Global Warming & Watersheds

The climate is changing. So are watersheds.

Longer, hotter summers. Changing precipitation patterns. Longer droughts. Bigger storms. More widely varying flows. Altered stream channels. Changing floodplains. Earlier snow melt. Bigger, more frequent wildfires. Increasing saltwater intrusion. More invasive species.

While the mix of changing conditions will vary regionally, global warming will affect virtually all freshwater systems in the decades ahead.

The traditional work to protect and restore watersheds is more important today than ever before. Our rivers, streams and lakes must be as clean and healthy as possible as we enter an era when they will be subject to a host of new climate-related stresses.

But our traditional work, while essential, is not enough.

We need to anticipate the coming changes and help people understand what these changes will mean for their own regions and watersheds. We need to develop practical solutions to the new water problems that people and natural systems will face. Last but not least, we need to do our part to address the root cause of the climate problem by helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions rapidly.

Addressing global warming in your watershed can improve the relevancy of your river protection work and help forge new partnerships and open doors to new funding. To find out more about the impacts that climate change will have on water resources in your region, click here or look for your region in the menu on the right.

River Network's Saving Water, Saving Energy program was developed to help watershed groups find their niche in the growing climate change movement. Visit the Saving Water, Saving Energy page to find out how you can help people make the water-energy connection and start reducing greenhouse gas emissions in your community.