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• Board Meeting Date: 11/18/2007
• Description: CF Section – Referred Non-Reimbursable Investments - CWCB - Climate Change Analysis
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

elements will include: Scientific Investigation; Analysis of Water Rights Allocations and
Compacts; Comprehensive Drought Planning; and Information Exchange and Education.
According to the June 2006 Western Governor's Association Report entitled, '`Water Needs and
Strategies for a Sustainable Future", average temperatures in the West have reportedly risen 2-5
degrees F during the 20~` century and are predicted to continue rising into the future resulting in
the following impacts:
~ Smaller snowpacks
~ Earlier snowmelt
~ More extreme flood events
~ More evaporation and dryness
~ Less groundwater
~ More droughts
• More wildfires
~ Recreation and environmental impacts
The Report event on to recommend that while recognizing the uncertainties inherent in climate
prediction, efforts should be made to focus on vulnerabilities and building increased resiliency to
climactic extremes. Efforts should include improved data collection, improved prediction,
modeling, and impact assessment. States should assume a greater role in assessing historical,
current, and projected climate trends and relate these to potential changes in water supply, in
order to prepare for and mitigate the impact from climate change and variability. States should
include the analysis of climate change scenarios and coordinate more proactively and broadly
with local governments and water users in their climate change planning efforts.
Project Description
The American Water Works Association Research Foundation's and the National Center for
Atmospheric Research's 2006 publication entitled, "Climate Change and Water Resources: A
Primer for Municipal Water Providers" states that in order to plan efficiently, it is important to
understand how and why climate may change in the future and how that may affect the resources
upon which the water utility industry depends. The Climate Change Effects on Colorado Water
Resources Study Project will include the following activities to achieve atwo-pronged approach
in collaboration and partnership with other federal, state, and local entities engaged in
developing and assessing potential water adaptation strategies to address climate change:
~ Explore, compare, and contrast future climate scenarios to be used at the regional level
~ Assist in ongoing efforts to superimpose those potential changes on water resource
systems to assess system reliability
~ Participate in ongoing efforts currently underway by federal agencies, and large water
providers in the State, such as Denver Water, Colorado Springs Utilities, and Boulder, to
develop appropriate hydrologic models
~ Identify the mechanisms necessary for such hydrologic modeling to be fully integratable
in the State's Decision Support Systems
~ Analyze how potentially altered streamflow patterns affect water supplies based on new
and different call patterns
~ Assist water users in their efforts to identify their most critical vulnerabilities, articulate
the causes for those vulnerabilities and provide technical assistance