Drought Management Strategies in Water-Stressed/Water-Scarce Regions

In recent years, the adverse effects of drought have been experienced and perceived more severely and frequently all over Europe. These impacts are a result of the drought hazard and the socio-economic and ecological vulnerability. Due to the heterogeneity of Europe&#8217;s hydro-climatology and its cultural, political, social and economic diversity , the socio-economic and ecological impacts vary not only with respect to the extent, duration and severity of the drought, but also with the characteristics of affected societies, economic sectors and ecosystems.&#160;The lack&#160; of understanding the spatio-temporal differences in the drivers of drought risk hinders the successful mitigation of future impacts, and the design of suitable reactive and proactive drought action plans. Therefore, this study describes the European drought events of 2018 and 2019 beyond the hazard. The hypothesis to be proven is that similar hazard conditions result in different impacts due to national and sub-national differences in drought vulnerability, perception and drought-risk management. Based on research in 35 European countries, comparable national datasets on drought management and perception are established. For each of these countries, a uniform questionnaire was distributed to water management-related stakeholders at different administrative levels. A major focus of the questions was the perception and impacts of the recent droughts and current management strategies on a national and sub-national scale. The results of the questionnaires are also compared to country-scale profiles of past drought events for different drought types, i.e. meteorological, soil moisture, hydrological and vegetation drought, which were established based on information derived from the European Drought Observatory indicator system.The results highlight a large diversity in the national perception of drought as a natural hazard and its impacts; but also a different spatial extent of 2018/2019 drought events At the same time,&#160; existing drought management strategies are shown to increase national and sub-national resilience. The study, therefore, calls for international exchange and mutual learning to improve national and international drought governance and management.

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Interbasin water transfer in a changing world: A new conceptual model

Progress in Physical Geography Earth and Environment ◽

10.1177/03091333211065004 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 030913332110650

Author(s):

Edward Rollason ◽

Pammi Sinha ◽

Louise J Bracken

Keyword(s):

Water Scarcity ◽

Conceptual Models ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Temporal Distribution ◽

Water Transfer ◽

Decision Makers ◽

Global Issue ◽

Proposed Model ◽

Interbasin Water Transfer ◽

Water Scarce

Water scarcity is a global issue, affecting in excess of four billion people. Interbasin Water Transfer (IBWT) is an established method for increasing water supply by transferring excess water from one catchment to another, water-scarce catchment. The implementation of IBWT peaked in the 1980s and was accompanied by a robust academic debate of its impacts. A recent resurgence in the popularity of IBWT, and particularly the promotion of mega-scale schemes, warrants revisiting this technology. This paper provides an updated review, building on previously published work, but also incorporates learning from schemes developed since the 1980s. We examine the spatial and temporal distribution of schemes and their drivers, review the arguments for and against the implementation of IBWT schemes and examine conceptual models for assessing IBWT schemes. Our analysis suggests that IBWT is growing in popularity as a supply-side solution for water scarcity and is likely to represent a key tool for water managers into the future. However, we argue that IBWT cannot continue to be delivered through current approaches, which prioritise water-centric policies and practices at the expense of social and environmental concerns. We critically examine the Socio-Ecological Systems and Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus models as new conceptual models for conceptualising and assessing IBWT. We conclude that neither model offers a comprehensive solution. Instead, we propose an enhanced WEF model (eWEF) to facilitate a more holistic assessment of how these mega-scale engineering interventions are integrated into water management strategies. The proposed model will help water managers, decision-makers, IBWT funders and communities create more sustainable IBWT schemes.

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Challenges for the Integration of Water Resource and Drought-Risk Management in Spain

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11020308 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 308 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Jesús Vargas ◽

Pilar Paneque

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Water Resources ◽

Water Resource ◽

Water Resources Management ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Drought Risk ◽

Drought Management ◽

Intergovernmental Panel ◽

Resources Management ◽

Increased Risk

Droughts are risks characterized by their complexity, uncertainty, and a series of other features, which differentiate them from other natural disasters and affect the strategies designed to manage them. These characteristics highlight the close relationship between drought management and water resources management. The following hypothesis is raised in this study—unsatisfactory integration of a drought-risk and water resources management strategies, increases the vulnerability to drought. To corroborate this hypothesis, the Spanish case was analyzed, where droughts are a recurrent phenomenon, due to the Mediterranean climate. Starting from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) framework, which has been proposed to characterize vulnerability as a function of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity, this study analyzed the vulnerability in the Spanish River Basin Districts, through—(i) the integration of the predictable effects of climate change and the increased risk of exposure in hydrologic planning; (ii) the pressure on water resources that determines the sensitivity of the systems; and (iii) the development and implementation of drought management plans as a fundamental tool, in order to adapt before these events occur. The results showed that despite important advances in the process of conceiving and managing droughts, in Spain, there are still important gaps for an adequate integration of droughts risk into the water resource strategies. Therefore, despite the improvements, drought-risk vulnerability of the systems remained high.

