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Handbook of Drought
and Water Scarcity
Management of Drought and
Water Scarcity
Handbook of Drought
and Water Scarcity
Management of Drought and
Water Scarcity
Edited by
Saeid Eslamian and Faezeh Eslamian
CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300
Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742
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Editors����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ix
Contributors������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� xi
v
vi Contents
Index���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 765
Editors
ix
x Editors
(IUCN), GC Network for Drylands Research and Development (NDRD), International Association for
Urban Climate (IAUC), International Society for Agricultural Meteorology (ISAM), Association of Water
and Environment Modeling (AWEM), International Hydrological Association (STAHS), and UK Drought
National Center (UKDNC).
Professor Eslamian finished Hakimsanaei High School in Isfahan in 1979. After the Islamic Revolution,
he was admitted to IUT for a BS in water engineering and graduated in 1986. After graduation, he was
offered a scholarship for a master’s degree program at Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran. He finished his
studies in hydrology and water resources engineering in 1989. In 1991, he was awarded a scholarship for
a PhD in civil engineering at the University of New South Wales, Australia. His supervisor was Professor
David H. Pilgrim, who encouraged him to work on “Regional Flood Frequency Analysis Using a New
Region of Influence Approach.” He earned a PhD in 1995 and returned to his home country and IUT. In
2001, he was promoted to associate professor and in 2014 to full professor. For the past 22 years, he has
been nominated for different positions at IUT, including university president consultant, faculty deputy
of education, and head of department.
Professor Eslamian has made three scientific visits to the United States, Switzerland, and Canada
in 2006, 2008, and 2015, respectively. In the first, he was offered the position of visiting professor by
Princeton University and worked jointly with Professor Eric F. Wood at the School of Engineering and
Applied Sciences for one year. The outcome was a contribution in hydrological and agricultural drought
interaction knowledge by developing multivariate L-moments between soil moisture and low flows for
northeastern U.S. streams.
Recently, Professor Eslamian has completed the editorship of eight handbooks published by Taylor &
Francis (CRC Press): the three-volume Handbook of Engineering Hydrology in 2014, Urban Water Reuse
Handbook in 2015, Underground Aqueducts Handbook (2017), the three-volume Handbook of Drought and
Water Scarcity (2017).
xi
xii Contributors
Louis Kouadio
Rares Halbac-Cotoara-Zamfir International Centre for Applied Climate Sciences
Department of Hydrotechnics Institute for Agriculture and the Environment
Politehnica University of Timisoara University of Southern Queensland
Timisoara, Romania Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia
Eduardo Kruse
Ali Hasantabar-Amiri
National Scientific and Technical Research Council
Department of Civil Engineering
School of Natural Sciences and Museum of the
Islamic Azad University
National University of La Plata
Lenjan, Iran
La Plata, Argentina
Arash Mahdavi
Seyed-Mohammad Hosseini-Moghari
College of Natural Resources
Department of Irrigation and Reclamation
Isfahan University of Technology
Engineering
Isfahan, Iran
University of Tehran
Karaj, Iran David McRae
International Centre for Applied Climate Sciences
Seyedeh Zahra Hosseini-Teshnizi Institute for Agriculture and the Environment
Department of Water Engineering University of Southern Queensland
Isfahan University of Technology Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia
Isfahan, Iran
Sheyda Mohammadifard
Rajendra Kumar Isaac Department of Water Engineering
Department of Soil Water Land Engineering and Isfahan University of Technology
Management Isfahan, Iran
Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture,
Technology and Sciences S. Mohammed Irshad
Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India Jamsetji Tata School of Disaster Studies
Tata Institute of Social Sciences
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Shafi Noor Islam
Department of Geography and Elham Mohri-Isfahani
Environmental Studies Department of Water Engineering
University of Brunei Darussalam Isfahan University of Technology
Brunei Isfahan, Iran
Neda Yousefi
Vijay P. Singh Department of Environmental Sciences
Department of Biological and Agricultural University of Macquarie
Engineering Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas Ali Zahraei
Department of Irrigation and Drainage
University of Tehran
Tamara Sysak Tehran, Iran
Faculty of School of Social Sciences
University of the Sunshine Coast Fereshteh Zamani
Queensland, Australia Information Technology Department
Foulad Institute of Technology
Foulad Shahr, Iran
Hamed Tavakolifar
School of Civil Engineering Mehdi Zomorodian
College of Engineering Department of Civil Engineering
University of Tehran University of Malaya
Tehran, Iran Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
1
Drought Management:
Initiatives and Objectives
Abstract There are many drought management approaches being used around the world in relation
to drought response. Traditionally, responses to drought throughout the world have been reactive
ones. However, monitoring and identifying the gap between securing water for food production
and managing the demand and reducing risk associated with drought are crucial, and thus, an early
warning system needs to be in place to respond and manage drought effectively. This chapter aims to
identify some of the drought management initiatives in line with a drought policy, including drought
relief programs, water trade, and effective water capture and storage. With a better understanding of
the various drought management options available, a better sense of how drought is being managed
can be realized.
1.1 Introduction
Drought is a regional phenomenon with characteristics differing from one climate regime to another.
Significant changes in weather patterns from normal conditions commonly produce consequential
changes in the natural environment with associated social and economic impacts on affected regions
[12,22,44,66]. The early 1990s saw the scientific and policy viewpoints on drought as a natural disaster
change to one accepting it as a natural cycle. Meteorological drought is a natural event that results from
several causes that are specific to a given region [42,69]. A definition of drought based on standardized
precipitation has been suggested [40]; it is the difference in precipitation from the historical mean for a
specified time period divided by the historical standard deviation. As common as drought occurrences are
around the world, a standard definition of drought is not recognized. Even among the experts who study
droughts, a single standard definition is not easy to agree upon. In the simplest of meanings, drought
can be identified as a deficit in precipitation from an expected average over an established time frame.
