About Drought Handbook: Outputs & Impacts

Jim Hall
WATER SUPPLY
While the UK has a very well evolved
framework for drought and water
resources planning, there remains
a need for innovative approaches
to enhance robustness, particularly
in light of concerns about future
droughts exceeding historical
precedents used for planning.
Similarly, while hydrological
monitoring is advanced, forecasts and
outlooks remain highly uncertain,
hindering their uptake by planners,
despite recent advances. The
methodologies and evidence being
developed in the DWS Programme
have the potential to inform
developments in the operational
drivers in water resources planning
and drought management which are
currently underway.
The timescale of these reforms was
very well matched with the timescale
of the research projects, providing
a window for testing, approval and
uptake.
The Water Supply workstream
has:
1Developed standardised stress
tests and tools for risk-based
water resources planning;
2Provided recommendations
and guidance for hydrological
modelling in practical applications;
3Developed tools to monitor,
forecast and manage drought.
Water Supply worked with a range of
water industry stakeholders (water
companies, regulators, consultancies
etc.) to define the key priorities via
workshops and other engagement
activities early on.
Nevil Quinn
AGRICULTURE
Agriculture is often the first sector
to experience severe impacts in a
drought which can then propagate
rapidly through the fresh produce
supply chain to retailers. Significant
socio-economic impacts and market
responses can then impact on the
primary production sector as well
as many dependent downstream
services including processing,
packaging and distribution. Identifying
drought risks, resilience and
mitigation measures are therefore
central, combined with improved
forecasting and early detection of
drought risk. It is also recognised that
managing agricultural drought risk
needs to be aligned with strategies
to manage risks arising from both a
meteorological drought and changes
in water regulation; both water
scarcity and drought responses need
to be considered collectively.
The Agriculture work stream has:
1Consolidated knowledge, data and
understanding on drought impacts
and responses;
2Guided and influenced national
agricultural policy through
development of a water and drought
strategy for agriculture and food;
3Improved drought planning and
decision-making in the agricultural
sector.
The scope of the Agriculture work
stream was informed by a meeting
of all four DWS Programme projects
with Defra in July 2016 and a
workshop involving key informants
and agricultural stakeholders
including the NFU, UKIA, farmers,
and agriculture-related businesses in
December 2016.
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Lindsey McEwen
BUSINESS
Large-scale business and SMEs are
critical to the functioning of the
regional and national economy.
Evidence from engagement within
the DRY project suggests that,
particularly with SMEs, drought risk
planning is not on their organisational
radar. Alongside the importance of
increasing business resilience to
drought and water scarcity, UKWIR
(2015) set out the need for business
innovation and the seizing of
opportunities in water markets.
The Business workstream has:
1Translated risk-based
understanding generated in DWS
projects into accessible, risk and
resilience-informed information
systems tailored to the needs of
large businesses, and of business
people planning and running SMEs;
2Translated knowledge and
understanding generated across
the DWS projects into specific,
supporting decision-making tools
and frameworks for business;
3Engaged businesses directly in
drought planning and decisionmaking,
generating wider business
discourse around drought, water
scarcity and water efficiency.
The Business workstream used data
and methodologies developed across
the four DWS projects to work
with different businesses/business
groups (at different scales and types/
scales of water use) and key partners
(e.g. Innovate UK, Federation of
Small Businesses) to co-produce
innovative products and solutions to
support drought risk adaptation and
decision-making. Business linked with
the Water Supply and Agriculture
workstreams, through consideration
of agricultural processing/supply
chain.