Limitations of Water Resources Infrastructure for Reducing Community Vulnerabilities to Extremes and Uncertainty of Flood and Drought

Abstract

Debate and deliberation surrounding climate change has shifted from mitigation toward adaptation, with much of the adaptation focus centered on adaptive practices, and infrastructure development. However, there is little research assessing expected impacts, potential benefits, and design challenges that exist for reducing vulnerability to expected climate impacts. The uncertainty of design requirements and associated government policies, and social structures that reflect observed and projected changes in the intensity, duration, and frequency of water-related climate events leaves communities vulnerable to the negative impacts of potential flood and drought. The results of international research into how agricultural infrastructure features in current and planned adaptive capacity of rural communities in Argentina, Canada, and Colombia indicate that extreme hydroclimatic events, as well as climate variability and unpredictability are important for understanding and responding to community vulnerability. The research outcomes clearly identify the need to deliberately plan, coordinate, and implement infrastructures that support community resiliency.

Assessing Climate Change Vulnerabilities of Ontario's Rural Populations

“…The observation is affirmed by the black-legged tick population's expansion northward due to regional warming in northern Ontario over the past decade (Ogden, 2017;Cheng et al, 2017). Temperature and precipitation have a direct effect on the incubation period of the mosquito population and thus affect the transmission cycle (Yusa et al, 2015;Ogden, 2017;Hoover & Barker, 2016). The warmer temperatures and higher precipitation amounts accelerate the mosquitoes' physiological process and lead to quicker larval development, frequent mosquito biting, and shorter incubation period for the vector pathogen (Yusa et al, 2015;Hoover & Barker, 2016).…”

“…Climate change effects result in extreme weather events. These events include storms, flooding and heat or cold waves with intensified negative impacts on rural communities (Kipp et al, 2019;Yusa et al, 2015;Ford et al, 2017;Waldie, 2011;Ogden, 2017). Storms and flooding cause property damage and adversely affect farming activities (Waldie, 2011;Curtis, Fair, Wistow, Val, & Oven, 2017); severe weather events such as heat and cold waves are also linked to the increase in cardiac and respiratory diseases, hospital visits, and emergency service calls (Kipp et al, 2019;Curtis et al, 2017).…”

“…Climate change effects result in reduced productivity, increased pests and disease distribution on crops and livestock (Yusa et al, 2015) and freezing rain also physically destroy crops leading to reduced yields and increased insurance claims (Dow Jones Institutional News, 2008). Extreme weather events can also greatly affect water securiFS reviewty for the rural residents who live on private water systems (Kipp et al, 2019;Yusa et al, 2015;McMartin et al, 2018) where contaminants may be introduced to private water systems due to the reduced water levels and streamflow (Kipp et al, 2019;Yusa et al, 2015). These issues surrounding food and water insecurity can lead to poor nutrition, obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, acute gastrointestinal illness, and mental health concerns (Kipp et al, 2019).…”

“…There is strong evidence that links climate change to the spatial ranges and increased intensity of vector-borne diseases such as Lyme disease and West Nile virus (WNV) (Hoover & Barker, 2016). The disease-carrying vectors emerge into new locations as seasonal temperatures increase (Ogden, 2017;Ebi, Ogden, Semenza, & Woodward, 2017). The observation is affirmed by the black-legged tick population's expansion northward due to regional warming in northern Ontario over the past decade (Ogden, 2017;Cheng et al, 2017).…”

“…The disease-carrying vectors emerge into new locations as seasonal temperatures increase (Ogden, 2017;Ebi, Ogden, Semenza, & Woodward, 2017). The observation is affirmed by the black-legged tick population's expansion northward due to regional warming in northern Ontario over the past decade (Ogden, 2017;Cheng et al, 2017). Temperature and precipitation have a direct effect on the incubation period of the mosquito population and thus affect the transmission cycle (Yusa et al, 2015;Ogden, 2017;Hoover & Barker, 2016).…”