GAO-14-23

CLIMATE CHANGE

Federal Efforts Under 

Way to Assess Water 

Infrastructure 

Vulnerabilities and 

Address Adaptation 

Challenges

Report to Congressional Requesters

November 2013

GAO-14-23

United States Government Accountability Office
United States Government Accountability Office

Highlights of GAO-14-23, a report to 

congressional requesters

November 2013

CLIMATE CHANGE

Federal Efforts Under Way to Assess Water 

Infrastructure Vulnerabilities and Address 

Adaptation Challenges 

Why GAO Did This Study

The effects of climate change on water 

resources have already been observed 

and are expected to continue. The 

Corps and Reclamation own and 

operate key water resource 

management infrastructure, such as 

dams and reservoirs. Adaptation—

adjustments in natural or human 

systems to a new or changing 

environment that exploits beneficial 

opportunities or moderates negative 

effects—can be used to help manage 

the risks to vulnerable resources. In 

2009, a law—commonly referred to as 

the SECURE Water Act—and a 

presidential executive order directed 

federal agencies to address the 

potential impacts of climate change.

GAO was asked to review agency 

actions to address climate change 

impacts on water infrastructure. This 

report examines (1) actions taken by

the Corps and Reclamation since 2009 

to assess and respond to the potential 

effects of climate change on water 

infrastructure and (2) challenges, if 

any, faced by the Corps and 

Reclamation in assessing and 

responding to the potential effects of 

climate change on water infrastructure, 

and the steps the agencies are taking 

to address them. GAO analyzed the 

agencies’ climate change adaptation 

guidance and planning documents and 

interviewed agency officials and other 

key stakeholders, including water 

users, environmental groups, and 

researchers.

GAO is not making any 

recommendations. 

What GAO Found

The Department of Defense’s U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and the 

Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) have 

assessed water resource and infrastructure vulnerabilities and taken steps to 

develop guidance and strategies to adapt to the effects of climate change. 

Specifically, since 2009, the Corps has completed a high-level assessment of the 

vulnerabilities to climate change of various agency missions. The assessment 

found, for example, that the effects of increasing air temperatures on glaciers 

could negatively impact mission areas including navigation and flood damage 

reduction. The Corps has also conducted pilot studies to help identify adaptation 

guidance and strategies; it has completed 5 of the 15 pilot studies initiated and

plans to start another study in 2013. Similarly, Reclamation has completed 

baseline assessments of the potential impacts of climate change on future water 

supplies for the major river basins where it owns and operates water 

management infrastructure. Reclamation, in collaboration with nonfederal 

entities, is now conducting more focused assessments, known as Basin Studies, 

through which Reclamation seeks to identify water supply vulnerabilities and 

project future climate change impacts on the performance of water infrastructure. 

According to agency officials, these studies will also help Reclamation develop 

adaptation strategies to address these impacts, such as operational or physical 

changes to existing water infrastructure or development of new facilities. Three 

Basin Studies have been completed, an additional 14 are under way, and 2 more 

are planned. Reclamation next plans to initiate feasibility studies for adaptation 

strategies identified in completed Basin Studies. Both agencies are incorporating 

what they have learned from their efforts into agency policies, planning, and 

guidance, according to agency officials.

In 2009, the Corps, Reclamation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), jointly published a study 

that identified several challenges that climate change poses for water resource 

managers, and the Corp and Reclamation are collaboratively addressing these 

challenges. Specifically, these agencies are

• identifying the data and tools needed by water managers to address 

climate change, which will help guide federal research efforts;

• obtaining needed climate data by collaborating with other agencies to 

help ensure that the data are collected, such as by sharing some costs 

associated with maintaining USGS’s stream flow measurement activities, 

which are valuable to Corps water planning and management;

• integrating climate science into water resource management decision 

making through activities such as developing and communicating 

science to inform climate adaptation strategies; and

• collaborating in the development of a climate change science training 

program for federal and nonfederal water resources managers.

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.

