Showcase Review
A round-up of presentations, research and outputs from
the RCUK Drought and Water Scarcity Programme held in
Birmingham on March 14th, 2018.
www.AboutDrought.info
@AboutDrought
info@AboutDrought.info
Contents
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102
131
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153
Thank You
Drought & Water Scarcity Programme
Drought Risk & You
Historic Droughts
IMPETUS
MaRIUS
ENDOWS
Newsletter
Showcase Programme
Plenary Session Speakers
Sessions
Agriculture
Monitoring & Early Warning
Data
Environment
Water Supply
Drought Narratives
Communities
Waterways Walk
Datasets
Organisations Who Attended
Stay In Touch
2
Thank You
Welcome to the event review magazine following the
About Drought Showcase and thank you to all the delegates
who attended and to all the presenters. Around 120 people
representing a very broad range of interests and expertise joined
us to connect with this truly interdisciplinary research initiative,
the RCUK Drought & Water Scarcity Programme.
In this pack you will find presentations which
illustrate the diverse, interdisciplinary and crosssectoral
content which so many delegates – and
speakers – have told us gave such a valuable
insight into drought and water scarcity in the UK.
We would like to thank all our speakers and
facilitators who shared their expertise at the
About Drought Showcase, and all the delegates
for your questions, comments and opinions which
will feed into the direction of the programme,
its outputs and future workshops, events and
engagement activities.
Have you viewed the event video?
Further thanks to everyone who was interviewed
for the About Drought video documentary.
Please watch it by clicking here and share it with
your colleagues. If you would like to feature it on
your website please contact the project office by
emailing info@AboutDrought.info
3
UK Drought & Water
Scarcity Programme
Droughts and water scarcity jointly pose a substantial threat to the environment, agriculture, infrastructure,
society and culture in the UK, yet our ability to characterise and predict their occurrence, duration and intensity,
as well as minimise their impacts, is often inadequate.
The UK Droughts & Water Scarcity research programme is a five-year interdisciplinary, £12 million+ NERC
programme in collaboration with ESRC, EPSRC, BBSRC and AHRC. It is supporting improved decision-making in
relation to droughts and water scarcity by providing research that identifies, predicts and responds to the interrelationships
between their multiple drivers and impacts.
The programme’s research is UK-focused, and contributes to NERC’s natural hazards and climate system
strategic science themes.
Four projects are funded under the UK
Droughts & Water Scarcity programme:
Historic Droughts
IMPETUS
MaRIUS
DRY
Understanding past
drought episodes to
develop improved tools
for the future
Improving predictions of
drought to inform user
decisions
Managing the
risks, impacts and
uncertainties of drought
and water scarcity
Bringing together
stories and science to
support better decisionmaking
for drought risk
management
The final project, ENDOWS, (known as About
Drought) engages with stakeholders, practitioners
and the public to involve them in the UK Drought
and Water Scarcity programme and to disseminate
information about the findings, outputs and datasets
zfrom the programme that everyone can use.
SHOWCASE VIDEO
You can find highlights from the About Drought
Showcase by clicking HERE or following this link:
bit.ly/AboutDroughtHighlights
4
The Projects
Find out more about the
Drought & Water Scarcity
projects
5
DWS
Projects
dryproject.co.uk
Droughts and water shortage can impact on the
environment, agriculture, infrastructure, society
and culture, affecting us all. The DRY project was
founded in April 2014, with an aim to develop an
easy-to-use, evidence-based resource to inform
decision-making for drought risk management in
the UK over a four-year period.
The project spans seven catchment areas in
England, Wales and Scotland to reflect different
hydrological, socio-economic and cultural contexts
in the UK.
It takes a unique approach because it draws
together information from multiple perspectives
on drought science, stakeholder engagement,
citizen science and narrative storytelling to better
understand drought risks, while other studies have
focused on mathematical modelling of drought
risk.
A key part of this is using different types of data
together to build a better picture of drought risk
in the UK. In the project, ‘data’ can mean statistics
derived from a hydrological model to stories and
images collected from a river catchment area
and we think each of these is equally valuable in
helping us understand how we can better cope
with drought.
To achieve this DRY incorporates a two-way
process for gathering and sharing knowledge
about drought. Narratives are stimulated
from discussions around images, memories of
historical drought events and the outcomes of the
hydrological drought models being developed in
the team. The narratives provide context to feed
into our drought models which predict future
drought scenarios.
The project is also carrying out citizen science
projects engaging people and generating learning
opportunities surrounding drought impacts on
plants, crops, trees and domestic water use. At
each stage of the process the project shares
findings with groups and incorporates feedback
into the research design.
The project leader is Professor Lindsey McEwen
@Project_DRY
6
DWS
Projects
historicdroughts.ceh.ac.uk
Historic Droughts aims to develop a crossdisciplinary
understanding of past drought episodes
that have affected the UK, with a view to developing
improved tools for managing droughts in future.
