Drought is normal: the socio-technical evolution of drought and water demand in England and Wales, 1893–2006

Taylor, Vanessa; Chappells, Heather; Medd, Will; Trentmann, Frank

doi:10.1016/j.jhg.2008.09.004

Cited by 43 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…However, this is not a trivial task since most reported droughts are described in terms of their impacts, using a particular type or class of drought index, which is representative of only a certain hydrological domain that may or may not be an appropriate comparator. A number of previous studies have documented major drought episodes in the UK including studies of hydrological impacts (Cole and Marsh, 2006;Marsh et al, 2007;Lloyd-Hughes et al, 2010) and societal impacts (Taylor et al, 2009). Of these, Marsh et al (2007) is the most pertinent with respect to the present study in that Marsh et al (2007) identified major drought episodes on the basis of inspection of long river flow, groundwater level, and ranked rainfall deficiency time series and explicitly identified those episodes with a significant groundwater component.…”

Section: Groundwater Droughts As Defined By Sgimentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of groundwater drought building on the standardised precipitation index approach

Bloomfield

Marchant

2013

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

354

328

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Abstract.A new index for standardising groundwater level time series and characterising groundwater droughts, the Standardised Groundwater level Index (SGI), is described. The SGI builds on the Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI) to account for differences in the form and characteristics of groundwater level and precipitation time series. The SGI is estimated using a non-parametric normal scores transform of groundwater level data for each calendar month. These monthly estimates are then merged to form a continuous index. The SGI has been calculated for 14 relatively long, up to 103 yr, groundwater level hydrographs from a variety of aquifers and compared with SPI for the same sites. The relationship between SGI and SPI is site specific and the SPI accumulation period which leads to the strongest correlation between SGI and SPI, q max , varies between sites. However, there is a consistent positive linear correlation between a measure of the range of significant autocorrelation in the SGI series, m max , and q max across all sites. Given this correlation between SGI m max and SPI q max , and given that periods of low values of SGI can be shown to coincide with previously independently documented droughts, SGI is taken to be a robust and meaningful index of groundwater drought. The maximum length of groundwater droughts defined by SGI is an increasing function of m max , meaning that relatively long groundwater droughts are generally more prevalent at sites where SGI has a relatively long autocorrelation range. Based on correlations between m max , average unsaturated zone thickness and aquifer hydraulic diffusivity, the source of autocorrelation in SGI is inferred to be dependent on dominant aquifer flow and storage characteristics. For fractured aquifers, such as the Cretaceous Chalk, autocorrelation in SGI is inferred to be primarily related to autocorrelation in the recharge time series, while in granular aquifers, such as the Permo-Triassic sandstones, autocorrelation in SGI is inferred to be primarily a function of intrinsic saturated flow and storage properties of aquifer. These results highlight the need to take into account the hydrogeological context of groundwater monitoring sites when designing and interpreting data from groundwater drought monitoring networks.

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Section: Groundwater Droughts As Defined By Sgimentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of groundwater drought building on the standardised precipitation index approach

Bloomfield

Marchant

2013

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

354

328

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“…Provoked by early contributions from Elizabeth Shove (2003) on the sociology of consumption, the use of a sociotechnical perspective as a nexus of understanding about the relationships between people and water has driven keen interest in how other academic disciplines (e.g. history and anthropology) can help us characterise and interpret public responses to contemporary water management challenges (Sofoulis, 2005;Taylor et al, 2009). Informed by these insights, our study goes beyond enumerating and describing preferences to engage with the underpinning reasons for favouring intervention options.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public views on drought mitigation: Evidence from the comments sections of on-line news sources

Russell-Verma

Smith

Jeffrey

2015

Urban Water Journal

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During the spring of 2012 much of the south-east of England was under water use restrictions, as a result of two consecutive dry winters. The drought highlighted the region's vulnerability to this natural hazard and emphasized the issues associated with water shortages and the need for drought mitigation measures. Using qualitative content analysis of online news articles (n ¼ 14) and their associated comments from readers (n ¼ 1298) we explore both public preferences for drought mitigation options and the underpinning reasoning used to justify such preferences. Findings suggest that supply side interventions attract more intense commentary and divide opinion to a greater extent than demand side strategies and that dialogue around mitigation options is characterised by a pronounced concern for the relative social justice of choices. The study also generates important lessons about the structured use of on-line public opinion sources and we offer conclusions about how these might best be utilised in the future.

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“…In an attempt to start to more systematically address these unknowns, this article extends previous work on alternative conceptualizations of demand management in the UK that attempted to reveal the assumptions about demand in existing systems of water practice and provision (Chappells et al 2011;Chappells 2007, 2008;Medd and Shove 2006;Taylor et al 2008). It achieves this by moving away from the focus on water resources and individual behavior, and focusing attention on factors which, despite prominence in research on water resources planning and demand intervention, fail to account for the gap between people's attitudes and their behaviors.…”

mentioning

confidence: 88%

Developing Novel Approaches to Tracking Domestic Water Demand Under Uncertainty—A Reflection on the “Up Scaling” of Social Science Approaches in the United Kingdom

Browne

Medd

Anderson

2012

Water Resour Manage

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Climate change, socio-demographic change and changing patterns of ordinary consumption are creating new and unpredictable pressures on urban water resources in the UK. While demand management is currently offered as a first option for managing supply/ demand deficit, the uncertainties around demand and its' potential trajectories are problematic for water resources research, planning and policy. In this article we review the ways in which particular branches of social science come together to offer a model of 'distributed demand' that helps explain these current and future uncertainties. We also identify potential strategies for tracking where the drivers of change for demand may lie. Rather than suggest an alternative 'demand forecasting' technique, we propose methodological approaches that 'stretch out' and 'scale up' proxy measures of demand to inform water resources planning and policy. These proxy measurements could act as 'indictors of change' to water demand at a population level that could then be used to inform research and policy strategies. We conclude by arguing for the need to recognise the co-production of demand futures and supply trajectories.

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Drought is normal: the socio-technical evolution of drought and water demand in England and Wales, 1893–2006

Cited by 43 publications

References 6 publications

Analysis of groundwater drought building on the standardised precipitation index approach

Analysis of groundwater drought building on the standardised precipitation index approach

Public views on drought mitigation: Evidence from the comments sections of on-line news sources

Developing Novel Approaches to Tracking Domestic Water Demand Under Uncertainty—A Reflection on the “Up Scaling” of Social Science Approaches in the United Kingdom

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