This title is a perfect example of clickbait: Make you click on something, then talk about something else.
EDIT: someone updated the title, it used to read "The worst drought in 1200 years" - so this whole tangent about clickbait is even more pointless than it was when it started, sorry everyone!
No, that's not what they are talking about. That's mentioned in a single line as a throwaway.
> What am I missing?
They are talking about water conservation that's been ongoing for years, and is not related to any drought.