Drought and water scarcity are significant threats
to livelihoods and well-being in many countries,
including the UK. Parts of the country are already
water-stressed and are facing a wide range of
pressures, including an expanding population and
intensifying exploitation of increasingly limited water
resources. In addition, many regions may become
significantly drier in future due to environmental
changes, all of which implies major challenges to
water resource management. However, droughts
are not simply natural hazards. There are also a
range of socio-economic and regulatory factors
that may influence the course of droughts, such
as water consumption practices and abstraction
licensing regimes. Consequently, if drought and
water scarcity are to be better managed, there is a
need for a more detailed understanding of the links
between physical (i.e. meteorological, hydrological)
and social and economic systems during droughts.
With this research gap in mind, the Historic
Droughts project aims to develop an
interdisciplinary understanding of drought from
a range of perspectives. Based on an analysis
of information from a wide range of sectors
(hydrometeorological, environmental, agricultural,
regulatory, social and cultural), the project aims to
characterise and quantify the history of drought
and water scarcity since the late 19th century.
The project will deliver the first systematic account
(the UK Drought Inventory) of past droughts in the
UK. The Inventory will form the basis of a novel joint
hydrometeorological and socio-economic analysis
that will lead to a ‘systems-based’ understanding of
drought – i.e. an understanding of the multiple and
interconnected drivers of drought, the impacts of
drought and the feedbacks between them.
We expect this systems-based understanding
to improve decision-making for future drought
management and planning, and to facilitate more
informed and effective public discourse related to
drought.
The project leader is Jamie Hannaford at the
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH)
@HistDroughtsUK
7
DWS
Projects
aboutdrought.info
IMPETUS brings together scientists from the
meteorological, land surface, surface water and
groundwater communities and social scientists
from the water demand and forecast usability
communities.
The project involves internationally-leading
scientists and social scientists from three
NERC Research Centres (the National Centre
for Atmospheric Science (NCAS), the British
Geological Survey (BGS) and the Centre for
Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), four leading
universities (Oxford, Reading, Newcastle, and
Southampton), the Met Office and the European
Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts
(ECMWF).
Photo Credit: Emma Sheppard
IMPETUS aims to improve the forecasting of UK
drought on monthly to decadal timescales, by
improving meteorological, hydrological and water
demand forecasts and how they are combined
to produce drought forecasts. This will be done
in conjunction with stakeholders to ensure that
drought forecasts are relevant for decision making.
The project leader is Professor Len Shaffrey at
University of Reading.
@AboutDrought
8
DWS
Projects
mariusdroughtproject.org
The MaRIUS project introduces a risk-based
approach to drought and water scarcity to inform
management decisions and to prepare households.
The span of the MaRIUS project is large and covers
physical and social science topics including: drought
governance; drought options and management;
community responses and environmental
competency.
It includes climatic aspects of drought and the
derivation of a synthetic ‘drought event library’;
hydrological responses both on a catchment and
national scale; effects on water quality including
nutrient concentration in rivers and algal
concentrations in reservoirs, and effect of land use
change; the ramifications on water resources on
the Thames catchment and also nationally. It also
includes the impact of drought and water scarcity
on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems; agriculture
and farming; the economy; and on electricity
production.
MaRIUS has developed new methodologies,
datasets and models for the analysis of drought
and water scarcity impacts on river flow, water
quality, ecology, farming, the economy, and how
these combine to affect people.
Some researchers in MaRIUS are using scenario
modelling and case studies across a number of
scales to understand both the drought impacts at
a local level as well as the institutional decisionmaking
by governments and water companies. The
modelling work uses climatically rigourous drought
scenarios and their impacts on water quality,
agriculture, biodiversity and economic losses.
In addition to computer modelling, social science
and stakeholder engagement are a key part of the
project, helping us to understand the role of the
community, institutions, regulators and markets in
drought management.
The project leader is Professor Jim Hall at the
Environmental Change Institute, University of
Oxford
mariusdroughtproject.org
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DWS
Projects
ENDOWS
aboutdrought.info
ENDOWS (Engaging diverse stakeholders and
publics with outputs from the Drought and
Water Scarcity Programme) brings together the
successful stakeholder engagement elements of the
four Drought and Water Scarcity (DWS) projects
to further develop and promote understanding of
the key messages from the programme. Building
on the activities of DRY, IMPETUS, MaRIUS and
Historic Drought, ENDOWS is funded by the
Research Councils to inform adaptation and
management decisions before, during and after
drought events, using the new data and findings of
the DWS programme.
ENDOWS has brought these activities together
under the banner ‘About Drought’ an accessible
programme of informed engagement with
regulators, industry, business, policy-makers,
communities and sector organisations.
David Throup/Environment Agency
Knowledge Exchange is a key function of About
Drought, facilitating effective networking between
the research community and stakeholder
communities; encouraging the building of reliable
contacts and stimulating new working relationships
and accelerating the speed at which the outputs
of the DWS programme are being implemented
to support evidence-based decisions in drought
planning and management.
The About Drought Showcase is a one-stop crosssectoral
forum bringing all the DWS projects
together in one place on one day. Stakeholders and
decision-makers from across the board can access
the latest DWS programme developments, hear
directly from the experts and give direct feedback.
