Megadrought

Avocado plantations in Petorca, Chile

Chileans have long struggled with a water crisis. Management practices are partly to blame, study says.

Environment

For years, people believed that climate change was to blame for the water shortage. But a recent study published in the Switzerland-based journal Water found that this shortage was not only due to the megadrought, but has also been caused by water misuse and management practices established under the country’s current legislation.

NASA's Airborne Snow Observatory flies above the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California.

How California is surviving its new water crisis

Environment
Oregon dry lakebedEmigrant Lake near Ashland, Oregon in October 2014. Current drought conditions have caused the lake to fall to less than 10 percent of its capacity.

The worst droughts in 1,000 years may be on the horizon for the American West

Environment