CLIMATE CHANGE AND WATER RESOURCES

Bahram Shakouri, Soheila Khoshnevis Yazdi, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Water is crucial for the economy. Virtually every industry from agriculture, electric power and industrial manufacturing to beverage, apparel, and tourism relies on it to grow and ultimately sustain their business. Yet water is becoming scarcer globally and every indication is that it will become even more so in the future. Decreasing availability, declining quality, and growing demand for water are creating significant challenges to businesses and investors who have traditionally taken clean, reliable and inexpensive water for granted. These problems are already causing decreases in companies’ water allotments, shifts toward full-cost water pricing, more stringent water quality regulations, growing community opposition, and increased public scrutiny of corporate water practices. Climate change and its potential impacts on water resources have become an increasingly common topic at scien­tific conferences and meetings among water managers.Countriesare the ones most threatened by the hydrological impacts of global climate change (GCC). This is true both because many of the poorest countries lie in those regions where GCC-related effects will be most damaging, and because their ability to respond to harmful change is the most limited.

Keywords: climate change, water resource, adaptation, mitigation