WATER-RESOURCES PLANNING AND CLIMATE-CHANGE ASSESSMENT METHODS

This paper, which provides background for other papers in the volume, first reviews the nature and development of water resources planning a nd evaluation criteria at the Federal level in the United States. Thes e criteria constitute a highly developed, complex set of guidelines fo r project planning and evaluation. The level of development of these c riteria and their long historical development from theoretical foundat ions must be taken into account in relating global climate change to p ossible changes in planning criteria. Second, the essentials of water project planning and evaluation, including benefit-cost principles and more complex concepts of social decision-making, are outlined. Third, the paper provides an overview of global climate change assessment me thods, including impact assessment and integrated assessment. Impact a ssessment uses a relatively straightforward comparison of with and wit hout situations; integrated assessment attempts to improve on impact a ssessment by developing more complex models that incorporate a range o f feedbacks and interrelationships.