Assessment and spatio-temporal zoning of groundwater drought risk in Hashtgerd aquifer by groundwater resource index

A sharp drop in groundwater level as a result of indiscriminate extraction over a long period of time leads to the drying up of groundwater flows, which is called the phenomenon of groundwater drought. In this regard, this research aims to investigate the process of change and reduction of groundwater level, which is characterised by the phenomenon of groundwater drought. Based on this, the Groundwater Resource Index (GRI) was used to evaluate the drought condition of groundwater and analyse its spatial and temporal patterns based on groundwater level data of 21 observation wells between 1993 and 2019. ArcGIS software was used to create zone maps. The results of the research show that certain areas of the study area have experienced moderate to severe drought since 2001. In addition, the GRI zonation maps show that the southern and south-eastern regions of the aquifer have been more sensitive to drought than other parts of the aquifer during the defined period. The spatio-temporal pattern of groundwater drought in the aquifer shows that after a period of moderate drought from 2001 to 2003, the condition of the aquifer improved slightly, and generally stable conditions were established from 2001 to 2010, but since 2011, the occurrence of drought has intensified and the aquifer has been in severe to very severe drought conditions. These conditions highlight the need for careful attention and implementation of management measures. One of the study's recommendations is to use satellite data on groundwater levels to assess the progress of the drought, and compare it with the findings of this study.