Knowledge gathering workshop North Carolina

Climate projections suggest that droughts will intensify in many regions and that the magnitude of this threat is likely to increase in a warming world. Together with generally increasing water demands worldwide, an increased exposure to these climate extremes may also increase the risk of humans experiencing severe impacts from drought, especially where vulnerability is high. The goal of this research project is to better understand the links between natural (hydro-meteorological) drought and ecological and socio-economic impacts, and to aid in developing enhanced drought monitoring and early warning (M&EW) systems and other risk management strategies. Through the project, the research partners are working to assess how drought and its impacts are monitored in the United States, Europe, and Australia, and the links between drought indicators and impacts in several sectors, with a special emphasis on the public water supply sector. The goal is this will help to develop enhanced early warning systems informed by relevant drought impacts rather than physical (hydro-meteorological) drought indicators alone. For the U.S. water supply case study, the project team engaged community water suppliers and state, federal and private advisors in the Neuse and Cape Fear River basins in North Carolina. The goal of this initial “knowledge sharing” workshop, which took place on December 9, 2014 in Durham, North Carolina, was to share experiences and identify needs related to drought, its impacts, and the role of drought M&EW.

Jordan Lake Partnership Interconnections Map Source. Source: Triangle J Council of Governments (2014)

Workshop participants expressed similar needs in regards to enhancing drought monitoring, preparedness and response. General needs included:

• An increase in stream and ground water monitoring stations, local precipitation measurements, and customer water demand data collection to provide more data for drought impact assessment, identifying management triggers, modeling and general decision making
• User-friendly hydro-climatological outlooks from season to annual timescales
• Better local drought impact collection, archiving and reporting systems

• Better probabilistic models and/or scenarios (especially in terms of integrating land use, climate change, and customer water demand data) for producing enhanced hydrologic forecasts and demand projections

• Studies to better assess correlations between the range of drought products/indices (e.g., U.S. Drought Monitor, etc.) and local water supply-related indicators and impacts for their potential use in M&EW and coordination with state government in declaring drought conditions
• Studies to better assess the links between local water-related drought impacts, indicators and management triggers to ensure that impacts are being addressed appropriately in water suppliers’ Water Shortage Response Plans
• Additional activities to test the ability of water suppliers’  Water Shortage Response Plans to respond to drought quickly and effectively

• Enhanced education, communication, and collaboration before, during, and after drought to share research results and best practice information; engage a broad group of managers, customers and the media; develop consistent educational programs and drought-related messages; and ultimately reduce drought vulnerability and risk.

Federal, state, and private advisors discuss future drought and water data and information needs for a comprehensive drought monitoring system. Linwood Peele from the NC Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources helps facilitate, while Mark Svoboda from the National Drought Mitigation Center provides insight on the Drought Monitor process of incorporating indicators and impacts.