Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
SpringerLink
Log in

Impact of Climate Change on the Water Cycle

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Managing Water Resources under Climate Uncertainty

Part of the book series: Springer Water ((SPWA))

Abstract

Global warming has accelerated in recent years with an increase of about 0.75 °C during the past 100 years. The rate of temperature increase in the past 25 years has been over 0.18 °C per decade. Global warming has been observed more over land than over the ocean. This rise in temperature is leading to a rise in sea levels, glacier melt, and changes in precipitation patterns. In addition to urbanisation where roads and buildings impact on the amount of groundwater percolation, large infrastructures such as dams are impacting on the microclimate cycle, which changes the evapotranspiration rate in the region leading to a change in the amount of precipitation. The focus of this chapter is on the impact of climate change on the water cycle, particularly in relation to freshwater, including how a change in the climate cycle is impacting on the water cycle, followed by the impacts of change on water quality and availability, health, agriculture (food security), biodiversity, and water security.

This chapter is based on the book, Grover (2012) “Impact of climate change on water cycle and health”.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/heavens-rage and http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/what-really-happened-uttarakhand.

  2. 2.

    Fischetti, Mark (November 27, 2013). "Was Typhoon Haiyan a Record Storm?". Scientific American.

  3. 3.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/typhoon-haiyan-damage-is-worse-than-hell-2013-11.

  4. 4.

    http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2013/11/19/typhoon-haiyan-caused-225-million-in-agricultural-damage/.

  5. 5.

    http://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20131226/NEWS09/131229953.

  6. 6.

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/toronto-s-july-storm-cost-insurers-850m-1.1363051.

  7. 7.

    http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/12/29/ice_storm_7400_in_toronto_still_without_power.html.

  8. 8.

    https://www.ec.gc.ca/eau-water/default.asp?lang=En&n=1C100657-1.

  9. 9.

    Low precipitation will exacerbate many types of water pollution problems such as increased sediments, nutrients, dissolved organic carbon, pathogens, pesticides, salt, and thermal pollution (because concentration of these elements will increase) leading to higher algal blooms, increase of bacterial and fungal content and maybe reduced oxygen concentrations. This will obviously have an impact on human health, ecosystems, and on operating costs of water systems. (Bates, et al. 2008).

  10. 10.

    “Confidence in the validity of a finding, based on the type, amount, quality, consistency of evidence (e.g., mechanistic understanding, theory, data, models, expert judgment), and the degree of agreement. Confidence is expressed qualitatively.” (Mastrandrea 2010, p. 2). “A level of confidence is expressed using five qualifiers: “very low,” “low,” “medium,” “high,” and “very high.” It synthesises the author teams’ judgments about the validity of findings as determined through evaluation of evidence and agreement.” (Mastrandrea 2010, p. 4).

  11. 11.

    There are uncertainties in projections of the impact of climate change on water resources because of internal variability of the climate system, uncertainty in future emissions, translation of these emissions into climate change by global climate models, its mismatch with hydrological models, and other factors such as estimating impacts on ground water recharge, water quality, or flooding/drought as translation of climate into response is less well understood. (World Bank 2009).

  12. 12.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/03/10/lake-michigan-sets-41-year-record-for-most-ice-cover/.

  13. 13.

    http://www.watershedcouncil.org/water%20resources/great%20lakes/threats-to-the-great-lakes/great-lakes-water-levels/other-opinions-on-low-water-levels/.

  14. 14.

    There are some uncertainties inherent in modelling. However, in this case, trying to fit hydrological projections within climate change models also leads to further uncertainties (since the spatial scale for both global climate models and hydrological models varies). However, to begin with, there are uncertainties in projected changes in the hydrological system itself because of internal variability of the climate system, uncertainty in future greenhouse gas and aerosol emissions, the translation of these emissions into climate change by global climate models, and hydrological model uncertainty. Another source of uncertainty in hydrological projects is due to the structure of current climate models, since they generally exclude things such as feedbacks from vegetation change to climate change and anthropogenic changes in land cover. Despite these uncertainties, some robust results of change in precipitation with change in temperature are available (Bates et al. 2008).

  15. 15.

    Studies have shown that climate change refugees will range from 250 million to about 1 billion between now and 2050.

