Improving drought response by examining past impacts on water resources in Port Moresby — YRD

Improving drought response by examining past impacts on water resources in Port Moresby (1064)

Kila K Kila 1 , Jason Smith 2
  1. Papua New Guinea National Weather Service, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
  2. Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne, Australia
Papua New Guinea is one location in the Pacific that is impacted by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Past records show that El Niño extremes can lead to severe droughts such as the one that occurred in 1997/1998. This event was extreme enough to cause devastating impacts on Port Moresby and around Papua New Guinea (PNG). Port Moresby has become an area of interest due to its susceptibility to drought and reliance on hydro-electricity which has prompted further research on severe drought impacts that occur as a result of El Niño. 
This study is aimed at investigating how the impact of the past droughts on water resources in Port Moresby can be used to prioritise drought response and adaptation measures for future El Niño events. Reliable long term climate records exist for Port Moresby which were used to examine the links between rainfall, temperature, drought, and El Nino. The Southern Oscillation Index, NINO3.4 and local sea surface temperatures were used as indicators of El Niño. 

My preliminary research indicates that El Niño events generally lead to a reduction in rainfall at Port Moresby which can lead to severe drought. Previous records show devastating impacts of this reduction in rainfall on water resources. The two main entities affected are the PNG Power (power supplier) and Eda Ranu (Water supplier) who rely heavily on a single water storage reservoir. Increasing population in and around Port Moresby means that the impacts of water scarcity are likely to increase in the future.

#adapt2014