Tens of thousands of people
who had lost their crops

were forced to abandon their
land and flee to the cities.

This caused the breakup
of family units,

with the old and infirm
often being left behind.

But with no homes in the city
and no work,

the rural incomers were often
forced to beg to survive.

Tensions over the unfair
treatment of different castes

led to serious unrest.

In Haryana, many flocked to
the cities in search of jobs,

and 16 people died during
protests in February of 2016,

with demonstrations continuing
throughout the year.

In other regions, the situation
was getting out of control.

Reservoirs were running dry.

In Latur,
the Dhanegaon reservoir

had been the most
dependable source of water.

In February of 2016,

it had run completely dry.

Taps throughout the entire city
were shut down.

During major droughts
in some states,

authorities would draw water
from borewells

in surrounding villages

and bring it
to the cities in tankers.

Locals could be so desperate

to get their hands
on the precious water

that often restrictions
were imposed,

allowing only small groups

around a water tanker
at any one time.

Managing a drought in a city
environment has advantages

in that there’s
a large population there

which are easily reached,

and tankering or bottles
of water brought in

can be placed right
next to where

big centers of population are.

However,
care really must be taken

in making sure everybody
has access to water.

Conflicts sometimes arose

when villagers from
the surrounding areas

tried to stop the tankers

taking their water away
to the city.

With a dwindling water stock

and a seemingly endless
drought,

reservoirs and boreholes had
to be protected by armed guards

to stop people stealing water.

Families were having to survive

on as little
as 200 liters of water a month.

Many had to resort
to buying water

at inflated prices
from private tankers.

Those who could not afford
to buy extra water

had to queue at wells
sometimes nearby slums

and had to put up
with a source

that could be dirty
and polluted.

That means that people don’t
have access to drinking water,

and eventually they’re relying

on highly contaminated water
for drinking.

This has knock-on consequences
for disease,

gastrointestinal disorders.

And one of the big effects
of the drought

has been a very high incidence
of disease

following consumption
of contaminated drinking water.

With millions suffering
the effects of riots,

water theft
and the threat of starvation,

drastic action was required.

The Indian railway

is one of the world’s
largest rail networks.

During droughts, special trains
were commandeered,

each capable of ferrying

half a million liters
of drinking water

to some of the worst-hit
regions in the west of India.

When there’s
a critical situation,

when people are
in desperate needs,

the right to water and access
to water becomes very critical.

The cost of drought to society

was more than starvation
and dehydration.

For some farmers,
the pressure was intolerable.

Many had been forced to take
on large loans to buy seeds.

But when the crops failed, they
were left with massive debts

they were unable to pay off.

A study in 2017 revealed
the shocking statistic

that in the last 30 years,

60,000 farmers had
taken their own lives.

It really is devastating
for those people

to see what they’ve created
literally go to dust

because of the lack of rain,
because of drought.

Droughts can be particularly
hard on children.

Many can be forced
to stop education

in order to help
their families survive

by working or begging.

Many had to walk further
to collect water,

leaving them open to violence.

The traumatic effects
of drought

have a negative impact

on children’s health,
mental well-being

and ultimately their livelihood
opportunities in later life.

When you’re living
with drought,

you don’t know
when the drought’s going to end.

You don’t know when the rains
are gonna start.

And you don’t know
how long it’ll go on.

So people living with drought

are living with huge
uncertainty about the future.

The 2016 drought

is clearly part of an ongoing
climate emergency for India.

In 2019,

the reservoirs that serve
Chennai,

India’s sixth-largest city,
ran dry,

leaving locals desperately
trying to gather

what little groundwater
remained in wells.

Experts warn
that soon 21 Indian cities

could be completely
without groundwater,

including New Delhi,

the country’s capital

and home to more
than 29 million people.

And with India set to become

the world’s most populated
country in the next decade,

more radical solutions
to the drought emergency

will have to be found,

or millions could
lose their lives.

One of the ways in which
water management can help

mitigate drought effects

and hopefully make
different communities

around the world resilient

is if drought plans
are prepared.

Proper drought plans
which look at the future,

look at how many people will be
in that location in the future,

what climate change and
what weather patterns will mean

in terms of rainfall,

and who has responsibility,

and who are the priority users
of water when scarcity arrives.

In the United States,

the Federal Emergency
Management Association,

FEMA, says that
for every dollar spent

to prevent or prepare
for natural hazards,

$4 are saved.

Techniques including planting
drought-resistant crops,

monitoring soil moisture

and installing more efficient
irrigation systems

can all help
to reduce the effects

of an ever-decreasing
supply of water.

Scientists are also working
to genetically engineer crops

so they become more adept at
growing in drought conditions.

Australia is
one of the countries

most advanced in its strategies
for coping with life

in extremely dry environments.

Australia’s quite
an interesting case

of how they dealt
with the drought,

and if we compare countries
like Australia

with countries like India,

the difference in the response
by governments,

the policies and
the infrastructures in place

have an amazing effect
on the outcomes of the drought.

So Australia’s a great example
of how reactive policies,

sophisticated policies of water
distribution and water sharing,

of abilities
to update infrastructure

can actually, you know, make
the best of a bad situation.

Since the Millennium drought,

60 percent of residents
in Melbourne

now have rainwater collection
tanks in their houses.

Perth, a city
on the edge of the desert,

has implemented
more sustainable systems

with which to recycle water

as well as campaigns
to raise public consciousness

on the issue.

What should also happen,

on a more longer-term basis

is not only just building
infrastructure,

but changing people’s

and society’s
attitudes towards water.

Droughts are becoming
more and more common.

While some countries
are learning to combat them,

other low- and middle-income
nations are struggling to cope.

Water management has to evolve

as populations grow

and the demand
on water resources intensifies.

Climate change continues
to heat up the planet,

and it is the repercussions
from a scarcity of water

that humankind will feel
most keenly.

Without swift
and far-reaching action

on a personal, global
and governmental level,

this deadly disaster may
threaten our very survival.