Experts from across the DWS programme can
share their findings so far and invite feedback on
how stakeholders want the information presented
to best support policy and business decisions.
It is planned to hold a final About Drought
Showcase in 2019.
The About Drought website http://www.
AboutDrought.info is being developed as an
authoritative source of expertise, and as a publicly
available platform for informed comment and
opinion. The About Drought Twitter account
@AboutDrought highlights drought-related news
and opinions from the UK and around the world.
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@AboutDrought
Newsletter
Event debrief: Business impacts of water scarcity
What are the potential impacts of drought on UK
businesses? And what are the priorities when it comes
to sharing information about water scarcity? These
were two themes discussed at a Business Stakeholder
workshop held at UWE, Bristol, on 31.10.17.
Discussions pointed up uncertainty about the
future, and the need for earlier warning systems
(for businesses to understand with greater lead time
when water restrictions would occur; the later the
warnings, the more expensive it becomes). Read more
at: http://aboutdrought.info/event-debrief-20171031/,
and if your business could contribute to this UK-wide
discussion, please contact: Lindsey.McEwen@uwe.ac.uk
Films are available from MaRIUS Live! and are published
at http://aboutdrought.info/marius-managing-therisks-impacts-and-uncertainties-of-drought-andwater-scarcity-live/
and on the MaRIUS website
mariusdroughtproject.org.
If you attended MaRIUS LIVE! But have not yet
given your feedback, please do so here: https://goo.gl/
forms/18gGmNXzllKJWlqh1.
The post event delegate pack, including slide
presentations and other materials, are available here:
drive.google.com/drive/folders/1axroXhYqRjnTdkxt1-
OdVpuzCTKpuMRc?usp=sharing
Event debrief: Which communities and why?
Event debrief: MaRIUS LIVE!
Trevor Bishop, Director of Strategy and Planning
at OFWAT, described MaRIUS as “one of the most
important bits of research that we’ve seen in drought
and water scarcity” as more than 80 delegates met
to hear presentations setting out the findings of the
project’s research and the outputs available for use.
The project researchers outlined their findings on the
effects of drought on people and the environment, on
government, communities, water quality and resources,
ecology, agriculture, the economy and electricity supply.
How best do we connect a diverse range of publics
and communities with research arising from the NERC
Drought and Water Scarcity research programme?
This was a theme discussed at the first Community
Stakeholder workshop held at UWE, Bristol on
27.10.17. This group forms the basis of a ‘community of
practice’, developing and testing evidence that can be
used in engaging communities in drought risk decisionmaking.
Read more at: http://aboutdrought.info/eventdebrief-20171027/,
and if you or your organisation
would like to get involved, please contact: Lindsey.
McEwen@uwe.ac.uk
Click here to sign up
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Programme
9.15
10.00
10.15
11.30
12.30
13.30
14.30
14.35
15.35
15.55
16.40 - 17.30
12
Registration & networking
Project stands
Welcome - Jamie Hannaford and Sally Stevens
Opening Remarks from the Funders – Ruth Kelman (NERC)
Plenary Session
Chair: John Bloomfield, BGS
Views from stakeholders
Stacey Sharman (Defra)
Droughts: Defra’s perspective
Steven Wade (Atkins)
Drought: challenges and opportunities, a water industry perspective
Ana-Maria Millan (Consumer Council for Water)
Saving water: seeing the bigger picture
Highlights from the DWS Programme
• Historic Droughts (Jamie Hannaford)
• IMPETUS (Len Shaffrey)
• MaRIUS (Helen Gavin)
• DRY (Lindsey McEwen)
Primer on ENDOWS (Jamie Hannaford)
1st interactive session - Parallel sessions
• Agriculture
• Monitoring & Early Warning
• Data
Lunch
Project stands
Waterways Walk leaves at 1pm.
2nd session
• Drought Narratives
• Water Supply 1: Modelling and Methodologies
• Environment
3rd session
• Communities
• Water Supply 2: Governance and Regulation
• Data
Afternoon break
Project stands
Plenary feedback and panel discussion (breakout
group leads & speakers) and Q&A
Drought research and management: what’s next?
Closing comments from Paul Hickey (EA)
Drinks
Stands & Networking
Speakers
Guest Speakers
Paul Hickey, Deputy Director - Water Resources, Environment Agency
Stacy Sharman, Head of Research in the Analysis and Evidence team, working in Water and
Flood Risk Management, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Steven Wade, Associate Director for Climate and Resilience, Atkins
Ana-Maria Millan, Policy Manager, Consumer Council for Water
For NERC
Ruth Kelman, Science Programmes Officer Natural Environment Research Council
For DWS
Jamie Hannaford, Leader, Hydrological Status and Outlooks group, Centre for Ecology &
Hydrology; DWS Programme Co-ordination Chair and Principal Investigator, ENDOWS and
Historic Droughts
Dr Helen Gavin, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, MaRIUS
Prof Lindsey McEwen, Professor in Environmental Management, Centre for Water, Communities
and Resilience, UWE Bristol, DRY
Prof Len Shaffrey, Professor of Climate Science, NCAS, University of Reading, IMPETUS
13
14
Showcase
Timetable
Sessions content
15
Interactive Sessions
Agriculture
SPEAKERS
Professor Jerry Knox, Cranfield University (Facilitator)
Dr Ivan Grove, Harper Adams University
Dr Dolores Rey, Cranfield University
Dr Gloria Salmoral, Cranfield University
WHAT WAS THIS SESSION ABOUT?
