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Climate change and rapid socioeconomic development have exacerbated the damage caused by hydrological droughts. To ensure effective drought defense and infrastructure development, it is essential to investigate variations in hydrological droughts. The primary objective of this study is to reconstruct the natural streamflow by using Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrological modeling. The hydrological drought at different time scales (1, 3, 6, and 12 months) were measured using the streamflow drought index (SDI). The statistical parameters, including Nash–Sutcliffe Efficiency and the Coefficient of Determination, which yielded values of 0.84 and 0.82 during the calibration period and 0.78 and 0.76 during the validation period, respectively, showed a satisfactory SWAT model performance. Additionally, the Pettit test was used to identify a change point in streamflow within the 1991–2015 timeframe, leading to the division of the study period into two distinct phases: an undisturbed period (1991–1998) and a disturbed period (1999–2015). The SDI index‐based analysis revealed 9.39% moderate drought and 3.13% severe drought during the undisturbed period, while 11.76% moderate drought and 7.35% severe drought may happen due to the human influences that occurred in the disturbed period. These findings enhance the understanding of the hydrological drought variations in the Soan River basin for optimizing the water resources management system and effectively preventing and mitigating drought‐related damages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Watershed management is necessary to conserve water resources because the watershed hydrological processes are more affected by climate and land use change, resulting in the problems of droughts, floods, soil erosion, etc. This study determined suitable alternatives that can ensure viable strategies for tackling the climate change impacts at the Soan River Basin (SRB). A framework was applied to assess the impacts of climate change and land use/cover change (LUCC) using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). A multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) was used to prioritize watershed management alternatives by comparing watershed management criteria and alternatives using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Framework findings showed a 69 and 31% decline in runoff, and a 58 and 42% increment in evapotranspiration (ET) due to climate change and LUCC, respectively. The top prioritized suitable alternatives were water harvesting structure (WHS) and vegetative cover (VC). Suitability analysis showed that 63.61 and 16.56% area of the SRB were moderately to highly suitable for WHS, respectively. For soil and water management, VC has been found suitable to moderately suitable for 72.68 and 26.75% of the basin area, respectively. So, there should be adoption of such measures which will assist in configuring the climate adaptive strategies. HIGHLIGHTS Climate change and LUCC were assessed through a framework using the SWAT model.; AHP was used for watershed management via suitable alternatives.; Water harvesting structures and vegetative cover were found to be the best alternatives for watershed management.; The selected alternatives can mitigate the climate change impacts on the watershed and may supplement to improve management practices.;