Climate change

Climate change impact on communally managed water systems

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Shared fates and experiences in a community can help it withstand changes to water availability due to climate change, a recent study by Sandia National Laboratories researchers found.

“During our research, a community’s ability to withstand natural and social pressures was routinely pinpointed to the fact that the people who live there feel like they are a community,” Thushara Gunda, a Sandia environmental engineer and the paper’s first author said. “The social fabric of the community, the mutualism, or sense of cohesion, is a really important factor that contributes to its resilience.”

With changes in rainfall amounts, rising temperatures and population growth putting pressure on water resources around the globe, Sandia’s study adds to the understanding and predictability of how communities and water systems worldwide will fare during times of environmental or social change. The work, part of Sandia’s energy-water nexus program to help safeguard resilient and sustainable energy-water systems in the interest of national and global security, was recently published in a special socio-hydrology issue of Water Resources Research.

The research paired a dynamic systems model of an acequia community and its water system with a hydrology model of an upland water source to […]

Recent Posts

Scathing report released detailing Navy’s handling of Red Hill fuel spill

The Inspector General of the Department of Defense released some scathing reports Thursday over the…

5 days ago

Growing Food Instead of Grass Lawns in California Front Yards

Photo: Morgan Boone, a volunteer with Crop Swap LA, harvested lettuce at the La Salle…

2 weeks ago

LA River restoration connects us back to ‘the life force of our city’

Los Angeles residents at a section of the Los Angeles River cleanup in Los Angeles,…

3 weeks ago

LAist: New study raises questions about heavy metals in fire retardants

Over the past decade, about 67 million gallons of fire retardant have been dropped on…

3 weeks ago

Meadow and watershed restoration in the Golden Trout Wilderness

Photo: Golden Trout Wilderness Seeking blue, seeing gold The Kern Plateau features a chain of…

3 weeks ago

First sighting of salmon in 100 years marks key milestone for California dam removal

For the first time in more than a century, a salmon was observed swimming through Klamath…

4 weeks ago