Genetics

The problem I am searching about is drought. Drought is a prolonged period of dry weather
when a place doesn’t get as much amount of rain/water as it normally does for more than
month or years.
It can be cause by human activities can cause a big role in the water cycle, as well as
deforestation and global warming. In deforestation and when trees are cut, the evaporation
level increases however, when there is agriculture and trees it attracts rainfall and stores
water.1 As well as when soil or the land where the plants are growing dries up because of
dehydration or rainfall is below average for more than a few weeks. Then it becomes a dry
period and it creates drought2. Irrigation systems can also decrease the flow of water and can
affect the subsequent water area and hydro-electric dams also affect these water streams.
During this process of dry period there are dust storms can crops and farms are destroyed as
its considered a natural disaster. This problem occurred in California due to drought. It killed
large quantities in 2014. The farmers had to pay 2.2 billion dollars because of the lack of
water after this natural disaster3.
It is considered as a natural disaster2 because of human activities and the natural
consequences on that. If you know drought might occur soon you can and your loss of water
can create lots of economic impacts such as farmers buying more water to feed their animals,
sell less vegetation and crops, buy irrigation, if the farmers use hydroelectric power they will
need to buy more fuel and the costumers or that purchase
supplies from you will most probably have to pay more.
Drought can cause environmental impacts and social impacts as
well. This dry period of time can cause losses of fish and their
habitats, soil quality gets worse, lowers water level in lake,
rivers and much more environmental problems. As for social
impacts, it can cause de-hydration in the human body, farmers
will most likely have to move to an area with average rainfall
and poor water quality too4. Drought makes it easier to spot
weeds and you can become dryland farmer.

One of many solutions for drought is to check soil moister. To

check the soil moisture, you need to dig a metal tube and 2 to 3
inches of soil deep. You have to feel the last 2 inches, if its dry,
you have to water it5 but not too much because too much water
can kill plants. Not all devices that check soil moisture are reliable, for example, a 7
portable tentiometer isn’t highly recommended however, the normal tensiometer is.
There are lots of other examples:
 8

The prices can go from $30 to $1020 6 because there are different brands, some better quality
than others and some contain more characteristics that interest people/farmers that want
everything controlled. You can have other monitoring tools that such as checking the tension
of the soil. Soil moisture has a negative side too. The 2 inches of soil you are measuring and
feeling if is dry doesn’t mean the plant/vegetable needs water. Just like I said before, too
much water can kill the plants. This is because the roots of the of the plant provide water,
food and oxygen. If you keep on watering the plant each time the soil is dry, the roots won’t
be able to breathe and the plant will ‘drown’. The roots take in the water but need to take in
the oxygen too. If the roots are always filled with water, oxygen can’t enter so the plant will
eventually die. Another problem is that if you use too much and kill the plant, all the water
the plant didn’t use was wasted. This means your bills will rise or you will have less water for
gardening. You also need to be aware that there are specific measurers for each different type
of soil, if you want accurate answer, make sure it is the right tool9. This does affect our health
and the environment if used the wrong way. Like I said before, too much water kills the crops
and plants. If the plants die that affects our health and environment because plants produce
oxygen from their food. So, if there are no more plants we would have no more oxygen or at
least very bad oxygen quality. Humans need oxygen to survive, therefor if plants or lots of
plants died we would die as well and this applies to animals as well.
This is a good solution because you know when to water the soil, like this you don’t have to
worry. If you keep on watering the soil when needed your chance of getting drought
decreases by much more.

To conclude drought is a dry period of time and one of the solutions is checking soil
moisture. This method does help us prevent drought but shouldn’t be used all the time
otherwise it can kill plants and roots and cause a big impact in the community and
environment. The farmer should use other methods and check soil moisture only a few times
per month so drought doesn’t take place and neither do the plants and/or crops die.
Bibliography:

1
https://www.eartheclipse.com/natural-disaster/causes-and-effects-of-drought.html
2
https://water.usgs.gov/edu/qadroughts.html#causes
3
http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/article2613416.html
4
http://drought.unl.edu/DroughtforKids/HowDoesDroughtAffectOurLives/TypesofDroughtI
mpacts.aspx
5
http://www.sunset.com/garden/garden-basics/11-ways-fight-drought
6
https://www.vegetronix.com/TechInfo/Soil-Moisture-Sensor-Comparison.phtml
7
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/testing-moisture-in-
plants.htm
8
http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=25018
9
http://alfalfa.ucdavis.edu/+symposium/proceedings/2014/14CAS32_Zaccaria_SoilMoisture.
pdf