Abstract

Developed cooperatively by DWR, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Resources Legacy Fund, and The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Climate Change Handbook for Regional Water Planning provides a framework for considering climate change in water management planning. Key decision considerations, resources, tools, and decision options are presented that will guide resource managers and planners as they develop means of adapting their programs to a changing climate.

The handbook uses DWR's Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) planning framework as a model into which analysis of climate change impacts and planning for adaptation and mitigation can be integrated.

The Handbook includes:

• The science of climate change, tools and links;
• Evaluating the energy-water connection and greenhouse gas emissions;
• Assessing regional vulnerability to climate change;
• Measuring regional impacts;
• Evaluating projects, resource management strategies, and Integrated Regional Water Management Plans with respect to climate change;
• Implementing and quantifying uncertainty; and
• Case studies illustrating a range of climate change adaptation and mitigation issues within and outside of California.