Alliance, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Tackle Climate Change in Lake Victoria Basin

Water, energy and climate change are pivotal issues in a new project explicitly titled “Climate Change Vulnerability and Infrastructure Investment Assessment and Analysis for Small Scale Water Utilities in the Lake Victoria Basin.”

With funding from UN Habitat’s Water and Sanitation Trust Fund, the Alliance will partner with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Stockholm Environment Institute-US Center (SEI-US) and Climate XL to carry out the project, which is scheduled to last 18 months and encompass water utilities in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

Norm Miller, staff scientist in the LBNL Climate Science Department, explains the connection between water and climate change: “Changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation patterns, compounded by water diversions and changing land use is contributing to water scarcity in the Lake Victoria Basin."  The scarcity of water can in turn drive up the cost of energy needed to deliver and treat water, adds Miller.

The project aims to increase access to affordable and safe water and sanitation services, while also providing utilities with adaptation and operational strategies – which may include water and energy saving opportunities – that will help them meet climate change challenges.

The Alliance’s South Africa team will perform climate change vulnerability assessments for small scale water utilities; update climate change studies for larger scale utilities; and provide a comparison between investments required in small and larger utilities to implement adaptation measures.These findings will be used to develop a climate change assessment toolkit for African cities.

LBNL will provide climate change modeling. "As part of this project we are analyzing both the role of global atmosphere-ocean patterns on local precipitation, as well as water management and economics," says Miller.

SEI-US will provide tools to evaluate alternative water management strategies based on the climate change assessments developed by LBNL. Climate XL will contribute to the development and implementation of the toolkit and capacity building activities.