Agricultural Drought Indices - US Department of Agriculture

Figure 11. Segura River Basin: Water Scarcity and Drought Pilot River Basin.
Next steps of the Expert Network
The timetable for the Expert Group:
• Year 2010: First set of indicators to be tested in the pilot member states (including Spain,
Italy, and France); contributions to EDO.
• Presentation of initial results at the International Conference “Droughts and Water Scarcity:
The Way towards Adaptation to Climate Change”, Madrid, Spain, 18-19 February 2010.
• Year 2011: Practical application of indicators for additional member states (voluntarily);
contributions to EDO, and potential contribution to the development of an integration of
WS&D aspects under the Water Information System for Europe (WISE) on a voluntary
basis.
• Year 2012: Support the creation of drought risk maps and assessment, contributions to
EDO.
Conclusions
The Segura River Basin suffers recurrent and severe droughts, as well as an important water
scarcity problem. Drought management has become a major issue in the basin, resulting in the
development of a drought action plan, which includes the assessment of drought indicators to be
applied in the basin. This plan has guidelines for determining when a drought appears, how
severe it is, which measures have to be applied, and who is responsible for those measures.
Some drought management measures:
• New desalination plants constructed.
• Operation of the Well Strategic Network.
• Restrictions to irrigation supply, up to 50%.
• Emergency investments in new infrastructures to increase water resources or to improve
demand management.
• Modernization of irrigation systems.
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