Modeling The Effects Of Climatic Changes On Availability And Quality Of Water

Modeling the effects of climatic changes on availability and quality of water R.J. Oglesby, D.I. Leap, W.-Y. Sun & E.M. Agee Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Purdue University, 1397 Civil Building, West Lafayette, Introduction Mankind's water supply depends largely upon precipitation for resupply and regeneration. Thus, its quantity, availability, and quality are direct functions of climatic patterns. Natural climatic changes, varying from drought to flood conditions, are capable of drastically altering water supplies. Anthropogenic climate changes due to industrialization, agriculture, urbanization, and other activities are also capable of having profound effects on water supplies. A comprehensive, fully-coupled climate- water model suite is being developed to understand and ultimately predict the effects of global and regional climatic changes upon the availability and quality of water supplies. This methodology will be applicable to any region of t