1
2 Handbook of Drought and Water Scarcity
To better define drought, one needs to establish the context in which the phenomenon and its associated
impacts are being described. Four main classes of drought are commonly recognized, reflecting the differ-
ent aspects and parameters being considered:
• Meteorological (climatological) drought is defined as a deviation from normal precipitation condi-
tions over a period of time [23].
• Agricultural drought refers to a lack of adequate soil moisture for crops or pasture.
• Hydrological drought reflects reduced precipitation for an extended period, leading to deficient water
resources [72]. It is the deviation of available surface and subsurface water from average conditions.
• Socioeconomic drought recognizes the relationship between supply and demand for water, such as
when low water supplies negatively affect communities in terms of businesses (economies reliant on
crop yield and livestock management) and social behavior.
As their names imply, these diverse drought types impact different sectors, but in most instances, the
impacts related to each type overlap both temporally and spatially. All droughts begin with a deficiency of
precipitation over some time frame. These early stages of accumulating precipitation deficiencies are com-
monly referred to as meteorological drought [60]. A continuation of these dry conditions over a longer
period of time, sometimes in association with above-normal temperatures, high winds, and low relative
humidity, quickly results in impacts on the agricultural and hydrological sectors. Meteorological droughts
are driven by a change in the local meteorological conditions. The geography and climatology of a region
play an important role in what defines meteorological drought since regions have very different precipitation
regimes. Meteorological droughts can develop quickly, but they can also end just as quickly if the precipita-
tion deficits are relatively small. However, these drought may also linger on to become a multiseasonal event
and develop into one of the other types of drought. The identification of the beginning or end of drought
conditions is debatable. Low rainfall in itself does not constitute the commencement of drought, and rain or
flooding over prolonged periods of drought does not necessarily signal the end of drought either [62]. Water
scarcity refers to a shortage in the drinking water supply, whereas drought refers to the lack of water for rain-
fed crops, irrigated crops (mainly food crops), and also for the environment, resulting in desertification. The
poorest section of population is affected most. Villagers who keep the watersheds well managed with soil and
water conservation practices, forestation, and the augmentation of recharge to groundwater do not suffer
from water scarcity [6]. Unfortunately, desertification, land degradation, and drought are contributing to the
global water crisis. As a consequence of desertification, land degradation, and drought, falling water tables
are widespread, resulting in serious water shortages and salt intrusion in coastal areas.
The exacerbation of desertification in Africa and the extended droughts experienced by the continent
have gone unrecognized on many fronts and have been identified as having implications for the imple-
mentation of the Millennium Development Goals. The UNCCD is working to address drought monitor-
ing, preparedness, mitigation, land degradation, and desertification. It has been widely reported in the
Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Asia that drought causes desertification, falling water tables, and
pollution, forcing communities to abandon their villages and migrate [7]. Drought as an environmental
condition affects a wider geographical area than most other natural disasters. In 1991–1992, sub-Saharan
Africa experienced drought in a region of 6.7 million km2, affecting 110 million people [69]. Similarly,
Fishman [22] highlighted the various water scarcity issues in India, Las Vegas, and the Murray-Darling
river basin in Australia, including recycling wastewater for potable uses. With the growing population and
increasing impacts of land management practices, the situation is expected to worsen in the future, espe-
cially in areas more vulnerable to climate change [29,37]. In areas of low economic development, drought
has considerable impacts on local populations and ecosystems [36], exacerbating the negative effects on
agricultural activities and precipitation deficiency and culminating in socioeconomic drought impacts
such as the degradation of land and other problems with sanitation, health and hygiene, high infant mor-
tality, and low immunity in children.
The most severe social consequences of droughts are found in arid or semiarid regions where the avail-
ability of water is already low under normal conditions. Droughts should not be confused either with
Drought Management 3
aridity, which is a permanent feature of a dry climate, or with water scarcity [6], which implies a long-term
imbalance between available water resources and demand. Drought research and operational applications
have been lagging behind infrastructural in flood-prone areas. There is both an urgent need to address
emerging issues in drought research and management and to interact with the scientific and operational
communities, as well as policy-makers and the general public, to raise awareness of potential drought
hazards. This chapter gives a brief account of the management approaches adopted in drought, including
during drought relief activities, but also toward drought proofing.
1.2 Drought Monitoring
The key to understanding drought is to grasp its natural and social dimensions, with the goal of drought
risk management to focus on society’s coping capacity, resilience, and effective management of drought
assistance [46]. The management of drought takes a risk-based approach in analyzing and adapting to
conditions [49]. In order to effectively manage the risks to water resources and food security via drought
adaptation and sustainable farming practices, a reliable method for monitoring and prediction of drought
is required. Several agencies provide drought monitoring and prediction services around the world, such
as the Global Water Partnership’s Integrated Drought Management Framework, the U.S. Drought Monitor,
and the Experimental African Drought Monitor [34,64]. In keeping with the different characteristics that
are perceived as drought, these services employ different assessment techniques and indices in providing
early warnings. Drought monitoring focuses mainly on observed data and trends using various tech-
niques [39,54]. Drought prediction refers to both an estimate of what might happen over a specified time
period and a degree of certainty about the likelihood and precision of the estimate. Drought monitoring
tasks include the surface water monitoring, catchment management practices, groundwater monitoring,
river management, and assessment of the actual environmental water demand and, potentially, the mul-
tiple forms of water consumption [26,74]. These employ different assessment techniques and indices in
providing early warning. Drought monitoring generally can inform broader policy development for water
management and has been an important planning instrument [4,27,52,55]. Primary producers, insurance
companies, and importers and exporters may benefit from the provision of drought information at sea-
sonal and subseasonal time scales. On a decadal and multidecadal scale, the government and large orga-
nizations would use such information for policy development, infrastructure, and regional development
programs. Drought monitoring and prediction are also useful for resource planning, decision-making,
infrastructure planning, fire risk management, and conservation of biodiversity [47,53,55]. The basis of
human sustenance, agricultural production, is closely linked with the availability of water and actual
crop evapotranspiration, which can be monitored by the water balance during the crop-growing cycle.