Four ‘flash talks’ described below, were followed by an
open discussion, led by Jerry Knox, addressing some of
the key questions raised in the presentations.
A water strategy for the agricultural and
horticultural sector (Jerry Knox) - a synopsis of
progress in the ongoing process to develop a water
strategy for the agricultural and horticultural sectors.
This is intended to support and guide the industry in
securing ‘a fair share of water’ and is being co-designed
with key informants who will likely be most impacted
by pending changes in water abstraction licensing and
regulatory reform.
What is the value of secondary water markets
for abstractors? (Dolores Rey) - Defra has signalled
support for rapid water trading to allow abstractors
to share access to water quickly, but there is little
understanding of the advantages and disadvantages
of such a system, how it would work in reality, or
how these secondary markets might fit with the new
abstraction system. Lola reported on an ongoing
research project aimed at providing Defra with
policy-relevant recommendations for how secondary
markets might be designed, implemented and managed
in England to efficiently and effectively improve UK
resilience to drought and water scarcity, reducing
associated economic damages to the agricultural and
food sectors.
Risk of economic impacts to agricultural irrigation
due to drought management (Gloria Salmoral) - an
overview of a spatially explicit national risk assessment
of the economic losses in irrigated agriculture under
drought conditions from England and Wales in three
uneven climatic periods: baseline (1975-2004), near
future (2020-2049) and far future (2070-2099).
Does climate change mean crop change? (Ivan
Grove ) - an overview of research undertaken in the
DRY Project (part of the UK Drought and Water s
Scarcity programme) on crop and drought experiments,
and some reflections on the resilience of crops.
WHAT HAPPENED
This was a great opportunity to contribute to developing thinking around agriculture, water scarcity and drought.
Thoughts were given on questions such as:
• Is water really that important for agriculture? How might a strategy help the industry?
• What water-related risks are facing the industry? How should industry engage with other sectors to reduce
future vulnerability?
• Is it important to prioritise UK water for food (crops) in dry periods?
• What are the barriers to crop change from growers and consumers?
• What economic losses due to water restrictions might arise in the future? What measures might mitigate these
losses?
• How could collaborative management between irrigators and water authorities during drought conditions be
improved?
16
Interactive Sessions
Agriculture
17
Interactive Sessions
Agriculture
18
Interactive Sessions
Agriculture
19
Interactive Sessions
Agriculture
20
Interactive Sessions
Agriculture
21
Interactive Sessions
Agriculture
22
Interactive Sessions
Agriculture
23
Interactive Sessions
Agriculture
24
Interactive Sessions
Agriculture
25
Interactive Sessions
Agriculture
26
Interactive Sessions
Agriculture
27
Interactive Sessions
Agriculture
28
Interactive Sessions
Agriculture
29
Interactive Sessions
Agriculture
30
Interactive Sessions
Agriculture
31
Interactive Sessions
Agriculture
32
Interactive Sessions
Agriculture
33
Interactive Sessions
Agriculture
34
Interactive Sessions
Agriculture
35
Interactive Sessions
Agriculture
36
Interactive Sessions
Agriculture
37
Interactive Sessions
Monitoring & Early Warning
SPEAKERS
Session Leader: Jamie Hannaford, Leader, Hydrological Status and Outlooks Group, CEH
Discussion Facilitator: Dr Ingo Schüder, Business Development Manager (training), CEH
Richard Davis, Senior Advisor, National Water Resources Hydrology Team, Environment Agency
Lucy Barker, Hydrological Analyst, CEH
Professor Len Shaffrey, National Centre for Atmospheric Science and University of Reading
WHAT WAS THIS SESSION ABOUT?
While little can be done to prevent droughts occurring,
actions can be taken to mitigate drought impacts
on society and the environment. To support the
implementation of such actions, drought monitoring
and early warning (MEW) systems are a vital part of
drought preparedness and planning. MEW includes
tools for both situation monitoring (‘where are we
now’) and forecasting (‘What will happen next’) over a
range of timescales from a few days to seasons ahead
and beyond. There is already substantial, operational
MEW activity underway in the UK (e.g. the EA’s Water
Situation Reports, CEH/BGS/Met Office Hydrological
Summaries and Outlooks) and MEW activities are
carried out by stakeholders across the full spectrum
of organisations involved in drought management.
Nevertheless, stakeholder engagement within the
DWS programme has identified a number of gaps in
existing MEW, and opportunities for improved systems
in future.
