Powys Dance

At least 77 000 people across Wales rely on private water supplies for their drinking water, with 94% of these supplies dependent on groundwater. Potable private water supplies were mapped to Lower Super Output Area level, creating the first map of its kind for Wales. Some rural areas report nearly 43% of properties using private water supplies as their principal source of water. Simplifying the complex geology of Wales into ‘hydrostratigraphic units’ shows that 97% of private water supplies are sourced from secondary aquifers that have low productivity and storage. Ordovician and Silurian bedrock aquifers and associated Quaternary deposits support nearly 75% of all private water supplies. The total volume of groundwater abstracted by licensed and unlicensed potable private water supplies across Wales is estimated at 24.6 Ml day −1 . In times of drought many of Wales’ low-storage aquifers can experience insufficiency events. During 2018, reports of 132 dry supplies were collated; however, we suspect that many cases were not reported. In a changing climate with more extreme weather events, and as working from home becomes more common, private water supply users in low-storage and low-permeability aquifers may find themselves at increasing risk of insufficiency events. Thematic collection: This article is part of the Climate change and resilience in Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology collection available at: https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/climate-change-and-resilience-in-engineering-geology-and-hydrogeology

This collection of papers provides state-of-the-art science on a complex topic that has been challenging for scientists and regulators for a long time. The papers emanated from the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Pellston Workshop® Environmental Hazard and Risk Assessment Approaches for Endocrine-Active Substances (EHRA). Forty-eight international experts met in early February 2016 to discuss whether the environmental risks posed by endocrine-disrupting substances (EDS) can be reliably assessed. The primary conclusion of the workshop was that if data on environmental exposure, effects on sensitive species and life-stages, delayed effects, and effects at low concentrations are robust, initiating environmental risk assessment of EDS is scientifically sound and reliable. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2017;13:264-266. © 2016 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).