Climate predictions indicate that as the concentrations of greenhouse gases increase in the atmosphere, in general, winters in the UK will get wetter and summers will get hotter and extreme events are likely to become more common. This will have a direct impact on the recharge to our groundwater resources as well as indirect impacts on the resource due to factors such as changing demand and land use. What does this mean for the water supplies that our groundwater resources provide and the ecosystems that they support, and how prepared are we if there is a greater frequency or intensity of droughts and floods? This meeting presented the results of latest research into the impacts of climate change on our groundwater resources, the lessons learnt from recent extreme events, the Government’s policies for adaptation and risk management and the long-term water resource plans of the environment regulators and the water industry.

The remaining presentations from the meeting will be posted here shortly.

Seminar programme

Morning Session: impacts of climate change

Afternoon Session: coping with climate change