This interactive session presented some of the
outcomes of DWS Programme engagement around
MEW needs for a range of stakeholders, and also heard
directly from the Environment Agency, as key decisionmakers,
about priority needs in this area. Delegates
heard highlights of the science emerging from the DWS
programme. In particular: (i) how programme datasets
and tools for mapping and visualisation could support
more dynamic, interactive situation monitoring in
future (ii) how recent DWS Programme advances in
meteorological and hydrological seasonal forecasting
could be used to support improved decision-making in
future. It concluded with a facilitated discussion aimed
at mapping out key priorities for MEW based around
achievable outcomes from the final stage of the DWS
programme, ENDOWS.
Hurstwood Reservoir during the 2010 drought
©United Utilities
WHAT HAPPENED
This session attracted delegates engaged in, or interested in, drought planning and management and keen to find
out how drought monitoring and forecasting systems can help them. They found out about the latest science
emerging in this area, and how it can aid decision-making. Delegates met the researchers and participated in
discussions with the team and other stakeholders, finding out about opportunities to get involved with ongoing
research and knowledge exchange activities.
Delegates also visited a stand presenting on monitoring and early warning and played our interactive forecasting game
during the evening networking session.
38
Interactive Sessions
Monitoring & Early Warning
39
Interactive Sessions
Monitoring & Early Warning
40
Interactive Sessions
Monitoring & Early Warning
41
Interactive Sessions
Monitoring & Early Warning
42
Interactive Sessions
Monitoring & Early Warning
43
Interactive Sessions
Monitoring & Early Warning
44
Interactive Sessions
Monitoring & Early Warning
45
Interactive Sessions
Monitoring & Early Warning
46
Interactive Sessions
Monitoring & Early Warning
47
Interactive Sessions
Monitoring & Early Warning
48
Interactive Sessions
Monitoring & Early Warning
49
Interactive Sessions
Monitoring & Early Warning
50
Interactive Sessions
Monitoring & Early Warning
51
Interactive Sessions
Monitoring & Early Warning
52
Interactive Sessions
Monitoring & Early Warning
53
Interactive Sessions
Monitoring & Early Warning
54
Interactive Sessions
Monitoring & Early Warning
55
Interactive Sessions
Monitoring & Early Warning
56
Interactive Sessions
Monitoring & Early Warning
57
Interactive Sessions
Data
SPEAKERS
Session Leader: Matt Fry, CEH (Droughts programme data coordinator)
Simon Parry, Drought researcher, CEH (New past drought data)
Dr Alison Kay, Senior modeller, CEH (New future scenario data)
Dr Katie Smith, Hydrological modeller, CEH (Interactive tools for data access)
WHAT WAS THIS SESSION ABOUT?
Data for drought understanding
The About Droughts programme is releasing a huge
number of drought datasets, and is developing tools to
make this data easier to access for end users.
This interactive session:
• provided more detail on the datasets being produced
(historic data and reconstructions, future scenarios,
social and socio-economic data)
• described the tools planned for making data access
simpler
• provided a chance to discuss potential uses and users
of this data, and identify gaps
• allowed attendees to “vote” to help prioritise
activities in this area.
Datasets being released by programme partners
include:
• Historic Met Office rain gauge data enhanced with
newly digitised gauges to improve coverage (and
updated gridded rainfall datasets) back to the 1860s.
• Gridded Potential Evapotranspiration (already
released) from 1891
• Reconstructed / modelled daily river flows from 1891
for a selection of gauged catchments from 3 models:
Grid-to-Grid, AirGR and Dynamic TopModel
• Reconstructed / modelled gridded (1km) monthly
river flows and soil moisture from 1891 from the
Grid-to-Grid model
• Reconstructed historic groundwater level series for
50 boreholes from 1891.
• Extended standardised drought indicators based on
past rainfall, river flow and groundwater level datasets
• Probabilistic scenario data (100 ensemble members)
for two future periods (2020-2049 and 2070-2099)
under a high emission scenario, including full gridded
climate outputs, and daily and monthly river flow and
soil moisture series
• An inventory of references to past droughts, from
national, regional and agricultural media, parliamentary
debate, and personal histories.
• A database of UK reservoir development
A full list can be seen by clicking here
WHAT HAPPENED
The session described these datasets in more detail. Some tools for enhanced data access were demonstrated
and discussions enabled prioritisation of future work:
• What derived datasets would be useful (e.g. catchment average series, change factors for future scenarios, etc)?
• What real-time drought metrics would be of interest?
• How can we facilitate ease of access to data, e.g. web services, example code, user guidance?
• How can user interfaces make this data easier to pick up and use?
