Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID GU_2024_Yeo3

Assessment of climate change impacts on water quality in the CNMI - Phase 1

Institute: Guam
Year Established: 2024 Start Date: 2024-09-01 End Date: 2025-08-31
Total Federal Funds: $36,880 Total Non-Federal Funds: Not available

Principal Investigators: Myeong-Ho Yeo, Jin Park

Project Summary: Small islands are increasingly affected by increases in temperature, the growing impacts to tropical cyclones, storm surges, droughts, changing rainfall patterns, sea level rising, and coral bleaching. Coastal cities on small islands have been already impacted by sea level rise, heavy rainfalls, and tropical cyclones. Saipan’s tourist district—the lower Garapan area, on the island’s central west coast—is prone to high chloride concentration, induced by sea water level, in tap water, and to frequent, severe, and persistent flooding. To secure water resources induced by the change, understanding the variation of rainfall over time and space is essential for planning, design, and management of hydraulic structures. However, trend analyses for maximum temperatures and extreme rainfalls are required to be more precisely characterized, using the full historical data set. The main purposes of this proposed project are to provide local water resources managers, regulators, and researchers with a model using the historical time-series of rainfall, especially heavy rainfall, to estimate the current and future water resources security., and to explore alternative prospective solutions to minimize the effects. The PI will conduct statistical analysis using the various climate change detection indices.