Articles

Papers from the Science+ meeting held at the Royal Society and organised and edited by Professor Jim Hall, Associate Professor Jamie Hannaford and Professor Gabriele Hegerl is now available! The impacts of droughts on people and the natural environment are increasing, due to climate change and over-exploitation of water resources. This Science+ meeting issue explored … Continue reading "Drought risk in the Anthropocene Special Issue published"Read More »

The special issue in Frontiers in Environmental Science on Drought and Water Scarcity: Addressing Current and Future Challenges has been successfully finalised. Water scarcity and drought are increasingly significant environmental challenges. Recent continental scale drought events in Europe have emphasized that the severity, significance and impacts of drought pose a substantial risk to society. Furthermore, … Continue reading "Special Issue on Drought and Water Scarcity now finalised"Read More »

The UK experienced a prolonged period of dry weather in 2022 which culminated in a severe summer heatwave and record-breaking temperatures, posing challenges for water resources. Impacts of the protracted dry weather and low river levels included environmental stress in aquatic ecosystems, challenges for farmers in terms of irrigation, harvesting and drilling seeds, stressed terrestrial habitats and severe wildfires. … Continue reading "Why we are still in drought despite recent rain"Read More »

The UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology’s blog post last month highlighted the precarious hydrological situation following a very dry spring and early summer. Low groundwater levels, reservoir stocks and especially river flows were already prompting concerns around the water resources situation. One of the questions that’s commonly asked is how the current event compares to … Continue reading "How does the 2022 Drought compare to past events in the UK and how might it evolve in the near future?"Read More »

Groundwater plays an important role in water supply in the UK, both for agriculture and irrigation and for public supply. It provides around 30 per cent of public water supplies accross the UK, and sustains flows in rivers and wetlands during dry conditions. The British Geological Survey’s John Bloomfield and Andrew McKenzie explore the affect of the … Continue reading "Groundwater’s role in the 2022 Drought"Read More »

July 2022 was the driest July in England since 1935. Combined with record breaking temperatures, there are fears of disruption to public water supply and poor crop yields, especially for fruit and vegetables. Cranfield University’s Tim Hess and Ian Holman explore how the current drought is affecting farmers and how it compares to previous droughts in The … Continue reading "How is the 2022 Drought in the UK affecting farmers?"Read More »

Increased demand from the heatwave has put short-term pressure on water supply, and should river flows continue to fall, there will be growing threats to water supply later in the year. In his blog, Principal Hydrologist from the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Jamie Hannaford uses the Hydrological Summary, Hydrological Outlook and interactive water situation monitoring tools to look at the current … Continue reading "Heatwave increases pressure on water resources"Read More »

As part of the DRY (Drought Risk and You) project, a field experiment was set up in three river catchments (the Frome in South Gloucestershire, the Don in Yorkshire and the Eden in Fife), to study the effect of reduced rainfall on the growth and biomass production of semi-natural grasslands. The experiment had four aims: … Continue reading "How will climate change affect permanent pastures?"Read More »

‘Drought risk in the Anthropocene’ is a Royal Society Science+ meeting organised by Professor Jim Hall FREng, Associate Professor Jamie Hannaford and Professor Gabriele Hegerl FRS. Taking place online on the 19th and 20th October 2021 the event is free to attend (advance registration essential). Register for the event Droughts and water scarcity jointly pose … Continue reading "‘Drought risk in the Anthropocene’ Online Science+ Meeting"Read More »

A new paper on the 2018/2019 drought in the United Kingdom has been published in the Royal Meteorological Society’s journal Weather.  The hot summer of 2018 may be memorable for many and, as well as this period, the paper highlights the perhaps less widespread recognition of a longer period of dry conditions leading up to this heatwave, and a … Continue reading "Droughts during 2018/2019 in the UK"Read More »

Dr Jade Ward has recently finished an Academic Fellowship at the UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) writing a POSTbrief on water supply resilience and climate change in England. The Fellowship was funded by the UK Droughts and Water Scarcity Research Programme. POST makes the latest scientific research accessible to parliamentarians through the … Continue reading "Westminster, water supply resilience and climate change: a POSTbrief for parliamentarians"Read More »