58
Interactive Sessions
Data
59
Interactive Sessions
Data
60
Interactive Sessions
Data
61
Interactive Sessions
Data
62
Interactive Sessions
Data
63
Interactive Sessions
Data
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Interactive Sessions
Data
65
Interactive Sessions
Data
66
Interactive Sessions
Data
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Interactive Sessions
Data
68
Interactive Sessions
Data
69
Interactive Sessions
Data
70
Interactive Sessions
Data
71
Interactive Sessions
Data
72
Interactive Sessions
Data
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Interactive Sessions
Data
74
Interactive Sessions
Data
75
Interactive Sessions
Data
76
Interactive Sessions
Data
77
Interactive Sessions
Data
78
Interactive Sessions
Data
79
Interactive Sessions
Data
80
Interactive Sessions
Data
81
Interactive Sessions
Data
82
Interactive Sessions
Environment
SPEAKERS
Dr Francois Edwards, CEH, Wallingford
Professor Paul Whitehead, Oxford University
Dr Pam Berry, Oxford University
Dr Ingo Schüder, CEH, Wallingford (Facilitator)
WHAT WAS THIS SESSION ABOUT?
Delegates heard three ‘flash talks’ described on
the right, following which Ingo Schüder facilitated a
40-minute open discussion addressing some of the key
questions raised in the presentations.
Woodlands (Pam Berry)
A synopsis of our knowledge on the possible impacts
of droughts on trees and woodlands in the UK, based
on modelling undertaken in the UK Droughts and
Water Scarcity Programme.
Water quality (Paul Whitehead)
A brief overview of impacts of low flows and climate
change on water quality and phytoplankton in UK rivers
based of low flow and drought research undertaken in
the UK Droughts and Water Scarcity Programme.
River Ems, Summer 2012 ©Francois Edwards
Freshwater (Francois Edwards)
An overview of ecological health and resilience to water
scarcity in UK rivers: key messages and knowledge gaps
based on research undertaken in the UK Droughts and
Water Scarcity Programme.
WHAT HAPPENED
Delegates contributed to developing thinking around
the environment, water scarcity and drought on
questions such as:
• How should trade-offs between environmental flows
and water supply during a drought be communicated?
• What might a new set of intuitive drought and water
scarcity indicators for the environment look like?
• What might be some of the implications of water
scarcity and drought for forestry and conservation of
woodlands in Great Britain?
• What might be some of the implications for
conservation and forestry?
• How should drought be defined from a water quality
perspective?
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Environment
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Interactive Sessions
Environment
85
Interactive Sessions
Environment
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Interactive Sessions
Environment
87
Interactive Sessions
Environment
88
Interactive Sessions
Environment
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Interactive Sessions
Environment
90
Interactive Sessions
Environment
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Interactive Sessions
Environment
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Interactive Sessions
Environment
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Interactive Sessions
Environment
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Interactive Sessions
Environment
95
Interactive Sessions
Environment
96
Interactive Sessions
Environment
97
Interactive Sessions
Environment
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Water Supply 1
SPEAKERS
Session Leader: Dr Helen Gavin, Environmental
Change Institute, University of Oxford
Paul Hickey, Environment Agency
Jamie Hannaford, CEH
Dr Gemma Coxon, University of Bristol
Dr Mohammad Mortazavi, University of Oxford
Professor Len Shaffrey, University of Reading
Dr Chris Decker, University of Oxford
Dr John Bloomfield, BGS
Nick Honeyball, Affinity Water
WHAT WERE THESE SESSIONS ABOUT?
Water Supply 1: Modelling and Methodologies
Water Supply 2: Governance and Regulation
The policy-making and decision-making landscape
for droughts and water scarcity is changing with
implications for many stakeholders: the 2014 Water
Act’s duty of resilience significantly affects water
companies; the first examination of water resources at
a scale covering England and Wales (Water UK 2016)
advocated a more strategic approach to the analysis
and management of drought risk; and discussions
have commenced on introducing formal regional
management of water resources.
While the UK has a well evolved framework for
drought and water resources planning, there is a need
to enhance robustness, particularly with regard to
future droughts. Similarly, while hydrological monitoring
is advanced, drought forecasts and outlooks remain
uncertain, which hinders their uptake.
The evidence being developed in this workstream
has potential to inform operational water resources
planning and drought management. We want
to work with a range of stakeholders such as
water companies, regulators, and consultancies
to ensure our objectives will assist, namely:
1. Develop standardised stress tests and tools for risk
based water resources planning
2. Provide recommendations and guidance for
hydrological modelling in practical applications
3. Develop tools to monitor, forecast and manage
drought.
WHAT HAPPENED
Within the two public water supply sessions delegates heard from invited practitioners on their perspectives and
knowledge / data needs. Workstream researchers summarised their work and the existing and expected outputs.
A discussion built on this flow of information to identify how the research can meet information needs and to
connect people to create outputs of common use.
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Interactive Sessions
Water Supply 2
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Water Supply 2
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Water Supply 2
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Water Supply 2
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Interactive Sessions
Drought Narratives
FACILITATORS AND PRESENTERS
Session Leader: Dr Rebecca Pearce, University of Exeter
Dr Carmen Dayrell Gomes Da Costa, University of Lancaster
Dr Helen Baker, University of Lancaster
Dr Dolores Rey Vicario, Cranfield University
WHAT WAS THIS SESSION ABOUT?
How do we talk about drought?
