A risk-based approach to planning and managing water resources in a changing climate. Understanding the linkages of water resources to energy systems
Overview
OPSIS analyses water resource systems to estimate risks to water supplies and devise robust strategies for adapting to climate change. The team have pioneered risk-based approaches to defining and managing water security with a particular focus upon the effects of hydrological variability, spatial dependence and non-stationarity.
This climatological and hydrological understanding is integrated with simulation models of reservoirs, transfers and water use. OPSIS develops optimisation methods to navigate trade-offs between competing goals for water resource systems and models the economic impacts of droughts and water scarcity. The team have developed the only large-scale water resources simulation model of all of England and Wales, which is now used by the Environment Agency and Ofwat to appraise strategic water resources options.
OPSIS expertise extends from the Thames river basin to water security hotspots worldwide, especially the Eastern Nile basin.