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Summary: Some Key Drought Management Strategies and Tactics

Drought Management on Farmland - Water Science and Technology Library ◽

10.1007/978-94-015-9562-9_31 ◽

2000 ◽

pp. 341-347

Author(s):

J. S. Whitmore

Keyword(s):

Management Strategies ◽

Drought Management

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System Dynamics Modeling for Supporting Drought-Oriented Management of the Jucar River System, Spain

Water ◽

10.3390/w12051407 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (5) ◽

pp. 1407

Author(s):

Adria Rubio-Martin ◽

Manuel Pulido-Velazquez ◽

Hector Macian-Sorribes ◽

Alberto Garcia-Prats

Keyword(s):

System Dynamics ◽

Economic Impact ◽

Water Resource ◽

Management Strategies ◽

River System ◽

Drought Management ◽

Management Options ◽

Early Management ◽

Operating Rules ◽

Resource Systems

The management of water in systems where the balance between resources and demands is already precarious can pose a challenge and it can be easily disrupted by drought episodes. Anticipated drought management has proved to be one of the main strategies to reduce their impact. Drought economic, environmental, and social impacts affect different sectors that are often interconnected. There is a need for water management models able to acknowledge the complex interactions between multiple sectors, activities, and variables to study the response of water resource systems to drought management strategies. System dynamics (SD) is a modeling methodology that facilitates the analysis of interactions and feedbacks within and between sectors. Although SD has been applied for water resource management, there is a lack of SD models able to regulate complex water resource systems on a monthly time scale and considering multiple reservoir operating rules, demands, and policies. In this paper, we present an SD model for the strategic planning of drought management in the Jucar River system, incorporating dynamic reservoir operating rules, policies, and drought management strategies triggered by a system state index. The DSS combines features from early warning and information systems, allowing for the simulation of drought strategies, evaluating their economic impact, and exploring new management options in the same environment. The results for the historical period show that drought early management can be beneficial for the performance of the system, monitoring the current state of the system, and activating drought management measures results in a substantial reduction of the economic impact of droughts.

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Increasing Resilience of the UK Fresh Fruit and Vegetable System to Water-Related Risks

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12187519 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (18) ◽

pp. 7519

Author(s):

Monika Zurek ◽

George Garbutt ◽

Theresa Lieb ◽

Tim Hess ◽

John Ingram

Keyword(s):

Management Strategies ◽

Fresh Fruit ◽

Complex Nature ◽

Environmental Pressures ◽

Risk Management Strategies ◽

Building Activities ◽

The Many ◽

The Individual ◽

The Uk ◽

Water Scarce

The many economic, regulatory and environmental pressures on growing, processing, distributing and retailing UK-produced fresh fruit and vegetables (FF&V) are managed by a complex set of actors before reaching the consumer. Much of this production takes place in the driest parts of the country which are characterised as “water scarce”. While physical risk is a key component of water-related risks to growers, different actors in the system face other types of risk, such as supply chain risks, food safety risks, reputational risks and/or regulatory risks. In this paper we reveal how different types of actors in the UK FF&V system perceive and frame water-related risks, what risk management strategies they employ and how they envision a FF&V system more resilient to water-related risks. Using interviews with actors from across the system, as well as governmental and nongovernmental actors influencing the system, we unpack the complex nature of the FF&V system. This provides insights into the different ways system actors assemble around water-risk and highlights that, if resilience-building activities at the individual actor level are not coordinated, there is a high risk that they are undermining overall system resilience.

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Drought Management Planning Policy: From Europe to Spain

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11071862 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (7) ◽

pp. 1862 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Carmen Hervás-Gámez ◽

Fernando Delgado-Ramos

Keyword(s):

Water Scarcity ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Drought Risk ◽

Drought Management ◽

Management Planning ◽

Planning Policy ◽

Water Users ◽

Track Record ◽

Mediterranean Countries ◽

Common Diagnosis

Climate change is anticipated to exacerbate the frequency, the intensity, and the duration of droughts, especially in Mediterranean countries. This might lead to more serious water scarcity episodes and fierce competition among water users. Are we really prepared to deal efficiently with droughts and water scarcity events? This paper sheds light on this question by reviewing the evolution of European drought management planning policy, recently developed scientific and technical advances, technical guidance documents, and an extensive number of journal papers. More specifically, Spain presents an ideal context to assess how drought risk has been historically addressed because this country has periodically suffered the impacts of intense droughts and water scarcity episodes, and has developed a long track record in water legislation, hydrological planning, and drought risk management strategies. The most recent Drought Management Plans (DMPs) were approved in December 2018. These include an innovative common diagnosis system that distinguishes droughts and water scarcity situations in terms of indicators, triggers, phases, and actions. We can conclude that DMP should be a live and active document able to integrate updated knowledge. The DMP needs also to set out a clear strategy in terms of water use priorities, drought monitoring systems, and measures in each river basin in order to avoid generalist approaches and possible misinterpretation of the DMP that could lead to increase existing and future conflicts.

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