Conclusion

Abstract

The present investigation tried to establish a new methodology for estimation of water shortage as a function of urbanization, climatic parameters and water quality. The new index for estimation of the intensity of water scarcity also assigned weights of importance to the selected parameters so that the sensitivity of the parameters towards representation of the intensity of water shortage can be reflected by the indicator. The indicator also includes the impact of temporal variability of the parameters by considering the amplitudes rather than discrete magnitudes like mean values. The indicator was validated by the estimation of water shortage in three locations having different levels of urbanization. The indicator was applied to find the severity of water scarcity in this three locations under six different climate change scenarios. The highest and lowest important parameter among the eight input parameters considered in the study was found to be Frequency of Troughs in Annual Hyetograph (P) and Percentage Impervious Area (A) respectively. If criteria by which the importance of the alternatives are compared it can be said that five criteria were considered. Among which Literature Survey and Data Availability and Sponsor’s Preference was found to be the most and least important criteria respectively. A limitation of the index is it does not explicitly differentiate between the sources of abstractions. But represent it by the demand from the consumers. The water availability is depicted by the rainfall and runoff parameters along with the WQI for consideration of quality of the water. Another limitation of the new indicator is it is location specific. But as the selected parameters can depict the impact of the adjacent locations the parameters of the nearest regions are not included. Again the indicator represent the water shortage based on the extreme values of the parameters. Thus if the indicator shows a severe shortage of water it means the situation is more vulnerable than represented by the indicator. But considering a situation based on extreme values may be beneficial for the related professional. The system will only alert them if and only if the situation requires attention. In this way both man hour and money can be saved. The indicator utilized eight parameters. Among which some are directly proportional to shortage of water and some are inversely proportional. The same is represented by taking the peak and trough values of the parameters which are respectively directly and inversely proportional to the severity of water scarcity.