Climate Change Impacts on Water Resources Management in the Upper Thames River Basin, Canada and Luan River Basin, China

Funding

Western University
China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (IWHR)

Project time

2014 - 2016

Principal investigators

Slobodan P. Simonovic, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Western University
Zhiyong Yang, PhD, Water Resources Department, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research

Project team

Slobodan P. Simonovic, Professor, Western University
Zhiyong Yang, PhD, IWHR
Patrick A. Breach, MESc Student, Western University, contact person, email

Project description

Projected changes in climate, frequencies of hazards such as drought and flood, and the resiliency of socio-economic systems to climate change varies from one region to another. This research aims to address the differences in projected climate change and its impacts for both the Upper Thames River Basin, Canada and the Luan River Basin, China through a collaborative effort with the China Institute for Water Resources and Hydropower Research (IWHE).

Three key areas will be addressed in this comparative research study:

Future climate change projections Identical methodologies will be used to downscale future climate variables of precipitation and temperature from a suite of Global Climate Models (GCMs). Comparisons will be drawn with the selected methods to assess their applicability in different climate zones. Additionally, temporal and spatial trends in historical and projected climate will be assessed providing information on how each region will potentially be influenced by climate change in the future.

Impacts of climate change on the hydrologic system Future scaled precipitation and temperature will be used in two calibrated hydrological models for each basin to quantify the changes in frequency of extreme events such as flooding or drought, as well as available water resources. This comparison will provide estimates of how sensitive each hydrologic system will be to a changing climate.

Resiliency of socio-economic systems within each respective basin Using the information provided by the first two stages of the project, a coupled socio-economic and hydrologic model will be used to link changes in future climate to water resources management in each region using a system dynamics approach. With this method, policies that govern water resources management in each region can be assessed under a changing climate to view how state variables of each system may be affected such as housing, land use, water availability, and business activity. In system dynamics studies, it is often found that small changes in system structure can lead to dramatic results. This study aims to identify potential benefits to the way water resources are used and regulated in each region to aid in climate change adaptation.

Project Publications

None.

Project Papers

None.

Project Reports

None.

Project Presentations

Climate Change Impact Analysis. 1st Project Meeting at The China Institute for Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing. Presented by Patrick Breach Hydropower Research, Beijing. June, 2014.

Introduction to Previous Work in the Luanhe and Haihe River Basins. 1st Project Meeting at the China Institute for Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing. Presented by Yingdong Yu. June, 2014.

Other

None.