Water and the Changing Climate
Chair: Jeanne VanBriesen (Carnegie Mellon University)
Global climate change is changing the frequency and magnitude of precipitation events in many regions, and further change is expected. Effects on precipitation-dependent events (drought, flood) as well as on rainfall-dependent systems (water supply, energy systems, agriculture) will challenge our study and management of hydrologic systems. This session will explore methods to study, model, and plan for hydrologic systems under changing climactic conditions.

"USACE Incorporation of Climate Change Impacts into Water Resources Analysis & Planning"
Speaker: Will Veatch (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)

The assumption of hydrologic stationarity, that observed data from the past represents present and future conditions, has typically underpinned hydrologic and hydraulic design and planning. A growing body of scientific evidence is undermining that assumption, as certain variables critical to the design and evaluation of water resources projects are being impacted by climate change and anthropogenic watershed modifications such that future variability cannot necessarily be assumed to follow past observations. US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) projects must, as a matter of policy, be designed for the full range of plausible future conditions that can be expected throughout their intended design lives, despite uncertainty regarding the exact nature of those future conditions. USACE has therefore released revised technical guidance related to the identification of observed changes and projection of potential future changes in hydro-climatic conditions. In addition to the written guidance, USACE has developed web applications that make it easier for water resources professionals to apply the techniques described in the guidance in a technically correct, timely, and reproducible manner. In this talk, USACE policy and technical guidance related to the incorporation of climate change impacts into hydrologic and hydraulic analysis for both coastal and inland waterways will be outlined, along with the web-based tools created to help implement these analyses. After attending this talk, the audience will be able to understand and use USACE technical guidance and publicly available tools for their own projects.