Global water shortages come into focus thanks to University of Southampton

The world’s population is due to grow to eight billion by 2030 and there are worries that humanity is facing a crisis with increasing demand and diminishing supplies.

The University of Southampton is leading one of three major projects that make up a £4.5m investment from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to safeguard the UK’s water, energy and food security.

Dr Paul Kemp, director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Infrastructure Systems at the University of Southampton, is leading the project.

He said: “Exploitation of any single resource in isolation can have negative impacts on interconnected sectors and more widely on our natural capital.

“We are facing unprecedented demand on our water, energy and food systems and ‘business as usual’ is no longer an option.

“To ensure future security of supply we need to develop innovative approaches to environmentally sustainable resource management.

“This can only be achieved by adopting creative interdisciplinary approaches to develop solutions to the complex challenges faced.”

Southampton will lead the project called ‘Vaccinating the Nexus’, which will investigate how extreme climate events, such as flooding, drought or energy shortages, may help inform environmentally sustainable and secure systems.

It will use information collected during recent flooding on the Somerset Levels to model the potential for alternative flood-resistant systems.

All three projects are studying the UK’s environment and its external pressures, so the information gathered can be used in an international context.

Professor Philip Nelson, chief executive of EPSRC, said: “This is one of the most important challenges facing the human race, and one of the most complex.

“The uniqueness of these projects comes from studying all three problems together, something that hasn’t been done before.”