Water Resources in a Variable and Changing Climate

<p>Climate change will bring about significant changes to the capacity of and the demand on<br />water resources. The resulting changes include increasing climate variability that is expected<br />to affect hydrologic conditions. The effects of climate variability on various meteorological<br />variables have been extensively observed in many regions around the world. Atmospheric<br />circulation topography land use and other regional features modify global changes to<br />produce unique patterns of change at the regional scale. As the future changes to these water<br />resources cannot be measured in the present hydrological models are critical in the planning<br />required to adapt our water resource management strategies to future climate conditions.<br />Such models include catchment runoff models reservoir management models flood<br />prediction models groundwater recharge and flow models and crop water balance models. In<br />water-scarce regions such as Australia urban water systems are particularly vulnerable to<br />rapid population growth and climate change. In the presence of climate change induced<br />uncertainty urban water systems need to be more resilient and multi-sourced. Decreasing<br />volumetric rainfall trends have an effect on reservoir yield and operation practices. Severe<br />intensity rainfall events can cause failure of drainage system capacity and subsequent urban<br />flood inundation problems. Policy makers end users and leading researchers need to work<br />together to develop a consistent approach to interpreting the effects of climate variability and<br />change on water resources.<br />This Special Edition includes papers by international experts who have investigated climate<br />change impacts on a variety of systems including irrigation and water markets land use<br />changes and vegetation growth lake water levels and quality and sea level rises. These<br />investigations have been conducted in many regions of the world including the USA China<br />East Africa Australia Taiwan and the Sultanate of Oman.</p>