Advances in remote sensing and satellite technology have helped in monitoring crop water use and pro-
duction. A drought index [34,59], which assists in the analysis of temporal and spatial variations in vegeta-
tion and crop water use, has long been recognized as an important tool in drought monitoring.
Drought impact monitoring is required to identify interactions between natural characteristics of meteoro-
logical drought and human activities that depend on precipitation to meet societal and environmental demands
and to determine appropriate drought management responses [32,42,69]. Drought has long been recognized to
be increasing in frequency, so monitoring and warning services and the dissemination of meaningful warnings
to the general public thus require a comprehensive and integrated approach to a collaborative process and a
review of the best-available evidences and predictions. As drought is ultimately measured in terms of its impact
and not just rainfall deficiency, no single index is sufficient to measure the impact of drought on a particular
sector or application. The purpose of a drought monitoring index is to coordinate and facilitate the develop-
ment, assessment, and application of drought risk management tools and policies with the goal of improving
drought preparedness and reducing drought impacts [63,65]. Therefore, most such indices will focus on moni-
toring and assessing drought and assessing risks and vulnerability connected to drought.
Drought has been and will continue to have some of the greatest impacts of climate and hence demands
the development of a common framework and new drought-related climate services [60,66] and multiyear
4 Handbook of Drought and Water Scarcity
drought predictions and projections [46]. Drought monitoring relies on the analysis of trends using
various techniques based on the observed surface water data [14,51,53,76–78,80] and groundwater data
[73–75]. Drought prediction refers to both an estimate of what might happen over a specified time period
[24,25] and a degree of certainty about the likelihood and precision of the estimate. Moreover, the model
can be used to generate maps showing the runoff variation over the basin with the particular chance of
occurrence in the future [1,50,58]. Results indicate that the statistical method is a useful procedure in
probabilistic forecast of future droughts, given the fact that spatiotemporal characteristics of droughts in
the past are suitable for probabilistic drought forecasting [5,11] and have the potential to improve drought
characterization in different applications [21,23,38].
1.3 Drought Management
Socioeconomic definitions of drought associate the supply and demand of some economic good with ele-
ments of meteorological, agricultural, and hydrological drought. It differs from the aforementioned types of
drought because its occurrence depends on the time and space processes of supply and demand to identify or
classify droughts [17,22,27,61,66,67,83]. Drought monitoring and prediction involve the integration of com-
plex series of information, including soil moisture, rainfall, socioeconomic, and industrial conditions, and
the service should be comprehensive to cater for the wide range of user groups [35,41,58]. The drought sever-
ity index and remote sensing information have limitations as the soil type and soil moisture data used would
be more relevant to irrigation needs. Indicators based on inflows to water storages and catchment runoffs to
unregulated rivers are required. Indices that take into account the time scale and spatial scale of a drought
are important, and these are best developed through international cooperation. Users also require drought
predictability with adequate fine-scale resolution and accuracy for application at a local scale. Geographical
information system (GIS) and climate modeling are very useful in terms of historical and future events.
There is a need to improve seasonal forecasting, considering the variability in climate [67,74,81,82].
A 6- to 12-month outlook is noted to be highly desirable. Confidence in data is very important as farmers
and livestock managers need realistic information in the short and long term to manage various aspects of
their business. Such confidence will also serve in planning water storage operations for the water supply
needs of farmers and livestock managers and also assist in policy and planning at the water authority level.
The implications of drought are expected to have a number of important biophysical impacts [16,36], which
could potentially have a significant impact on drought mitigation. These include impacts on the following:
• Climate and water supply
• Vegetation and soil
• Agriculture and forestry
• Human comfort health and disease patterns
• Ecosystem (groundwater dependent and springs will dry up)
These impacts could potentially create social and economic problems in relation to the flooding of
roads, infrastructure capacity, water supply, and human health. This may have particular relevance to the
way policy-makers manage infrastructure (say coastal/harbor facilities), conduct training operations, or
manage water supply in drier areas. Management tools to address drought could include
• Identification of key issues
• Hazard assessment
• Risk characterization
• Preparation of adaptation responses
Droughts have been long seen as a manifestation of scarcity of water due to untimely and inadequate
rainfall. This is further intensified due to human interventions, often on an unsustainable basis. Although
droughts are not a new phenomenon and people in certain parts of India have been coping with drought
on a regular basis, it is certainly not a happy scenario to be in. The effects of drought are felt by almost
Drought Management 5
everyone, though differently and with a time lag depending upon a complex set of factors that are linked
to so-called development indicators. The impact is most felt in rural areas with the poor and those liv-
ing directly off natural resources (such as land and water) bearing the brunt. Similarly, drought is felt
less in urban areas, where the means to basic necessities is available in higher quantity. The efforts of the
administration to address the drinking water crisis in urban areas by having piped water supply schemes
installed at a huge cost and sourcing water from long distances from the countryside prove the point. By
such efforts, the problem is only enhanced or transferred and seldom mitigated, the key reason being that
the resource management is skewed toward supply side. A recent review of the common pool resource
management has thrown up the near absence of demand-side management of groundwater that explains
the ever-depleting water levels and unsustainability, in spite of the widespread watershed development
programs promoted by the government, wherein demand-side management forms an important integral
component [4,48].
However, a balance is required to ensure that improvements in spatial technology do not constrain the
development of improved predictive methods for temporal forecasts.
Seasonal drought forecasting is presented within a multivariate probabilistic framework. The stan-
dardized stream flow index is used to characterize hydrological droughts with different severities across
the river basin. Since stream flow and, subsequently, hydrological droughts are autocorrelated variables
in time, a multivariate probabilistic approach is used to perform drought forecasting within a Bayesian
framework, and this probabilistic forecast model can provide insights to water resources managers and
stakeholders to facilitate the decision-making and developing of drought mitigation plans [38,43,79].
Previous studies did not address the fundamental issue of social acceptance of climate data. Members
of the public frequently comment on perceived inaccuracies in short-term weather forecasts. Droughts
should not be confused either with aridity, however, which is a permanent feature of a dry climate, or with
water scarcity [6], which implies a long-term imbalance between available water resources and demand.
