“Water scarcity is becoming an increasingly important issue in terms of overall management of water – in flood as well as drought. Likewise, the farming community is increasingly vulnerable to water scarcity both in terms of physical access and from regulation, for instance around abstraction.”
Paul Hammett, National Water Resources Specialist, National Farmers’ Union
Paul Hammett
joined the MaRIUS project’s steering group having been appointed as the first National Farmers’ Union (NFU) National Water Resources Specialist in 2012, the year in
which the UK faced its most serious water shortage since the 1976 drought.
He says:
“Farmers are at the sharp end of regulation control during low river flows, and
throughout the time of the UK Drought and Water Scarcity Research Programme
we’ve had a series of dry summers which has made the need for better data very
real.
Farming community is increasingly
vulnerable
“Water
scarcity is becoming an increasingly important issue in terms of overall
management of water – in flood as well as drought. Likewise, the farming
community is increasingly vulnerable to water scarcity both in terms of
physical access and from regulation, for instance around abstraction.”
The value of
making improved and widely available access to at-a-glance data such as the UK Water Resources Portal which shows flows in more than 300
UK rivers is summed up by the dilemma faced by a Bedfordshire farmer shortly
before Paul gave this interview. Having just planted a field of winter cabbage
the NFU member out of the blue received a letter from the Environment Agency
ordering him to stop irrigating because flow in the River Ouse had fallen below
a particular level. The following week’s weather was dry and all the plants
died.
Paul
explains: “Not only did that farmer lose that crop he is now concerned that his
buyer will mark him down as vulnerable to drought and will take the contract
elsewhere, the shock was that the river levels were so low so late in the
season.
“The way he
can be helped in the future will be by having more information on what the flow
is like in his river and what might happen at an earlier stage – just knowing
that a week in advance could have avoided this situation.
“We would
like to see more value added to the research programme to give users that extra
granularity in information. If they know something is going to happen, even
just one week’s warning will be helpful.
Local data on water availability
“The
challenge for us all is that water availability is so localised – but it is
also a great opportunity for people to understand that the power of some of
About Drought’s research outputs is such that it can go down to a reasonably
local level and that’s exactly where we need to get.”
Like many of
About Drought’s stakeholders, the challenge for the NFU has been in both
staying abreast of the broad range of activities, events and outputs, picking
out what is relevant to their sector and having the resource to match the
scientific and academic outputs.
ENDOWS’
mission to co-develop data into usable and accessible data visualisations and
products through feedback and workshops has been highly valued by our sector
partners but they nevertheless say that even more could be done and that they
are loathed to lose the effective community and connections that have been
built.
Paul says:
“Pre-programme, the NFU had existing good contacts with Cranfield University
and the benefit of About Drought has been a widening of that sort of access, it
has been really useful to have an improved relationship with the likes of the Centre
for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH).
“The main
benefits to being involved have been making sure that tools are being developed
to help farmers manage the risk of water scarcity and I am really interested in
what ENDOWS will do next to support the farming community in the application of
the data.
DRY captured the impacts on farmers
“Also the DRY project has enabled us to capture more of the impacts
of drought on farmers which are sometimes under-represented because not a lot
of them are statistical.
Farming
needs to take full advantage of the opportunities presented to us but farmers
are basically self-employed businesses or SMEs (small to medium enterprises)
and as such struggle to justify taking a day away from work to join events –
it’s an issue across the board in everything we do. So we were really pleased
when DRY adapted to their circumstances and set up an early evening
teleconference that was joined by 15 farmers from across the country.”
DRY’s
innovative, interdisciplinary and regional approach empowered farmers and rural
communities to tell their stories which have been recorded as conversations,
podcasts, songs and videos and are available through the DRY
Utility online searchable
database. Father and daughter Cambridgeshire dairy farmers David and Fran
Herdman featured in one of a series of drought myth-busting videos produced by the University of the
West of England talking about how their business is affected by drought.
Paul says:
“It is a really good example of the benefit of the programme to the
agricultural community.”
