Tag: floods

Counting on … day 207

18th December 2025

How do we see the impact of exceeding the planetary boundaries for fresh water?

“Climate change has become the main global driver of freshwater disruption. A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture and changes how and where rain falls, leading to more intense floods in some regions and severe droughts in others. These shifts are transforming long-established rainfall and river patterns, creating new and unpredictable hydrological conditions that put pressure on both ecosystems and human societies.” (1)

A disruption in rainfall patterns can mean either more or less rain than usual, or more rainfall but less often so that rainfall is more intense. This can lead to the drying out of wetlands, the lowering of lake and river levels and the disruption of the ecosystems those water features supported. In the Amazon basin we are seeing river levels drop significantly impacting local communities and their livelihoods and destabilisation of the rainforest such that trees, plants and creatures are lost.

Disruption means loss of soil moisture. Not only does this impact plant growth and thus a whole food chains, it also makes landscapes more vulnerable to droughts and wildfires. The UK saw a record number of wildfires this year.

Excessive amounts of rainfall over a prolonged period, or concentrated into a short time frame, causes extreme flooding that disrupts habitats, destroys infrastructure, displaces people, erodes soils and causes devastating landslides. We have seen many examples of this in the recent Asian super typhoons. 

Disruption to normal rainfall patterns leads to water scarcity. A lack of rain depletes water supplies, whilst infrequent intense rainfall runs quickly of the land, again failing to restore water stocks in reservoirs and rivers. Warmer winters diminishes the replenishment of glaciers, and increase the rate at which they melt. Together this reduces the flow of water into rivers during summer periods aggravating water scarcity.  Both in Iran and in South Africa, whole communities are face a complete lack of drinking water as droughts combine with atypical rainfall patterns. 

  1. https://www.planetaryhealthcheck.org/boundary/freshwater-change/

Counting on … day 106

10th July 2025

Using waste water. Is rain water from the roof waste water or a valuable resource? Collected in a rainwater butt it is ideal for watering plants. Rainwater butts are also useful in terms of preventing flood because the flow of storm water is delayed before it enters the drainage system and therefore helps the system cope with peaks.

Mains water coming into our homes is drinking water quality. We don’t need that same quality of water with which to flush toilets. ‘Grey water’ – ie water that has been used to wash hands or shower,  launder clothes, etc – is perfectly adequate for flushing toilets. Grey water is waste water that can be reused. We have a small bowl under the taps in the wash basins to collect hand wash water and a jug to empty it into. This jug of grey water is used for flushing the toilet (unless a bigger flush is needed). We also collect water in a larger bowl from the shower when waiting for the hot water. 

A jug by the kitchen sink collects water from cleaning or boiling vegetables, rinsing plates etc and goes to water the garden.

Households are asked to keep a 2-3 day supply of drinking water on hand in case of emergencies. Not wanting to stock up on bottled water – which will in time have to be replaced – I keep two demijohn jars full of drinking water. I empty one (into the pond) and refill it each day so that that our emergency stock of water is constantly fresh without wasting the water.

Counting on … day 67

15th March 2024

The UK government runs a National Adaptation Programme which assesses the risks arising from climate change and how best we can adapt to reduce of cope with these risks – as well as building on any opportunities where we can gain from change. These plans are reviewed and every five years a new National Adaptation Programme is produced. NAP3 covers the period from 2023 to 2028. It includes items such as:

  • “protecting the natural environment
  • supporting business in adapting to climate change
  • adapting infrastructure (for example, our electricity networks and railways)
  • protecting buildings and their surroundings (for example, from hotter temperatures)
  • protecting public health and communities
  • mitigating international impacts on the UK (for example, on food supplies imported from abroad)”

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/third-national-adaptation-programme-nap3/understanding-climate-adaptation-and-the-third-national-adaptation-programme-nap3

But are the plans sufficiently stringent? 

“Julia King, chair of the adaptation subcommittee of the CCC, said: “The evidence of the damage from climate change has never been clearer, but the UK’s current approach to adaptation is not working. The national adaptation plan published last July, known as Nap3, was the third in a series of five-yearly updates in response to an assessment of climate risks, required under the 2008 Climate Change Act, from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

“But the CCC found that although it was an improvement on previous efforts, the new plan was still inadequate and required improvement before the next scheduled update in 2028.

“King said: “Defra needs to deliver an immediate strengthening of the government’s programme, with an overhaul of its integration with other government priorities such as net zero and nature restoration. We cannot wait another five years for only incremental improvement.”” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/13/uk-climate-crisis-plans-fall-far-short-of-what-is-required-ccc-says?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

For further reading – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66148239