water for people:
Climate Change Impacts on National Park Water Supplies
We’re assessing the vulnerability of groundwater sources in National Parks across the United States, helping the National Park Service protect water supply and adapt to a changing climate.
protecting water in america’s parks
This project evaluates the influence of climate change on the security of National Park Service water supplies, beginning with parks in hydrologic settings most likely to experience supply challenges, like those in the American Southwest.
In partnership with the National Park Service, we’re developing techniques to project climate-related changes to water supply quantity and quality and to identify adaptation actions—like increasing water conservation, reducing loss in water transmission, or increasing water storage—to secure and protect water now and into the future.
Science-driven solutions for water sustainability
The United States has over 430 National Parks. Managing the many streams, wetlands, and springs and finding a balance between water for human use and water for ecosystems is a daunting task. Our team is developing tools to:
Project future water availability and groundwater recharge under climate change
Evaluate risks to water quality from challenges like drought, fire, and contamination
Recommend adaptation actions including conservation, leak reduction, and storage expansion
We focus on data-informed, actionable strategies that help parks manage their water sustainably while maintaining visitor access and ecological integrity. We're even developing entirely new analysis tools to help other water managers in the future.
Not every park will be affected the same by climate change. We’re starting with National Parks in particularly arid or semi-arid hydrologic settings. So far we’ve looked at:
Bryce Canyon in Utah
Valles Caldera in New Mexico
Zion in Utah
These parks serve as valuable case studies for understanding how climate stressors might affect park infrastructure and water supply systems.
starting with at-risk parks
We have some incredible partners on this project, including the NPS Water Resources Division and the Department of the Interior’s Office of the solicitor. Water for People is part of an agency-wide effort to protect park resources in a changing climate and is the sister project to Water for Ecosystems.
You can read the NPS article to learn more about how the National Park Service is protecting groundwater for people and ecosystems.