Water Security News & Events

World Water Day 2013

Friday March 22nd 2pm to 4pm

United Nations International Year of Water Cooperation

To mark the World Water Day during the United Nations International Year of Water Cooperation, the London Water Seminar Series involving ICL, KCL, SOAS & UCL is hosting an open seminar discussion on the potential for increased cooperation, and on the challenges facing water management in light of the increase in demand for water access, allocation and services.

Improving water cooperation in a changing environment Seminar Discussion chaired by Dr. Richard Taylor (UCL) featuring short presentations by:

Dr. Naho Mirumachi (KCL)

How and when cooperation matters: Examples from international transboundary river basins

&

Professor Philippe Cullet (SOAS)

Cooperation as a condition of the realisation of the human right to water – The case of groundwater in India

Room G07, Pearson Building, University College London, Gower Street WC1E 6BT.

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NEWS ITEMSWater in a warming world A compilation of recent articles in Nature Climate Change and Nature Geoscience entitled Water in a warming world features a review article, Groundwater and Climate Change, prepared by an international team fo scientists led by Richard Taylor in UCL Geography. Climate change is expected to affect water resources, with implications for both natural ecosystems and human food security.

The collection of articles highlights many of the key issues in this important area of climate change research. The article led by Taylor focuses on groundwater which is the largest source of distributed freshwater on Earth. Their review assesses climate impacts on groundwater as well as groundwater–climate feedbacks . Based on their analysis, they identify the need for systematic groundwater observations, and emphasize both the importance of managing groundwater sustainably and its strategic significance for climate adaptation.

Richard co-chairs the International Association of Hydrogeologists' Commission of Groundwater and Climate Change. Discussion of groundwater-climate feedbacks refers to a second article led by Taylor and published this month showing how very heavy rainfalls, expected to become more common in the future, have beneficial effects on groundwater resources in Tanzania.

weblinks:

Water in warming world

Groundwater and Climate Change (review article)

Groundwater–climate feedbacks

Richard Taylor

IAH Commission on Groundwater and Climate Change


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NERC Consortium Grant, Probability, Uncertainty and Risk in the Environment (PURE) to Chandler (Statistical Sciences)

DFID Strategic Research Contract, Groundwater resources in the Indo-Gangetic Basin: resilience to climate change and pumping to Taylor (Geography) and Burgess (Earth Sciences)

Some Recent Publications

McArthur J.M., Sikdar P.K., Hoque M.A., and Ghosal U., (2012) Waste-water impacts on groundwater: Cl/Br ratios and implications for arsenic pollution of groundwater in the Bengal Basin and Red River Basin, Vietnam. Science of the Total Environment, Vol. 437, 390-402.

Kenabatho, P.K., N.R. McIntyre, R.E. Chandler and H.S. Wheater (2012). Stochastic simulation of rainfall in the semi-arid Limpopo basin, Botswana. International Journal of Climatology, Vol. 32(7), 1113-1127.

Shamsudduha, M., Taylor, R.G., and Longuevergne, L. (2012) Monitoring groundwater storage changes in the Bengal Basin: validation of GRACE measurements. Water Resources Research, Vol. 48, W02508.

Medellin-Azuara J., Howitt R.E., Harou J.J. (2012) Predicting farmer responses to water pricing, rationing and subsidies assuming profit maximizing investment in irrigation technology. Agricultural Water Management, Vol. 108, 73 - 82.

Thompson, J.R. (2012) Modelling the impacts of climate change on upland catchments in southwest Scotland using MIKE SHE and the UKCP09 probabilistic projections. Hydrology Research, Vol. 43, 507–530.

Recent Grant Awards