Water Resources and Society with Respect to Water Scarcity and Drought

The occurrence of natural extreme events, such as droughts, can produce great impacts on the environment and on socio-economic activities. Sometimes these effects can be attributed to water scarcity and droughts. But when and where we should expect the occurrence of these phenomena, and how they will affect water resources and society are some of the questions that water management planning should try to answer. Both Water Scarcity and. Droughts (WS and D) are complex phenomena that must he addressed by. these plans. As it is known, WS and D are highly variable in place, time, intensity and the scale at which they occur, but they can be in some way predictable by using tools like hydrological indicators. This article discusses the possibility of assessing droughts and water scarcity by using hydrological indicators such as the Standardised Runoff Index (SRI), which could help to understand the drought process in time and scale, and also could be helpful for water resources management and for the establishment of successful river basin management plans. Some illustrations of their implementation in practice are given.