Assessing the Impact of Climate Change
on Water Resources for the Edwards Aquifer
By Kris Lawrence Martinez M.S.
ABSTRACT
This study examines how climate change will affect water availability
in the Edwards Aquifer region of Central Texas.‹ A rainfall-runoff model
and a groundwater model are run under altered climate scenarios which
simulate precipitation and temperature changes resulting from doubled
atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide.‹ Results from six global
climate models indicate that gradually rising carbon dioxide levels
will bring about a warmer climate in the study area.‹ Because precipitation
is not expected to increase, greater evaporation losses will lead to
decreased streamflows, spring flows, and aquifer water levels.‹ Climate
change will magnify the effects of San Antonio´s increasing water needs.‹
The predictions have a considerable range of uncertainty, but the weight
of the evidence is that the Edwards Aquifer will be increasingly stressed
by the impacts of future climate change.
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