Projecting Future Climate Impacts to Indiana's Water Resources

The Indiana Climate Change Impacts Assessment was initiated by the Purdue Climate Change Research Center, a non-partisan, faculty-led center, to provide useful, science-based climate change information for decision-makers in Indiana and beyond. Changes to water resources are critical to all sectors of the economy water resources management will become even more important as different sectors try to minimize the risk of water scarcity in the face of increasing climate variability. Climate change will affect the timing and quantity of water available in the environment as well as have an adverse impact on the quality of that water. Flood, droughts and changing patterns of water scarcity - when water is not available in sufficient enough quantities or at a suitable quality at the right time to fulfill demand - are all critical factors when considering how and where Indiana will be able to economically develop in the future. This presentation summarizes key findings from the Water Resources working group, which analyzed observational data and ran future hydrological simulations using statistically downscaled climate data and the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model. Annual average precipitation has been increasing and is projected to continue increasing, but the seasonality of precipitation is also becoming more pronounced. This is already affecting water resources in Indiana as wet spring conditions delay planting and construction, and are followed quickly by hotter drier summer conditions. This is increasing the need to invest in water management technologies, including water storage and irrigation. Additionally, the warmer, wetter winter conditions, changes in precipitation occurrence and intensity, and increases in evapotranspiration complicate our ability to project changes to flooding events.