Building Public Health Resilience to Fluvial Flooding in Scotland
Climate change is increasing our exposure to fluvial flooding in Scotland. Physical and mental health are negatively impacted by flooding, with the greatest health impacts in the UK and Scotland on mental health. This CREW Policy Brief reviews the literature on the public health impacts of fluvial flooding, including physical and mental health impacts, and identifies factors that influence health resilience to flooding.
Key Scottish flood-related and public health policies were analysed to identify knowledge gaps and mechanisms to incorporate public health resilience to fluvial flooding in Scotland. To build health resilience in Scotland the reseach team recommend that further research is undertaken to understand health impacts on vulnerable groups (knowing who, where and when) and to implement this knowledge into localised flood emergency management, as a public health priority.
CREW Science Policy Fellowships
This project is part of CREW's Science Policy Fellowship workstream which intends to support evidence-based decisions by providing the opportunity for Scotland’s research community to advocate for critical science that addresses upcoming water-related policy, regulatory and/or industry needs. You can read more about CREW Science Policy Fellowships here.
CREW commissioned three Science Policy Fellowships which are aligned to, and support, the development of Scotland’s first Flood Resilience Strategy. Read more about the two other projects here:
Policy to Preparedness: Flood Policy and Community Engagement
Resilience to Fluvial Flooding: Knowns and Unknowns to Recommendations to Management
You can read more about other engagement activity, led by Sniffer working closely with Scottish Flood Forum and ClimatexChange, to support the development of Scotland's first Flood Resileince Strategy here.
Project Outputs
Methodologies for sampling fish populations in Scottish freshwater lochs
An understanding of the fish species present and their abundance in Scottish lochs is required for management and conservation purposes, and also to fulfil regulatory requirements. Furthermore, the recent increase in pumped storage hydro-electric development proposals involving large freshwater lochs has the potential to create additional pressures on fish populations. In order to address this, it is important that fish populations are properly assessed during environmental impact assessments and scoping. While a variety of established methods for fish monitoring exist, there is no ’one size fits all’ method, therefore careful consideration is needed in order to determine the best approaches to monitoring. It is therefore important that we have an understanding of the ecological data requirements, and how best to attain these across space and time in order to ensure that fish populations in Scottish freshwater lochs are adequately protected.
The aim of this project was to assess the currently available methodologies for sampling fish populations in Scottish freshwater lochs. Acknowledging the complexity and longstanding challenges with fish monitoring in standing freshwaters, the main objective here was to produce guidelines which support the development of suitable fish assessment programmes.
Project Outputs
Policy to Preparedness: Flood Policy and Community Engagement
The findings of the report show that recent flood-related policies are beneficially interconnected at regional, Scottish and UK levels. The egalitarian approach evident within them is supportive of climate and social justice. However, while egalitarian policy approaches are the ideal when pursuing climate and social justice, such policies face a complex test when they are implemented amongst existing inequalities in society. The research team found distribution of physical flood risk is not fair nor equal, nor are the social circumstances of many who live on low incomes with limited resources. Recognition of the diversity of circumstances, viewpoints and vunerabilities in Scotland is essential to build place-based sustainable community flood resilience.
CREW Science Policy Fellowships
This project is part of CREW's Science Policy Fellowship workstream which intends to support evidence-based decisions by providing the opportunity for Scotland’s research community to advocate for critical science that addresses upcoming water-related policy, regulatory and/or industry needs. You can read more about CREW Science Policy Fellowships here.
CREW commissioned three Science Policy Fellowships which are aligned to, and support, the development of Scotland’s first Flood Resilience Strategy. Read more about the two other projects here:
Building Public Health Resilience to Fluvial Flooding in Scotland
Resilience to Fluvial Flooding: Knowns and Unknowns to Recommendations to Management
You can read more about other engagement activity, led by Sniffer working closely with Scottish Flood Forum and ClimatexChange, to support the development of Scotland's first Flood Resileince Strategy here.
Project Outputs
CD2024_01 Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water supplies: A review of source, pathway, and fate for selected compounds
CREW Code: CD2024_01
Type of project: Call Down
Overview: This c.3-month Call Down project aims to review available information regarding potential sources, fate, transport and additional areas of risk for PFAS compounds. This is to support understanding of which compounds not currently named in the recast Drinking Water Directive regulations may be in Scottish drinking water sources. It builds on the findings and recommendations of CRW2022_01 Developing risk assessment approaches for PFAS and watch list parameters under the recast Drinking Water Directive.
Project Status: In progress.
Project Objectives
News
CRW2023_15 Review of monitoring approaches to deliver healthy ecosystems for Scotland’s protected fresh waters and wetlands
CREW Code: CRW2023_15
Type of project: Capacity Building
Overview: NatureScot is reforming the current approach to Site Condition Monitoring for protected areas to support the delivery of healthy ecosystems. This new approach will better inform practical conservation by transitioning to site-based assessments, prioritise indicators that inform management, and incorporate the wider landscape thus allowing NatureScot to identify and address pressures at appropriate scales.
Aim: The overall aim of this project is to review and make recommendations on what metrics to measure to support the effective delivery of ecosystem health for Scotland’s protected fresh waters and wetlands. This project builds on the findings and recommendations of a previous CREW study: CRW2019_03 Moderating extremes in water availability – a review of the role of functioning wetlands which provided a compilation of existing knowledge regarding wetland functions.
Project Status: Calls for proposals now closed
Project Objectives
Future Predictions of Water Scarcity in Scotland: Impacts to Distilleries and Agricultural Abstractors
Scotland’s climate is changing, and we expect to see further changes in seasonal precipitation patterns that may increase the frequency and severity of water scarcity conditions, including droughts. Drought is a prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall, leading to water scarcity and environmental stress (formally defined in Scotland as when river water levels are less than 5% of their normal flows, for more than 30 days). Overall, droughts are predicted to increase particularly in the eastern parts of Scotland. These changes are likely to affect water users in these regions, particularly agriculture (livestock, arable and horticulture) and the distilling sector.
The aim of this project was to provide summaries of the future predictions of water scarcity in Scotland and the impacts this may have, tailored to three groups of abstractors: crop producers, livestock producers and distilleries. The project summarised evidence on changes to the availability of surface waters and groundwaters for abstraction; as well as changes to climatic water balance for rainfed farming systems. This evidence was then put in the context of how the water resources are being used by the three groups and how future water scarcity may impact the sector.
The evidence review highlighted that there is likely to be overall deficit in climate-water balance during the summer months in eastern Scotland, with some uncertainty about how the shoulder months of April and September will be affected; that the number and duration of surface water drought events are likely to double by the middle of the century; and that there are questions about the resilience of groundwater supplies, particularly in areas with low storage and decreasing potential recharge. Overall, our farmers and distillers focus group participants were aware of water scarcity as a business risk. The irrigated crop sector and the distillery sector have invested in technological solutions, such as efficient irrigation systems, offline irrigation lagoons and thermal vapour compressing, whereas the rainfed farming systems identified fewer adaptation options. Several barriers to wider uptake of adaptation options were identified. Recommendations are provided, including the need for increased data on actual water used by abstractors, alongside expanding the monitoring and analysis of groundwater resources, to improve our understanding of the different dimensions of water scarcity; and ways to overcome barriers to uptake of the available adaptation responses.
Previous Project Page
Project Outputs
CRW2023_05 Future Predictions of Water Scarcity - Main Report and Appendices- CRW2023_05 Future Predictions of Water Scarcity - Policy Brief
- CRW2023_05 Future Predictions of Water Scarcity - Project Summary
- CRW2023_05 Arable Infographic
- CRW2023_05 Horticultural Infographic
- CRW2023_05 Intensive Livestock Infographic
- CRW2023_05 Extensive Livestock Infographic
- CRW2023_05 Distillery Infographic
Climate Crisis: informing Scotland’s actionable mitigation and adaptation response to water scarcity
Scotland’s climate is changing at a rate unprecedented in human history. We are becoming exposed to climate related risks, such as water scarcity, that were not considered significant in the past and have not been planned for. The first phase in addressing this shift in risk has been to develop early warning and emergency measures to mitigate the impacts of exceptional events such as the 2018 European drought and its impact in Scotland. However, as we better understand the projected increasing severity and frequency of dry periods and our potential future demands on water supply, an adaptation gap has become evident that risks the security of what has, up until now, been seen as a dependable, high-quality water supply.
In this project the research team review past, present and future changes in water scarcity risk in Scotland. Through engagement with a broad spectrum of stakeholders in the water sector and government agencies the research team asked the questions: 1) What is currently being done to reduce the likelihood and severity of water scarcity? 2) How effective are these strategies now and will they still work under a changing climate future? 3) What additional actions do we need to take to address water scarcity in the future?
In answering these questions, the research team highlight the current challenges in addressing the water scarcity risk and provide recommendations on how to address them. These recommendations are presented as programme of work over the short and long term. To take it forward, the research team propose a governance structure formed of representatives from the relevant agencies and in partnership with businesses and communities. The programme is a prioritised set of recommended actions that would contribute to the delivery of a system of national water resource planning, supported by improved levels of water stewardship from across society. The planning will be informed by better access to water supply and demand information and a programme of research that addresses the evidence gaps and improves knowledge exchange across the water sector.
Previous project page
This project is one of a cluster of CREW water scarcity projects in 2023-2024. For more information please see their project pages:
- CRW2022_05 Understanding the relationship between water scarcity and land use in private water supply catchments - a review
- CRW2023_05 Future predictions of water scarcity in Scotland: impacts to distilleries and agricultural abstractors
Project Outputs
CRW2022_07 Mitigation and adaption response to water scarcity - Project Story Map
Mitigating climate change impacts on the water quality of Scottish standing waters
There is a policy focus at national and international levels on mitigating climate change impacts by reducing carbon emissions and increasing carbon sequestration. However, even if we can slow climate change down, we cannot prevent or reverse it. So, alternative approaches must be used to lessen its effects. These include adaptive interventions that increase the resilience, and reduce the vulnerability, of people and nature to weather extremes and other climate change impacts.
Scottish standing waters are already warming at an alarming rate and are projected to continue warming into the future. This is likely to cause more frequent and/or more intense algal blooms unless measures to reduce their growth are put in place. Since we cannot cool our water bodies, and increasing their flushing rates is unlikely to be a widely applicable solution, this study explored other options for reducing the likelihood of algal blooms worsening under climate change. The main aim of this study was to inform fit for purpose strategies for mitigating the effects of climate change on Scottish standing waters.
Previous project page
Project Outputs
Developing risk assessment approaches for PFAS and watch list parameters under the recast Drinking Water Directive
The research project conducted assessments of the potential presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), 17β-estradiol, and nonylphenol for drinking water supply sources in Scotland, to identify high risk areas and enable prioritisation of monitoring and additional knowledge generation.
PFAS, a class of synthetic chemicals produced since the 1940s, are persistent, toxic and bioaccumulative and have been linked to detrimental impacts on childhood development, cancers, and immune system disorders. Nonylphenol and 17β-estradiol are endocrine-disrupting chemicals connected to cancer, reduced fertility and obesity. Due to increasing awareness of the potential occurrence of these substances in the environment, a new standard for PFAS was introduced for Scottish drinking water in January 2023, and Scottish Water commenced a nationwide risk based sampling programme at that time. 17β-estradiol and nonylphenol were added to an EU drinking water watchlist, so Scottish Water will need to monitor for their presence in their supplies when the watch list is adopted in Scotland.
The research project estimated which supplies had the highest potential likelihood of detecting the substances in the raw (pre-treated) water. The assessments identified higher likelihood of PFAS and nonylphenol presence in those areas with higher population and industry densities (predominantly the central belt and east of Scotland), whereas areas with the highest likelihood of 17β-estradiol presence were those under more intensive agricultural use (predominantly the northeast and south of Scotland). Having identified these areas now allows further refinement of monitoring programmes to aid our understanding of the potential presence of the substances, their sources and possible treatment requirements. This in turn will inform best strategies and actions to reduce concentrations of the contaminants if necessary, not only in drinking water, but also in the environment.
NB - Figure 3.4 was updated on 18/03/2024.
Outputs
CRW2023_10 Review of psychoactive substances wastewater monitoring approaches and recommendations for the feasibility of applying different approaches in Scotland.
WATER QUALITY AND HEALTH
CREW Code: CRW2023_10
Type of project: Capacity Building
Overview: The overall aim of this project is to establish the feasibility and benefits of using the current Scottish Water influent monitoring infrastructure to also monitor psychoactive substances and their metabolites in Scotland and, particularly, how it would benefit existing early warning reporting systems and other intelligence gathering (such as, but not restricted to, RADAR).
Project Status: Call for proposals closed.
Project Objectives
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