A team of Newcastle University researchers have released a study that assesses the future changes in flood, heatwaves, and drought impacts for 571 European cities, finding that heatwave days will increase across all cities.
Additionally, the high-end climate change scenario projects that most cities will see increases in both drought and river flood risks.
Needless to say, it’s important to know how droughts, heat waves, and floods in European cities will change.
This has been assessed for 571 European cities under a high-end scenario of climate change.
All cities more frequent and hotter heat waves In this study, heat waves are defined as three consecutive days where both maximum and minimum temperatures exceed the upper five per cent of these values for the historical period.
The cities in Southern Europe see the largest increase in the number of heat wave days, possibly up to 69 per cent.
Southern European cities will see an increase in drought conditions: Future droughts may get up to 14 times worse than the ones in the historical period.
Increases in river flooding are most prevalent in north-western Europe, and are particularly worrying for the British Isles and several other European cities, which could observe more than a 50 per cent increase of their 10-year-high river flow.
Adapting cities to heat waves is complicated We know a lot about the benefits of adapting to flood risk.
In Southern Europe, adapting to some of the projected changes could only be achieved by a fundamental, and expensive, re-engineering of each city or water resource system, as significant adaptation to climate extremes has already been implemented and radical changes will be needed to achieve more.

The grass may look lush and green after last week’s rain but a dry summer has left some Wollondilly shire farmers in dire straights.
Mrs Rideout-Keanelly said what little water she had left in her dams had to be preserved in the case of an emergency meaning some of her trees had died and seedlings had to be planted late, impacting the business five years down the track.
“The reality is this rain has come to late,” she said.
“The damage has already been done.
It’s what we call a green drought.” Mrs Rideout-Keanelly said she was hoping for a wet winter to help get the farm back on track but other farmers had already lost much of their stock, particularly dairy farmers.
“With a fire or flood the damage is very evident, people can see the problems,” she said.
“But a drought is insidious, farmers suffer silently.
“There are farmers out there who have lost most of their business but they’re afraid to speak up.” The Oaks’ Sharon Robertson is among the organisers of the Dilly Drought Drive, a group of Wollondilly shire people fundraising to support local farmers.
“Community groups have got behind us and helped and we want to get the word out there that our farmers need some help.” Wollondilly Council will lobby the State and Federal governments for assistance and will look to review its hardship policy to support farmers in drought.
To lend your support, visit Facebook.com/DillyDroughtDrive

The irrigation season is approaching fast, and the Canadian Municipal Water Authority is making sure they planning ahead despite lake levels at Meredith still being above 70 feet.
Lake Meredith is currently at 75.6 feet.
"The lake is in a good spot right now," said Satterwhite.
"The river is still running twice what it normally does this time of year."
"This year the lake is starting off at a lot higher level," said Satterwhite.
Apple | Android Satterwhite knows homeowners will be reliant on water this year.
"We like drought tolerant grasses to start with," said Satterwhite.
"In the Panhandle, water is always a first thought in gardening," said Reid.
"100 percent plants, and no rock," said Reid.
"Mediterranean plants are heat tolerant, drought tolerant; but there’s still little patches of grass, with ground cover," said Reid.

This year they’re bare, and have been since last winter.
“Everybody talks about 2001 and 2002,” McAfee says.
When he runs into other farmers in the nearby communities of Cortez, Dolores and Mancos, McAfee says the conversations of the last 18 years follow a script.
What else is there to say?” McAfee says.
Climate change is already sapping some of the Colorado River’s flow, Udall says.
“By the end of the century almost 35 percent — a third of the river’s flow — would be gone because of these higher temperatures.” These conditions will strain the language and concepts we’ve formed to describe and make sense of the weather and climate conditions around us, Udall says.
“This is the ongoing aridification of the Colorado River Basin and we think we should start to talk about it in these terms rather than this older term, ‘drought.’” At a farm show at the Montezuma County fairgrounds outside Cortez, Colorado, the dry winter is top of mind.
“I don’t know if our concept of drought needs to change,” he says.“Our awareness of what’s going on definitely needs to change.
In the last 18 years, a couple wet years have given hope that the dry period over, at least temporarily.
“The problem is right now when you talk about drought you go into drought and you come out of drought,” he says.

The drought is about to whack Capetonians in the pocket‚ doubling the price of water in the next two years.
The City of Cape Town’s draft budget‚ tabled at Wednesday’s council meeting‚ proposes a 27% rise in water tariffs from July 1.
And it will get worse in 2019‚ with a 30.45% increase‚ followed by a 22% rise in 2020/21.
The net effect is that the price of water will more than double between July 1 this year and July 1‚ 2020.
Xanthea Limberg‚ the mayoral committee member for water‚ waste and energy‚ told a media briefing the drought was to blame.
“Much of the increased tariff will be about recovery from 2017/18 [when revenue from water reached only 73% of the target as consumers slashed usage]‚” she told a media briefing before the council meeting.
“It is also about funding augmentation schemes to adapt to the impact of the drought.” With consumer price inflation at 4%‚ other proposed tariff increases all outpace it: rates at 7.2%‚ electricity at 8.14%‚ sanitation at 26.96% and refuse removal at 5.7%.
The mayoral committee member for finance‚ Johan ver der Merwe‚ said all the increases were based on the city council’s CPI projection of 5.5% for 2018/19.
The council’s total budget for the new financial year is R49.1-billion.

