Climate change impacts on water for agriculture in California : a case study in the Sacramento Valley : white paper

Global climate change has the potential to dramatically alter hydrologic conditions in California by changing the spatial and temporal patterns of snow accumulation and snow melt. The water management infrastructure in California has been designed and is operated in accordance with historic hydrologic patterns. Understanding if and how this infrastructure can be managed in the face of global climate change in order to meet the array of vital water management objectives for the system is a critical research question addressed in part by this study. Here an application of the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) system, developed by the Stockholm Environment Institute, is presented for California's Sacramento River Basin. WEAP is an integrated hydrology and water resources systems model that allows for assessment of climate change impact and adaptation in the water sector based solely on future climate time series. The model is used to evaluate the impact of four future climate scenarios on agricultural water management in the region, and to investigate whether water management adaptation could reduce potential impacts.