cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/28029461

Scientists have established that climate change is making droughts longer, stronger and more frequent, but less well understood is when and where these extreme dry conditions could trigger acute shortages of drinking water.

South Africa’s Cape Town faced the threat of a “Day Zero Drought”, where the taps nearly ran dry for millions of people in 2018. India’s Chennai faced a similar crisis the following year.

In new peer-reviewed research in the journal Nature Communications, researchers warned that the frequency of “Day Zero” episodes could increase much sooner than previously anticipated.

To study how global warming might impact these events in future, researchers used the latest climate models to estimate when water demands would exceed supply from rainfall, rivers and reservoirs.

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