Relationship of Water Stress and Flood Damage for Sustainable Development.

Climate change leads to the extreme occurrence of events, water-related disasters, and pressure on existing water resources. The water resource is important for the ecosystem to create resilient and sustainable settlements. The imbalance between evaporation and precipitation creates either shortage or excess of water in the ecosystem. The shortage leads to water stress whereas excess causes flooding. Out of 28 states in India, Bihar is the most vulnerable state with 16.5 percent of the entire flood-prone area and 22 percent of the total flood-affected population of the country. The paper examines water stress and its relationship with flood damage in north Bihar. The paper's novelty is to identify critical districts facing water stress, flood damage and formulate intervention strategies to create a water-secure region. Using Water Poverty Index (WPI), water stress is estimated for five key components i.e. resource, access, use, capacity, and environment. WPI score is less than 0.35 in 14 districts depicting severe water stress conditions. Flood Damage Index (FDI) estimates the severity of the flood and it's impact considering three parameters i.e. population affected, area affected, and economic loss due to crop damage. Darbhanga district has a maximum FDI score of 0.84 and the least WPI score of 0.22, making it the most critical district. The analysis of WPI and FDI shall be used to devise water and disaster-related policies to alleviate water stress and promote flood-resilient development in flood-affected areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]