Adaptation of U.S. Water Management to Climate and Environmental Change

This study addresses the current status of U.S. water resource management adaptation at the river basin scale. Four large basins, the Colorado, Platte, and Delaware rivers, as well as the Everglades Basin were examined to gain a diverse national perspective. The research program utilized qualitative methods, including observation, interviews, and questionnaires, to survey diverse basin management participants. Fifty-four participants in the case basins were interviewed on their perceptions and actions concerning the effects of climate variability and change. The research objective was to compare the cases in an adaptation assessment. Water decision makers in the United States make basin resource decisions based on a local physical and sociocultural environment. Therefore, although climate change is a global hazard, the characteristic local responses are unique for each of the study basins. The most employed adaptation method currently cited is a paradigm shift from command and control of basin resources to adaptable, flexible, no-regrets strategies, effective as responses to a wide array of potential effects from global environmental change.