“About Drought has brought policy-makers, scientists and academics together and that is becoming more important because the complexities and uncertainties in the science are fundamental to making the best policy decisions, especially with climate change playing an increasing role”
Trevor Bishop, Director, Water Resources South East & MD of H2Outcomes
The person
in the driving seat of the UK’s response to the 2012 drought was Trevor Bishop,
then Deputy Director of Water Resources at the Environment Agency and Ofwat’s
Director for Strategy & Planning during the 2018 hot dry summer of peak
demand.
With a water crisis looming in 2012, he was appointed to co-ordinate the
first multi sector cross cutting National Drought Group, reporting directly to
the Government, and bringing together
companies, regulators and government departments, representatives of
agriculture and power groups and chaired by the Secretary of State for the
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Caroline Spelman.
Trevor
recalls: “In a worst-case scenario we were within 160 days of running out of
water for some parts of London, with the 2012 Olympics on the horizon, 20
million people were on water restrictions and so were several thousand
businesses for which water was critical.”
2012 drought triggered investment in
research
Many parts
of England had experienced the driest 18 months for more than 100 years and the
crisis triggered the Research Councils’ £12m investment in the UK’s Drought
& Water Scarcity Research Programme and several projects, now collectively
known as About Drought.
He says:
“About Drought is helping us to understand what the evidence is really saying
so people like me can get behind the science. The events About Drought has held
are the best I have seen at doing that.”
One of the
most complex messages to translate from academia to policy and decision-makers
is uncertainty. As a scientist by background, Trevor says: “Uncertainty is
absolutely key, confidence in evidence data and About Drought’s better and more
timely presentation of data is helping decision-makers to better manage
uncertainty.
Trusted relationships for scientists and decision-makers
“The people
making key decisions in a water crisis are generally not scientists and they
may not always understand some of the subtleties behind academic report
headlines. There are so many different layers in pure science, and
decision-makers are always at risk of mis-representing some of the science.”
The solution
is to build trusted, working relationships between policy-makers and the
scientists behind the research, Trevor believes, involving more scientists in
policy-making, working closely with universities and research organisations and
maintaining that network beyond the life of the About Drought programme.
He explains:
“Academics tend to operate in a semi-closed community but About Drought has
brought policy-makers, scientists and academics together and that is becoming
more and more important because the complexities and uncertainties in the
science are fundamental to making the best policy decisions, especially with
climate change playing an increasing role.”
Reliable data, meaningful and
effective tools
The benefits
of the relationships and community created by About Drought were felt in last
summer’s dry spell. Trevor credits the MaRIUS project, in particular, with
providing reliable data through meaningful and effective tools, such as the National Water Resources Model
(WATHNET).
He says:
“The models of drought we had were already starting to not perform as well as
they used to because we are already seeing the subtle shifts that are taking
place due to climate change, so we can’t rely on past data so much. But About
Drought helped us and it was really good last summer to see key policy-makers
and decision-makers thinking big and acting early.
“At least
once a year we should bring this community we have formed together again – the
policy-makers, the top scientists and academics – because that link needs to be
rock solid.”
Putting the
needs of stakeholders at the heart of drought research
“Climate change is decreasing water availability and this research has definitely demonstrated how that can cause significant problems in water treatment works and has given us a better understanding of different types of water resource options.”
Dr Chris Lambert, Supply Demand Senior Technical Advisor, Thames Water
From the
initial proposal for funding in 2014 to the final event on November 7, 2019,
About Drought was driven by the needs of the organisations, communities and
people who would be relying on the results of its research. Their practical
requirements, regulatory restrictions, governance and operational methods have
informed the structure, design and accessibility of the datasets and tools.
Even at the stage of drafting the funding proposal Thames Water was invited to review it by MaRIUS’ project leader Jim Hall, Professor of Climate and Environmental Risks at Oxford University.
Matching the needs of water industry,
NGOs and government
Chris Lambert, who is responsible for developing Thames Water’s Water Resource Management and Drought plans, joined the MaRIUS Stakeholder Advisory Group (SAG). The aim of drawing this expert group from industry, NGOs and government to steer the project, liaising with MaRIUS’ social and natural scientists, was to ensure its outputs, including the ‘impacts dashboard’, matched the needs of the group in an evolving policy context. This early access proved crucial to the benefits Thames Water has gained.
