UK-SCAPE WP2.2: Water Futures. Stakeholder questionnaire results

Kay, Alison L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5526-1756; Spencer, Marcia; Bell, Victoria A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0792-5650. 2022 UK-SCAPE WP2.2: Water Futures. Stakeholder questionnaire results. Wallingford, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, 14pp. (Unpublished)

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Abstract/Summary

The overall aim of UK-SCAPE WP2.2: Water Futures is to deliver data and analyses showing how future climate change could influence water quantity and quality. We have a reasonable understanding of what stakeholders need from this work, from past experience working with various stakeholders and from previous workshops. However, it was decided to carry out an online survey, to get responses from as broad a range of existing and potential stakeholders as possible on a wide range of questions related to WP2.2. A set of twelve questions was compiled, divided into three broad classes: general questions about the job role and level of experience of the respondents; questions on data of interest in categories such as water quantity, water quality, and potential evaporation, as well as alternative sources of climate projections and different future time-horizons; questions on data format/access, for which respondents were asked to rank the given options by their 1st, 2nd and 3rd preference. There was also a final question allowing respondents to provide any other comments or suggestions. The introduction page of the questionnaire provided context for the questions, including information about recent work both within UK-SCAPE WP2.2 and other projects. The questionnaire was setup as a JISC Online Survey, and the responses were completely anonymous. The questionnaire was online from early September 2021 to the end of November 2021. An email invitation to complete the survey was sent to a distribution list of 38 contacts who we knew (or expected) had an interest in the impacts of climate change on rivers in the UK. A reminder email was sent a few weeks later. UKCEH also advertised the survey internally (Grapevine) and externally (Twitter). In addition, the UKRI-funded UK Climate Resilience (UKCR) Programme promoted the survey in their November newsletter and during some of their webinars. The questionnaire results were downloaded on 2nd December 2021. There were a total of 41 respondents, although not all answered every question. There was a high initial response (after the email and tweet), a small number of responses after the reminder email, and more responses after the survey was promoted by the UK Climate Resilience programme. The median time taken to complete the survey was about 7 minutes. The responses to the general questions showed a roughly even split in the job role of respondents, between Academic, Government/Regulator, and Practitioner/ Consultant. The majority have previously worked a lot with data relating to river flows under climate change. The responses to the questions on data of interest showed that there is a lot of interest in water quantity, including both river flows and soil moisture, with slightly less interest in water quality. There is a lot in interest in potential future changes in river flows, although slightly less so in changes in soil moisture or water quality, and there is a lot of interest in data from further flow projections, especially alternative UKCP18 products and alternative RCPs. There is more interest in near- rather than far-future time-horizons, although high interest in all horizons as well as in transient projections and projections relative to Global Mean Surface Temperature changes from pre-industrial. There is interest in potential evaporation data for a range of land covers, although less than for river flows. A number of respondents made extra data requests under several of these questions. In terms of data format, more respondents overall expressed a preference for data for specific locations of their choosing, although more expressed a 1st preference for grids covering sub-regions or the whole country. However, the 1st preference varied by job role: ‘Academic’ respondents tended to have a 1st preference for grids covering the whole country, while ‘Practitioner/Consultant’ respondents tended to have a 1st preference for grids covering sub-regions, and ‘Government/Regulator’ respondents tended to have a 1st preference for data for specific locations of their choosing. In terms of data access, most respondents expressed a preference for a web-tool, with a large proportion also being happy downloading the full dataset as netcdf files from the Environmental Information Data Centre (EIDC). A web-tool tended to be the 1st preference regardless of the job role of the respondent. The survey results will be used to guide the datasets produced in the remainder of UK-SCAPE WP2.2 (due to finish in March 2023), as well as by other projects and in potential follow-on work. In terms of data format, we would like to try to allow for the differing preferences of respondents with different job roles. In terms of data access, a large proportion of respondents were happy to download full datasets from the EIDC; there are already six such datasets from UK SCAPE WP2.2 freely available for download. However, most respondents expressed a preference for a web-tool; the possibilities for this will be explored.

Item Type:	Publication - Report (Project Report)
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Hydro-climate Risks (Science Area 2017-)
Funders/Sponsors:	Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
NORA Subject Terms:	Hydrology
Date made live:	06 Jan 2022 11:19 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/531705

Item Type:

Publication - Report (Project Report)

UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:

Hydro-climate Risks (Science Area 2017-)

Funders/Sponsors:

Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)

NORA Subject Terms:

Hydrology

Date made live:

06 Jan 2022 11:19 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/531705