Impact of Climate Change on Water Resources in India
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 144, Issue 7
Abstract
Direct and indirect effects of climate change will have an adverse impact on water resources, human systems, regional agriculture, and food security. India, with a population of more than 1.2 billion, has experienced tremendous economic growth in the last two decades with only 4% of the world’s water resources and about 9% of the world’s arable land. Rainfall is distributed highly unevenly in the spatio-temporal space, with the highest rainfall-receiving region on the planet in northeastern (NE) India, in contrast to Thar Desert in western India. There has been a significant change in precipitation and temperature during 2000–2015 in India in comparison to the last 100 years. This could indicate a signature of climate change in India. We find that a comprehensive and detailed understanding and clear assessment of the impact of climate change on India’s water resources are required to reach a definitive conclusion and explanation of the trends to better inform policy actions.
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Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 144 • Issue 7 • July 2018
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©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Jul 28, 2017
Accepted: Jan 25, 2018
Published online: May 10, 2018
Published in print: Jul 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Oct 10, 2018
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