USDA Climate Change Report: Thin on Ground Water
The USDA Climate Change Report (Synthesis and Assessment Product 4.3) hit the streets a few weeks ago. The report examines effects of climate change on: Agriculture, Land Resources, Water Resources, and Biodiversity.
I've gone through the entire report in a cursory manner but focused on the Water Resources (Chapter 4) component. The authors of that chapter did a good job, emphasizing surface water quantity, with less emphasis on water quality. There is very little on ground water - it merits a couple of pages towards the end of the chapter. Far too little. Granted, much less has been done on the effects of climate change on subsurface water than on surface water but I think the authors could have worked harder to find and include more material. The authors are a strong group, but none is a ground water hydrologist and I saw no other ground water types listed among the other authors.
