Book Summary of Climate Change and US Water Resources by Paul E. Waggoner, ed.
Citation:
Climate Change and US Water Resources, Paul E. Waggoner (ed). (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1990), 477pp.
This Book Summary written by: T.A. O'Lonergan, Conflict Research Consortium
Climate Change and US Water Resources is a careful examination of
the effect of the greenhouse effect (global warming as a result of
increases in CO2 and ozone depletion) on the supply of
and demand for water resources. The work is comprised of multiple
free-standing essays.
Climate Change and US Water Resources is required reading for ARSC
5020/7020 as taught by Professors Glantz and Wescoat. This work will be of
interest to the informed reader who wishes to broaden her understanding of the
effect of global warming on water resources. It is a
report to the American Association for the Advancement of Science Panel on
Climatic Variability, Climate Change and the Planning and Management of US Water
Resources. It begins with a page on conversion factors, useful to those not
versed in the measurement of water resources. This is followed by a
summary of the work and recommendations to the Panel. The recommendations are
divided into three categories, recommendations to: scientists, public bodies,
and private persons and enterprises.
The remainder of the book is divided into four sections. The first section
concerns the setting . The editor begins this section with an examination of
the issues. This is followed by three additional works by separate authors.
The first is an examination of what future water use might look like under the
present climate conditions. Next, prospects for climate change
and finally decision-making under uncertainty are addressed. Section
two is comprised of six works addressing the general topic of the relationship
of climate to water resources. After an examination of climate
forecasting, an explanation of what statistics can tell us is
presented. Next, the effect of climate change and CO2
enrichment on evapotranspiration is addressed. The next two
chapters focus upon the progression from climate conditions to water flow to
storage of water. The final chapter in this section is an essay by Peter H
Gleick on the vulnerability of water systems.
The largest section of the book is section three which is comprised of eight
chapters, each representing separate works addressing impacts and responses.
The first five chapters in this section focus upon the impacts of changes in
water resources on: flooding and the frequency of droughts,
irrigation, water quality, recreation and wildlife,
and urban water. The last three chapters address: water electricity and
institutional innovation, reallocation by markets and prices, and the
political agenda. The final section addresses climate change
and US water resources in a summary by the editor and Roger R.
Revelle.
Climate Change and US Water Resources is both; sufficiently rigorous
scientifically to provide new information to those working in the field of hydrology
or water resources management, and carefully written enough not to
exclude informed readers who are interested in water resources issues
but who are not hydrologists.
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