DROUGHTS
A climatic anomaly characterized by deficit supply of
moisture.
This may result from subnormal rainfall over large
regions causing below normal natural availability of
water over long periods of time.
A hydrological extreme like flood and is a natural
disaster.
Are of the creeping kind; they develop in a region over a
length of time and sometimes may extend to continental
scale.
Drought Classifications
Meteorological Drought - It is a situation where there is
more that 25% decrease in precipitation from normal
over an area.
Hydrological Drought – Prolonged meteorological
drought with marked depletion of surface water and
groundwater.
Agricultural Drought – Occurs when the soil moisture
and rainfall are inadequate during the growing season to
support healthy crop growth maturity
Meteorological Drought
A meteorological sub-division is considered to be affected by
drought if it receives a total seasonal rainfall less than that
of 75% of the normal value.
Moderate Drought – If the seasonal deficiency is between
26%-50%
Severe Drought – If the deficiency is above 50% of the normal
value
Drought Year – The area affected by moderate/severe drought
either individually/collectively is more than 20% of the total
area of the country
Drought Prone Area – 0.23 ≤ P ≤ 0.4
Chronically Drought-Prone Area – p > 0.4
Hydrological Drought
From a hydrologist’s point of view, drought means
below average values of stream flow, contents in
tanks and reservoirs, groundwater and soil moisture.
Such Hydrological drought has four components:
Magnitude (Amount of Deficiency)
Duration
Severity (Cumulative Amount of Deficiency)
Frequency of Occurrence
Agricultural Drought
Deficiency of rainfall has been the principal criteria for defining
agricultural drought. However, depending on whether the study is at
regional level, crop level or plant level, there have been a variety of
definition.
Aridity Index (AI) = (PET – AET)/ PET x 100
PET – Potential Evapotranspiration AET – Actual Evapotranspiration
Intensity of Agricultural Drought
h AI ANOMALY SEVERITY CLASS Palmer Index and
Zero or Negative Non – Arid Moisture Availability
1 – 25 Mild – Arid
Index also used to
characterize
26 – 50 Moderate – Arid
agricultural drought
> 50 Severe – Arid
Drought Management
Drought management involves development of both
short-term and long-term strategies
Short-term Strategies – includes early warning,
monitoring and assessment of droughts
Long-term Strategies – aim at providing drought
mitigating measures through proper soil and water
conservation, irrigation scheduling and cropping
patterns
Drought Management
DROUGHT
IMPACT
Meteorological Hydrological Agricultural
POSSIBLE
MODIFICATION
Drought Management
Creation of water storages through appropriate water resources
development
Inter-basin transfer of surface waters from surplus water areas to
drought-prone areas
Development and management of ground-water potential
Development of appropriate water-harvesting practices
In situ soil moisture conservation measures
Economic use of water in irrigation through practices such as drip
irrigation, sprinkler irrigation, etc.
Reduction of evaporation from soil and water surfaces
Development of afforestation, agro-forestry and agro-horticulture
practices
Development of fuelwood and folder
Sand dune stabilization
Water Harvesting
Water Harvesting is a general term to include all systems that
concentrate, collect and store runoff from small catchments for
later use in smaller user areas,
Water Harvesting is defined as the process of collecting and
concentrating runoff water from a runoff area into a run-on area,
where the collected water is either directly applied to the
cropping area and stored in an on-farm water reservoir for future
productive uses (domestic use, livestock watering, aquaculture
and irrigation). The collected water can also be used for
groundwater recharge and storage in the aquifer, (recharge
enhancement)
Drought Management
Water Harvesting
Flood Water Harvesting
Rainwater Harvesting (Runoff of Small Stream)
