How does a drought affect water quality?

How does a drought affect water quality?

Water flow and volume decreases during drought typically led to increased salinity due to reduced dilution and concentration of mass. Nutrient, turbidity and algal levels also often increased in lake systems due to reduced flushing and enhanced productivity, and resuspension in some shallow lakes.

How does drought affect water scarcity?

Long-lasting droughts also contribute to water scarcity. With little or no rain on the horizon, rivers, streams, and lakes quickly dry up. This leaves nothing for people to use. Droughts directly inhibit economic growth and drive up instances of poverty in the areas where they strike.

What problems does drought cause?

Examples of drought impacts on society include anxiety or depression about economic losses, conflicts when there is not enough water, reduced incomes, fewer recreational activities, higher incidents of heat stroke, and even loss of human life. Drought conditions can also provide a substantial increase in wildfire risk.

How does drought affect human health?

Health effects associated with drought episodes are principally indirect and include the increased risk of infectious diseases and diarrheal pathologies, malnutrition, changes in the ecology of vector-borne diseases, cardiorespiratory affectations, serious mental health repercussions and greater risk of mortality ( …

What are the 5 effects of drought?

What are the bad effects of drought?

Drought can also cause long-term public health problems, including: Shortages of drinking water and poor quality drinking water. Impacts on air quality, sanitation and hygiene, and food and nutrition. More disease, such as West Nile Virus carried by mosquitoes breeding in stagnant water.

What are the main effects of a drought?

How does the drought affect the quality of water?

Higher water temperatures in lakes and reservoirs lead to reduced oxygen levels. These levels can affect fish and other aquatic life and water quality. Runoff from drought-related wildfires can carry extra sediment, ash, charcoal, and woody debris to surface waters, killing fish and other aquatic life by decreasing oxygen levels in the water.

How are droughts and overpumping affect groundwater levels?

Droughts, seasonal variations in rainfall, and pumping affect the height of the under groundwater levels. If a well is pumped at a faster rate than the aquifer around it is recharged by precipitation or other underground flow, then water levels in the well can be lowered.

What kind of diseases can be caused by a drought?

E. coli and Salmonella are examples of bacteria that during drought can more readily contaminate food and cause infectious disease. Food can serve as a vehicle for disease transmission during a drought because water shortages can cause farmers to use recycled water to irrigate their fields and process the food they grow.

What happens when rain falls upstream of a reservoir?

If the rain happens to fall upstream of a reservoir, much of the runoff will be captured by the reservoir and add to the available water supply. No matter where the rain falls, stream levels will rise quickly and flooding may result.