Meteorological and hydrological drought characteristics in Bearma basin of Bundelkhand region in Madhya Pradesh

Drought is a phenomenon that may occur in a large part of the catchment and may affect many components of the hydrological cycle. This study examined characteristics of the meteorological and hydrological droughts in Bearma basin of Bundelkhand region of M.P., which is regularly suffering from frequent droughts due to large variation in rainfall. An analysis was performed using daily time series data from 1976–77 to 2009–10. In the present study, meteorological drought characteristics were evaluated by identifying the drought years and Relative Departure Index (RDI). Drought prone zones and hydrological drought deficit characteristics, such as drought duration and deficit volume, were derived using the threshold level approach method. The frequency of meteorological drought varied between 1 in 3 years at Deori to 1 in 9 years at Damoh districts whereas its severity varied between mild and moderate droughts with severe droughts occurring once at Damoh, Hatta and Jabera during 1979–80. Meteorological droughts occur frequently but do not cover the whole catchment whereas hydrological droughts occur more frequently in Bearma basin. The relative departure index, an indicator of the drought proneness of a region has indicated equal priorities for both Rehli and Deori for taking up drought relief measures during drought situations. The hydrological drought characteristics were evaluated using the ‘threshold level approach’ identified during 1979–80 with the maximum hydrological drought severity with deficit of 261.01 Million Cubic metre (MCM), whereas a maximum of six hydrological drought events occurred during 1989–90. The study revealed relatively large differences in the spatial and temporal characteristics of hydrological and meteorological droughts in Bearma basin.