As global climate changes continue to effect precipitation patterns, stream conditions are predicted to demonstrate more severe and frequent extremes at accelerating rates throughout this century. As stream conditions such as water temperatures and flow regimes, among others, increasingly deviate from historical norms, water quality and water quantity models, developed and claibrated to those norms, are likely to become less reliable. The electric power sector, among many other stakeholders, relies heavily on a wide variety of water models to inform power plant operators and environmental managers of appropriate actions to take related to ensuring water availability and protecting water quality in water bodies recieving effluents. Therefore, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has developed a program specifically to identify, evaluate, and suggest improvements of available water-based models. Researchers will scope out what models are available for both watershed and water-power sector modeling, discuss their strengths, weaknesses, and sensitivities to variability of water resource/quality parameters, and determine ease of integration, scaling, aggregation, and/or calibration of the models. In addition, this effort will explore the potential of new modeling using remotely sensed data and big data analytics. This effort will allow EPRI and funding members to understand the effects of climate change-related drivers on water resources, water quality, and aquatic ecosystems. It will also allow for long-range planning in adapting to a changing climate and to assess risks, trade-offs, and strategies for managing water in changing climate conditions.

Sensitivity analysis of existing water models to effects of climate change

2019 Fall National Meeting

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