Effective Drought Index Based Evaluation Of Meteorological Drought Characterisitcs In Bundelkhand Region Of Central India

Abstract

Water resources management in arid and semiarid regions is a hydrologically challenging proposition for the decision makers and planners as they are more susceptible to drought. The Bundelkhand region is under the limelight due to continuous droughts resulting in acute water scarcity leading to large-scale out-migration of people. The effective drought index (EDI) developed by Byun and Wilhite, (1999) based on the concept of effective precipitation with a timedependent reduction function has been used to analyze the meteorological drought characteristics in the Bundelkhand. The average drought frequency varies between 1 in 3 years and 1 in 5 years. The average drought intensity in Sagar district (Madhya Pradesh) varies between -0.93 at Banda and -1.15 at Khurai whereas in Jhansi district (Uttar Pradesh) it varies between -0.73 at Garotha and -1.43 at Pachwara. The spatio-temporal variation of drought has been studied using ILWIS 3.6. It has been observed the area under mild drought increased from 2% (mild drought) in July 2007 to 81% (mild drought) and 2% (moderate drought) in August 2007 due to the deficient rainfall. The drought situation further worsened in September 2007 with almost the entire Bundelkhand reeling under drought with 77.5% (mild drought), 14.3% (moderate drought), and 0.1% (severe drought). The spatiotemporal analysis of EDI based drought characteristics can be used effectively for drought monitoring to identify the problematic areas within the region, so that timely drought relief measures can be more focused towards these areas during periods of crisis.