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August, 2010
 EPA Requests Comments on Climate Vulnerability Case Studies
EPA is accepting comments through October 7 on "Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments: Four Case Studies of Water Utility Practices," which presents case studies describing how four water utilities in the United States (East Bay MUD, NYCDEP, Seattle Public Utilities and Spartanburg Water) are assessing their vulnerability to climate change. AMWA, with the assistance of its climate change committee, plans to develop comments on the draft.
To review the draft and view informaiton on how to submit comments, Click Here.
July, 2010
Forest Service Releases Roadmap for Climate Change Response
The U.S. Forest Service recently released a roadmap for its response to climate change. With 20% of the nation’s water sources originating in the national forests, the plan cites water stewardship as an important component of the plan, noting the critical role of forests in protecting the nation’s watersheds. The plan also cites partnerships and alliances with scientists and communities.
To download a copy of the report, Click Here.
July, 2010
NOAA Strategic Plan Includes Goals For Climate Adaptation And Mitigation
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently released its Next Generation Strategic Plan (NGSP) for public comment. Available at www.ppi.noaa.gov/ngsp.html, the draft plan has four goals: climate adaptation and mitigation, weather-ready nation, healthy oceans, and resilient coastal communities and economies.
AMWA submitted comments to NOAA during the development phase of the NGSP draft and plans to submit comments on the proposed plan by the August 10 deadline. Comments are being accepted via an interactive web forum (http://noaangsp.ideascale.com/).
July 2010
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Launches Responses to Climate Change Website
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' (USACE) overall Responses to Climate Change (RCC) Program addresses the need to reduce potential vulnerabilities to the Nation's water resources and infrastructure from climate change and variability. Its mission is to develop, implement and assess adjustments or changes in operations and decision environments to enhance resilience or reduce vulnerability of USACE projects, systems and programs to observed or expected changes in climate. The new RCC Program website shares news and information about program activities as well as the potential impacts of climate change, interagency efforts, strategies for dealing with climate change, and more.
The website is: http://www.corpsclimate.us/.
June, 2010
Scientists, Stakeholders Discuss National Climate Adaptation
About 150 users and providers of climate adaptation information convened in Washington, D.C., May 25-27, to discuss the needed knowledge, incentive, technology transfer and roles of the various public and private stakeholders to help communities around the U.S. to adapt to climate change. Among the participants were several AMWA utility representatives and AMWA staff.
OSTP head John Holdren noted in his address that as climate change is already happening, the harm to the earth and society is likely to grow if we “fail to take action” on both mitigation and adaptation. We must “avoid the unmanageable by managing the unavoidable,” he said.
PDF files of all speakers' presentations are available at: http://www.joss.ucar.edu/events/2010/ncas.
May, 2010
NAS Releases Three America's Climate Choices Reports
The National Academies of Science, National Research Council released a suite of three reports about climate change from teh congressionally requested America's Climate Choices project. The reports are entitled: Limiting the Magnitude of Climate Change, Advancing the Science of Climate Change, and Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change.
In the coming months, NAS will release two additional reports: Informing Effective Decisions and Actions, and a final, overarching report.
To read the reports, visit www.americasclimatechoices.org.
April, 2010
EPA Report Says Climate Change Impacting U.S. Ecosystems
A recent report from EPA finds that climate change is having a measurable impact on a broad array of environmental indicators such as heat waves, storms, sea levels, glaciers and ocean acidity.
The report, Climate Change Indicators in the United States, examined 24 environmental indicators and found "clear evidence that the composition of the atmosphere is being altered as a result of human activities and that the climate is changing."
To download a copy of the report, Click Here.
April, 2010
New USGS Paper: Water—the Nation′s Fundamental Climate Issue
The USGS recently released a brief white paper that emphasizes its critical role and capabilities in measuring and describing the earth’s hydrologic changes currently underway. Water - The Nation's Fundamental Climate Issue asserts that USGS is the best agency to produce thoughtful analysis aimed at understanding climactic variability and change. The paper also explains that USGS maintains the most sophisticated information system of water availability and water use data and must “continually improve and strengthen” it capabilities in long-term data collection and analysis and predicting changes in water resources in light of climate uncertainty.
To read the white paper, Click Here.
March, 2010
 New Study Finds Increasing Extreme Precipitation Events in the Northeastern U.S.
A new report from the University of New Hampshire and the advocacy group Clean Air Cool Planet finds that annual precipitation in the Northeastern U.S. has increased over the past half century, along with more frequent heavy precipitation events. The report also discusses the impacts of these rain events, which include flooding, erosion, and damage to infrastructure.
To view the report, Click Here.
February, 2010
NOAA Announces Climate Service
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has announced the reorganization of its climate capabilities from various branches of the agency into a single Climate Service. The announcement said that the Climate Service will provide more accessible, relevant and user-friendly information and that a new web site – www.climate.gov – would serve as a single point of access for NOAA’s climate information. Additional information, including a proposed organizational chart for the Climate Service is at www.noaa.gov/climate.
The reorganization will require formal approval from Congress, since a shifting of appropriated funds in the budget to the new Climate Service would be required. In addition, Lubchenco noted that updated legislation for the Climate Service would be helpful for future funding and expansion.
For More Information on the Climate Service, Click Here.
February, 2010
 Bureau of Reclamation Report Released: "The Literature Synthesis on Climate Change Implications for Reclamation's Water Resources"
The report summarizes recent literature on the past and projected effects of climate change on hydrology and water resources in the western United States. The scientific data is organized around the five Bureau of Reclamation regions, which correspond roughly with the Columbia River basin, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Rivers, the upper Colorado River basin, the lower Colorado River basin, and the Great Plains. The report was developed following talks of the Climate Change and Water Working Group, a partnership between Reclamation, NOAA, U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This document will be updated annually to take advantage of ongoing research developments.
To view the report, Click Here.
Looking for Something Older?
Access previously-posted information in AMWA's Climate Archives, available here.
AMWA's Climate Change Committee
In 2007 AMWA formed a Climate Change Committee, which is intended to help drinking water utilities monitor and shape federal rules, research, and legislation related to climate change. The committee meets in person at AMWA's spring and fall meetings, as well as periodically by conference call.
All AMWA members are invited to join the committee. To join, contact Erica Brown in AMWA's national office.
Climate Change Committee documents, such as meeting summaries and handouts, are available here (login required).
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Speaker presentations and other documents from January's Climate Change Impacts on Water: An International Adaptation Forum are now available at www.waterclimateforum.org. 
AMWA/NACWA Study Estimates Up To $1 Trillion in U.S. Water and Wastewater Utility Adaptation Costs Click here for AMWA's Climate Change Water Research Database
Click here to explore other online climate research resources
Click here to read AMWA's Green Projects Blog
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