Climate change is an important and well-studied phenomenon and historical data tracking
changes in weather and climate are readily available. Climate change could induce shifts in mean
values for weather variables and/or cause new patterns in climate variability, both of which could
cause impacts on water demands, supplies, and source water quality. Water suppliers are
beginning to consider the potential impacts of climate change on future water supplies. However,
the focus of past work has been on water quantity impacts (e.g., flooding and droughts) rather
than on changes in water quality. This paper focuses on two aspects of climate change impacts
on selected water quality parameters for Lake Cachuma, near Goleta, California that include: an
assessment of how various climate change scenarios impact lake source water quality; and,
assessment of projecting seasonal to annual lake water quality changes using El Nino/Southern
Oscillation (ENSO) indicators observed in prior seasons. The climate change assessment
indicates that a warming climate will increase the likelihood of taste and odor events during the
dry season and of turbidity and apparent color if precipitation rates increase, while the ENSO
assessment suggests that dry season ENSO is a strong predictor of regional wet season
precipitation, with opportunities to forecast increases in turbidity and color. Includes 5 references, tables, figures.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 500 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 10 |
| Published : | 06/17/2004 |
