Dry period (7)
I believe the answer is:
drought
<span class="explanation-format__ClueExplanation">'<span class="explanation-format__original">dry period</span>' is the definition.<br/ ><span class="explanation-format__explanation">(I've seen this before)</span><br/ ><br/ >This is all the clue.<br/ ></span>
(Other definitions for drought that I've seen before include "Period of low rainfall" , "Period of abnormal dryness" , "Long water shortage" , "Severe water shortage" , "dry condition" .)