Chris says:
“Being on the SAG as well as being involved in the parts of the project that
were relevant to Thames Water, gave me wider visibility of the total work of
the project. I had a much better understanding of how we could use some of the
research in developing Thames Water’s water supply strategy.
“It led to
us commissioning some tailored, specific work that gave us a better insight
into the reliability of future water resource development and then we fed into
our 2019 Water Resource Management Plan.”
Algae growth impact on reservoirs and
abstraction
Of
particular interest was the work on algae growth in rivers and ‘drought
coincidence’. As a result, Thames Water commissioned its own more detailed
research on how projected algae growth could impact on extracting water from
reservoirs in conditions of water scarcity or drought, slowing its passage
through the filtering system and therefore the speed at which public demand for
water could be met.
Thames Water
also commissioned the development of a bespoke application from MaRIUS’s water
quality research data, focusing on the catchments of the Severn and Thames, and
the added likely impact of climate change on water availability.
There are
further potential impacts of the timing and positioning of water abstraction,
i.e. from the bottom of the river catchment as opposed to higher up, including
for the health of the Severn and Thames catchments. The results led to a change
in plans for the management regime of Thames Water’s reservoirs.
Climate change is decreasing water
availability
Chris says:
“If you look into future likely scenarios, climate change is decreasing water
availability and this research has definitely demonstrated how that can cause
significant problems in water treatment works and has given us a better
understanding of different types of water resource options.
“Part of my
role is to engage with academic bodies to understand the latest thinking and
communicate it internally to our senior executives and board members and to our
external stakeholders as well. Another part is ensuring we have effective
communication for public and community consultation on our Water Management
Plans for the more practical aspects of day-to-day water supply. Through my
involvement with MaRIUS and About Drought I have found the events – such as the
one-day water suppliers’ feedback workshop in Oxford – very useful in giving me
visibility of what has been done and in supporting me in getting internal
funding.
“I have been
able to follow-up with UK-based speakers who have always been very responsive
and my colleagues have also found them very helpful.
“I do think
that it would be worthwhile continuing bringing this community together, even
if it is just once a year, to keep us up to speed. The work isn’t going to stop
just because About Drought has stopped.
“It’s
important to ensure the good work that has been done to date continues and
doesn’t dry up just because the funding dries up.”
Hear what it was like to live through
the 1976 drought from the people who were there, take in the dramatic
experiences of firefighters battling wildfires in the UK and watch videos that
break down the misconceptions about water shortage and drought in the UK,
featuring people on the frontline of its impacts today.
Communications experts on the About
Drought programme have produced a series of informative and evocative videos
and podcasts which bring the research to life for all ages and audiences.
Podcasts & audio interviews reliving past droughts
Dr Rebecca Pearce has sourced a series of fascinating audio interviews with people who experienced the 1976 drought first-hand from a wide range of aspects – for instance, did you know that in 1976 firefighters tackled moorland blazes wearing plastic uniform over-trousers that were melting in the heat? These are available as podcasts and will also be published in written form.
These can be accessed via the Historic Drought Inventory which
includes a large collection of corresponding news reports and drought records
as well as the audio recordings. About Drought has presented the ‘Who’d Have Thought That…’ series on
our own channel on the SoundCloud platform.
Rebecca says: “The experiences of droughts by people in the UK can vary considerably. From being barely noticed to being so severe they create long-lasting memories that can be recalled in an instant. This is because although water is essential for life and we’d all notice if we did not have a reasonable level of access to it for drinking, cooking, and hygiene, we are fortunate to have benefited from many years of progress in water engineering, which has resulted in our generally having security of supply.”
Myth-busting videos
A real challenge to communicating the urgent need to change our
behaviour around water use – whether you are a water company, managing a
waterway or creating policy – is the inbuilt misconception in the UK that it’s
always wet and rainy, that drought is only an issue in other parts of the
world.
About Drought series of Drought Myth Busting videos debunks popular misconceptions – such as ‘Droughts Only Happen In Summer’ and ‘Britain Is Wet: Droughts Don’t Happen Here’ – through interviews on location with people on the frontline of water shortages, such as father and daughter dairy farmers David and Fran Herdman as well as About Drought experts. These are available on the About Drought YouTube channel.
