Using paired catchments to quantify the human influence  on hydrological droughts

Van Loon, Anne F.; Rangecroft, Sally; Coxon, Gemma; Breña Naranjo, José Agustín; Van Ogtrop, Floris; Van Lanen, Henny A. J.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-1725-2019

Articles | Volume 23, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-1725-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-1725-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 23, issue 3

Research article

|

26 Mar 2019

Research article |

| 26 Mar 2019

Using paired catchments to quantify the human influence on hydrological droughts

Anne F. Van Loon, Sally Rangecroft, Gemma Coxon, José Agustín Breña Naranjo, Floris Van Ogtrop, and Henny A. J. Van Lanen

Data sets

Water Data Online BOM - Bureau of Meteorology http://www.bom.gov.au/waterdata/

National River Flow Archive NRFA http://nrfa.ceh.ac.uk

37017 - Blackwater at Stisted NRFA https://nrfa.ceh.ac.uk/data/station/info/37017

37011 - Chelmer at Churchend NRFA https://nrfa.ceh.ac.uk/data/station/info/37011

Short summary

We explore the use of the classic paired-catchment approach to quantify human influence on hydrological droughts. In this approach two similar catchments are compared and differences are attributed to the human activity present in one. In two case studies in UK and Australia, we found that groundwater abstraction aggravated streamflow drought by > 200 % and water transfer alleviated droughts with 25–80 %. Understanding the human influence on droughts can support water management decisions.