Drying Up, Depletion, Exhaustion
noun, verbal noun
Something that will wither and dry up ends up doing exactly that, drying up. And as it dries up, there's less and less of it until there's nothing left. This is called depletion! This word is often used to describe situations where natural resources are getting used up and running out.
こかつ
This is a jukugo word that uses the on'yomi readings of the kanji. You didn't learn this reading for 渇 yet, so here's a mnemonic to help you: If all of your plants are drying up you should just give them to your cats (かつ). Cats love to play with dried up plants. At least they won't go to waste.
もうすぐ石油は枯渇する。
The petroleum will dry up very soon.