About Drought science news video documentaries
About Drought’s ‘audience first’ approach extended to an
innovative ‘news documentary’ style of short films and podcasts, produced by
national broadcast journalists to capture the interest of the general public as
well as our stakeholders, particularly those tasked with drought
communications.
We engaged news journalists to film on location and carry out interviews at our About Drought Showcase in March 2018 and the MaRIUS Workshop in 2017. We asked them to take the same approach as they would to a TV news assignment, picking out the angles they found most newsworthy and selecting their own interviewees and questions.
About Drought webinars
A rich resource of presentations from across MaRIUS events,
featuring other elements of the About Drought research programme, are available
to view on the MaRIUS YouTube
channel.
Webinars covering the impact of drought on groundwater, water efficiency, historic hydrological droughts, drought forecasting, hydrological modelling of drought and low flows, a guide to outputs from the programme, community modelling, drought communications, water quality modelling in the River Trent, reconstructed flow data, and the hydrological status in the UK in August 2018, are available to view on YouTube. DRY’s research capturing communities’ own stories of water, shortages and drought, creating a story bank, developing a song from people’s experiences, storytelling for research and promoting water efficient behaviour also features in a series of videos published on YouTube.
“About Drought has informed the water industry, now we need some sort of mechanism to identify the most useful outputs from strategic to operational products. We must not let those fall through a crack now that About Drought has finished.”
Paul Crockett, Principal Officer, Environment Agency
“About
Drought has helped generate a step change in thinking around what is possible
and what can be done, and over the next 10 years or so we will be making better
decisions, using better tools because of it,” says Paul Crockett who is leading
the modelling work on the National Water Resources Planning Framework for the
Environment Agency.
Yet Paul,
who has worked closely with the MaRIUS project and About Drought (ENDOWS),
believes there is still more to be done in encouraging the water industry to
catch up with the latest outcomes of the programme’s data and tools.
Real-time decision-making support for
the water industry
About
Drought has supported the water industry in both strategic planning and
real-time decision-making during a time when it has come under pressure to
collaborate across water company boundaries on regional forward planning, as
well as approaches to dealing with issues as they arise with a greater level of
accountability.
MaRIUS and ENDOWS have held a series of workshop events specifically for the industry, working alongside key stakeholders to match its research to their needs.
With the
National Water Resources Planning Framework driving water companies to work
together to build resilience into water management with clear, joined-up
direction from Government departments, agencies and water regulators, the
industry is now more ready to be receptive, Paul feels.
He says:
“There are a lot of great products from MaRIUS and About Drought but the water
industry – the customer, if you like – is only just seeing the potential.”
Improving the industry’s
understanding of statistics
Historic Droughts’ work in reconstructing reliable rainfall, river flow and groundwater data back to 1890, as well as providing standardised drought indices has been important in putting events into context, improving the industry’s understanding of statistics, the latest methodologies and stakeholder needs. There is still more to be done in migrating data from the academic models to those the water companies use.
The water
resource model developed by MaRIUS is being adopted for use by Paul’s team, to
help the National Water Resources Planning Framework assess the potential
effects of different types of drought and climate change impacts at a national
scale, and test management strategies.
Giving the water industry better
knowledge and insights
Paul’s
concern is that with the impacts of climate change starting to be felt on the
reliability of water availability, it is the wrong time to bring About Drought
to an end. He says: “It’s so important to have About Drought following on from
the original research projects; it demonstrated what is possible, the better
knowledge and insight we can get from the information that decisions will be
based on in the future. The team really helped to educate the industry rather
than just educating other academics.
“We need to
look at the tools we can use to take it even further forward now that the
industry is starting to buy into it more.
“About
Drought has informed the water industry, now we need some sort of mechanism to
identify the most useful outputs from strategic to operational products. We
must not let those fall through a crack now that About Drought has finished.
“About
Drought is to be applauded for what it has done but it needs more time and
resources if it is to maximise the outcome for UK plc of all this research.”