References

  • Accenture (2011) Climate change and health: framing the issue. Accessed from http://nstore.accenture.com/acn_com/PDF/Accenture_Climate_Change_and_Health.pdf

  • Adams RM, Peck DE. (2008) Effects of climate change on water resources, choices, 23 (1) accessed from http://www.choicesmagazine.org/2008-1/theme/2008-1-04.htm

  • Angel JR, Kunkel KE (2009) The response of Great Lakes water levels to future climate scenarios with an emphasis on Lake Michigan-Huron. J Great Lakes Res 36(2010):51–58

    Google Scholar 

  • Aon Benfield (2011) Annual global climate and catastrophe report, impact forecasting-2011. Accessed from http://thoughtleadership.aonbenfield.com/Documents/20120110_if_annual_global_climate_cat_report.pdf

  • Arnell NW (2004) Climate change and global water resources: SRES emissions and socio economic scenarios. Glob Environ Change 14:31–52

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bates BC, Kundzewicz ZW, Wu S, Palutikof JP (eds) (2008) Climate change and water. Technical Paper of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC Secretariat, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  • Bates B, Kundzewicz ZW, Wu S, Palutikof J (2008) Climate change mitigation measures and water. In: Climate change and water. Technical Paper of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC Secretariat, Geneva, pp 115–25

    Google Scholar 

  • Battisti DS, Naylor RL (2009) Historical warnings of future food insecurity with unprecendented seasonal heat. Science 323: 240–244

    Google Scholar 

  • Briggs C (2012) Environmental change and water-related health risks: an arctic security approach. In: Grover V (ed) Impact of climate change on water and health. CRC Press Christian Aid. 2007. Human Tide: The Real Migration Crisis. A Christian Aid Report. Christian Aid, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Conca K (2006) Pushing rivers around: the cumulative toll on the world’s watersheds and freshwater ecosystems. In: Governing water: contentious transnational politics and global institution building. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 73–93

    Google Scholar 

  • Cruickshank A, Grover V (2012) Impact of climate change in Africa. In: Grover V (ed) Impact of climate change on water and health. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • Dasgupta S, Laplante B, Murray S, Wheeler D (2009) Sea-level rise and storm surges [Policy Research Working Paper 4901]. The World Bank- Development Research Group- Environment and Energy Team, Washington DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Degu AM, Hossain F (2011) Investigating the mesoscale impact of artificial reservoirs on frequency of rain. Water Resources Research

    Google Scholar 

  • Degu AM, Hossain F, Niyogi D, Pielke R, Shepherd JM, Voisin N, Chronis T (2011) The influence of large dams on surrounding climate and precipitation patterns. Geophys Res Lett 38(4)

    Google Scholar 

  • Dixit A, Gyawali D, Pandey U (2012) Improved access to safe drinking water, sanitation and health: foundations for adapting to climate change impacts in Nepal. In Grover V (ed) Impact of climate change on water and health. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • Eriksen S, O’Brien K, Rosentrater L (2008) Climate change in Eastern and Southern Africa: impacts, vulnerability and adaptation. Global Environmental Change and Human Security Project, Olso, Norway

    Google Scholar 

  • Fields S (2005) Continental divide: why Africa’s climate change Burden is greater. Environ Health Perspect 113:A534–A537

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • GHF 2009 [Global Humanitarian Forum] Human impact report-climate change: the anatomy of a silent crisis. Global Humanitarian Forum, Geneva, Switzerland

    Google Scholar 

  • Grover VI (ed) (2012) Impact of climate change on water and health. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • Gupta J (2012) Climate change and water law: the regimes compared. In: Grover V (ed) Impact of climate change on water and health. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • Hansen J (2007) Scientific reticence and sea level rise. Environ Res Lett 2:024002. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/2/2/024002

  • Hewelet JD (1985) Principles of hydrology. The University of Georgia Press, Athens

    Google Scholar 

  • Hossain F, Degu A, Woldemichael AT, Yigzaw W, Mitra C, Shepherd JM, Siddique-E-Akbor AHM (2012) Analysis of rainfall patterns in the context of rapid urbanization and water resources vulnerability of an Asian Mega City. Water Resources Research

