I am very skeptical of the effectiveness of combating something like a drought by hoping most adults read about it on the news and individually decide to take appropriate actions. These sorts of cases need to be handled at the government and utility level.

I live in a drought stricken region and everybody here is well aware of it, regardless of their news habits, because they learn about it from many other sources.

As one example, the water district regularly sends out fliers telling people there is a drought, making suggestions on how to conserve water, adding restrictions on water use, and more. These messages are far more ubiqutous and effective than current news articles.