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Evaluating the effects of climate change on the water resources for the city of B irmingham, UK
Author(s) -
Warren Andrew J.,
Holman Ian P.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
water and environment journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1747-6593
pISSN - 1747-6585
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-6593.2011.00296.x
Subject(s) - climate change , environmental science , precipitation , baseline (sea) , water resources , water balance , water supply , resource (disambiguation) , seasonality , hydrology (agriculture) , water resource management , geography , environmental engineering , meteorology , ecology , engineering , computer network , oceanography , geotechnical engineering , geology , computer science , biology
Climate change is expected to affect precipitation patterns and may therefore impact upon water resource availability. The city of B irmingham in central E ngland receives its public water supply from a catchment in the E lan V alley, mid‐Wales. Baseline and future climate projections generated from a stochastic weather generator within the U nited K ingdom C limate P rojections 2009 and a daily soil water balance model ( WaSim ) were used to determine the potential impacts of climate change on hydrologically effective rainfall ( HER ). Annual HER is likely to decrease from baseline conditions (> 90% likelihood that HER will be reduced), with more frequent and persistent very dry spells and increasing seasonality. It is concluded that climate change will put additional stress on water resources for the city of B irmingham so that, coupled with expected increases in demand, adaptation measures to increase supply and/or reduce demand are likely to be needed.