| Dr. Kathleen Miller | Climate Change & Water Resources |
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NCAR --> SERE --> ISSE --> Water Conference Home --> Schedule
Workshop on Climate Change and Water Utilities
National Center for Atmospheric Research
1850 Table Mesa Drive, Boulder, CO
Mesa Lab Damon Room
| Monday, March 15 | ||
| 7:30 am | Bus departs hotel | |
| 7:45 - 8:15 | Register and breakfast | |
| 8:15 - 8:30 | Introduction - 15 minutes describing goals of workshop | |
| Climate Change Science | ||
| 8:30 - 9:15 | The Fundamental Science of Climate Change – Tom Wigley NCAR Natural versus anthropogenic change. Causes of 20th century climate change. Possible futures for global-mean temperature and sea level. Potential effectiveness of policies to reduce emissions. |
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| 9:15 - 10:00 | Broad Scale implications for the hydrologic cycle Kevin Trenberth NCAR Will the hydrologic cycle intensify, and if so what does this mean for global and regional precipitation? Why is it difficult to predict changes in regional precipitation? |
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| 10:00 - 10:15 | Break | |
| Climate Change and Water | ||
| 10:15 - 10:45 | Climate change and changes in water availability Mike Dettinger USGS and Scripps Institution of Oceanography What climate models can and can’t tell us about possible changes in water availability. Where do we have some confidence & why? Snowmelt dominated vs. rainfall-dominated systems. What changes have already been observed? |
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| 10:45 - 11:15 | Paleoclimatic Records of Past Hydroclimatic Variability and Implications for the Future - Connie Woodhouse NOAA National Climatic Data Center What does paleoclimate tell us about natural variability in water supplies? How should water utilities view that evidence? |
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| 11:15 - 12:30 | International Perspectives on Water Utility Planning for Climate Change | |
| Arthur Meuleman, KIWA, Netherlands Roger Jones, CSIRO, Australia Peter Spillett, Thames Water, U.K. |
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| 12:30 - 1:30 | Lunch - NCAR Cafeteria (on your own) | |
| Water Utility Vulnerabilities | ||
| How do we assess vulnerabilities and what can we learn from experiences with climatic extremes and from existing strategies for coping with climate variability and uncertainty? | ||
| Three Roundtable Discussions: | ||
| 1:30 - 2:15 | Supply security: Learning from drought experience - surprises, and opportunities. | |
| Gary Tilkian, MWD Joan Kersnar, Seattle Paul Fesko, Calgary Rocky Wiley, Denver |
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| 2:15 - 3:00 | Water quality: Floods & droughts; post wildfire impacts - What can we learn from experience and how do we identify the hotspots? What are the implications of potential reduced frequency, but higher intensity precipitation for urban areas? | |
| Lorraine Janus, NYC Mark Knudson, Portland Ricky Langley, Greenville |
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| 3:00 - 3:15 | Break | |
| 3:15 - 4:00 | Climate and infrastructure: – potential impacts of unusual high or low flows on infrastructure - intake placement & salinity; physical damage during floods; effects of large changes in groundwater levels. | |
| David Major, Columbia University Alvin Bautista, LADWP Bertha Goldenberg, Miami-Dade |
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| Adaptation Strategies | ||
| 4:00 - 4:30 | Flexible strategies for dealing with uncertainty Bonnie Colby University of Arizona Water Banks and Water Markets, and other options. |
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| 4:30 - 5:00 | Planning in the context of competing goals Robert Wilkinson University of California, Santa Barbara California water and climate uncertainty |
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| 5:00 - 5:30 | Water Planning Strategies in a Warming Climate Alan Hamlet University of Washington Ways for utilities to approach planning for the uncertain effects of global warming. Can use of climate change information lead to better investment decisions? |
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| 5:30 - 7:00 | Adjourn - Reception | |
| Tuesday, March 16 | ||
| What should water utilities know about these subjects and how can they best be presented in the planned educational publication? | ||
| 7:30 - 8:30 | Continental breakfast | |
| 8:30 - 8:45 | Charge for the Day | |
| 8:45 –10:30 | Break-out discussion groups | |
1. Climate Change: what do water utility managers MOST need to understand about climate change, and how can we best address that in the Awwa Research Foundation publication? 2. How do water utilities cope with uncertainty now and what planning and adaptation strategies would be most useful for utility managers to consider in the context of potential climate change? 3. How should the Awwa Research Foundation publication be structured? E.g. in a question format, with example ‘boxes’, etc. Is the draft document (to be sent to participants prior to the meeting) structured appropriately? |
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| 10:30 - 10:45 | Break | |
| 10:45 - 11:30 | Discussion group reports | |
| 11:30 - 12:30 | Summary roundtable and wrap-up | |
| 12:30 - 1:30 | sandwiches/ light lunch available | |
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Workshop on Climate Change and Water Utilities was sponsored by the Awwa Research Foundation.
The Institute for the Study of Society and Environment (ISSE), the Societal-Environmental Research and Education (SERE) Laboratory, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) are managed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF). PO Box 3000  Boulder, CO 80307 USA Tel: 303-497-8117 Fax: 303-497-8125 |