South Carolina Code of Regulations
Chapter 121 - DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
DROUGHT PLANNING RESPONSE
Section 121-11.7 - Drought Information Center
Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 3, March 22, 2024
A. The Office of the State Climatologist, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, shall maintain a Drought Information Center whenever one or more drought management areas of the State are in a moderate, severe or extreme drought alert phase. Information about the status of drought conditions and impacts on the economy and well-being of the State will be collected and made available to State Agencies, State Officials, the news media, and other concerned interests.
B. The Drought Information Center shall routinely collect, monitor, and evaluate selected climatic, water-supply and water-use data as necessary to identify at an early stage the onset of a drought or potential for drought, geographic extent of the affected area and changes in the drought levels.
C. Drought indices shall be computed on a weekly basis. These computations will be compared with the various similar indices computed by other State, Federal and private agencies.
D. Monitoring shall be accelerated whenever drought conditions approach or enter the moderate drought stage in one or more drought management areas. This may include acquiring additional rainfall, stream flow, water use, and ground water level data; and collecting additional information on the impact of the drought on agriculture, industry, domestic water supplies, and other users.
E. During periods of moderate, severe or extreme drought, available drought related data, as appropriate, will be provided to the Drought Information Center by the South Carolina Department of Agriculture, South Carolina Emergency Preparedness Division, South Carolina Forestry Commission, South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, as well as by any other State Agency that is either impacted by or has information on drought conditions. Various Federal and local agencies may be asked to provide drought information on a voluntary basis.
