Impact of Climate Change on Water Resources in India

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. © 2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.