Climate change risks to water quality

Reservoirs play a crucial role in ensuring a reliable and sustainable water supply. However, they are susceptible to algal blooms, which makes water treatment difficult, degrades aquatic life and impends recrational activities. The risk of algal blooms in reservoirs has increased due to climate change, leading to more severe and frequent summer heatwaves and droughts. This heightened risk can limit access to water during periods of high demand, creating substantial yet unquantified challenges for reservoir water quality and drought-resilience planning in the UK. This PhD project aims to fill this knowledge gap by quantifying the impact of climate change on reservoir water quality, considering uncertainties in future water demands. Furthermore, it seeks to propose strategies to mitigate this risk, providing valuable insights for water planning and billion-pound investment decisions, ultimately enhancing the long-term resilience to drought.

The project seeks to achieve these objectives by coupling two cutting-edge numerical models to simulate water quality in tandem with water quantity. The simulations will be performed under a variety of future scenarios that combine the uncertainties in climate, water demand and nutrient discharge.