Communicating drought information presents many
difficulties, not least deciding when to officially announce
a drought, identifying how best to describe the
situation and choosing the most appropriate language
to use. The dynamics of the situation inevitably give
rise to satirical jibes if it rains and a blaming culture if
it doesn’t. To many, the word drought is just shorthand
for hosepipe ban.
Based on the evidence provided, discussions focused on
the true meaning of drought to those who experience
them. We discussed the answer to the question:
How do we talk about drought and how can we
improve our drought communications?
In this interactive session we carefully examined
some of the ways that droughts have previously been
discussed in national, regional and local media. We
compared these discourses with oral history narratives
based on memories of past droughts.
We drew on the newly released Historic Drought
Inventory: a collection of news articles, official reports
and personal diary entries relating to some of the key
droughts in living memory. We also looked at fresh
analysis of media uses of the word drought and the
subjects it is often associated with, which are not
always anything to do with diminishing water supplies.
Tabloid newspaper analysis of the word ‘drought’ and its
collocates - Dr Carmen Dayrell, ESRC Centre for Corpus
Approaches to Social Science, University of Lancaster
WHAT HAPPENED
Science communicators and others involved in
preparing advice about droughts and water shortages
for a variety of audiences, joined the session. They
learned about new social research in this area, the
Historic Drought Inventory and how best to utilise
the resulting data. Delegates were able to review and
refine their own drought communication methods.
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Interactive Sessions
Communities
SPEAKERS
Session Leader: Professor Lindsey McEwen, Centre for Water, Communities and Resilience, UWE Bristol
Professor Mike Wilson, School of Arts, English and Drama, Loughborough University
Dr Liz Roberts, Centre for Water, Communities and Resilience, UWE Bristol
Dr Ragab Ragab, CEH, Wallingford
WHAT WAS THIS SESSION ABOUT?
Storying drought with communities: who are the
harbingers of drought and the watershed thinkers?
This session explored how stories and storytelling
can come into the same space as specialist science in
drought risk decision-making (past, present and future)
at a catchment scale.
During the session, delegates:
• thought about catchments as units in place-based,
water thinking in a drought risk context
• explored what stories bring to the table in terms of
perceptions and behaviours
• shared stories that have emerged from catchments in
the DRY project, identifying key groups who are already
sensitised to prolonged dry periods. These included
allotment holders and gardeners – already exercising
water thinking scaling up from the hyperlocal
• shared some of DRY’s video reflections on the
storying process as prompts for group discussion
• shared ‘hands on’ experience of our processes of
crowd tagging of stories and active listening, and
• showcased some of the ways to integrate stories and
science through story mapping, bite-sized science and
catchment-based drought impact indices.
‘Visioning water adaptations’ - one participant’s storyboard
from a community storytelling workshop in the Bevills Leam
catchment in the Fens.
WHAT HAPPENED
Delegates left with:
• a better understanding of how storytelling can contribute to evidence bases for local water management and
drought risk decision-making
• new insights into the issues and opportunities in bringing storytelling and science together in drought risk
decision-making
• experience of being hands-on in the DRY process of making stories searchable and the value of active listening
in those processes
• new insights into the strategies experimented on in DRY to bring stories and science together as an evidence
base for decision-making
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Interactive Sessions
Waterways Walk
SPEAKERS
Session Leader: Dr Kevin Grecksch, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies,
University of Oxford
Dr Bettina Lange, Associate Professor of Law and Regulation, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford
Other speakers included local stakeholders and showcase event participants
INTRODUCTION
Kevin Grecksch, a social scientist at the University of
Oxford’s Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, specialising
in water governance and climate change adaptation,
led this informative walk along the canals of central
Birmingham and the city centre. Kevin was involved
in the MaRIUS drought project where he investigated
drought and water scarcity management options in
England and Wales.
The 90-minute walk stopped along the route for
insights from stakeholders and to exchange ideas.
This walk was part of the ENDOWS work task
‘Innovation, Communities, and Corporate Water’,
which is also led by Kevin Grecksch. The work task’s aim
is to gain a deeper understanding of water efficiency
campaigns with public sector organisations - schools,
universities, hospitals, council buildings.
WHAT HAPPENED
The walk provided space for informal discussions of questions such as:
• What is the value of water?
• How do people experience water efficiency campaigns?
• What role should citizens play in the management of drought and water scarcity?
• What water efficiency campaigns would you be interested in contributing to?
• Have you participated in water efficiency campaigns at your workplace?
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Datasets
The NERC UK Drought and Water Scarcity Programme is releasing a number of datasets over the next 18
months together with interfaces for accessing and visualising data over the web and guidance for use of the data.
For more information on these datasets, please email Matt Fry (mfry@ceh.ac.uk).
Find this information online by clicking here
Historic hydrometeorological
data
Click here for the About
Drought Datasets
• Enhanced historic rain gauge data, and updated 5km rainfall grids back to the
1860s [Met Office].
• Historic catchment average daily rainfall series for selected catchments, 1861-
2015 [Met Office / CEH].
• Historic gridded Potential Evapotranspiration (PET), monthly and daily 5km
grids, 1891-2015, based on temperatures [CEH].
