Reducing Pressure on Drinking Water Resources in Droughts: A Narrative Study

Abstract

The long trends of drought have caused much damage to the society. This phenomenon leads to an imbalance between water supply and demand with the abnormal dominance of arid climate over an area. Given the recent widespread climate changes in the world and the importance of conserving water resources, the present study aimed to identify methods to reduce pressure on drinking water resources in drought conditions. This study was conducted by using the narrative method (scope review). The research environment included Embase, Scopus, Web of Science and PubMed databases and the articles were selected and reviewed according to the defined and peer-reviewed inclusion criteria. The period searched was 2000-2020. The findings showed that the effective components in reducing the pressure on drinking water resources are the use of new devices such as water desalination equipment, the use of methods to reduce water loss, culture and community education, and policy and adoption of water management strategies to prevent waste and recycling. Given the level of economic growth of each country and the prevailing culture, it is necessary to take managerial measures, educate members of society and use modern equipment to reduce water consumption. The results of this study showed that the recycling of drinking water and the use of gray water is also an important factor that needs special attention.