BC Water News Exclusive

OCT. 26, 2005

A Delicate Balance

Climate change conference offers BC another opportunity to stay on top of global warming issues

by Richard Hellmann | BC WATER NEWS

Brown and Caldwell isn't waiting for a definitive report on global warming to decide which way the wind is blowing. The company sees tomorrow’s conference in Seattle as another steppingstone not only to better understand climate disruption, but to better position itself to deal with the consequences of climate change.

The King County-sponsored conference, "The Future Ain’t What It Used to Be: Planning for Climate Disruption," has attracted a cross-section of government agencies, private businesses, tribes, farm groups, nonprofits and the community at-large. Workshops will address the effects of climate change and potential adaptation alternatives, as well as preparations for a future that may challenge some old but persistent assumptions.

"Most of us (BC experts) are going to the water supply session, but we'll have at least one person at each of the seven sessions," says BC Managing Engineer Bill Persich, P.E., who’s spent about 20 years living and working in the Pacific Northwest.

"Our goal is to help large communities with their water supply planning needs, to reassess their needs for the future, say, 50 years down the road," Persich says. "This conference is just another way for us to be better prepared for the inevitable."

Seattle planners say the region isn't necessarily running out of water, but improving infrastructure could allow the city to access millions of gallons of water that are now difficult to reach in its storage reservoirs. The challenge, they say, is getting the water to where it's needed.

"Basically, these folks are getting water at the wrong time of the year."

"Most people are worried about the water supply—or lack of it—from
melting snowpack," Persich says.

"The models suggest that we're
getting a lot less snowfall and a lot more rain, which doesn't accumulate
on the mountain slopes. Our reservoirs aren't geared to capture this all at once. The dams here aren't built big enough to handle this runoff either.

"Basically, these folks are getting water at the wrong time of the year."

BC engineers are working with Seattle Public Utilities, helping to formulate a comprehensive water/wastewater plan that will address these concerns, Persich says, as well as monitoring the larger communities—Tacoma, Seattle, Everett and Portland, which are most susceptible to climate change.

"Other ripple effects include water quality impacts, treatment facilities," Persich notes. "It's a delicate balance."

Scientists from the University of Washington Climate Impacts Group will review BC's projections for climate change in the Northwest, including likely results affecting loss of snow pack in the Cascades and Olympics, changing rainfall patterns and storm intensity, and reductions of water supply for agriculture, hydropower, fish habitat and municipalities.

Conference objectives include:

• Understanding the degree of climate change predicted in 20, 50 and 100 years in Washington state

• Understanding the potential climate change impacts on agriculture, coastal areas, fish/shellfish, flooding/stormwater/wastewater, forestry, hydropower and municipal water supply

• Reviewing climate change adaptation work already under way

• Identifying resource and information needs

• Identifying approaches for improving risk assessment and response

• Initiating a dialogue about climate change, adaptation and risk management

Featured speakers at the conference include Christine Todd Whitman, former governor of New Jersey and former federal EPA administrator; Dr. Stephen Schneider, a climate expert and lead author for international consensus documents on climate science; and John Cox, author of Climate Crash:Abrupt Climate Change and What It Means for Our Future.

For more details, visit the King County web site.

THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON WATER SUPPLIES: Jim Doane, BC's resident water engineer in Portland, put together a PowerPoint presentation in 2004 for a lecture at the University of Portland. It shows that temperature change is the result of human activity. His presentation explains the predictive models, the impacts to Portland's system and what the future may bring.