ONE good thing about the month of March was that it actually rained, not just a light drizzle but all 105 mms of it.
But before Greytonians get excited at the thought of maybe not having to shower in a bucket anymore, Lake Merthley on Monday was 58,16% full.
As can be seen from the photograph taken over the weekend by Murray Mason, the lake still has a long, long way to go.
From today until Friday, hot temperatures in the low 30s are forecast but no rain.
Greytown seems to have become one of the forgotten drought-stricken areas despite the fact that residents have lived with severe water restrictions for the past three years.
Has Greytown been mentioned?
Cape Town — yes!
For the past three years or so, water consumers in the area have naively believed the promises made by Greytown’s water service provider, Umzinyathi District Municipality, and on a lesser scale by Umvoti Municipality, that the Craigieburn pipeline will solve all water supply problems.
The Mpfana Municipality also promised the Mnymvumbu community electricity, a community hall, shopping centre, etc.
As Mpfana is broke and owes Eskom millions, this is not going to happen.

The drought is about to hit Capetonians in the pocket‚ doubling the price of water in the next two years.
The City of Cape Town’s draft budget‚ tabled at Wednesday’s council meeting‚ proposes a 27% rise in water tariffs from July 1.
And it will get worse in 2019‚ with a 30.45% increase‚ followed by a 22% rise in 2020-21.
The net effect is that the price of water will more than double between July 1 2018 and July 1 2020.
Xanthea Limberg‚ the MMC for water‚ waste and energy‚ told a media briefing the drought was to blame.
"Much of the increased tariff will be about recovery from 2017-18 [when revenue from water reached only 73% of the target as consumers slashed usage]‚" she told a media briefing before the council meeting.
"It is also about funding augmentation schemes to adapt to the impact of the drought."
With consumer price inflation (CPI) at 4%‚ other proposed tariff increases all outpace it: rates at 7.2%‚ electricity at 8.14%‚ sanitation at 26.96%, and refuse removal at 5.7%.
The MMC for finance‚ Johan ver der Merwe‚ said all the increases were based on the city council’s CPI projection of 5.5% for 2018-19.
The council’s total budget for the new financial year is R49.1bn.

Freelance Reporter A drought watch is in effect for northern and southeastern Belize, according to an April 2018 bulletin released by the Caribbean Drought & Precipitation Monitoring Network (CDPMN).
The bulletin said that, “Water resources in the ABC Islands [Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire] and north and south-east Belize should also be monitored for the possibility of a developing drought.” This time, Central Belize was not included in the drought watch.
It also cited concerns that exist for both long and short term drought over the Guianas, in particular northern Suriname.
“With Cuba and Antigua being relatively dry over the past few months, water resources should be monitored for long term drought that can affect groundwater and large catchments, up until the end of the dry season at least,” the report said.
The drought report looked at the long-term drought situation, for up to May 2018, just before the start of the rainy season.
The accompanying map was published in the Caribbean Climate Outlook Forum’s drought outlook to June 2018.
The latest report said that conditions in Belize ranged from extremely wet in the west to slightly wet in the south and moderately wet in the north.
Back in 2015, the El Niño phenomenon, which suppressed storm activity in the Caribbean, led to very dry conditions which caused “severe drought” in northern and western Belize that cost Belize nearly $30 million.
Belize also reported hotter than normal temperatures during the summer months.
Belize does not have a national drought plan that would detail the official response to drought alerts, watches and warnings.

Immediate measures such as distribution of drinking water through tankers and kiosks will be taken up in these areas.
The decision was taken due to inadequate rains, decreasing surface and ground water, and the intrusion of saline water seen in these districts this year.
Immediate measures such as distribution of drinking water through tankers and kiosks will be taken up in these areas, the report added.
Funds from local bodies will be used for the distribution of water.
The official announcement declaring these nine districts as drought hit will be made by the State Relief Commissioner.
Presently, Idukki does not face a drought situation.
However, as the summer intensifies, Idukki’s drinking water sources will dry up soon, the official release stated.
The decision to declare the districts as drought-hit was taken by the State Disaster Management Commission in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Apart from the CM, who is the chairman of the Disaster Management Authority, the meeting was attended by the Revenue Minister E Chandrasekharan, Agriculture Minister VS Sunil Kumar, Revenue Secretary PH Kurian and Chief Secretary Paul Antony.
In 2016 too, the state was officially declared drought affected with the annual monsoon reducing by 34% and a 69% deficit reecorded in the north-east monsoons for the year.

The Kerala government today decided to declare nine of its 14 districts as drought-hit in view of scarcity of rains, shortage of surface and ground water and intrusion of saline water.
A meeting of the state disaster management authority presided over by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan decided to declare the districts of Kannur, Alappuzha, Idukki, Kasaragod, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Palakkad, Thrissur and Waynad as drought-hit, an official release said.
The official declaration in this regard would be made by the State Relief Commissioner, it said.
Besides Vijayan, who is also the authority chairman, Revenue Minister E Chandrasekharan, Agriculture Minister V S Sunil Kumar and Chief Secretary Paul Antony were among those who took part in the meeting.
It was also decided at the meeting that immediate steps would be taken for distribution of drinking water through tankers and kiosks to tide over the drought situation, the release added.
According to the Central Meteorological Department, there was shortfall of rain during the 2017 North-East monsoon that sets in during October-December.
In the hilly Idukki district, presently there was no drought situation.
However, it had been included in the list of drought-hit as the main sources of water were expected to dry up as summer intensifies, the release added.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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