Making the Connections

摘要

The debate is no longer whether climate change is real-but rather how it will affect the earth's future. Global warming is now widely accepted as a reality-and most experts agree that it is human-caused. The effect of greenhouse gases pouring into the atmosphere is being demonstrated daily as storms grow stronger, ice sheets in Greenland and West Antarctica melt at alarming rates, and precipitation shifts northward. These and other potential environmental effects must become part and parcel of each utility's water supply planning efforts, just as this exercise would factor-in population growth, increased demand, and water conservation. It's imperative for water utilities to plan now for future changes, even if there is still uncertainty about what changes the future may bring and how these changes may affect water supplies. As Wallis et al (page 70) note, even though there is no model to predict the effects of rising temperatures, the case study and strategies presented in their article do provide a framework that can help utilities with long-term planning and decision-making.