Climate Change and Urban Hydrology: Research Needs in the Developed and Developing Worlds

Although opinion polls indicate the public continues to be uncertain about climate change, the scientific community generally has reached consensus that increasing anthropogenically-sourced greenhouse gases have contributed substantially to rising global temperature over the second half of the twentieth century.This chapter takes the position that global warming and attendant changes in the precipitation regime have started and likely will intensify over the next century and explores these issues in relation to urban hydrology research needs for both the developed and developing worlds.Most research on climate change and water resources has focused on river flooding and drought at the watershed scale, irrigation demands, and impacts due to sea level rise.Assessment of urban drainage and sanitation infrastructure impacts and resiliency under climate change scenarios have received much less attention.Urban hydrologic impacts are broadly defined in this chapter and are discussed under eight categories: i) system resiliency and adaptation; ii) storm frequency and runoff; iii) water and sediment quality; iv) health impacts; v) water use and reuse; vi) sea level rise; vii) greenhouse gas emissions; and viii) urban heat islands.Adaptation measures to improve urban hydrologic resiliency are explored, with a focus on low impact development (LID) technologies, water reuse, land use planning, green buildings, and political will.Research needs in hydrologic science and engineering include: continued improvement of General Circulation Models (GCMs), particularly in the area of spatial downscaling; the need to further link GCM outputs and stormwater/ sewer modeling efforts (for both water quantity and quality); reconsideration Climate Change and Urban Hydrology: Research Needs …of design approaches under non-stationary rainfall time series; more extensive field verification (and modeling linkages) related to LID benefits; and opportunities and technologies for water reuse and green buildings.Scientists and engineers must increase their communication with politicians and policymakers about the need to consider greater temperature and precipation variability in community planning and include full-cost accounting of hydrologic services in these discussions.A more integrated approach to green community planning and management is required and the Singaporean model offers an interesting possibility.However, we also must recognize that a "one size fits all" solution to climate change resiliency and adaptation is not possible.Exchanges regarding water resource management technologies between the developed and developing world are occuring, but must be culturally appropriate and adapted to the specific environment.Table 11.1 Community reslience indicators (from Cutter et al., 2008).Dimension Candidate Indicators Ecological Wetlands acreage and loss Erosion rates % impervious surface Biodiversity Number of coastal defense structures Social Demographics (age, race, class, gender, occupation) Social networks and social embeddedness Community values-cohesion Faith based organizations Economic Employment Value of property Wealth generation Municipal finance and revenues Institutional Participation in hazard reduction programs Hazard mitigation plans Emergency services Zoning and building standards Emergency response plans Interoperable communications Continuity of operations plans Infrastructure Lifelines and critical infrastructure Transportation network Residential housing stock and age Commercial and manufacturing establishments Community competence Local understanding of risk Counseling services Absence of psychopathologies (alcohol, drug, spousal abuse) Health and wellness (low rates of mental illness, stress-related outcomes) Quality of life (high satisfaction)

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