Water scarcity hotspots travel downstream due to human interventions in the 20th and 21st century
Water scarcity is rapidly increasing in many regions. In a novel, multi-model assessment, we examine how human interventions (HI: land use and land cover change, man-made reservoirs and human water use) affected monthly river water availability and water scarcity over the period 1971–2010. Here we s...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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Nature Publishing Group
2017
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/43615/ |
| _version_ | 1848796729195888640 |
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| author | Veldkamp, T.I.E. Wada, Y. Aerts, J.C.J.H. Döll, P. Gosling, Simon N. Liu, J. Masaki, Y. Oki, T. Ostberg, S. Pokhrel, Y. Satoh, Y. Kim, H. Ward, P.J. |
| author_facet | Veldkamp, T.I.E. Wada, Y. Aerts, J.C.J.H. Döll, P. Gosling, Simon N. Liu, J. Masaki, Y. Oki, T. Ostberg, S. Pokhrel, Y. Satoh, Y. Kim, H. Ward, P.J. |
| author_sort | Veldkamp, T.I.E. |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Water scarcity is rapidly increasing in many regions. In a novel, multi-model assessment, we examine how human interventions (HI: land use and land cover change, man-made reservoirs and human water use) affected monthly river water availability and water scarcity over the period 1971–2010. Here we show that HI drastically change the critical dimensions of water scarcity, aggravating water scarcity for 8.8% (7.4–16.5%) of the global population but alleviating it for another 8.3% (6.4–15.8%). Positive impacts of HI mostly occur upstream, whereas HI aggravate water scarcity downstream; HI cause water scarcity to travel downstream. Attribution of water scarcity changes to HI components is complex and varies among the hydrological models. Seasonal variation in impacts and dominant HI components is also substantial. A thorough consideration of the spatially and temporally varying interactions among HI components and of uncertainties is therefore crucial for the success of water scarcity adaptation by HI. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:52:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-43615 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:52:36Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-436152020-05-04T18:50:18Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/43615/ Water scarcity hotspots travel downstream due to human interventions in the 20th and 21st century Veldkamp, T.I.E. Wada, Y. Aerts, J.C.J.H. Döll, P. Gosling, Simon N. Liu, J. Masaki, Y. Oki, T. Ostberg, S. Pokhrel, Y. Satoh, Y. Kim, H. Ward, P.J. Water scarcity is rapidly increasing in many regions. In a novel, multi-model assessment, we examine how human interventions (HI: land use and land cover change, man-made reservoirs and human water use) affected monthly river water availability and water scarcity over the period 1971–2010. Here we show that HI drastically change the critical dimensions of water scarcity, aggravating water scarcity for 8.8% (7.4–16.5%) of the global population but alleviating it for another 8.3% (6.4–15.8%). Positive impacts of HI mostly occur upstream, whereas HI aggravate water scarcity downstream; HI cause water scarcity to travel downstream. Attribution of water scarcity changes to HI components is complex and varies among the hydrological models. Seasonal variation in impacts and dominant HI components is also substantial. A thorough consideration of the spatially and temporally varying interactions among HI components and of uncertainties is therefore crucial for the success of water scarcity adaptation by HI. Nature Publishing Group 2017-06-15 Article PeerReviewed Veldkamp, T.I.E., Wada, Y., Aerts, J.C.J.H., Döll, P., Gosling, Simon N., Liu, J., Masaki, Y., Oki, T., Ostberg, S., Pokhrel, Y., Satoh, Y., Kim, H. and Ward, P.J. (2017) Water scarcity hotspots travel downstream due to human interventions in the 20th and 21st century. Nature Communications, 8 . 15697/1-15697/12. ISSN 2041-1723 https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms15697 doi:10.1038/ncomms15697 doi:10.1038/ncomms15697 |
| spellingShingle | Veldkamp, T.I.E. Wada, Y. Aerts, J.C.J.H. Döll, P. Gosling, Simon N. Liu, J. Masaki, Y. Oki, T. Ostberg, S. Pokhrel, Y. Satoh, Y. Kim, H. Ward, P.J. Water scarcity hotspots travel downstream due to human interventions in the 20th and 21st century |
| title | Water scarcity hotspots travel downstream due to human interventions in the 20th and 21st century |
| title_full | Water scarcity hotspots travel downstream due to human interventions in the 20th and 21st century |
| title_fullStr | Water scarcity hotspots travel downstream due to human interventions in the 20th and 21st century |
| title_full_unstemmed | Water scarcity hotspots travel downstream due to human interventions in the 20th and 21st century |
| title_short | Water scarcity hotspots travel downstream due to human interventions in the 20th and 21st century |
| title_sort | water scarcity hotspots travel downstream due to human interventions in the 20th and 21st century |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/43615/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/43615/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/43615/ |