A new creative challenge to children to read and enjoy this engaging book has been lauched by About Drought, DRY and Waterwise. The challenge encourages children aged 5-13 to use their imagination to illustrate what their community would look like if we all used water more wisely. Based on the award winning book: DRY: The Story … Continue reading "About Drought launches new children’s competition with Waterwise"Read More »

Accumulated rainfall totals are an important variable for a range of hydrological applications, including monitoring and forecasting, and long-term planning. A new report has been published which identifies the most appropriate, nationally consistent approach to quantifying return periods of long duration rainfall. A comparison of the suitability of nine distribution families for estimating the relative rarity … Continue reading "A Nationally Consistent Approach to Assessing Accumulated Rainfall Rarity"Read More »

A new About Drought briefing note: Drought monitoring and early warning: new developments to meet user needs has been released. The note looks at the monitoring, forecasting and early warning needs for different sectors, the key new tools and strategies for monitoring and forecasting droughts, and highlights the ways that sectors such as water companies, … Continue reading "About Drought briefing note: Drought monitoring and early warning"Read More »

By Dr Helen Gavin, Project Manager for MaRIUS Research from the MaRIUS project is widely recognised as having transformed how water risks are managed by the Government, water suppliers and regulators. MaRIUS (Managing the risks, impacts and uncertainties of droughts and water scarcity) developed the first national-scale water resource model for England and Wales, triggering … Continue reading "Far reaching influence of MaRIUS research into water risks"Read More »

A new publication has been released today which explores how our essential groundwater resources are managed during droughts, and against a backdrop of environmental change, what future priorities should be. The work reports the outputs from a meeting over 50 hydrogeologists from water companies, regulators, consultancies and academia that was held by About Drought in … Continue reading "Groundwater management during droughts and future prospects"Read More »

A year on from the launch of the UK Water Resources Portal, it is being used as a valuable and reliable real-time water monitoring tool by environmental and water managers. The web-based system tracks the latest hydrological situation across England, Wales and Scotland, allowing users to explore up-to-date data including rainfall, river flows, soil moisture … Continue reading "Putting real-time data into the hands of water managers"Read More »

Lucy Barker (UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology) presents on a number of cutting edge aspects of drought science. Climate change projections indicate that extreme events will increase in their frequency and severity in the future.  An improved understanding of the drought events of the past can inform current and future management. In this talk, … Continue reading "Historic Droughts: Using the past to inform the future"Read More »

Experts from the About Drought project have given updates on the recent changeable weather we’ve been seeing in the UK and further afield. The team at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) released a blog post which focused on the hydrological transformation following the wettest February on record, which soon turned into one … Continue reading "Experts from About Drought discuss the past few months remarkable weather"Read More »

Following the wettest February on record earlier this year, last month is set to be declared the driest May in England for 124 years with some water regions warning of potential drought conditions. The UK Water Resources Portal allows anyone with an interest in current water resources or drought conditions to explore the data both nationally and … Continue reading "Interested in the UK water resources situation?"Read More »

Hay Festival and the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) joined forces for Trans.MISSION II, a new global project pairing leading environmental researchers with award-winning storytellers to communicate cutting-edge science to new audiences. The UK strand saw British writer and journalist Patrice Lawrence paired with scientists Dr Sarah Ayling, Professor Lindsey McEwen from the DRY project. Using the project’s … Continue reading "TRANS.MISSION II – UK"Read More »

A drought storybook for children has won a national award for its beautifully illustrated message about water scarcity in the UK. In announcing the Geographical Association Publishers’ Silver Award for ‘DRY: Diary of a Water Superhero’ on Thursday, April 16th (2020), judges said ‘… this fantastic picture book found the perfect balance as a powerful … Continue reading "Book bringing drought research to children wins national award – DRY: Diary of a Water Superhero"Read More »

An award-winning author specialising in teen fiction is writing a story based on About Drought and Drought Risk & You (DRY) research for the world-famous Hay Festival. Patrice Lawrence, whose novel Orangeboy won the Bookseller Young Adult Prize and the Waterstones Prize for Older Children’s Fiction, has been partnered with About Drought through Trans.MISSIONII, a … Continue reading "Top author turns research into a story for Hay Festival"Read More »