    Google Scholar 

  • Hulme M, Doherty R, Ngara T, New M, Lister D (2001) African climate change: 1900–2100. Clim Res 17:145–168

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IPCC (1998) The regional impacts of climate change—an assessment of vulnerability. A special report of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change WGII. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • IPCC (2007) Climate change 2007: synthesis report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Core Writing Team, Pachauri RK, Reisinger A (eds) IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland, http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_ipcc_fourth_assessment_report_synthesis_report.htm

  • IPCC (2008) Climate change mitigation measures and water. pp 115–125 In: Bates B, Kundzewicz ZW, Wu S, Palutikof J (eds). Climate change and water. Technical paper of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. IPCC Secretariat, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  • IPCC (2013) Climate change 2013: the physical science basis. In: Stocker TF, Qin D, Plattner G-K, Tignor M, Allen SK, Boschung J, Nauels A, Xia Y, Bex V, Midgley PM (eds) Contribution of working group I to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA (in press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones CG, Willén U, Ullerstig A, Hansson U (2004) The rossby centre regional atmospheric climate model part I: model climatology and performance for the present climate over europe. Ambio 33:(4–5) 199–210

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaufmann RK, Seto KC, Schneider A, Liu Z, Zhou L, Wang W (2007) Climate response to rapid urban growth: evidence of a human-induced precipitation deficit. J Clim 20(10):2299–2306

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kjellström E, Döscher R, Meier HEM (2005) Atmospheric response to different sea surface temperatures in the Baltic Sea: coupled versus uncoupled regional climate model experiments. Nordic Hydrology 36:(4–5) 397–409

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindgren E (2012) Water-related health effects of climate change in Sweden. In: Grover V (ed) Impact of climate change on water and health. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • Lobell DB, Burke MB (2008) Why are agricultural impacts of climate change so uncertain? the importance of temperature relative to precipitation. Environ Res Lett 3

    Google Scholar 

  • Magrath J (2006) Africa: up in smoke 2. New Economics Foundation and International Institute for Environment and Development, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Mastrandrea MD, Field CB, Stocker TF, Edenhofer O, Ebi KL, Frame DJ, Held H, Kriegler E, Mach KJ, Matschoss PR, Plattner G-K, Yohe GW, Zwiers FW (2010) Guidance note for lead authors of the IPCC fifth assessment report on consistent treatment of uncertainties. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Available at http://www.ipcc.ch

  • McMichael AJ, Campbell-Lendrum DH, Corvalan CF, Ebi KL, Githeko AK, Scheraga JD, Woodward A (2003) Climate change and human health: risks and responses, WHO. Accessed from http://www.who.int/globalchange/publications/climchange.pdf

  • Milly PCD, Dunne KA, Vecchia AVE (2005) Global pattern of trends in streamflow and water availability in a changing climate. Nature 438(17):347–350

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mitra C, Shepherd JM, Jordan T (2011) On the relationship between the premonsoonal rainfall climatology and urban land cover dynamics in Kolkata city, India. Int J Climatol, 7 June 2011. doi:10.1002/joc.2366. Accessed 24 Sept 2011

  • Obama BH (2009) A just and lasting peace. In: Nobel Lecture, Oslo

    Google Scholar 

  • Parry ML, Canziani OF, Palutikof JP, Van der Linden PJ, Hanson CE (eds) (2007) Climate change 2007: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. In: Contribution of working group II to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Rabbani G, Huq S, Rahman SH (2012) Impacts of climate change on water resources and human health: empirical evidences from a coastal district (Satkhira) in Bangladesh. In: Grover V (ed) Impact of climate change on water and health. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • Rawat JS (2009) Saving Himalayan Rivers: developing spring sanctuaries in headwater regions. In: Shah BL (ed) Natural resource conservation in Uttarakhand, Ankit Prakashan, Haldwani, India

    Google Scholar 

  • Renaud F, Bogardi JJ, Dun O, Warner K (2007) Control, adapt or flee how to face environmental migration?, vol 7. Intersections UNU, Bonn

    Google Scholar 

  • Schäfer ML, Lundström JO, Petersson, E (2008) Comparison of mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) populations by wetland type and year in the lower river dalälven region, Central Sweden. J Vector Ecol 33:(1) 150–157

