Case Study: Adapting Water Management to Climate Change

In 1997, the U.S. Department of the Interior; local and national water conservation groups; and Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska developed a shared approach for managing ecosystems along the Platte River—the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program (PRRIP).

As part of this program, our unique climate adaptation approach uses hydro-climate indices to measure quantitative impacts of ENSO, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, jet stream strength, and disturbances on the river basin’s precipitation and runoff to assist in managing the river’s water supply. This will develop a process for determining basin precipitation and runoff at the start of every water year beginning in October.