IDMP guidelines for preparation of the Drought Management Plans by Elena Fatulova

1. IDMP guidelines for preparation of the Drought Management Plans
Elena Fatulova (GWP CEE)
Kosovo, 12 November 2014

2. What is drought?
•Drought is understood as „lack of water“
•Two terms should be distinguished according to their causes:
oWater scarcity - Water scarcity is a man-made phenomenon. It is a recurrent imbalance that arises from an overuse of water resources, caused by consumption being significantly higher than the natural renewable availability. Water scarcity can be aggravated by water pollution (reducing the suitability for different water uses), and during drought episodes
oDrought - Drought is a natural phenomenon. It is a temporary, negative and severe deviation along a significant time period and over a large region from average precipitation values (a rainfall deficit), which might lead to meteorological, agricultural, hydrological and socioeconomic drought, depending on its severity and duration

3. Legal Framework – planning documents
WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE – legal framework for water scarcity and drought issues:
•RBMPs – water scarcity issues (groundwater quantitative status, surface water ecological status) - legally binding document!
•Drought management plan (DMP) – drought issues - additional planning document when drought issues are relevant (drought assessment and mitigation measures) – not legally binding document!

4. Guidelines - Drought management approach
•A reactive approach based on crisis management - measures and actions after a drought event occurred
A proactive approach based on drought risk
reduction management – preventive and
mitigating measures designed in advance in the
Drought Management plan

5. Main steps for drought risk management
Step 1: Develop a drought policy and establish a Drought management Committee
Step 2: Define the objectives of a drought risk-based management policy
Step 3: Inventory of data needed for DMP development
Step 4: Produce/update the DMP
Step 5: Publicize the DMP to the public for comments and active involvement
Step 6: Develop a research and science programme
Step 7: Develop an educational programme

6. Step 1 – Drought policy...
•identification of the competent authority
•recognition of drought as a relevant issue by competent authority and Government
•development of a risk-based national drought management policy
•adoption of the legal regulation for drought issues
•establishment of the National Drought Committee with governmental mandate

7. Step 2 – objectives of drought management
•guarantee water availability in sufficient quantities to meet essential human needs to ensure population’s health and life during all drought stages
•avoid or minimize negative drought impacts on the status of water bodies, especially on ecological flows and quantitative status of groundwater
•minimize negative effects on economic activities, according to the priority given to water uses

8. Step 3 – data inventory
Process:
•determination of the data needs for DMP
•analysing of existing data and data availability
•identification of data gaps and obstacles of data availability

9. Step 3 – Data inventory
Data packages:
•meteorological data - temperature, precipitation, snow reserve
•hydrological data - stream flow, reservoir volume, reservoir outflows, spring yield, groundwater level
•agricultural data - soil moisture deficit
•data on environmental impacts – mortality of fish species, impacts on wetlands, Natura 2000 sites, loss of biodiversity, forest fires risk
•socio-economic data - impacts of drought on households, industry, energy production, transportation, recreation, tourism and other water use sector
•drinking water supply data – water demand, water availability, existing water infrastructure, water shortages

10. Step 4 – Development of DMP
Content of DMP:
•drought characterization based on historical drought events
•indicators and thresholds for classification of drought stages and drought early warning system implementation
•program of measures for preventing and mitigating droughts linked to indicators systems
•organizational structure of the DMP
•update and follow-up of the DMP
•water supply specific plans
•prolonged drought in line with Article 4.6 of WFD

11. Main elements of DMP - indicators
•Drought indicators (EU indicators):
oFAPAR (fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation)
oH (groundwater level)
oSSPI (standardized snowpack index)
oSoil moisture
oSPI (standardized precipitation index)
oSRI (standardized runoff index)
oWEI + (water exploitation index plus)

12. Main elements of DMP - thresholds
•Thresholds for drought stages:
oNormal status – no significant deviation in relation to average values is observed
oPre-alert status – is declared when monitoring shows the initial stage of drought development
oAlert status – is declared when monitoring shows that drought is occurring and will probably have impacts in the future if measures are not taken immediately
oEmergency status – is declared when drought indicators show that impacts occurred and water supply is not guaranteed

13. Thresholds – Precipitation – Slovak proposal

14. Thresholds - River flow – Slovak proposal
1.quantile (120 to 80 % of Qmes61-2000 - normal status of water bearing)
2. quantile (80 to 40 % of Qmes61-2000 – subnormal status of water bearing)
3. quantile (less than 40 % of Qmes61-2000- critical value of water bearing status

15. Thresholds – groundwater level – Slovak proposal
•Fig. 2 Groundwater monitoring point No. 10, hydrological year 2012

16. Thresholds – soil water balance – Slovak proposal
Drought degree
Extreme
drought
Severe drought Moderate
drought
Normal drought
Probability interval
[%]
≤ 2% 2.1% to 10% 10.1% to 25% 25.1% to 50%
ASWI interval [–] ≤ –1.8 –1.8 to –1.151 –1.15 to –0.721 -0.72 to 0
Drought degree
Extreme
drought
Very severe
drought
Severe drought Normal drought
Probability interval
[%]
≤ 2% 2% to 10% 10.1% to 25% 25.1% to 50%
ASWICUM interval
[–]
≤ –300 –299 to –200 –199 to –100 -99 to 0
Available soil water index
Cumulative available soil water index

17. DMP element – early warning system
Early warning system - timely information (warnings) about actual drought status in real time for decision makers for activation of operational measures:
•short-term warnings (1-7 d)
•medium-term warnings (10-15d)
•seasonal forecasting (3 - 6 months)

18. Main DMP elements – measures
Programme of measures:
•preventive or strategic measures – normal stage
•operational measures – pre-alert, alert, emergency stages
•organizational measures – all stages
•follow-up measures – effectiveness of mitigation measures
•restoration measures – deactivation of operation measures

19. Main element – organizational framework
Establishment of organizational structure :
•Competent authority
•Drought Committee
ogoverning level – key resorts (ministries)
oprofessional level – professional institutions
ostakeholders - interested groups affected by drought
The main tasks of Drought Committee:
•design of DMP
•implementation of the DMP
•review/update of DMP (e.g. every six years)

20. Drought Committee – example from Slovakia

21. Step 5, 6, 7 of drought management
•Step 5 – public participation and active involvement of the interested parties in DMP implementation:
•publishing of DMP for public
•making DMP available for comments
•consultation aimed at active involvement of the interested parties
•Step 6 - Scientific and research programme – connected with identification of gaps and uncertainties related issues (e.g. climatic change)
•Step 7 - Educational programmes – trainings, workshops for decision makers, farmers...

22. Contact: Elena Fatulova, GWP CEE elena.fatulova@gmail.com
Thank you for your attention