There is a new interagency publication - USGS Circular 1331 - from USGS, NOAA, USACE and Reclamation. The summary follows.
Many challenges, including climate change, face the Nation’s water managers. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has provided estimates of how climate may change, but more understanding of the processes driving the changes, the sequences of the changes, and the manifestation of these global changes at different scales could be beneficial. Since the changes will likely affect fundamental drivers of the hydrological cycle, climate change may have a large impact on water resources and water resources managers.
The purpose of this interagency report prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is to explore strategies to improve water management by tracking, anticipating, and responding to climate change. This report describes the existing and still needed underpinning science crucial to addressing the many impacts of climate change on water resources management.
Key points:
The best available scientific evidence based on observations from long-term monitoring networks indicates that climate change is occurring, although the effects differ regionally.
· Climate change is but one of many challenges facing water resource managers. Water managers need to consider the many sources of uncertainty and drivers of change. These include demographic change, changes in the way people use water in cities, farms, and in energy development, declining amounts of ground water in storage in some regions of the Nation, and demands for water to meet ecological goals.
· Long-term monitoring networks are critical for detecting and quantifying climate change and its impacts. Continued improvement in the understanding of climate change, its impacts, and the effectiveness of adaptation or mitigation actions requires continued operation of existing long-term monitoring and analysis of data, particularly of precipitation, snow pack, soil moisture, ground water and streamflow.
· Predictive modeling and ongoing monitoring are both needed to narrow the range of uncertainty about the future of water resources. But the uncertainty will remain large, and planning and management approaches need to continue to evolve to improve the quality of water management decisions in the coming decades. This report is designed to describe the state of current understanding and practice in dealing with this issue and to point the way forward for responsible water management in the face of climate change.
Climate Change and Water Resources Management: A Federal Perspective by Levi D. Brekke, Julie E. Kiang, J. Rolf Olsen, Roger S. Pulwarty, David A. Raff, D. Phil Turnipseed, Robert S. Webb, and Kathleen D. White
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