The below examples introduce some of the hydrological changes that may result from climate change and demonstrate how pioneering utilities have already incorporated these possibilities into future planning. These case studies introduce a theme that will be apparent throughout the Primer: planning for uncertainty. Each example illustrates general problems that climate change could pose, but also highlights the fact that effective planning requires understanding that any future climate scenario involves uncertainty. Thus, in all cases, these utilities have developed precautionary strategies. That is, their decisions have focused on making their systems and operations sufficiently robust, resilient and flexible to meet future needs, given a broad range of possible changes in water supply and demand. For example, water managers are taking a cue from the American Association of State Climatologists (AASC), which argues that policy responses to climate variability and change should be flexible and sensible. Competing views of the long-term climate future may be equally credible given the difficulty of prediction and the impossibility of verifying predictions decades into the future. The AASC takes the position that policies related to long-term climate not be based on particular predictions, but instead should focus on policy alternatives that make sense for a wide range of plausible climatic conditions regardless of future climate. Climate is always changing on a variety of timescales, and being prepared for the consequences of this variability is a wise policy.
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