Public debate over the existence and causes of climate change continues. Given the level of skepticism in
climate projections in some sectors, it is suggested that drought monitoring and prediction services have
two primary purposes: to guide informed risk assessment and decision-making by the government, the
private sector, and individuals and to educate the wider community and communicate climate informa-
tion. Management initiatives need to be tailored to specific situations and some solutions would not be
practical at all. Due to the differences, the indices used in drought monitoring and prediction by interna-
tional agencies offer some technical challenges. Drought monitoring and prediction involves the integra-
tion of complex series of information. In the past, drought was mainly reported in terms of rainfall and
mapping of other information. Long-term forecasting has been identified as an area for improvement.
Existing long-term predictions provide a level of confidence in climate scenarios. Social acceptance of
climate data is a key point to be considered.
Boundaries often seem slightly blurred in relation to drought. The FAO conducted an excellent study
on the impacts of droughts and mitigation measures in the Limpopo River Basin (Southern Africa).
A point strongly emphasized in this study is that a drought is seldom defined merely in terms of an event
and should rather be defined in terms of the likely impacts that will result from an existing condition
(reduced groundwater recharge, falling water tables levels, etc.). Meanwhile, the underlying condition
that manifests as a drought may not be directly linked to a temporal climatic variation but is likely to
be influenced by water resources management practices and land use. When we do not have rain, we
have no water to produce for drinking. When it is raining, we have too much water and are in danger
of flooding. Also, it is suggested to look at some of the rules and regulations of the water management
district governing water use for public water supply, irrigation, and industrial process. Deeper aqui-
fers (e.g., the Floridan aquifer, the United States) are brackish to salty enough to require high-pressure
reverse osmosis treatment. Florida’s water history has been a struggle between the coastal urban areas
and the internal environmental areas over water supply.
The lack of soil moisture data is seen as a major limitation as remote sensing currently provides limited
information on moisture at the soil surface. Information on soil moisture at greater depths is required for
the monitoring and prediction of agricultural droughts. There is a need to integrate climate data with agri-
cultural and hydrological models to provide better information to monitor and predict drought conditions.
Longer-term forecasting has been identified as an area for improvement. The maximum time frame for
prediction based on current capability is reported as 6 months, because of the predictability of El Niño–La
Niña behavior, and there is a severe lack of peer-reviewed and validated capabilities for short-term forecast-
ing and longer-term projections. Existing longer-term projections provide a level of confidence in climate
scenarios, but these are of limited use in describing the severity and duration of individual events. There
are more dimensions and difficulty in drought prediction than there are in flood prediction, and therefore,
currently available flood prediction methods may provide one option to be expanded and refined to meet
the quantitative and probabilistic requirements for drought information. Longer-term drought assessments
are also complicated by the so-far limited understanding of the interactions between the drivers of El Niño
and La Niña events and other long-term climate features, such as the Indian Ocean dipole [52,57].
Drought Management 7
• Some species may not be recognized; that is, there may be an absence of pre-existing literature on
some species found in the postdrought assessment.
• The ability to plan for drought during nondrought periods is essential and just responding to
drought is not enough.
• Linkages between the government and natural resources management groups are important and
need to be acknowledged.
• Better integration is needed between departments/states and work out who owns the responsibility
for what in the environment departments.
• Contingency plans for different areas of drought and how they relate to each other.
• The limitations in responding to a major natural resource threat such as drought and planning for
the next drought.
• Significant resources are required for sufficient monitoring to occur and data should be accessible.
• The decision-making process for managing environmental water needs to be clarified for environ-
mental managers.
• It is uncertain as to whether the Basin Plan will address some of the environmental risks experi-
enced during drought.
• There is a need to plan for drought during nondrought periods.
1.3.2.1 Drought Impacts
Droughts are now considered as a process, not a phenomenon, and droughts have severe impacts on
many events, societies, economies, agriculture, and ecosystems. They are complex systems, with impacts
dependent on meteorological, hydrological, and land surface factors as well as on water demand and
management [9,40]. However, in addition to looking at the back-end “impacts”, we should also con-
sider the front-end “causative factors,” which are contributed, in a large measure, by humankind, and
exacerbate the inhomogeneities inherent in the hydrological cycle [61,64]. These factors convert weak,
infrequent disaster events such as droughts into more frequent and stronger episodes. There may be
many other events that are attributable to our “human” actions. People tend to believe that all these
events are no more discreet but continuous, and these events together are now recognized as climate
change [12,17,22,29].
Drought is a natural hazard caused by large-scale climatic variability and thus cannot be prevented
by local water management. Water scarcity refers to the long-term unsustainable use of water resources,
which water managers can influence [42]. Making the distinction between drought and water scarcity
is not trivial, because they often occur simultaneously. An observation-modeling framework is con-
sidered as a preferred choice to separate natural (drought) and human (water scarcity) effects on the
hydrological system, and the basis of the framework is the simulation of the situation that would have
occurred without human influence, the naturalized situation, using a hydrological model. The resulting
time series of naturalized state variables and fluxes are then compared with observed time series. As a
second, more important and novel step, anomalies (i.e., deviations from a threshold) are determined
from both time series and compared. Application of the model shows that the impact of groundwater
abstraction on the hydrological system is, on average, four times as high as the impact of drought.
Water scarcity resulted in the disappearance of the winter high-flow period, even in relatively wet years,
and a nonlinear response of groundwater. The observation-modeling framework helps water managers
in water-stressed regions to quantify the relative impact of drought and water scarcity on a transient
basis and, consequently, to make decisions regarding adapting to drought and combating water scarcity
[33,67,71,72,79].
