Hydro Dams Are Struggling to Handle the World’s Intensifying Weather

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Climate change is robbing some hydro dams of water while oversupplying others—forcing managers to employ new forecasting technology and clever strategies to capitalize on what they have.

Swinging between wet and dry extremes is typical for California, but last winter’s rain, potentially intensified by climate change, was almost unmanageable. Add to that the arrival of El Niño, and more extreme weather looks likely for the state. This is going to make life very difficult for the dam operators tasked with capturing and controlling much of the state’s water. Like most of the world’s 58,700 large dams, those in California were built for yesterday’s more stable climate patterns.

So operators pulsed water from the dam into storage at an optimal cadence, giving it time to soak into the landscape. Adam Hutchinson of the Orange County Water District, which manages the groundwater-recharge system, said publicly in July that these actions delivered an “exceptional” boost to water supplies for “those dry years we know are coming.” Jinsun Lim is an analyst with the International Energy Agency think tank who studies climate resilience in the energy sector.

 

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