Report back from the final event held at The Royal Society The UK’s £12m Drought & Water Scarcity Programme, About Drought, has been praised as ‘an exemplar’ of interdisciplinary research by the head of UK Research & Innovation and ‘revolutionary in the way it has been delivered’ by a key stakeholder. Sir Mark Walport, Chief … Continue reading "About Drought held up as an exemplar of research that has revolutionised the way the UK manages drought and water scarcity"Read More »

Drought and Water Scarcity: addressing current and future challenges, International Conference View presentations below This international event was held at Pembroke College, University of Oxford over 20-21 March 2019. Speakers from around the world gathered to present and discuss their research on drought and water scarcity.  There was an impressive range of data, topics, in-depth … Continue reading "Report back from Drought & Water Scarcity Conference"Read More »

Innovative work from the DRY (Drought Risk & You) Project including storying drought, drought media and communication triggers for changing water use, will be presented at the prestigious annual RGS-IBG (Royal Geographical Society with the Institute for British Geographers) international conference. The conference is being held at the Royal Geographical Society in London from 27th … Continue reading "About Drought research to feature at RGS-IBG annual conference"Read More »

Experts from across the UK’s £12m drought and water scarcity research programme – About Drought – will be sharing insights at EGU2019, including Dr Katie Smith who has been invited to present a keynote talk. Droughts and water scarcity jointly pose a substantial threat to the environment, agriculture, infrastructure, society and culture in the UK, … Continue reading "About Drought experts at EGU General Assembly 2019"Read More »

Thank you to all the guest speakers, presenters, poster pitchers and delegates who joined us from the UK and around the world for our Drought & Water Scarcity Conference on March 20-21. The impressive range of data, topics, in-depth knowledge and communication insights demonstrated the breadth and interdisciplinary nature of the research that makes up … Continue reading "Thank you: Drought and Water Scarcity: addressing current and future challenges, International Conference"Read More »

“The results span both social media and traditional media platforms, embracing the humorous side of water-saving and aiming to draw in a new, younger audience with different attitudes to consumption and waste” By Dr Rebecca Pearce Research Fellow at University of Exeter, who was the social science coordinator for About Drought What’s the secret to … Continue reading "Water-saving media campaign entries are a splash hit!"Read More »

From hydrological modelling to drought communications strategies, from Italy to Birmingham, an impressive line-up of speakers has been released for the Drought & Water Scarcity Conference in Oxford – a must for anyone in research and policy aspects of water supply, quality, data, modelling, environment, agriculture, risk, policy, regulation and more. The 2-day conference – … Continue reading "Drought experts to address UK conference March 20-21, Oxford"Read More »

If you are going to IRRIGEX on February 27-28, you can talk to our experts from the About Drought programme on Stand 10. With many farmers unable to fill their reservoirs and time running out for winter fills, our leading researchers will be available at the two-day exhibition, in Peterborough, for informal conversations about the … Continue reading "Future water for food – About Drought at IRRIGEX 2019"Read More »

This About Drought brief, How to plan and manage water resources for public water supply: future directions, looks at some risks, challenges and opportunities for supplies of safe and wholesome water to the UK population. It aims to help water planners and managers by presenting some of the most up-to-date approaches for dealing with uncertainty, … Continue reading "About Drought briefing note 2: How to plan and manage water resources for public water supply"Read More »

In late August 2018 Prof Paul Whitehead attended the World Water Week in Stockholm. This is the annual focal point for the globe’s water issues. It was attended by over 3,300 individuals and around 380 convening organizations from 135 countries participated in the Week. Experts, practitioners, decision-makers, business innovators and young professionals from a range … Continue reading "2018 World Water Week in Stockholm"Read More »

Jaeyoung Lee, who is a member of the MaRIUS project, received funding from the project to present her research at the 2018 Europe-Korea Conference on Science and Technology held in Glasgow, 20-24 August 2018. She describes her experience below. Every summer, the Europe-Korea Conference on Science and Technology (EKC) brings together Korean scientists and engineers … Continue reading "Introducing UK drought and water scarcity research to Korean audiences in Glasgow, United Kingdom"Read More »

About Drought’s Len Shaffrey wrote an article in Conversation UK in July which triggered heatwave and drought articles across the UK media spectrum. Len, who leads the About Drought IMPETUS project, improving predictions of drought to support decision-making, is particularly pleased to see climate change make The Sun front page. Read his original article in … Continue reading "Media response to an AboutDrought article"Read More »

