Diseases resulting from drinkable water shortage

Lack of freshwater sources during droughts may increase the risk of remaining sources being contaminated by faeces or urine. This is a result of an increased human and animal population drawn to use and drink from the scarcer rivers or boreholes. This higher usage density is more likely to cause an outbreak of infectious disease, especially because of the higher concentration of pathogens left in the water.

Epidemical diseases that are affected by drought include amoebiasis, hepatitis A, salmonellosis, schistosomiasis, shigellosis, typhoid, paratyphoid (enteric fever), E.coli 0157, cholera and leptospirosis. Note that drought is not the only aspect affecting the spread of these diseases. For example, a past study in Wales supports the possibility that poor hygiene due to droughts is more likely to increase the prevalence of diarrhoea, more specifically during extended period of water mains supply cuts.

Although the above reasons are not the sole cause for epidemics, it is possible to correlate droughts, and rapid successive drought-floods episodes to them. The importance of water accessibility is also highlighted. Linking the above components to operational forecasts of global producing centers can help to design Hazard prevention systems such as this one.
We hope that local authorities, NGO's or other humanitarian projects can use this system to make more informed preventive decisions, for example in where to deploy drinkable water and healthcare services.

Ref:
Stanke, Carla et al. 'Health Effects of Drought: A Systematic Review of the Evidence.' PLoS Currents 5 (2013): ecurrents.dis.7a2cee9e980f91ad7697b570bcc4b004. PMC. Web. 5 Mar. 2017. [accessed 5/mar/2017 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3682759/ ]