Climate change analysis
Will the water source still do its job in the decades the project is meant to last?
A risk to deal with early
Climate change already affects water supply, and it is much cheaper to allow for it at pre-feasibility stage than to discover it after the money is spent. Lenders and partners are increasingly asking for it to be covered.
The difficulty is that climate model output comes as huge global datasets that say little about a single catchment. Our job is to turn that into something a project team can use.
How we do it
- We take output from global climate models.
- We downscale it and correct its biases so it matches local conditions.
- We run it through the hydrological model built for your site.
- We report what it means for future water availability and downside risk.
Who it is for
Agriculture, mining and urban water supply projects, or anything else that relies on a surface water source over the long term.
What you can do with the results
- Test how much water may be available in future, not just in the historical record
- See how large the downside risk is, and how well the project copes with it
- Make design and investment decisions with climate allowed for from the start
This work builds on our surface water modelling, so the two are usually done together.
Want to know how climate change affects your water?
Tell us about the project and we will explain what the analysis would involve.