Engineering Methods for Precipitation under a Changing Climate: Practicing Engineers and the Issue of Changing Climate

This chapter summarizes federal agencies’ known efforts to translate climate projections into usable design parameters to guide future infrastructure design in the water resources arena, starting with assessing the impact of climate change in their areas of jurisdiction. In addition, the US Army Corps of Engineers, Environmental Protection Agency, FEMA, and US Geological Survey are developing methodologies to integrate the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report climate projections—specifically those for precipitation and temperature—to assess their impact on the design parameters used to manage the water resources projects under their authority. Finally, an exploration at the national scale into the performance of climate models and available design guidance over an observation period, say 1980 to 2015, is recommended. This exploration may result in a more unified approach that is acceptable to the water resources engineering community.