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Climate Change Impacts on California’s Water Resources

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Drought in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions

Abstract

While California’s water resources and infrastructure are already facing critical challenges in terms of providing Californians with adequate water supply, numerous studies have demonstrated the unfavorable impacts of climate change on the state’s water supply system. As such, observed temperature increases, changing precipitation patterns, variations in runoff timing and magnitude resulting from changes in snow accumulation and melt characteristics, and recent droughts in California may be partly attributable to changing hydro-climatic conditions. Hence, from a water supply standpoint, the study of climate change and consequent hydrologic variability bear important implications for water resources planning and management in California. This chapter aims to illustrate how climate change and its associated impacts have affected or are expected to affect California’s water resources. Additionally, implications for water infrastructure and a summary of strategies for adaptation to climate change are presented.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The largest surface reservoir is Shasta with storage capacity of 4.5 MAF.

  2. 2.

    As an example, salinity levels in the San Francisco Bay Delta violated water quality standards in three straight years at the end of 1987–1992 drought (Wilkinson et al. 2002).

  3. 3.

    Increased urban demand is expected as a result of population growth.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, 49931, USA

    Ali Mirchi & David W. Watkins

  2. Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, 32816, USA

    Kaveh Madani

  3. California Department of Water Resources, 3310 El Camino Ave, P.O. Box 219000, Sacramento, CA, 95821, USA

    Maurice Roos

Authors
  1. Ali Mirchi
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  2. Kaveh Madani
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  3. Maurice Roos
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  4. David W. Watkins
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ali Mirchi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Environmental Sciences, University of California, Riverside, University Avenue 900, Riverside, 92521, California, USA

    Kurt Schwabe

  2. CITA-DGA, Department of Agricultural Economics, Agrifood Research and Technology Centre, Avenida Montañana 930, Zaragoza, 50059, Spain

    Jose Albiac

  3. CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems – Urrbrae, Waite Road, Glen Osmond, 5064, South Australia, Australia

    Jeffery D. Connor

  4. Centre for Environmental Economics and P, Agricultural Economics, University of Pretoria, Lynnwood Road, Pretoria, 0002, South Africa

    Rashid M. Hassan

  5. , Department of Economics, Ibero-American University, Prolongacion Paseo de la Reforma 880, Mexico City, 01219, Distrito Federal, Mexico

    Liliana Meza González

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Mirchi, A., Madani, K., Roos, M., Watkins, D.W. (2013). Climate Change Impacts on California’s Water Resources. In: Schwabe, K., Albiac, J., Connor, J., Hassan, R., Meza González, L. (eds) Drought in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6636-5_17

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