Catchment processes during drought: a multi-disciplinary workshop
Updated 30 July 2025
© Crown copyright 2025
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-the-research-and-scientific-understanding-of-drought/catchment-processes-during-drought-a-multi-disciplinary-workshop
1. Supplement to the “Review of the research and scientific understanding of drought” report
1.1 Research at the Environment Agency
Scientific research and analysis underpins everything the Environment Agency does. It helps us to understand and manage the environment effectively. Our own experts work with leading scientific organisations, universities and other parts of the Defra group to bring the best knowledge to bear on the environmental problems that we face now and in the future. Our scientific work is published as summaries and reports, freely available to all.
This report is the result of a collaboration between the University of Bristol and the Environment Agency’s Chief Scientist’s Group.
You can find out more about our current science programmes at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/environment-agency/about/research
If you have any comments or questions about this report or the Environment Agency’s other scientific work, please contact research@environment-agency.gov.uk.
Dr Robert Bradburne, Chief Scientist
1.2 Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank all participants who attended the expert workshop (see appendix) and provided valuable input into this report. We are especially grateful to Glenn Watts and Kevin Collins for their valuable input into revising this report.
The authors acknowledge the University of Bristol for hosting the workshop. This work was supported by the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship ‘Projecting extreme droughts in rapidly changing human-water systems’ (MR/V022857/1) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC-UKRI) as part of the Floods and Droughts Research Infrastructure (FDRI) project.
1.3 Executive summary
In November 2024, the University of Bristol and the Environment Agency co-hosted a multi-disciplinary workshop focused on understanding catchment processes during drought conditions in the UK. The workshop built upon the Environment Agency’s comprehensive drought review, which consolidated existing knowledge gaps in three core areas: the physical processes driving droughts, the impacts of drought, and drought management strategies.
The workshop brought together 48 experts from universities, research institutes, government agencies, environmental consultancies, and water companies. These participants represented a broad range of disciplines, including hydrology, climate science, social science, ecology, environmental chemistry, water systems engineering, and hydrogeology, creating a truly interdisciplinary forum to address the complex nature of drought.
The 48 workshop participants.
Throughout the discussions, four primary research priorities emerged.
Firstly, participants highlighted the pressing need for high-resolution data systems that take a whole-system approach, incorporating water chemistry, evaporation, groundwater, ecology, and soil moisture measurements, with particular emphasis on vulnerable environments.
Second, there was a focus on investigating how extreme droughts impact interconnected catchment systems, to identify potential tipping points and assess the resilience of these systems to unprecedented events.
Third, the workshop highlighted the complexity of public engagement with water use, including differences in how people understand and prioritise water-related behaviours. Participants discussed the importance of developing targeted interventions to support changes in water use practices, both in normal conditions and during drought periods.
Finally, while recognising that the current water resources planning system is designed to manage drought risks proactively, participants noted that a wider range of pre-drought interventions and clearer planning could further strengthen the UK’s ability to respond to future droughts. This includes exploring nature-based solutions and designing fair, adaptive strategies that work across sectors, actors, and scales.
By bringing together this diverse group of experts, the workshop reaffirmed our understanding of drought, generated new questions, and facilitated valuable discussions. It expanded the research community of practice around drought issues, creating potential pathways for new collaborations and research initiatives. The discussions emphasised the need for integrated approaches to drought research and management as we face increasing challenges for climate change and growing water demands.
1.4 Context
A reliable water supply is often taken for granted in the UK. However, droughts can significantly impact society, agriculture, industry, and the environment across all parts of the UK. Climate change is expected to alter the frequency, severity, and duration of droughts, meaning that future droughts may not follow the patterns we’ve seen in the past. This uncertainty presents a growing concern about future water security.
In 2023, the Environment Agency conducted a review of the scientific understanding of drought, bringing together a network of experts across a range of drought-related topic areas. Each expert contributed knowledge from within their specialist field, which was subsequently discussed during a consensus workshop. These activities were synthesised in the Environment Agency’s drought review report (Environment Agency, 2023), which brought together existing research and identified key knowledge gaps related to how droughts develop, what effects they have, and how we can best manage them. The review was the Environment Agency’s most viewed research publication on GOV.UK for 3 months after publishing and remains in the top 10 as of July 2025. It has also resulted in six peer-reviewed journal articles so far (Hannaford et al., 2024; Holman and Knox, 2023; Reinsch et al., 2024; Stubbington et al., 2024; White et al., 2023; Wilby et al., 2024).
The November 2024 workshop emerged from a growing recognition among researchers and practitioners that addressing future drought challenges requires a multi-disciplinary approach. The aim was to build upon the drought review by broadening the community of experts from diverse disciplines in order to generate new ideas and collaborations with a wider audience to advance this research.
1.5 Objectives
The University of Bristol and Environment Agency designed the workshop to address four primary objectives:
- To grow and strengthen the community of drought researchers and practitioners.
- To foster new collaborations among participants.
- To identify research areas that could significantly improve drought management and resilience.
- To explore potential synergies with initiatives such as the Floods and Droughts Research Infrastructure project (FDRI).
1.6 Activities and Format
The programme of talks and discussion sessions covered the main challenges and the observations, modelling, and interventions required to tackle drought.
Participants raised and explored questions such as:
- How well do nature-based solutions increase resilience to drought events?
- What approaches might effectively increase public understanding of water beyond drought periods?
- What technology and policy innovations could reduce water demand in existing buildings?
- How can we better assess and strengthen the water sector’s ability to withstand extreme events?
Small-group discussions generated rich insights focusing on monitoring needs, behavioural changes, modelling approaches, and partnership opportunities. These collaborative sessions helped identify cross-cutting themes and priorities that would not have emerged through single-discipline approaches.
1.7 Key Findings and Next Steps
The workshop discussions revealed several important themes and research priorities for understanding and managing drought in the UK. These findings reflect the collective expertise of participants and highlight areas where further work could deliver significant benefits.
Monitoring and Data Collection
Observational data underpin our understanding of drought processes. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is investing £38M in research infrastructure through the Floods and Droughts Infrastructure (FDRI) project. This investment is an unprecedented opportunity to capture new observations and generate new understanding of droughts. The following needs and synergies were identified:
- High spatial and temporal resolution data available in near real-time.
- Whole system approach including water chemistry, evaporation, groundwater, ecology, soil moisture, and addressing gaps in environmental data collection.
- Enhanced monitoring of vulnerable environments (e.g. drying patterns in intermittent streams).
- Citizen science and local knowledge/experience in monitoring and understanding drought processes.
- Role of smart meters and remote sensing technologies in monitoring water use and supporting drought management.
- Quantifying human-water use (e.g. abstractions, reservoir, wastewater returns) within catchments and linking to pressures/demands outside of the catchment.
Understanding Drought Processes
Drought impacts cascade across sectors and systems. Current drought research and practice tends to focus on one or two sectors/systems but rarely understands the interconnections across systems. Furthermore, we do not understand the impacts on, or resilience of, catchment systems to function or recover from extreme droughts. Research priorities were identified as:
- Quantifying the impacts of extreme droughts and understanding tipping points and the resilience of catchment systems to unprecedented events.
- Addressing the complex ecological impacts of droughts and understanding ecological recovery, including long-term effects on water quality and biodiversity.
- Understanding the changing interconnectedness of water, food, and energy systems during droughts, particularly with the growth of new energy sources (e.g. hydrogen and data centres requiring water for cooling) and reliance on foods with higher water footprint.
- Understanding the dynamics of socio-ecological interactions which shape and are shaped by drought and the possible implications for vulnerable populations and ecosystems.
Water Demand and Public Engagement
Adapting to future droughts may involve a range of approaches, including changes to infrastructure, technology, and patterns of water use. While influencing consumer behaviour is one possible pathway, other strategies could involve system-level interventions that shape choices or reduce demand in different ways. Participants noted that while public understanding of drought risk is under-estimated, ‘moments of change’ (such as a drought) provide opportunities to engage the public and build support for adaptation. The following needs were identified to achieve this:
- Schemes that promote education, water literacy, and behavioural change to support long-term water conservation and enhance public appreciation of water.
- Quantifying heterogeneity in water use and tailoring interventions based on specific needs.
Drought Management and Interventions
Multiple upstream interventions could help ensure we meet a range of water needs, supporting an ongoing shift from primarily reactive responses to a more balanced approach that includes proactive measures for managing drought risks and impacts. Current research priorities were identified as:
- Effectiveness of nature-based solutions in increasing drought resilience and reducing impacts.
- Development of fair and adaptive drought solutions across sectors (i.e. water, food, energy, environment), actors (public, policymakers, businesses) and scales (locally-relevant to national-scale).
- Analysis of unintended consequences e.g. of reducing abstractions but using high energy desalinisation.
1.8 Conclusion
The November 2024 drought workshop marked a significant milestone in UK drought research by successfully bringing together experts across disciplines. Participants identified several critical insights that will shape future research directions.
The workshop revealed that drought science needs to refocus on fundamental hydrological processes, particularly the non-linearities and thresholds that emerge during extreme events. Despite efforts to isolate specific drought mechanisms, participants found these processes deeply interconnected with broader system dynamics. Current models often fail to capture these complex interdependencies, limiting our ability to predict outcomes during unprecedented conditions and suggesting the need for new analytical frameworks.
Participants noted how drought impacts are unevenly distributed across communities and environments, raising important questions about equity in management approaches and potential unintended consequences of interventions. This uneven distribution is further complicated by human modifications to water systems, which may either worsen or alleviate drought effects in ways that aren’t well understood. Workshop attendees emphasised the need for research that specifically examines these socio-ecological interactions and their implications for vulnerable populations and ecosystems.
The workshop provided an opportunity to revisit and explore in greater depth many of the key issues raised in the 2023 drought review. Discussions helped to elucidate aspects that could enhance the original review and initiated conversations on how to address current knowledge gaps, including opportunities emerging from programmes such as the Floods and Droughts Research Infrastructure project.
Most importantly, the workshop cultivated a multi-disciplinary community of practice essential for developing the collaborative knowledge needed to address increasingly severe droughts under changing climate conditions. Following the workshop, we aim to build on insights and connections formed to strengthen drought research and collaboration. As a next step, we are exploring the potential for a webinar series to maintain momentum and deepen engagement across disciplines. We also plan to host a dedicated drought event in 2026, with a stronger focus translating discussions into action. This next event will aim to co-develop practical steps and research priorities to address the knowledge gaps identified during the workshop.
1.9 References
1.10 Appendix
Table 1. List of attendees and their corresponding organisations.
| Attendee | Organisation |
|---|---|
| Andy Beverton | Environment Agency |
| Andy Tye | British Geological Survey |
| Charles Rougé | University of Sheffield |
| Chris Counsell | HR Wallingford |
| David Hannah | University of Birmingham |
| Fai Fung | Met Office/University of Bristol |
| Francesca Pianosi | University of Bristol |
| Gareth Old | UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology |
| Gemma Coxon | University of Bristol |
| Geoff Darch | Anglian Water |
| Germano Ribeiro Neto | University of Bristol |
| Glenn Watts | UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (formerly Environment Agency) |
| Graham Strickert | University of Saskatchewan |
| Hannah Perriton | Environment Agency |
| Ian Holman | Cranfield University |
| Jamie Hannaford | UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology |
| Jamie Stone | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council |
| Jessica Willows | Natural Environment Research Council |
| Jon Mackay | British Geological Survey |
| Judy England | Environment Agency |
| Kevin Collins | Open University |
| Kevin Grecksch | University of Oxford |
| Liz Cornwell | Environment Agency |
| Lorraine Whitmarsh | University of Bath |
| Luke Ridley | Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs |
| Mason Durant | HR Wallingford |
| Matthew Johnson | University of Nottingham |
| Mike Bowes | UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology |
| Nick Chappell | Lancaster University |
| Nick Hayes | Environment Agency |
| Oluseyi Onifade | UK Water Industry Reseach |
| Pete Falloon | Met Office/University of Bristol |
| Peter Bailey | Environment Agency |
| Rachel Stubbington | Nottingham Trent University |
| Ralph Ledbetter | South West Water |
| Richard Amos | Dwr Cymru Welsh Water |
| Richard Davis | Environment Agency |
| Romain Sarremejane | Nottingham Trent University |
| Sarah Keynes | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sarah Webb | Natural Environment Research Council |
| Sean Longfield | Environment Agency |
| Simon Roe | Environment Agency |
| Stuart Allen | Environment Agency |
| Tom Beskeen | Mott MacDonald |
| Tom Nisbet | Forest Research |
| Wilson Chan | UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology |
| Wouter Buytaert | Imperial College London |
1.11 Publication details
- Authors: Julia Docherty, Gemma Coxon, Stuart Allen
- Research partners: Environment Agency, University of Bristol, The Floods and Droughts Research Infrastructure Project
- Project Manager: Stuart Allen, Chief Scientist’s Group, Environment Agency
- Project number: SC220047/supplement