• Historic Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI), 5km grid + catchments, 1862-
2015 [CEH].
• Historic Standardised Precipitation Evaporation Index (SPEI), 5km grid +
catchments, 1891-2015 [CEH].
• Reconstructed/modelled historic daily river flow series for gauged catchments
from 3 models, 1891-2015: Grid-to-Grid [CEH] AirGR [CEH], Dynamic TopModel
[University of Bristol].
• Reconstructed / modelled historic monthly gridded river flow and soil moisture
for UK from the Grid-to-Grid model, 1km grid, 1891-2015 [CEH].
• Reconstructed historic groundwater level series for 50 boreholes, 1891-2015
[BGS].
• Historic drought indicators (SSI, SGI) from reconstructed streamflow and
borehole records, 1891-2015 [CEH, BGS].
Near realtime
droughtrelated
metrics
The following drought-related metrics have been focussed on within the Drought
and Water Scarcity programme, and could become accessible in near-real time
should this be a requirement from users:
• Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI), 5km grid + catchments, monthly [CEH]
– already available via the CEH Drought Portal
• Standardised Streamflow Index (SSI), selected gauging stations, monthly [CEH]
• Standardised Groundwater Level Index (SGI), selected boreholes, monthly
[BGS]
• Hydro-ecological drought metrics, under development within the projects
[CEH]
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Datasets
Climate change
projection data
Click here for the About
Drought Datasets
Probabilistic time series based on the Weather at Home (W@H) event set (100
ensemble members for each time slice) for a baseline period (1974-2004) and
two future periods (2020-2049 and 2070-2099) under the RCP8.5 high emission
scenario.
• Full gridded climate outputs including PET, daily / monthly on ~25km grid
(University of Oxford)
• (Dependent on user requirements) Catchment average rainfall, temperature
and PET for gauged catchments
• Daily river flow series at gauged catchments: Grid-to-Grid [CEH], Dynamic
TopModel [University of Bristol]
• Gridded monthly flows and soil moisture from Grid-to-Grid, 1km grid [CEH]
• (Dependent on user requirements) Summary grids and maps of this data, e.g.
change factors for future time periods for key statistics (annual / monthly / seasonal
flows, etc.)
Daily grids of hydrological variables (runoff, soil moisture, etc.) under UKCP09
climate projections for seven representative catchments across the UK for
three future periods (2020s, 2050s ,2080s), with 100 realisations, modelled with
Di-CHASM [CEH]
New Social and Socio-economic datasets
The multi-disciplinary UK Drought and Water Scarcity programme is also producing a wide range of data outputs
from research activities in many disciplines. Some of these outputs are listed below, and others will be added as
they are produced and identified from the component projects.
Cross-sectoral
inventory of
past droughts
Visit www.aboutdrought.info
for datasets release updates.
References to past droughts from a variety of sectors, integrated into a consistent
format to capture spatial and temporal reporting of drought:
• References to droughts in the agricultural media. 2000+ entries referring to
drought within UK agricultural media between 1975 and 2012, including information
on farm classification.
• References to droughts in legislation. 500+ entries referring to drought within UK
legislation between 1976 and 2012, from Hansard debates and other government
publications.
• References to droughts in newspapers. Thousands of spatially located entries
referring to drought within local and national newspapers from 1800 to 2014.
• References to droughts in oral histories. 1000 entries referring to drought from
dozens of drought-focussed oral histories from across the UK, from water industry
experts and members of the public.
Database of resevoir contruction: dataset of database construction, with capacity
information, from 1800 to 2000.
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Organisations who attended the
About Drought Showcase
Organisation
Affinity Water
AHDB
Airbus Defence and Space
Anglian Water
Artesia Consulting Ltd
Atkins
British Geological Survey
Canal & River Trust
Cardiff University
Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford
CLA
Consumer Council for Water
Coventry University
Cranfield University
db+a
DCWW
Defra
DWI
DWRconsult
Environment Agency
Environmental Aesthetic and Associate
Environmental Change Institute
ESRC
Harper Adams University
HR Wallingford
Institute for Environmental Analytics
Jacobs
Lancaster University
Loughborough University
MOSL
National Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of Reading
National Infrastructure Commission
National Trust
Natural England
Natural Resources Wales
NERC
NFU
Nottingham Trent University
Policy Connect
RSPB
RWE Generation UK
Science Communication Unit, University of the West of England
Scottish Water
Severn Trent Water
South West Water
Organisation
Southern Water
Stantec
Tapajos
Thames Estuary Partnership
Thames21 Ltd
The Aire Rivers Trust
UK Irrigation Association
Uniper
United Utilities
Universiti Putra Malaysia
University of Birmingham
University of Bristol
University of East Anglia
University of Exeter
University of Oxford
University of the West of England, Bristol
Wallingford HydroSolutions Ltd.
Water Loss Research & Analysis Ltd, and LEAKSSuite website
Waterwise
Weather Logistics Ltd
Yorkshire Water
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About Drought Showcase
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