Recent scientific studies continue to increasingly support the notion that climate change is occurring across the globe. Climate change is and has been a natural process; however, scientists believe that humans are accelerating this change by adding carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) into the atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels. Dr. Mike O’Neill, National Program Leader for Water Resources at USDA-NIFA, indicates that water professionals have been dealing with the manifestations of climate change for a long time by addressing drought, flooding, seasonal changes in precipitation, and the coupling of water and temperature stress on natural and agricultural watersheds. He goes on to say that “today’s challenge is that demand for water resources continues to expand despite natural and human-induced scarcity of water resources. So now, we must find ways to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness in water resources management to meet the growing water demands for energy, agriculture, society, and environment.” Our mountain snow pack is a major climate change issue. A recent report issued by the scientific community indicates that global warming will increase the severity of floods, droughts, and sea-level rise. Dr. Reagan Waskom, Director of the Colorado Water Institute at Colorado State University, indicates “more mundane vulnerabilities such as decreased or variable water supplies, reduced water quality, and loss of ecological services are also likely threats that accompany climate change. In particular, water resources in most of the western United States are already over-appropriated, leaving little, if any margin for further reductions caused by climate change.” Climate change has the potential to impact many aspects of our lives here in the Pacific Northwest. It is likely that climate change will first manifest itself in the availability and use of water resources normally taken for granted here in the Pacific Northwest. Potential impacts of climate change on water resources in the Pacific Northwest over the next five to ten years: Annual maountain snow pack and consequent timing of water runoff into rivers and reservoirs Availability of irrigation water for agriculture Storage and supply of water for municipalities Water levels and the health of coastal ecosystems Viability of fish, birds, and other wildlife Melting of permafrost in Alaska Hydropower production Based on scientific data and modeling the Pacific Northwest Regional Water Resources Team plans to educate citizens in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington about the effects of climate change on our water resources. Rather than concentrating on a net increase or decrease in annual precipitation patterns, we feel that the change in how fast the mountain snow pack melts in the spring will have a significant impact on many of our industries. We feel that climate change could have an important impact on many aspects of our water resources over the next five to ten years (see box).

Pacific Northwest Regional Water Quality Coordination Project Partners Land Grant Universities Alaska Cooperative Extension Service Contact Fred Sorensen: 907-786-6311 http://www.uaf.edu/ces/water/ University Publications: http://www.alaska.edu/uaf/ces/publications/ Idaho University of Idaho Cooperative Extension System Contact Bob Mahler: 208-885-7025 http://www.uidaho.edu/wq/wqhome.html University Publications: http://info.ag.uidaho.edu/Catalog/catalog.html Oregon Oregon State University Extension Service Contact Mike Gamroth: 541-737-3316 http://extension.oregonstate.edu/ University Publications: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/ Washington Washington State University WSU Extension Contact Bob Simmons: 360-427-9670 ext. 690 http://wawater.wsu.edu/ University Publications: http://pubs.wsu.edu/ Northwest Indian College Contact Dan Burns: 360-392-4328 dburns@nwic.edu or http://www.nwic.edu/ Water Resource Research Institutes Water and Environmental Research Center (Alaska) http://www.uaf.edu/water/ Idaho Water Resources Research Institute http://www.boise.uidaho.edu/ Institute for Water and Watersheds (Oregon) http://water.oregonstate.edu/ State of Washington Water Research Center http://www.swwrc.wsu.edu/ Environmental Protection Agency EPA, Region 10 The Pacific Northwest http://www.epa.gov/r10earth/ Office of Research and Development, Corvallis Laboratory http://www.epa.gov/wed/ For more information contact Jan Seago at 206-553-0038 or seago.jan@epa.gov
	The Project Land Grant Universities, Water Research Institutes and EPA Region 10 have formed a partnership to provide research and education to communities about protecting or restoring the quality of water resources. This partnership is being supported in part by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Our Goal and Approach The goal of this Project is to provide leadership for water resources research, education and outreach to help people, industry and governments to prevent and solve current and emerging water quality and quantity problems. The approach to achieving this goal is for the Partners to develop a coordinated regional water quality effort based on, and strengthening, individual state programs. Our Strengths The Project promotes regional collaboration by acknowledging existing programs and successful efforts; assessing program gaps; identifying potential issues for cross-agency and private sector collaboration, and developing a clearinghouse of expertise and programs. In addition, the Project establishes or enhances partnerships with federal, state and local environmental and water resource management agencies, such as by placing a University Liaison within the offices of EPA Region 10.
	The melting of snow pack in our mountains has an important impact on river flow, the filling of reservoirs, irrigated agriculture, water for municipalities, power production, and recreational opportunities. Twenty years ago we had a later and longer snow melt season. This longer season resulted in a plentiful and continuous supply of water for many important water dependent activities in our region. However, in recent years our snow pack has melted earlier in the spring and over a shorter period than normal. Climate change models indicate that this early melt should become much more common in the future. The early melt will have significant consequences that Pacific Northwest citizens will have to adapt to. An early melt can overwhelm reservoir capacities resulting in water spillage through dams at the expense of mid-season power production, water storage for irrigation and municipalities, and late season stream flows for fish and recreationists. We must be prepared to deal with these changes that will occur in the not too distant future!
	National Water Quality Program Areas The four land grant universities in the Pacific Northwest have aligned our water resource extension and research efforts with eight themes of the USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Animal Waste Management Drinking Water and Human Health Environmental Restoration Nutrient and Pesticide Management Pollution Assessment and Prevention Watershed Management Water Conservation and Agricultural Water Management Water Policy and Economics
	NIFA is the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, a sub-agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, and is the federal partner in this water quality program.

Download the informational PDF flyer here

HOME | About | Calendar | Contacts | Links | PNW Water Updates | Sitemap NIFA National Water Quality Program This material is based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under Agreement No. 2008-51130-04734. all external sites will open in a new browser window page last modified on November 31, 2008