Water Affairs:

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Monday, 4 December

• Water Affairs
• An overview

Another
Local WATER Crises
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Objective of Water Affairs

• Foster multidisciplinary focus on water issues
  and water-related issues
• Embed hydrological science in its societal
  setting
• Educate educators and train trainers in a wide
  range of areas about the hidden as well as
  obvious connections among water, atmospheric
  processes and human activities
• Distinguish between wants and needs
• Build human and institutional capacity to cope
  with a wide range of water and water-related
  issues
• Catalyze interactions among the water, weather
  and climate applications, research and outreach
  communities

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Water Affairs the societal setting

• Precipitation, surface and ground water as
  resources
• Water as hazard
• Inter-linkages among climate, water and weather
• Cannot talk about climate without talking about
  water
• Cannot talk about water without talking about
  climate or weather

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Water Affairs as a Program(the purpose)

• Encourage education on water and water-related
  issues for educators, trainers and their students
  and for people in water-sensitive sectors already
  in the workforce
• Understand how climate affects water resources
• Understand how society affects water resources
• Understand how water affects societies
• Bridge the water and climate research and science
  application communities
• Bridge research communities focused on climate
  variability and on climate change

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Water Affairs Why now?

• Water Issues
• increasingly important to regional
  organizations, governments, the public
• Perceptions and reality of water availability
• water resources are becoming more scarce around
  the globe many people in the developing world do
  not have access to clean (potable) water
• concerns about water-related hotspots
• Global Warming and the hydrologic cycle
• looming throughout the 21st century where will
  it get drier and where will it get wetter? Where
  will there be surplus and where will there be
  shortages?

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Tactical Reasons for Societal Concern about Water

• Droughts, Floods and Forest Bush fires
• Cyclones, Typhoons, Hurricanes and Landfall
• Existing inequalities in access to clean water
• Water-related Infectious Diseases
• Global Warming and shifting local and regional
  water patterns
• Seasonal and Extremes

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Strategic Reasons for Societal Concern about
Water

• Food Production Security
• Flood recession farming
• Groundwater and boreholes
• Water Resources
• For settlements
• For drinking
• for industrial and municipal use
• for irrigation and for hydropower
• Water Hazards
• Rainfall and water- and vector-borne diseases
• Flooding and Public Safety
• Economic impacts associated with floods
• Environment salt water intrusion, groundwater
  recharge

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Climate Change Impacts on the United States,
USGCRP, 2000
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Four aspects of concern about water
timing
quality
space
and seasonality
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Water Affairs the time dimension

• Water Variability
• (daily, seasonal to inter-annual)
• Water Fluctuations
• (decade scale variability)
• Water Change
• (new global atmoshperic/hydrological state)
• Extreme Hydrologic Events
• (torrential rains, flash floods, floods)
• Seasonality of Water
• (shift in seasonal precipitation,
  streamflow and runoff patterns, and in societal
  demands)

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Seasonality in the Media Headlines
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Bringing water to the people in the desert
(e.g., Central Asia)
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Water Affairs the space dimension

• Rivers and Streams
• Lakes, seas and inland water bodies
• Aquifers
• River basins
• within country
• between countries
• Transboundary watercourses
• Upstream - Downstream issues
• Continental water balance
• Global hydrologic cycle
• Move people to water or move water to people?

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Yellow River Turns Red In Northwest China
(October 23, 2006)

• Beijing (Xinhua News)
• A stretch of China's Yellow River has turned red
  near a major industrial city, with environmental
  officials suspecting local heating companies of
  being behind the spill... A one-kilometer (0.62
  miles) section of the river in Lanzhou city, in
  northwest China's Gansu province, began turning
  red on Sunday afternoon.

TerraDaily
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Water Affairs the quality dimension

• Sources of toxic substances
• Recipients of toxic substances
• Impacts on
• Ecological health
• Human health
• Precautionary Principle
• Transboundary conflicts

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How climate affects timing, location and quality
of water

• Expected variability
• Seasonal
• Inter-annual
• Decade scale changes
• e.g., Colorado River (1922 to present)
• Extreme meteorological events
• Changes in seasonal behavior
• Droughts and floods
• High temperatures
• Increased evaporation
• Increased water demands

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Water Affairs Aspects
WATER

• Water, Weather Climate Sciences
• Water Impacts
• On ecosystems
• On societies
• Water Policy Law
• Water Politics
• Water Economics
• Water Technology Technique
• Water Ethics Equity