Scientist-F, National Institute of Hydrology, WALMI Campus, Bhopal - 462042, Bhopal, MP, India.
Scientist-F, Surface Water Hydrology Division, National Institute of Hydrology, Jalvigyan Bhawan, Roorkee- 247 667, Roorkee, UK, India.
Environ Monit Assess. 2022 Jul 30;194(9):621. doi: 10.1007/s10661-022-10300-8.
Drought is an extreme event and its frequency is expected to increase in future under the imminent threats of climate change. The areas vulnerable to drought are increasing due to increase in the spatial extent and severity of droughts. This necessitates the need for development of an integrated framework for assessment of drought vulnerability, which will be vital for water resources management policies focused towards such vulnerable areas. An integrated drought vulnerability assessment framework has been developed considering the physical indicators that vary spatially, social indicators that vary spatially but their temporal variation may be at longer time-frames, and spatio-temporal drought indicators that vary spatially and temporally during various months during drought years. This framework has been tested for Bina basin located in the drought prone Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh. The drought indicators used in the study include (i) Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) for evaluating meteorological drought characteristics, (ii) Surface water Drought Index (SDI) for evaluating streamflow drought characteristics, and (iii) Groundwater Drought Index (GDI) for evaluating groundwater drought characteristics. Groundwater levels are being observed at quarterly (3 monthly) time step only. So the relationships between GDI and 3-m SPI, 6-m SPI, and 12-m SPI have been investigated. Based on the best correlation, the 12-m SPI can be used to represent the groundwater drought in Bina basin and has therefore been used to assess the monthly variability in the groundwater drought characteristics. The spatially varying physical indicators including basin reach (elevation band), land use pattern and soil type; the spatio-temporal drought indicators including soil moisture drought, surface water drought and groundwater drought, rainfall departure and number of consecutive dry days; and the spatially varying social indicators including infants and young children, illiterate population, marginal workers and rural population have been used for the development of a Drought Vulnerability Index (DVI). The integrated drought vulnerability assessment framework has been conceptualized on the basis of DVI. Four vulnerability classes have been defined and the study area falls in mild to moderate vulnerable class, based on the analysis carried out for the various drought years in the basin. Appropriate drought management plans and mitigation strategies need to be developed to target these vulnerable areas in Bina basin.
干旱是一种极端事件，在气候变化的紧迫威胁下，预计未来其发生频率将会增加。由于干旱的空间范围和严重程度增加，易受干旱影响的地区也在增加。这就需要开发一个综合框架来评估干旱脆弱性，这对于针对这些脆弱地区的水资源管理政策至关重要。考虑到空间变化的物理指标、空间变化但时间变化可能在较长时间框架内的社会指标以及在干旱年份的不同月份期间空间和时间变化的时空干旱指标，已经开发了一个综合干旱脆弱性评估框架。该框架已经在位于中央邦邦德尔汗德干旱地区的比纳流域进行了测试。该研究中使用的干旱指标包括：（i）标准化降水指数（SPI），用于评估气象干旱特征；（ii）地表水干旱指数（SDI），用于评估河川流量干旱特征；（iii）地下水干旱指数（GDI），用于评估地下水干旱特征。仅以季度（3 个月）时间步长观测地下水位。因此，研究了 GDI 与 3 个月 SPI、6 个月 SPI 和 12 个月 SPI 之间的关系。基于最佳相关性，可以使用 12 个月 SPI 来代表比纳流域的地下水干旱，并已用于评估地下水干旱特征的月变化。包括流域河段（海拔带）、土地利用模式和土壤类型等空间变化的物理指标；土壤水分干旱、地表水干旱和地下水干旱、降雨偏离和连续干旱天数等时空干旱指标；以及包括婴幼儿、文盲人口、边缘工人和农村人口在内的空间变化社会指标，已用于开发干旱脆弱性指数（DVI）。综合干旱脆弱性评估框架是基于 DVI 概念化的。根据流域内各干旱年份的分析，定义了四个脆弱性类别，该研究区属于轻度至中度脆弱性类别。需要制定适当的干旱管理计划和缓解策略，以针对比纳流域的这些脆弱地区。
