# Climate Change Makes Water a Resource for All

- Link: https://greenlivingguy.com/2011/12/climate-change-makes-water-a-resource-for-all/
- Published: 2011-12-03T04:22:38-05:00
- Author: greenlivingguy

## **Federal-State Partnership Helps Water Managers Plan for Climate Change**

**SACRAMENTO** — The California Department of Water Resources, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Resources Legacy Fund, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today
released a publication to assist water resource managers. The Climate Change Handbook
for Regional Water Planning provides resources and tools to guide water resource
managers and planners as they adapt and navigate the complexities of climate change.

“Climate change will directly affect water supplies and how they are managed,” said
Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest.  “With
this guide, EPA is giving water agencies the practical tools they need to effectively
manage this precious resource.”

Climate change impacts will pose many challenges to the management of California’s
water resources.  Extreme weather events, sea level rise, shifting precipitation
and runoff patterns, temperature changes, and the resulting changes in water quality
and availability all have potentially significant implications for water management.
Drinking water and wastewater utilities, irrigation districts, local land use planners
and flood control agencies are beginning to evaluate how these changes might affect
their missions and their future investments.

### Water Resources are a Climate Change Concern

“Our scientists, engineers and planners are on the cutting edge of analyzing and
preparing for the effects of climate change on our water supply,” said Mark Cowin,
director of the Department of Water Resources. “For example, climate change is considered
in Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM), one of our primary strategies for
improving water management at the local, regional, and state level.”

IRWM is a collaborative effort to manage all aspects of water resources in a region.
IRWM attempts to address the issues and differing perspectives of all the entities
involved through mutually beneficial solutions. Since 2002, California voters have
approved $1.8 billion for IRWM planning and project implementation.

 The handbook uses the IRWM planning framework as a model into which analysis of
climate change impacts and potential adaptation measures can be integrated.

In addition, the handbook provides a checklist for identifying and prioritizing 
the vulnerability of local watersheds. The checklist includes questions about water
demand and supply, wildlife and habitat, sea level rise, critical infrastructure,
and hydropower.

### The handbook also includes:

 1. Advice on how water resource managers can take climate change into consideration
 2. A summary of climate change science with links to resources and tools

•             Tools for evaluating greenhouse gas emissions for a project

•             Tools for measuring regional climate change impacts

Case studies of communities already incorporating climate change into water resource
management

EPA provides financial and technical resources to state and local governments to
improve water quality, including upgrading water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure
and increasing water and energy efficiency.  In 2011, EPA gave California more than
$192 million in grant funds for clean water.

The handbook is available on line at: [http://www.water.ca.gov/climatechange/CCHandbook.cfm](https://web.archive.org/web/20171228054910/http://www.water.ca.gov:80/climatechange/CCHandbook.cfm)