Last week the Garrison Diversion Conservancy District held a drought conference in Fargo to discuss the reality of drought.
Because flooding has been the problem recently, and not drought, water cooler talk led to snickering regarding the apparent foolishness of both flood and drought mitigation being brought up.
But without getting into the politics (or dollars) of these issues, the fact is that both flood and drought are very real long-term problems in the Red River Valley region.
Our history going back to the 1870s proves this and the geological record suggests our region’s history is not nearly long enough to have revealed just how wet and also how dry it can get.
We live in a place where weather is prone to go to extremes. It has been generally wet for more than 20 years. It will likely not be long before the pendulum of climate swings the other way.
