This study uses extended (1880s–2012) rainfall series to examine the implications of historical droughts on water supply yield calculations used in water resource management and drought planning across the English Midlands and Central Wales. UK guidance to water companies is to use climate data from the 1920s to present where possible in modelling to inform water resource management and drought plans; but this period excludes several significant droughts of the late 19th century. This study uses the standardised precipitation index and hydrological modelling (HYSIM and AQUATOR) to investigate the implications of pre-1920s droughts on water resource management. Although drought characterisation identifies two significant droughts in the pre-1920 period, the impact of these events on reservoir storage is less severe than droughts identified in the post-1920 period, indicating that the use of long climate series in water resource modelling is a valuable tool in assessing the robustness of current water resource modelling used in the water resource sector.
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Research Article|December 26 2015
The application of a drought reconstruction in water resource management
A. T. Lennard
A. T. Lennard
1School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZT, UK
E-mail: a.lennard@liverpool.ac.uk
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N. Macdonald
N. Macdonald
1School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZT, UK
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S. Clark
S. Clark
2Severn Trent Water Ltd, Severn Trent Centre, Coventry CV1 2LZ, UK
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J. M. Hooke
J. M. Hooke
1School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZT, UK
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Hydrology Research (2015) 47 (3): 646-659.
Article history
Received:
April 14 2015
Accepted:
November 09 2015
Citation
A. T. Lennard, N. Macdonald, S. Clark, J. M. Hooke; The application of a drought reconstruction in water resource management. Hydrology Research 1 June 2016; 47 (3): 646–659. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/nh.2015.090
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