ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released its report GAO-14-23, "Climate Change: Federal Efforts Under Way to Assess Water Infrastructure Vulnerabilities and Address Adaptation Challenges," based on the GAO audit #361441 that was conducted between October 2012 and November 2013.
The GAO was asked by members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to review agency actions to address climate change impacts on water infrastructure. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE or Corps) and Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) own and operate key water resources management infrastructure, such as dams and reservoirs.
GAO analyzed the agencies’ climate change adaptation guidance and planning documents, and conducted a number of interviews. It found that USACE and Reclamation have assessed water resource and infrastructure vulnerabilities and taken steps to develop guidance and strategies to adapt to the effects of climate change.
Among the efforts GAO studied were the climate change adaptation pilot studies currently underway, led by the Institute for Water Resources’ (IWR) Climate and Global Change team. GAO also examined the level of collaboration between agencies with intersecting water resources missions.
The findings conclude:
The Corps and Reclamation have collaborated together and with others in a manner that is generally consistent with practices that GAO has identified as important to enhancing and sustaining collaboration among agencies. The Corps and Reclamation have made collaboration a key element of their policy and plans for adapting to the effects of climate change and have reinforced accountability for collaboration through agency performance management systems.
There are no recommendations made by GAO as a result of this audit.