The past decade saw large areas of the world subjected to the worst drought conditions in living
memory. This drought has come to be known as the Millennium Drought and is widely regarded as
having had a greater impact on communities and the environment than other long-term droughts
[8,20,30,83]. In most areas, reduced rainfall created challenging conditions for dryland farmers
and reduced runoff to major water storages. In addition, there was low rainfall and runoff in
Drought Management 9
important catchments in the headwaters, resulting in the worst inflows to storages on record. The
effects included the following:
1. Most river flows were drastically reduced.
2. Allocations to irrigators were well below historical levels, creating economic hardship for irrigation-
dependent communities.
3. Water levels fell in many places.
4. The environment became severely stressed from an extended period of low flow and a lack of flood-
waters to rejuvenate floodplains and wetlands.
There are seven billion people to feed on the planet today and another two billion are expected by 2050.
It is estimated that every person consumes between 2 and 4 L of water per day. Most of the water that
people consume is embedded in the food they eat. For example, producing 1 kg of beef requires 15,000 L
of water, while producing 1 kg of wheat requires 1,500 L. As populations increase, especially in dryland
areas, more and more people are becoming dependent on freshwater supplies in the land that are becom-
ing degraded. This is not sustainable. Water security, like food security, is becoming a major national and
regional priority in many areas of the world. The implementation of the United Nations Convention to
Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has a significant role in the sustainable availability of clean, adequate,
and safe water for human consumption and economic development.
socioeconomic development can positively or negatively affect water risks and uncertainties, leading to
potential restrictions or an increase in the management choices available to water managers. Risk man-
agement, whether in the form of avoidance, reduction, or mitigation, is integral part of all policy-making.
Moreover, the complexity of the risks and uncertainties now facing society is increasing and accelerat-
ing. Understanding the way choices impact water can help shape decisions that maximize benefits in all
domains, creating safer and more sustainable pathways for long-term development. This also requires a
clear-minded consideration of immediate, medium-term, and long-term trade-offs [71].
understanding this and addressing its inherent implications for trade, migration, and other sensitive global
policy arenas are among the most significant challenges facing society in the coming century. Adaptive
strategies are the result of collaboration that attempts to understand and disaggregate the factors that enable
communities to adapt to floods, droughts, and climatic variability by examining the courses of action house-
holds actually take during these events and by gathering the insights generated in a wider review of regional
trends, government programs, and systems theory. Although focused on floods and droughts, many of
the insights generated through research, including factors that heavily influence vulnerability and adaptive
capacity, have potential relevance for other situations where livelihood systems are disrupted and adaptation
is essential [45]. This section provides a summary of the information and opinions shared to document and
establish the key learnings from government responses to drought as part of drought management initia-
tives. There are also additional learnings that can be garnered from considering the basin-wide response to
the Murray–Darling basin drought, which may warrant the future involvement of other jurisdictions [13].
1.4.1 Drought Policy
Policy responses that concentrated on food needs, on access, and entitlements to food [7,9,19,68] too have
made impressive figures of food production at the macroeconomic (national) level but did not make much
difference to the communities, owing to a host of distribution-related issues and more importantly, due to
the lack of sustainability of such an approach. People recognize the value of water, especially the farmers
in agricultural regions of India. Ensuring some sort of “empowerment” where people take water manage-
ment decisions will alone address drought. One of the main requirements for people to remain in their
villages and often the first problem faced is not access to food, but rather the availability of water [13]. In
securing water for domestic or industrial uses, it is important to
• Generate and document innovations and lessons learned.
• Offer incentives to researchers and water managers, from policy to implementation.
• Build the evidence base to inform policy development and implementation.
Review of the drought is considered important because
• The recent drought resulted in one of the largest ever collection of government responses to a natu-
ral resource management event in history, making it a significant living laboratory.
• It provided an opportunity to review an adaptive management approach on a large scale, recogniz-
ing that the lessons learned would be particularly valuable given future predictions of increased
frequency and severity of drought due to climate change.
• The response to the drought is of significant international interest and the workshop provided an
opportunity to better understand common learnings from across government and research com-
munities and to communicate the messages more widely. The goals of this chapter are therefore to
• Identify common learnings from across organizations and determine the keys to successful
collaboration in responding to drought.
• Determine effective means for the government to engage with the community during periods
of high, collective community stress.
• Identify outstandingly high priorities for new research and/or policy to help respond to drought
or equivalent natural resource stresses in the future.
• Record the lessons learned that may be of interest to other public administrators and research-
ers to consider issues regarding the decision-making process and the collective government
response that was put in place to direct government actions and facilitate in the initiation of
discussions on four themes (legislative change, policy, and community engagement; the role of
science; environmental management; and risk and infrastructure management).
Water resources management and other water-related decisions and policies are frequently guided
by economic dimensions [18]. Economic considerations, including efficiency, equity, production,
12 Handbook of Drought and Water Scarcity
allocation, and pollution, have expanded as water resources have become scarcer both in terms of
quantity and quality. While economic analyses applied to the water sector are useful and educational,
their policy implications are less obvious for guiding policy-makers. Water Economics and Policy will
address the economics–policy interaction by publishing highly technical water economics research
with clear relevance for policy. Water Economics and Policy will aim to target a wide range of economic
questions at the local, regional, national, and international levels. It will accommodate work that is
focused on specific sectors (such as the urban, hydropower, irrigation, and environmental sectors)
as well as work that is inter-sectoral in nature. Science provides knowledge that can act as a guide for
management. While science contains uncertainty this should not be a reason to marginalize it in the
decision-making process. Instead, the uncertainty needs to be noted as is the case for other informa-
tion types (e.g., financial, social). Science interpretation is critical to political decisions and there is a
need for scientists to become more proactive in communicating the results of their work. Scientists
need to invest in building trust with decision-makers and the community. There is a need to systemati-
cally decide what is required of science and how to get the most out of it. Lessons can be learned from
the management of the recent drought in a river/catchment basin that demonstrate the value of taking
a truly adaptive approach to scientific investigations to support management and not waiting until a
crisis occurs. This is further demonstrated by the operation and management of drainage infrastruc-
ture in some countries.
