When is a drought not a drought?

If you got a bit bored of the pictures of rain with 'so much for drought' commentaries, it might come as a bit of a relief that the Environment Agency (EA) has proposed a solution - replacing drought declarations with different types of water shortage.

For example, the recent drought was caused by two consecutive dry winters, meaning that heavy rainfall either ran off the surface or was absorbed by plants. However the term ‘drought’ does not adequately explain this, especially as people envision drought as standpipes and empty water courses with cracked ground. Something on the lines of this:

Rather than just announcing that 'we are in drought' officials are planning to inform the public on different types of drought: whether there is enough rainfall to grow crops (agricultural drought), a long-term dry spell (meteorological drought), a groundwater shortage (hydrological drought), or a public water shortage (economic drought). 

Read more at the DT