Resilience of water sesource systems: lessons from England

We explore the triumvirate of resilience – ‘persistence’, ‘adaptability’ and ‘transformability’ – in the context of England’s water supply infrastructure system. Risk-based decision-making and simulation models are increasingly being used to guide water resource management in England. We argue that...

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Main Authors: Hall, J, Borgomeo, E, Bruce, A, Di Mauro, M, Mortazavi-Naeini, M
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2019
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author Hall, J
Borgomeo, E
Bruce, A
Di Mauro, M
Mortazavi-Naeini, M
author_facet Hall, J
Borgomeo, E
Bruce, A
Di Mauro, M
Mortazavi-Naeini, M
author_sort Hall, J
collection OXFORD
description We explore the triumvirate of resilience – ‘persistence’, ‘adaptability’ and ‘transformability’ – in the context of England’s water supply infrastructure system. Risk-based decision-making and simulation models are increasingly being used to guide water resource management in England. We argue that these approaches and tools are sufficient to analyse persistence and adaptability, provided they incorporate systems’ coping and recovery during and after extreme events, along with a broad framing of human, economic and environmental impacts. On the other hand, we find that transformability is not readily incorporated into risk-based decision-making and related simulation tools, as it relies, amongst other things, on the capacity of institutions to identify and implement change. In England, risk-based concepts and simulation tools provide evidence with which to quantify water supply system persistence during shocks and adaptability on a range of timescales. An historical analysis reveals the adaptability of England’s water supply system in response to changing economic needs for water and societal expectations for water security, as well as external drivers including conservation of the aquatic environment and the politics of privatisation of water utilities. The frequency and impact of harmful drought events suggests a low degree of persistence. We find a potential for transformability through more strategic, national-scale assessment and planning, and setting up resilience targets that are consistent across the country. However, we also show that the system has not initiated such (potentially) transformational changes until very recently.
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spelling oxford-uuid:89b89ce0-0947-4444-918b-5098b462fe302022-03-26T22:26:38ZResilience of water sesource systems: lessons from EnglandJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:89b89ce0-0947-4444-918b-5098b462fe30EnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordElsevier2019Hall, JBorgomeo, EBruce, ADi Mauro, MMortazavi-Naeini, MWe explore the triumvirate of resilience – ‘persistence’, ‘adaptability’ and ‘transformability’ – in the context of England’s water supply infrastructure system. Risk-based decision-making and simulation models are increasingly being used to guide water resource management in England. We argue that these approaches and tools are sufficient to analyse persistence and adaptability, provided they incorporate systems’ coping and recovery during and after extreme events, along with a broad framing of human, economic and environmental impacts. On the other hand, we find that transformability is not readily incorporated into risk-based decision-making and related simulation tools, as it relies, amongst other things, on the capacity of institutions to identify and implement change. In England, risk-based concepts and simulation tools provide evidence with which to quantify water supply system persistence during shocks and adaptability on a range of timescales. An historical analysis reveals the adaptability of England’s water supply system in response to changing economic needs for water and societal expectations for water security, as well as external drivers including conservation of the aquatic environment and the politics of privatisation of water utilities. The frequency and impact of harmful drought events suggests a low degree of persistence. We find a potential for transformability through more strategic, national-scale assessment and planning, and setting up resilience targets that are consistent across the country. However, we also show that the system has not initiated such (potentially) transformational changes until very recently.
spellingShingle Hall, J
Borgomeo, E
Bruce, A
Di Mauro, M
Mortazavi-Naeini, M
Resilience of water sesource systems: lessons from England
title Resilience of water sesource systems: lessons from England
title_full Resilience of water sesource systems: lessons from England
title_fullStr Resilience of water sesource systems: lessons from England
title_full_unstemmed Resilience of water sesource systems: lessons from England
title_short Resilience of water sesource systems: lessons from England
title_sort resilience of water sesource systems lessons from england
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