As drought conditions worsened, the department in charge of disaster management instructs to
• Coordinate a series of government responses
• Deliver evidence-based and innovative support
• Be responsive to regional needs and be consistent with national exceptional circumstances policy
and programs
This leads to the adoption of a step-by-step and adaptive approach, progressing through phases from crisis
to recovery to preparedness, with cross-agency action and collaboration providing ready access to services
and support. Holistic support is provided by combining farm business support, family and community
support, and employment and workforce support. As a result of this support, a number of corridor pro-
grams and actions can be initiated, including
• Interest rate subsidies
• Relief payments
• Exit grants
• Professional advice and planning grants
• Irrigation management grants
• Financial counseling
• Health and well-being counseling and support
• Alternative employment assistance
• Critical water allocations
• Information and decision support
These programs and actions supported the potential for rural communities to recover and build
regional capacity. The programs were regarded as successful as they helped to mitigate impacts on the
state’s agricultural food production, economy, the fabric of rural communities and environment, and
landscape.
REFERENCES.
[1] Pliny: lxxxiii., 11, N.c.v.
[2] Stockhusen: De Litharg. Fumo, etc. Goslar, 1656.
[3] Tronchin: De Colica Pictonum. 1758.
[4] John Hunter: Observations of Diseases of the Army in Jamaica.
London, 1788.
[5] Meillère, G.: Le Saturnisme. Paris, 1903.
[6] Bisserie: Bull. Soc. Pharmacol. May, 1900.
[7] Houston: Local Government Board Annual Report, 1901-02,
supplement, vol. ii.
CHAPTER II
ÆTIOLOGY
Lead poisoning of industrial origin rarely occurs in the acute form.
Practically all cases coming under the notice of either appointed surgeons,
certifying surgeons, or even in the wards of general hospitals, are of the
subacute or chronic type. There is no reason to suppose that lead
compounds are used more frequently by the workers in lead industries as
abortifacients than by other persons.
The compounds of lead which are responsible for poisoning in industrial
processes are for the most part the hydrated carbonate, or white lead, and
the oxides of lead, whilst a comparatively small number of cases owe their
origin to compounds, such as chromates and chlorides.
The poisonous nature of any lead compound from an industrial point of
view is proportional to (1) the size of the ultimate particles of the substance
manufactured, and therefore the ease with which such particles are capable
of dissemination in the air; and (2) the solubility of the particles in the normal
fluids of the body, such as the saliva, pharyngeal and tracheal and bronchial
mucus, etc., and the fluids of the stomach and intestine. An instance of the
variation in size of the particles of lead compounds used industrially is the
difference between ground lead silicate (fritted lead) used in the potteries,
and the size of the particles of ordinary white or “raw” lead. By micrometric
measurements one of us [K. W. G.[1]] found the average size of the particles
of fritt to be ten times that of the white lead particles. Further, direct
experiment made with equal masses of the two compounds in such a manner
that the rate of settling of the dust arising could be directly compared in a
beam of parallel light showed presence of dust in the white lead chamber
fifteen minutes after the fritt chamber was entirely clear. It is found as a matter
of practice that where dust is especially created, and where it is difficult to
remove such dust by exhaust fans, the greatest incidence of lead poisoning
occurs. The association of dusty processes and incidence of lead poisoning is
discussed in relation to the various trades in Chapters XV. to XVII. Fume and
vapour given off from the molten metal or compounds, such as chlorides
(tinning), are only a special case of dust.
The channels through which lead or its compounds may gain entrance to
the animal body are theoretically three in number:
1. Respiratory tract.
2. Gastro-intestinal.
3. Cutaneous.
For many years most authorities have held that industrial poisoning by
means of compounds of lead takes place directly through the alimentary
canal, and that the poison is conveyed to the mouth mainly by unwashed
hands, by food contaminated with lead dust, and by lead dust suspended in
the air becoming deposited upon the mucous membrane of the mouth and
pharynx, and then swallowed. As evidence that lead dust is swallowed, the
classical symptom of colic in lead poisoning has been adduced, on the
supposition, in the absence of any experimental proof, that the lead
swallowed acted as an irritant on the gastro-intestinal canal, thus causing
colic, and, on absorption from the canal, setting up other general symptoms.
Much of the early treatment of lead poisoning is based upon this assumption,
and the administration of sulphuric acid lemonade and the exhibition of
sulphate of magnesia and other similar compounds as treatment is further
evidence of the view that the poisoning was considered primarily intestinal.
One of the chief objections to this view, apart from the experimental
evidence, is that in those trades where metallic lead is handled, particularly
lead rolling, very few hygienic precautions have ever been taken in regard to
washing before meals, smoking, etc. Although in these trades the hands
become coated with a lead compound (oleate), and the workers frequently
eat their food with unwashed hands, thus affording every opportunity for the
ingestion of lead, the incidence of poisoning is by no means as high or so
pronounced in these occupations as in those giving rise to lead dust, such as
the white lead industry, where special precautions are taken, and where the
incidence of poisoning is always related to the dust breathed.
Respiratory Tract.—In a report on the incidence of lead poisoning in the
manufacture of paints and colours, one of us [T. M. L.[2]] in 1902 laid stress on
the marked incidence of poisoning in the specially dusty lead processes.
Following on that report special attention was given to the removal of dust by
means of exhaust ventilation. With the introduction of precautionary
measures, the incidence of poisoning underwent a marked decrease, this
decrease being most definite in those industries where efficient exhaust
ventilation could be maintained (see p. 47). Experience shows that cases of
poisoning in any given trade or manufacturing process are always referable to
the operations which cause the greatest amount of dust, and where,
therefore, the opportunity of inhaling lead dust is greatest.
The investigations of Duckering[3], referred to on p. 203, show the amount
of dust present in the air in certain dangerous processes. His results clinch
the deductions made from general observation, that dusty processes are
those especially related to incidence of industrial poisoning. Ætiologically,
therefore, the relationship of dust-contaminated air and poisoning is
undeniable, and in not a few instances on record persons residing at a
distance from a lead factory have developed poisoning, although not
employed in any occupation involving contact with lead, aerial infection
through dust remaining the only explanation. The actual channel through
which the lead dust suspended in the air gains entrance to the body is,
therefore, of especial importance; one of two channels is open—gastro-
intestinal and respiratory.
