Browse Water Stories - Page 18

Georgia experienced a much warmer than usual December. Temperatures were three to six degrees above normal across the state. Rainfall totals ranged from over eight inches in the northern regions of the state to less than an inch along the coast.

The current drought in Georgia has caused significant problems for farmers in central Georgia and other areas of the state, but a lack of impact on the state’s larger cities and drinking water supplies has kept it off most Georgians’ radar.

Agriculture uses about 70 percent of the world’s fresh water supply, but a growing population’s increasing demand for drinking water means farmers need to learn how to do more with less water.

While the beginning of December has felt more like spring, Georgia experienced colder and much drier than normal conditions during November.

Temperatures in Georgia were within one degree of normal across the state in October. Rainfall continued to be light across most of the state, continuing a trend from a dry September. A narrow band stretching from Columbus to the northeast mountains was the only area of the state that received higher than normal rainfall.

The National Association of Extension 4-H Agents honored Diane Davies, known as the founder of the environmental education program in Georgia, by inducting her into the National 4-H Hall of Fame on Oct. 12 at the National 4-H Youth Conference Center in Chevy Chase, Md.

Daniel Hillel, the 2012 World Food Prize Laureate and a 1950 graduate of the University of Georgia, spent the better part of his career perfecting arid- land farming methods in Israel and sharing them with farmers across the Middle East, Africa and parts of Asia. On Nov. 8, Hillel will return to Athens to deliver the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences’ 2012 D.W. Brooks Lecture at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education.

A classroom and field workshop focusing on how to develop a conservation reserve program plan is set for Oct. 23, 2012 on the University of Georgia campus in Tifton, Ga. The class is part of the Conservation Reserve Program Readiness Initiative (CRPRI) and is co-sponsored by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

August in Georgia was cooler than average across the state, but rainfall varied considerably from northwest to southeast. Generally the driest area was the metro Atlanta area, and the wettest areas stretched from south of Augusta and east towards the Georgia coast.

Forecasters initially projected that rains from Hurricane Isaac could erase or at least put a large dent in Georgia’s drought, but the state has seen little relief.