Fifth U.S National Climate Assessment and What It Means for the Water and Wastewater Sector

This week the Biden Administration and the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) released the Fifth National Climate Assessment, which is designed to assist and inform a broad audience of decision-makers, including water and wastewater utility operators, in understanding, assessing, predicting, and responding to climate change. The leading chapter in the Nation Topics section, which summarizes current and future risks related to climate change, focuses on water.

In the Water chapter, the report emphasizes climate change will continue to cause profound changes in the water cycle, increasing the risk of flooding, drought, and degraded water supplies for both people and ecosystems. Exacerbating the challenge, the report notes water cycle changes will affect some communities disproportionately and adaptation to these changes, in particular with water infrastructure standards and management policies, has been slow and uneven. Ten regional chapters assess current and future risks posed by climate change from the Northeast to Hawai’i and the Pacific Islands. For all these challenges, the report stresses the importance of adaptation, with a separate chapter dedicated to discussing adaptation and aspects like equity, governance, collaboration, and finance. Elsewhere in the report, there are recommendations to upgrade stormwater infrastructure to account for heavier rainfall, install more green infrastructure, and be prepared for more demand for water given increases in average temperatures and more intense heatwaves. The report also encourages decision-makers to engage in mitigation projects intended to limit further changes to the climate, observing U.S. emissions have fallen since peaking in 2007 but without deeper cuts climate risks will continue to grow. On both adaptation and mitigation, the report provides many useful examples of community projects for decision-makers to consider. Access the report at NCA 5 and read related coverage at NOAA and Climate.gov.