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Climate Change Impacts on Water Resources and Sustainable Water Management Strategies in North America

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Abstract

Water scarcity is exacerbating in many regions across North America because of climate change compounded by population growth, overexploitation of freshwater resources, and lack of proper management. Considering the regional urgency, there is an immense need to find more equitable solutions for water management. Therefore, this paper aims to examine the climatic factors impacting the hydrological regime in North America, including changes in surface runoff, groundwater storage, and the forested watershed, based on current trends and future projection scenarios. Moreover, this paper critically overviews need-based solutions for effective water management at a regional scale. The study shows that many areas of North America are exposed to extreme events such as prolonged droughts, devastating floods, wildfires, and altering precipitation patterns. Consequently, these changes are triggering wide-ranging impacts on water resources, leading to water supply deficiencies and influencing water flows and quality in the Southwestern United States, prairie provinces in Canada, and Mexico. The projection of warming around the region experiences spatial and seasonal variations because of the diversity in climatic conditions. Overall, in North America, winter is expected to warm more than other seasons causing earlier runoff and a decline in snowmelt. Given the physical and economic constraints that limit the development of new utilities, emphasis should be placed on strengthening nature-based solutions such as green infrastructure. Thus, the findings suggest an integrated water resource management approach is required, along with climate-induced innovative technologies, to secure the water resources while preparing for the forecasted challenges of tomorrow.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, H3G 1M8, Canada

    Zunaira Asif, Zhi Chen & Yinying Zhu

  2. School of Engineering (Okanagan Campus), University of British Columbia, Kelowna, BC, Canada

    Rehan Sadiq

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  1. Zunaira Asif
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Contributions

Writing and data analysis: Z. Asif; Supervision and editing: Z. Chen, Reviewing and editing: R. Sadiq; Literature studies: Y. Zhu. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Zhi Chen.

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Asif, Z., Chen, Z., Sadiq, R. et al. Climate Change Impacts on Water Resources and Sustainable Water Management Strategies in North America. Water Resour Manage 37, 2771–2786 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-023-03474-4

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