Effects of climate change on water yield and water quality of watersheds

Abstract

Climate change and its effects on water resources is discussed by many researchers, such impacts can be estimated through hydrological models by calibrating them with a historical climatic data from a given region. The hypothesis of this study is that once watersheds have different responsiveness to climate change, the effects of these changes will cause different levels of impact on water flow and quality, depending on the region in which the basin is located. Thus, the objective of this study is to use the hydrological model of Fu (1981), adapted by Zhou et al. (2015) calibrated and validated for a series of climatic data from 29 watersheds in the southeastern region of Brazil, to simulate and predict the impact of these climatic changes and to identify critical factors for the stability of water yield and water quality in watershed. The simulations will be carried out in cooperation with the IAG / USP's climate and biosphere laboratory. And at the end of the study it is expected: I) to obtain a regional mapping, and identify critical areas for stability of water yield and water quality in the watershed; II) provide subsidies to guide the planning of public policies and propose ways of managing and conserving watersheds.