Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2008MA125B

Estimation of Climatic and Anthropogenic Influences on Freshwater Availability

Institute: Massachuseits
Year Established: 2008 Start Date: 2008-04-07 End Date: 2008-07-25
Total Federal Funds: $5,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $10,000

Principal Investigators: Richard Vogel, Yushiou Tsai

Abstract: Rapid human population growth in the past decades has turned water into a scarce resource in some Massachusetts watersheds during dry seasons. While water stress issues are in need of immediate resolution, few assessments have been performed to investigate the relative importance of the two main anthropogenic influences (land use and water demand) in comparison to the influence of climate on water availability and their interactions in a comprehensive and systematic fashion. In order to provide information of freshwater sensitivity regarding these influences and interactions across Massachusetts, this research will estimate annual and low streamflow elasticity to changes in local climate conditions, land use, and water demand using (1) a recent multiple regression approach introduced by Vogel et al. (2006) and (2) a non-linear regression approach. The anticipated results will validate the hypothesis that the annual and low flows in Massachusetts watersheds are sensitive to changes in local climate, land use, and human water demand.