The About Drought Showcase Review is available as an online magazine , featuring the high quality inter-disciplinary content from the About Drought Showcase held in March 2018. It is packed with useful presentations, links and information for people who attended as well as for those who did not. The Showcase Review also gives a detailed … Continue reading "About Drought Showcase Review"Read More »

Three experts from About Drought provided journalists with an insight into the impact of the UK summer drought – Jamie Hannaford, Professor Jim Hall and Professor Ian Holman. Answering questions from the Daily Mail, Press Association, BBC, Telegraph and Financial Times they presented detailed but accessible information on the pressure on water resources, highlighting the … Continue reading "Drought media briefing at the Science Media Centre"Read More »

This briefing note looks at the effects of water scarcity and drought on crops which require supplemental irrigation, and includes some ideas on steps which may help to mitigate losses to farmers. This is the first of a series of briefs to support improved decision making in relation to droughts and water scarcity. We are … Continue reading "About Drought briefing note: Which farming areas of England and Wales are most at risk from economic losses due to drought?"Read More »

Print media reacted to the Environment Agency’s briefing in early January on low groundwater levels and the prospect of a summer drought with headlines ranging from ‘Floody drought’ (The Sun) to ‘Drenched by the wrong kind of rain’ (The i).  As Southern Water applied for an abstraction permit journalists were given a background briefing putting the … Continue reading "News review: perceptions of water in Britain"Read More »

The About Drought programme collaborated with the British Hydrological Society, University of Reading and University of Loughborough to present a national workshop on seasonal forecasting. The aim of the workshop, held in Loughborough in January 2018, was to focus on the seasonal forecast needs of users and practitioners, and to identify ways of improving the … Continue reading "Event debrief: Seasonal Forecasting – Meeting User Needs"Read More »

Carmen Dayrell from the ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science (CASS), Lancaster University, has presented her work with Helen Baker and Tony McEnery on a diachronic analysis of newspaper articles about drought and water scarcity at the 9th International Corpus Linguistics conference (CL2017). Corpus linguistics is a methodology for the systematic analysis of … Continue reading "Event debrief: 9th International Corpus Linguistics conference"Read More »

Thank you to all the delegates who attended the About Drought Showcase in Birmingham. Around 120 people representing a very broad range of interests and expertise joined us to connect with the truly interdisciplinary research initiative that is the RCUK Drought & Water Scarcity programme. Outputs from the day will be available to view in … Continue reading "About Drought Showcase March 14: Thank you"Read More »

Which communities and why? 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 one of the themes discussed at the first Community Stakeholder workshop held at the University of the West of England, Bristol on 27th October 2017. … Continue reading "Event debrief: ENDOWS communities stakeholders meeting 27th Oct 2017"Read More »

Business impacts of water scarcity If your business didn’t have access to water or sufficient water quality, what would the impacts be? What are the priorities for businesses when it comes to information about drought and water scarcity? These were two of the themes discussed at a Business Stakeholder workshop held at the University of … Continue reading "Event debrief: ENDOWS business stakeholders meeting 31st Oct 2017"Read More »

MaRIUS LIVE! Managing the risks, impacts and uncertainties of droughts and water scarcity was held on the 2nd of November 2017. 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 … Continue reading "Event debrief: MaRIUS LIVE! London, Nov 2017"Read More »

Drought and Water Scarcity Programme researchers from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and the British Geological Survey have published an overview of the current hydrological status of the UK. The hydrological situation in November, showing river flows (left) and groundwater levels (right). ©NERCRead More »

The notion that it always rains is a pillar of the British psyche, but does it really? Real droughts only occur in far-away lands, or do they? But the truth is that water scarcity can be both common and very localised, and even when very local it can still have significant impacts. The current situation … Continue reading "Like a fish out of water: water scarcity, and even drought, can be surprisingly local"Read More »

In England, water companies have plans that set out the actions they take before, during and after episodes of drought to ensure security of supply of water. The drought plans also describe how they will assess the effects on the environment and what they can do to mitigate any damage. The plans are revised regularly, … Continue reading "Planning for drought in England"Read More »