Welcome to About Drought

Drought is a weather hazard by stealth, it creeps up under the radar until it is an impending crisis. Water scarcity and drought are significant threats to livelihoods. Parts of the UK are already water-stressed and with climate change, water shortages and droughts can only become more frequent.

The UK Drought & Water Scarcity programme was funded by NERC in collaboration with Research Councils ESRC, EPSRC, BBSRC and AHRC. The original projects - DRY, IMPETUS, MaRIUS and Historic Droughts – were followed by ENDOWS (2017-2019) funded by the Research Councils as a follow-on project. Altogether they are known as About Drought and on this website you will find all the data and resources produced by the programme, designed for audiences involved in decision-making, policy, planning and communications for drought and water scarcity, the wider public, farmers, countryside managers, teachers and gardeners – to name just a few.