The investigations of one of us (K. W. G.) on the experimental production of
lead poisoning in animals has shown conclusively that the dust inhaled was
far more dangerous, and produced symptoms far earlier than did the direct
ingestion of a very much larger quantity of the same compound by way of the
mouth and gastro-intestinal canal. There is no doubt whatever that the chief
agent in causing lead poisoning is dust or fume suspended in the air. That a
certain amount finds its way into the stomach direct is not denied, but from
experimental evidence we consider the lung rather than the stomach to be
the chief channel through which absorption takes place (see p. 81).
The following table gives a specific instance of the incidence of lead
poisoning in a white lead factory, and demonstrates clearly the ætiological
importance of dust. The increase in reported cases, as well as in symptoms
of lead absorption not sufficiently severe to prevent the individual from
following his usual occupation, was associated with the rebuilding of a portion
of the factory in which the packing of dry white lead had been carried on for a
large number of years. The alterations necessitated the removal of several
floors, all of which were thoroughly impregnated with lead dust. Before the
alterations were undertaken it was recognized that considerable danger
would arise; stringent precautions were therefore taken, and the hands
engaged in the alterations kept under special observation. Notwithstanding
this there was an increase in the number of reported cases, which were all
mild cases of colic; all recovered, and were able to return to their work in a
short time.
Table I.—Lead Poisoning in a White Lead Factory.
The figures refer to the weekly examination of the whole of the men. For example, if a man
was returned as suffering from anæmia on three occasions, he appears as three cases in
Column 7.
Year Total Total Cases Cases Cases of Cases of Cases of Blue Line
Number Cases of in Dusty in Other Suspen- Anæmia Tremor
of Poisoning Processes Processes sion
Exami-
nations
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9)
1905 5,464 9 8 1 20 78[B] 249[B] 311[B]
1906 [A] 5,096 18 16 2 9 256 215 532
1907 4,303 4 3 1 6 62 81 38
1908 3,965 4 3 1 5 40 25 11
[A] Structural alterations in progress, including cutting up “lead floor,” saturated with
white lead dust.
[B] These numbers for the half-year only, the inspection being taken over in June,
1905.
In the second digestion, in which the analysis of the contents showed the
patient to be suffering from the condition known as “hyperhydrochloridia,” the
results were—
Lead sulphate 0·046 per cent.
White lead 0·042 „
Litharge 0·340 „
A very large number of experiments have also been performed for the
purpose of determining the solubility of raw lead glaze, and white lead, in
artificial digestions, the digestions having been made up in such a way that
they resembled as far as possible in every particular the ordinary stomach
contents. The type of digestion used was as follows:
Dry breadcrumbs 140 grammes.
Hydrochloric acid 5 c.c.
Lactic acid 0·1 c.c.
Acetic acid 0·1 c.c.
Pepsin 1·2 grammes.
Milk 1,200 c.c.
Digestions were performed with this mixture, and in every case the digest
was divided into two portions; each portion was retained at body temperature,
with agitation for a couple of hours, and at the end of that time one portion
was submitted to analysis. The second portion was neutralized, sodium
carbonate and pancreatic ferment added, and digestion carried on for another
two and a half hours at body temperature. At the end of this time the
pancreatic digest was examined.
Thirty-five digestions were performed. When 1 gramme of white lead was
used—that is, 0·01 per cent., containing 0·75 per cent. of lead oxide—the
quantity of lead found as lead oxide in the acid digest varied from 2 to 3 per
cent., whilst the amount found in the pancreatic digest varied from 4 to 6·5
per cent. of the added salt. On increasing the amount to 12 grammes—that
is, 1 per cent.—the quantity returned in the digest only increased from 1·5 to
2 per cent. In other words, in the addition of larger quantities of material the
ratio of solubility did not rise in proportion to the quantity added. Where a
direct pancreatic digestion was performed without the preliminary digest of
the gastric contents, the amount of lead present in the digest was only about
0·2 per cent. of the quantity added; indeed, it was very much smaller than the
amount dissolved out after preliminary acid digestion—that is, if the normal
sequence of digestion is followed, the solubility progresses after the gastric
digest has been neutralized and pancreatic ferment has been added,
whereas very slow action indeed occurs as the result of action of the
pancreatic digest alone. Some experiments described by Thomason[12],
although carried out without special regard to the physiological question of
the progressive nature of digestion, distinctly confirm the point raised. Thus,
in a digest of gastric juice, milk, and bread, 5·0 per cent. of lead was
dissolved, whereas when pancreatic juice alone was used only 0·4 per cent.
was found to be dissolved, a remarkable confirmation of the point under
discussion.
