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Adaptations to Sustain High-Quality Freshwater Supplies in Response to Climate Change
June 2010
This issue brief recommends a number of actions to help create a policy environment that encourages adaptive responses in times of hydrological uncertainty. Policy recommendations include, for example, increasing redundancy among natural and built freshwater systems to provide higher levels of functional resiliency; linking regional and national levels of data collection and modeling of hurricanes, floods, and droughts to improve long-term forecasts and proactive, adaptive responses; and additional coordination of federal and state agencies to enhance adaptive responses through long-term strategic planning of shared solutions to water scarcity.
Author or Affiliated User: Alan P. Covich
Resource Category: Solutions
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Climate Adaptation and Watershed Transboundary Governance Institutions
June 2010
Because the physical circumstances determining water quality and quantity occur on a watershed level, a watershed-wide approach has become all the more imperative when the myriad effects of climate change on water quantity and quality are added to the equation. This policy brief investigates Watershed Transboundary Governing Institutions (TGIs) in order to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the different institutional approaches, governance designs and policies instruments they employ and to recommend which of these approaches, designs and practices should be incorporated in future efforts to manage watersheds.
Author or Affiliated User: Marc Landy
Resource Category: Solutions
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Water Needs and Strategies for a Sustainable Future: 2010 Progress Report
June 2010
This report from the Western Governor's Association, along with the 2006 report, "Water Needs and Strategies for a Sustainable Future," and the 2008 report, "Water Needs and Strategies for a Sustainable Future: Next Steps" includes consensus recommendations to promote the cooperation between western states and federal, local, and private sector partners in addressing the challenges of over-appropriated watersheds, population growth, land use changes, water needs for in-stream uses, and water supply and water management strategies.
Resource Category: Monitoring and Reporting
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WestFAST Agencies Water-Climate Change Program Inventory
April 2010
The Western States Federal Agency Support Team (WestFAST) conducted an inventory of the current water science and water management climate change activities of its member agencies. The purpose of this inventory is to share information on Federal climate change programs that are relevant to western water managers to facilitate closer coordination between Federal agencies and State water scientists and managers.
Resource Category: Planning
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Regulatory Aspects of Direct Potable Reuse in California
April 2010
This paper, prepared for the National Water Research Institute, discusses the growing water demand in California and the need to implement new strategies to satisfy it, with a focus on direct potable use of water. The purpose of this paper is to identify issues that would need to be addressed by regulatory agencies and utilities in California interested in pursuing direct potable reuse as a viable option in the future.
Author or Affiliated User: James Crook
Resource Category: Assessments
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The Implications of Climate Change on Water
2010
This document summarizes some of the key messages from the 2009 United Nations World Water Development Report, outlining the relationships between climate change and water resources, and the potential climate impacts on the availability of water and the control of water extremes.
Resource Category: Assessments
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Decision Support Planning Methods: Incorporating Climate Change Uncertainties into Water Planning
January 2010
The Water Utility Climate Alliance (WUCA) developed this white paper to present multiple-outcome planning techniques to water utilities interested in incorporating climate change into their planning. Many water utilities currently are engaged in, or considering, vulnerability assessments and will be seeking guidance on how to incorporate the large range of new information into their planning. This white paper is intended to guide those wanting to move forward with the adaptation process.
Resource Category: Planning
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Options for Improving Climate Modeling to Assist Water Utility Planning for Climate Change
December 2009
This report, which was commissioned by the Water Utility Climate Alliance (WUCA), considers how federal investments in the science of climate change, and in particular climate modeling, can best be directed to help improve the quality of research so that it may be more useful to water utilities and other possible users in adapting to climate change. It explains how climate models work, describes how some WUCA members have used climate models and downscaling to assess impacts on their systems and develop adaptation options, and makes seven initial recommendations for how climate modeling and downscaling techniques can be improved so that these tools and techniques can be more useful for the water sector.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Joseph Barsugli, Chris Anderson, Joel B. Smith, Jason M. Vogel
Resource Category: Data and tools
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Climate Change Impacts on Water Supply and Agricultural Water Management in California's Western San Joaquin Valley, and Potential Adaptation Strategies - Final Report
August 2009
Based on an application of the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) system developed for the Sacramento River basin and Delta export region of the San Joaquin Valley, this report by the California Climate Change Center provides an assessment of climate change impacts and potential adaptation strategies for the region.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Brian Joyce, Vishal Mehta, David Purkey, Larry Dale, Michael Hanemann
Resource Category: Assessments
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Emerging Climate Change Impacts on Freshwater Resources: A Perspective on Transformed Watersheds
June 2009
This report discusses the increasing effects of climate change on freshwater resources and ecosystem services. It focuses on types of socioeconomic and biotic adaptations, and provides an overview of direct and cumulative impacts. Perspectives on adaptive responses are offered, and the results of five case studies are included which demonstrate regional adaptation measures. The series of case studies - from Massachusetts, New York, Georgia, Florida, Colorado, and California - are used to illustrate ecosystem services that are able to adapt to to extreme variations in precipitation.
Author or Affiliated User: Alan P. Covich
Resource Category: Solutions
