A study to help better manage and preserve the nation’s water resources in a changing climate is now available in a report compiled by multiple government agencies.
Water managers can use this report to support their efforts to provide water to communities and farms, generate power for cities, sustain ecological systems, or protect lives and homes from floods – all critical to the public’s health, safety, and quality of life.
This study presents the best available science to help water managers prepare for, adapt to, and mitigate the effects of climate change on the nation’s water resources. The U.S. Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration came together with the nation’s principal water management agencies, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation, to explore strategies to improve water management by suggesting processes to improve tracking, anticipation, and response to climate change effects. The report, “Climate change and water resources management: A federal perspective,” can be viewed online at: http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1331/
Climate change affects the fundamental drivers of the hydrologic cycle and therefore unavoidably affects water. The effects of climate change differ from region to region and combine with factors such as population growth and changing land use. To ensure that water managers are prepared for the effects of climate change they will need to assess regional climate change projections and adopt flexible management strategies. Practicing an adaptive management approach would allow managers to make decisions sequentially over time, and may be especially useful to cope with the uncertainties of climate change. These approaches to water management would be most effective if combined with enhanced research and monitoring to improve understanding of the effects of climate change on a global and local scale.
While the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has provided information about climate change on a global scale, there are still questions concerning the sequences of the changes, and how they will manifest at regional and local levels. In the face of a changing climate, it is imperative that scientists, policymakers, water-resource managers, and the public work together to understand the effects that global change is having on water resources.