The difficulty of estimating lead present in these gastric digestions is a very
real one, as, owing to the precipitation of lead by various fluids of an
albuminoid nature, it is difficult to determine the amount of lead present in a
given quantity of digest; moreover, in making such a digest, much of the
material may become entangled among the clot of the milk in a purely
mechanical fashion, and, in attempting to separate the fluid from the other
portion of the digest, filtration no doubt removes any lead which has been
rendered soluble first of all, and reprecipitated as an albuminate. An
albuminate of lead may be formed with great ease in the following way: A 5
per cent. solution of albumin in normal saline is taken, 0·02 per cent. of
hydrochloric acid is added, and 10 per cent. solution of lead chloride added
as long as a precipitate is formed. The precipitate is then filtered off, and
washed in a dialyser with acidulated water until no further trace of lead is
found in the washings. A portion of this substance taken up in distilled water
forms a solution of an opalescent nature, which readily passes through the
filter and gives the reaction of protein with Millon’s reagent, and the lead
reaction by means of caustic potash and sulphuretted hydrogen, but very
large quantities of mineral acid are required to produce any colour with
hydrogen sulphide. Lead which gains access to the stomach, either dissolved
in water or swallowed as fine dust, becomes in all probability converted first
into a soluble substance, chloride, acetate, or lactate, which compound is
then precipitated either by the mucin present in the stomach, or by the protein
constituents of the food, or by the partially digested food (peptonate of lead
may be formed in the same way as the albuminate described above). In this
form, or as an albuminate or other organic compound, it passes the pylorus,
and becomes reprecipitated and redigested through the action of the
pancreatic juice. A consideration of the action of artificial gastric juices and
the properly combined experiments of gastric and pancreatic digestions
suggest that the form in which lead becomes absorbed is not a chloride, but
an organic compound first formed and gradually decomposed during the
normal process of digestion, and absorbed in this manner from the intestine
along with the ordinary constituents of food. Dixon Mann[13] has shown that
about two-thirds of the lead administered by the mouth is discharged in the
fæces, and that the remaining one-third is also slowly but only partially
eliminated. This point is of very considerable importance in relation to
industrial poisoning of presumably gastro-intestinal origin, and consideration
of the experiments quoted suggests that the digestion of albuminate or
peptonate may to some extent be the basis which determines the excretion of
so much of the lead via the fæces. This alteration of solubility has no doubt a
bearing on the immunity exhibited by many animals when fed with lead, and
probably explains the fact that many of the experimental animals fed with lead
over long periods exhibited no symptoms of poisoning (see p. 85), whereas
control animals, given a far smaller quantity of lead by other means and
through the lung, rapidly developed symptoms of poisoning. A diversity of
opinion exists as to the effect of pepsin upon the solubility of lead. Oliver[14]
considers that the pepsin has a retarding influence on the solubility of lead in
the gastric juice, and Thomason’s experiments also support this view,
although it is difficult to see why the action of pepsin alone should be of such
extreme importance. There is also the complicating fact that other added
substances in the food may mask any direct pepsin factor that may be
present. Albumose and peptone rather than pepsin are to be regarded as the
more important substance physiologically in their reaction with lead, and it is
interesting to note that Schicksal[15] found that by exposing lead in the form of
white lead in a 1 per mille solution of hydrochloric acid in the presence of
peptone produced a greater solvent effect on white lead than did the diluted
acid alone, and the same effect was also seen on metallic lead.
Table II.—Schicksal’s Table.
Amount
dissolved
returned
as
Metallic
Solution. Substance. Time. Lead.
(a) 1·0 per cent. peptone 100 White lead, 10 3 days at 37°
- 0·1471 grm.
0·1 per cent. HCl c.c. grms. C.
REFERENCES.
[1] Goadby, K. W.: A Note on Experimental Lead Poisoning. Journal of Hygiene, vol.
ix., No. 1, April, 1909.
[2] Legge, T. M.: Report on the Manufacture of Paints and Colours containing Lead
(Cd. 2466). 1905.
[3] Duckering, G. E.: Journal of Hygiene, vol. viii., No. 4, September.
[4] Meillère, G.: Le Saturnisme, chap. iv. Paris, 1903.
[5] Armit, H. W.: Journal of Hygiene, vol. viii., No. 5, November, 1908.
[6] Tanquerel des Planches: Traité des Maladies de Plomb, ou Saturnines. Paris,
1839.
[7] Stanski: Loc. cit.
[8] Gautier: Intoxication Saturnine, etc. Académie de Médecine, viii., November,
1883.
[9] Thresh, J. C.: The Lancet, p. 1033, October 7, 1905.
[10] Ibid., January 5, 1909.
[11] Thomason: Report of the Departmental Committee on Lead Manufacture:
Earthenware, China, vol. ii., appendices, p. 61. 1910.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Dixon Mann: Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, p. 495. 1908.
[14] Oliver, Sir T.: Lead Poisoning (Goulstonian lectures). 1891.
[15] Schicksal: Die Bekämpfung der Bleigefahr in der Industrie, p. 38. 1908.
[16] Steinberg: International Congress of Industrial Hygiene. Brussels, 1910.
[17] Cloetta: Dixon Mann’s Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, p. 463.
[18] Little: The Lancet, March 3, 1906.
[19] Canuet, T.: Thèse, Paris, 1825, No. 202. Essai sur le Plomb.
[20] Drouet: Thèse, Paris, 1875. Recherches Experimentales sur le Rôle de
l’Absorption Cutanée dans la Paralysie Saturnine.
[21] Manouvrier, A.: Thèse, Paris, 1873, No. 471. Intoxication par Absorption
Cutanée.
CHAPTER III
SUSCEPTIBILITY AND IMMUNITY
A large number of poisonous substances, among which lead may
be included, are not equally poisonous in the same dose for all
persons. It is customary to speak of those persons who show a
diminished resistance, or whose tissues show little power of resisting
the poisonous effects of such substances, as susceptible. On the
other hand, it is possible, but not scientifically correct, to speak of
immunity to such poisonous substances. Persons, particularly, who
resist lead poisoning to a greater degree than their fellows are better
spoken of as tolerant of the poisonous effects than as being partially
immune.
The degree of resistance exhibited by any given population
towards the poisonous influence of lead shows considerable
variation. Thus, in a community using a water-supply contaminated
with lead, only a small proportion of the persons drinking the water
becomes poisoned. There are, of course, other factors than that of
individual idiosyncrasy which may determine the effect of the poison,
as, for example, the drawing of the water first thing in the morning
which has been standing in a particular pipe. But even if all
disturbing factors are eliminated in water-borne lead poisoning,
differing degrees of susceptibility are always to be observed among
the persons using the water.
Lead does not differ, therefore, from any other drugs to which
persons show marked idiosyncrasies. Thus, very small doses of
arsenic may produce symptoms of colic in susceptible persons; a
limited number of individuals are highly susceptible to some drugs,
such as cannabis indica, while others are able to ingest large doses
without exhibiting any sign of poisoning; and it is well known that
even in susceptible persons the quantity of a particular drug which
first produces symptoms of poisoning may be gradually increased, if
the dosage be continued over long periods in quantities insufficient