Understanding The Impact of Dry Season for Communities

The dry season occurs in tropical and subtropical countries every year. Although the impact of dry season is different, they share some common ones. Understanding the impacts encourages the government to make wise decisions, especially the regions with tropical climates.

Some characteristics of dry seasons contribute to making bad impacts. Besides low rainfall, high temperatures and shorter vegetation growth are the signs that the dry season is occurring. What are the impacts that communities and the government should be concerned about?

The Impact of Dry Season on Communities

1. Agricultural failure

Crops and other commodities are the most important factors to make people live their lives well. It is the resource of food that can be failed because of the dry season. The result of the crops is reduced and even gets destruction because the irrigation system does not work during this season.

Other types of plants in the horticultural category suffer from severe stress during the dry season. The heat and lack of water lead to wilting and dehydration. During the harvest, the resources can be very low and food shortages happen. At the market, people face a high price condition to buy food.

2. Water scarcity

Dry season causes dry up in water bodies, such as lakes, rivers, and reservoirs. This condition leads to water scarcity. It is very hard to get the water once the source of the fresh one is from rainfall. The quality of existing water can be bad because it is mixed with agricultural and industrial use.

The worst case is some regions might not have the stored fresh water. It leads to worse condition where people should go to other places to get some water. The impact of dry season is felt in many countries, especially the drought areas that get affected because of climate change.

3. Reducing soil quality

Soil quality becomes bad because of the dry season. This degradation occurs naturally. The effects of the dry season on the soil quality are desertification and erosion. The ground is too loose to plant. During windy days, they can be brought up by the wind like dust.

When the dry season takes too long, the land fertility becomes worse. Later, nobody could plant anything on the ground because the soil was not supportive of this work. In the long term, people may suffer from famine and the price of food is getting higher.

4. The possibility of wildfire

Wildfire is a great disaster because it can destroy houses, forests, and the whole ecosystem. The impact of dry season is felt in the USA, especially California. It also occurs in many spots in Indonesia and Australia. Hot climate is another factor that contributes to this disaster.

Sometimes, the wildfire in the dry season is a man-made. The authorities need to decrease the hot spot even though the incident was unintentional. They should take action to save the ecosystem and communities by spreading the wildfire information as quickly as possible.

5. The loss in biodiversity

Not only people but also plants and animals need some water to survive. These species will not be able to live in harsh conditions. Some animals may find other places to seek water and food. However, some others might die because of the dry season in their habitat.

The food chain in the forest, farm, and other places is ruined because of the dry season. Predators might not be able to prey because there is nothing that has survived. Biodiversity is under serious threat when this season takes a long time.

6. Health risk

Some health problems such as respiratory issues and waterborne diseases are the most common disease to happen during this season. The ambient is full of dust because the soil has been dried and the pollution comes from the smoke because of wildfire near the area.

7. Reduced productivity

The industry will suffer from loss when they depend on water supply. Industrial and agricultural may not be productive because they lose the main resource. The livestock is lower than usual. Conflicts among communities are likely to happen during this crisis.

The government should be concerned about the impact of dry season. It may bring disaster and severe losses when the people are not ready for it. Spreading warning messages through an SMS broadcaster device can help people prepare for mitigation faster. Find out more about the device here.