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharma E, Bhuchar S, Xing M, Kothyari BP (2007) Land use change and its impact on hydro-ecological linkages in Himalayan watersheds. Trop Ecol 48(2):151–161

    Google Scholar 

  • Shem W, Shepherd M (2009) On the impact of urbanization on summertime thunderstorms in Atlanta: two numerical model case studies. Atmos Res 92(1):172–189

    Google Scholar 

  • Shepherd JM (2005) A review of current investigations of urban-induced rainfall and recommendations for the future. Earth Interact 9:1–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smakhtin V, Revenge C, Doll P, Tharme R (2003) Putting the water requirements of into the global picture of water resources assessment. IWMI, Colombo

    Google Scholar 

  • Stern N (2007) The economics of climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council (2014) Influences on Great Lakes water levels. Accessed from http://www.watershedcouncil.org/water%20resources/great%20lakes/threats-to-the-great-lakes/great-lakes-water-levels/other-opinions-on-low-water-levels/

  • Tiwari PC (2008) Management of common pool wasteland for rural livelihood improvement in the Himalayas, sustainable solutions: a spotlight on South Asian research. In: Proceedings of 10th international sustainable development conference, Dec 2007. Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Islamabad, Pakistan, pp 75–101

    Google Scholar 

  • Tiwari PC, Joshi B (2012) Rainfall variability and its impacts on water resources and rural health in Kumaon Himalaya, India. In: Grover V (ed) Impact of climate change on water and health. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • Trenberth KE, Fasullo JT. Kiehl J (2009) Earth’s global energy budget. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 90(3):311–323 (29 July 2009). doi:10.1175/2008BAMS2634.1

  • Confalonieri UEC, Ferreira IB, Barros BF (2012) Climate change and health impacts in Brazil: a discussion on “hotspots”. In: Grover V (ed) Impact of climate change on water and health. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO-WWAP (2009) Climate change and water: an overview from the world water development report 3: water in a changing world, A United Nations World Water Assessment Programme Special Report: WaterAid, Climate Change and water Resources (May 2007). Accessed from http://www.wateraid.org/documents/climate_change_and_water_resources_1.pdf

  • Water Aid, May (2007) Climate change and water resources. Accessed from http://www.wateraid.org/documents/climate_change_and_water_resources_1.pdf

  • Webersik C (2012) Climate change, water and health: current impacts and future challenges for human security. In: Grover V (ed) Impact of climate change on water and health. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • [World Bank 2009] Alavian VHA, Qaddumi HH, Dickson E, Diez SM, Danilenko AV, Hirji RF, Puz G, Pizarro C, Jacobsen M, Blankespoor B (2009) Water and climate change: understanding the risks and making climate-smart investment decisions. The World Bank, Water Sector Board, Bank Netherlands Water Partnership Program and Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

    Google Scholar 

  • WHO (2008) Protecting health from climate change—World Health Day 2008. World Resources Institute, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme, and World Bank. World Resources, 2000–2001, 2000: People and Ecosystems, the Fraying Web of Life. World Resources Institute, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • World Water Assessment Programme (2009) The United Nations World Water Development Report 3: Water in a Changing World. UNESCO, Paris and Earthscan, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Xiangzheng D, Jikun H, Fangbin Q, Naylor RL, Falcon WP, Burke M, Rozelle S, Battisti D (2010) Impacts of el nino-southern oscillation events on china’s rice production. J Geogr Sci 20: 3–16

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kobe College, Nishinomiya, Japan

    Velma I. Grover

Authors
  1. Velma I. Grover
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Velma I. Grover .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Water Engineering and Management, Asian Institute of Technology, Klong Luang, Pathum Thani, Thailand

    Sangam Shrestha

  2. Food Engineering & Bioprocess Technology, Asian Institute of Technology, Klong Luang, Thailand

    Anil K. Anal

  3. School of Env., Res. and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, City, Thailand

    P. Abdul Salam

  4. The Netherlands Ntl. Committee IHP-HWRP, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Michael van der Valk

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Grover, V.I. (2015). Impact of Climate Change on the Water Cycle. In: Shrestha, S., Anal, A., Salam, P., van der Valk, M. (eds) Managing Water Resources under Climate Uncertainty. Springer Water. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10467-6_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation