Definition, Effects and Assessment of Groundwater Droughts

Lanen, H.A.J. van; Peters, E.

doi:10.1007/978-94-015-9472-1_4

Cited by 87 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…This is followed by the critical threshold of cease-toflow after which streams become a series of pools that in severe drought may themselves disappear (Boulton, 2003;Lake, 2003). As drought depletes surface waters, it should be noted that groundwater levels and volumes may, with time, start to be reduced (Van Lanen & Peters, 2000). Groundwater drought is poorly understood, but it is critical to recognise that groundwater often forms the base flow of surface systems and also that many wetland systems are groundwater-dependent.…”

Section: What Is Drought?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The impacts of drought on freshwater ecosystems: an Australian perspective

2008

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Southeastern Australia is presently experiencing one of the worst droughts observed in the region in the last 200 years. The consequences of drought have been far reaching both for human consumptive uses and for aquatic ecosystems, and serve to highlight several important aspects of the nature of droughts, their ecological impacts, and how humans respond to them. Running water ecosystems are the dominant form of freshwater ecosystem in Australia, yet, despite the high frequency of drought we lack a basic understanding of the consequences of long-term droughts (as distinct from seasonal droughts) as an ecosystem disturbance, and more is known about drought effects on flowing than on standing waters. Drought is well defined and characterised meteorologically, but hydrologically its characterisation is equivocal. While drought severely impacts natural aquatic ecosystems, its effects have been and are exacerbated by direct and indirect anthropogenic modifications to streams and their catchments. In streams the major impacts are the loss of water and habitat availability, and the reduction, if not severing, of connectivity (lateral, longitudinal and vertical). Despite the relative frequency of drought in Australia we have failed to develop long-term management strategies capable of contending with droughts and their impacts, particularly in catchments where human disturbances have reduced the natural resistance and resilience of aquatic ecosystems, and where the demand for consumptive water use is high and rising. Here, we provide a commentary on drought and its implications for the management of freshwater ecosystems. We begin with a general discussion of drought and its impacts on streams and rivers before discussing some of the more specific management issues and response strategies that have arisen in response to the current drought in Australia. Throughout we consider global as well as local examples. We conclude by highlighting important knowledge gaps and by providing some general principles for better incorporating droughts and their impacts into river management strategies.

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Section: What Is Drought?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The impacts of drought on freshwater ecosystems: an Australian perspective

2008

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“…Under natural conditions, groundwater drought is caused by a lack of precipitation followed by a decrease in recharge, resulting in decreases in GWL and discharge and eventually a decline in the available groundwater [49]. The "lack of precipitation" is usually determined by a comparison with a "normal" condition or a mean value from past measurements [49].…”

Section: Threshold Level Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The "lack of precipitation" is usually determined by a comparison with a "normal" condition or a mean value from past measurements [49]. As noted by Mishra and Singh [31], the reason for analyzing the change in GWL rather than groundwater storage is that "defining or estimating the total available water is difficult and in most groundwater systems, negative impacts of storage depletion can be felt, long before the total volume of groundwater in storage is decreased" [49,50]. Therefore, most groundwater droughts are defined as water-level declines [28,29].…”

Section: Threshold Level Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of Groundwater Drought in the Mangyeong River Basin, Korea

et al. 2018

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When groundwater drought occurs, baseflow discharges to surface-water bodies will be reduced and then domestic and agricultural water usage becomes at risk of insufficient supply. Thus, in this study, several methods for groundwater drought assessment were tested with long-term monitoring water-level data in the study area to preserve groundwater sustainability from drought, principally caused by reduced precipitation and propagated through agricultural drought and groundwater drought. Because of the Monsoon climate on the Korean Peninsula, the groundwater storage (or water-level) is secured until the end of summer, then falls by natural discharge during the dry seasons of autumn, winter and the following spring. Thus, the rainfall in the wet season seems to mainly influence groundwater storage until the spring of the following year. As the groundwater level (GWL) declines due to natural drainage and the use of agricultural water increases by the end of the dry season (October-May), the GWL will become lowered below the critical level. Below this level, sufficient water supply is not secured. Using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), threshold method and 95% probability occurrence method, drought detection and the frequency of drought are compared. Groundwater drought using the threshold method results in more frequent occurrence than using the SPI method. The 95% occurrence method responds to severe drought but it also has weakness in missing the man-induced GWL decline in every spring season. For groundwater drought assessment, an appropriate drought index should be utilized according to climatic conditions and catchment characteristics. In the study area, variations of the both natural and anthropogenic effects are mixed and the threshold method is more suitable as a measure for preventing water resources shortage.

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“…Groundwater drought, which is a type of hydrological drought characterized by sustained low groundwater levels, reduced baseflow, and reduced flows to springs and groundwater-fed rivers and wetlands [3,4], has profound adverse impacts on water resources such as groundwater discharge to the groundwater-dependent surface waters and ecosystems, and also affects public water supply, industry supplies, and agricultural irrigation [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatiotemporal Characteristics of Groundwater Drought and Its Response to Meteorological Drought in Jiangsu Province, China

Liu

Zhou

et al. 2016

Water

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Abstract:In this study, the temporal and spatial variations of groundwater drought using a Standardized Groundwater Level Index (SGI) were analyzed based on 40 monthly groundwater level observation wells from 1989 to 2012 in Jiangsu Province, China. Meteorological drought, calculated by the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), was also included to reveal its propagation and impact on the groundwater drought process. Results showed that the southern region of Jiangsu faced more frequent groundwater droughts and lower intensity, while the northern region faced less frequent groundwater drought with higher intensity. Furthermore, the cross-correlation between the spatial average of SGI and SPI for SPI accumulation periods of q = 1 to 12 was computed. The relationship between SGI and SPI varied in different regions. Detailed analysis of the characteristics of groundwater and meteorological drought for each region showed that meteorological droughts happened more frequently than groundwater drought in Jiangsu Province during the study period, while the mean duration and mean magnitude of groundwater droughts were longer and larger than those of meteorological droughts. It is expected that this study will provide useful information for drought monitoring and mitigation in Jiangsu and similar areas.

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Definition, Effects and Assessment of Groundwater Droughts

Cited by 87 publications

References 4 publications

The impacts of drought on freshwater ecosystems: an Australian perspective

The impacts of drought on freshwater ecosystems: an Australian perspective

Assessment of Groundwater Drought in the Mangyeong River Basin, Korea

Spatiotemporal Characteristics of Groundwater Drought and Its Response to Meteorological Drought in Jiangsu Province, China

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