New climate projections guide to strengthen water management

• New guide will assist decision-makers assessing climate change impacts and risks to our water resources
• Practical framework navigates rapidly advancing and complex climate science
• The guide will enhance efforts to improve WA's future climate resilience and aid the protection of our water resources

A new guide has been published which will help scientists, planners and decision-makers   manage our most precious resource using up-to-date climate projections and approaches.

The guide was developed by hydroclimate technical experts at the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER), and was reviewed by the Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO, Water Corporation, the National Environmental Science Program's Climate Systems Hub, and the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action.

The step-by-step decision-support tool outlines a modernized framework for practical climate assessments.

Water planners, modelers, managers and investment decision-makers require a contemporary direction to account for potential climate futures across WA and the new guide will support their technical assessments for water management.

The guide describes how to analyse a water system, choose a process for using projections, assess possible climate change consequences for a water system and communicate findings.

Skilful use of climate projections is essential to many projects, for example: identifying new water sources, developing irrigation schedules and determining priority areas for ecological restoration.

The comprehensive guide is part of a State Government initiative delivering up-to-date climate science resources for WA's water community and supports key directions outlined in the Climate Adaptation Strategy.

Research also demonstrates that delaying investment in adaptation responses will increase the costs of managing future impacts - so the new guide will help the water sector to adapt to climate change impacts sooner and with reduced costs.

More information on the published guide is available at: http://www.wa.gov.au/service/science/climate-change-and-water-western-australia

Comments attributed to Water Minister Simone McGurk:

"The State Government has been accounting for climate change impacts for decades, facilitated by earlier guidance informed by technical expertise.

"The new guide reinforces this State Government's efforts to tackle the impacts of climate change on our water resources and makes the best use of the most up-to-date science.

"One of the biggest benefits of the guide is that it can be applied widely to climate projections, making this an enduring and important resource.

"The guide helps us choose climate adaptation actions today that will assist key decision-makers with determining WA's water needs into the future."