View GAO-14-23. For more information, 

contact Steve Morris at (202) 512-3841 or 

morriss@gao.gov.
Page i Climate Change Adaptation

Letter 1

Background 5

Efforts Under Way by the Corps and Reclamation to Assess Water 

Resource and Infrastructure Vulnerabilities to Climate Change 

and Develop Adaptation Strategies 12

The Corps and Reclamation Face Several Challenges in Assessing 

and Responding to the Effects of Climate Change and Are 

Working Collaboratively to Address Them 18

Agency Comments 25

Appendix I The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ and the Bureau of 

Reclamation’s Organization and Infrastructure 26

Appendix II Locations and Initial Results of the U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineer’s Pilot Studies and Bureau of Reclamation’s Basin 

Studies 31

Appendix III GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments 37

Table

Table 1: Corps and Reclamation Efforts to Assess Climate Change 

Vulnerabilities and Develop Adaptation Strategies and 

Guidance 13

Figures

Figure 1: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Division and District 

Boundaries 27

Figure 2: Bureau of Reclamation Regional Boundaries 29

Figure 3: Location and Description of U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers Pilot Projects, as of September 2013 32

Figure 4: Locations of the Bureau of Reclamation’s 17 Funded 

Basin Studies, as of September 2013 35

Contents
Page ii Climate Change Adaptation

Abbreviations 

CCAWWG Climate Change and Water Working Group

Corps U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Interior U.S. Department of the Interior

NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Reclamation Bureau of Reclamation

Task Force Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task 

Force

USGS U.S. Geological Survey

WWCRA West-Wide Climate Risk Assessment

This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright protection in the 

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without further permission from GAO. However, because this work may contain 

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necessary if you wish to reproduce this material separately.
Page 1 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

441 G St. N.W.

Washington, DC 20548

November 14, 2013

The Honorable Barbara Boxer

Chairman

Committee on Environment and Public Works

United States Senate

The Honorable Max Baucus

United States Senate

The Honorable Dick Durbin

United States Senate

The Honorable Harry Reid

United States Senate

The Honorable Mark Udall

United States Senate

The Honorable Tom Udall

United States Senate

According to recent scientific studies, including those conducted by the 

U.S. Global Change Research Program,1 climate-related changes—

including increases in air and water temperatures, changes in 

precipitation patterns, reduced snow cover, retreating glaciers, and rising 

sea levels—will likely adversely affect many aspects of the natural 

environment in the United States.2 The U.S. Department of the Interior’s 

(Interior) U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has reported that of all the 

potential threats posed by climate change, those associated with water 

 1

The U.S. Global Change Research Program coordinates and integrates federal research 

on changes in the global environment and their implications for society. Led by a team of 

officials from each of the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s 13 participating 

departments and agencies, the U.S. Global Change Research Program engages in a 

variety of activities designed to strengthen and strategically direct climate change 

research in the United States and improve the flow of that information to federal, state, 

and local decision makers, and the public.

2

Thomas R. Karl, Jerry M. Melillo, and Thomas C. Peterson, eds., U.S. Global Change 

Research Program, Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States (New York, New 

York: Cambridge University Press, 2009).
Page 2 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

resources are arguably the most consequential for both society and the 

environment.3 The effects of climate change on water resources have 

already been observed and are expected to continue. For example, a shift 

in the form of precipitation from snow to rain and earlier melting of 

mountain snowpack has been documented in western states. This 

change in precipitation is expected to result in a decrease in the amount 

of reliable water supply in areas where snow has been a major source. As 

we reported in October 2009,4 policymakers are increasingly viewing 

adaptation—defined by the National Research Council as adjustments in 

natural or human systems to a new or changing environment that exploits 

beneficial opportunities or moderates negative effects—as a riskmanagement strategy to protect vulnerable resources that might be 

affected by changes in the climate.5 GAO added limiting the federal 

government’s fiscal exposure by better managing climate change risks to 

our 2013 update of high-risk areas because of the government’s role, 

among other things, as the owner or operator of extensive infrastructure.6

The Department of Defense’s U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and 

Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) own and operate key 

water resource management infrastructure, such as canals, dams, and 

reservoirs, that may be affected by climate change. The Corps is the 

largest and oldest federal water management agency, with water 

resources and infrastructure in every state authorized for specific 

purposes such as navigation, flood and coastal storm damage reduction, 

hydropower, and water supply, among other things. Established in 1902, 

Reclamation constructed dams, reservoirs, power plants, and canals in 

17 western states, and today is the second largest producer of 

hydroelectric power in the western United States and the largest

wholesaler of water in the nation. The Corps and Reclamation work with 

each other and with other federal agencies, such as the Department of 

Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 

 3

Lins, Harry F., Hirsch, Robert M., and Kiang, Julie, Water—the Nation’s Fundamental 

Climate Issue: A White Paper on the U.S. Geological Survey Role and Capabilities: U.S. 

Geological Survey Circular 1347 (2010).

4

GAO, Climate Change Adaptation: Strategic Federal Planning Could Help Government 

Officials Make More Informed Decisions, GAO-10-113 (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 7, 2009).

5

National Research Council, America’s Climate Choices: Adapting to the Impacts of 

Climate Change (Washington, D.C.: 2010).

6

GAO, High-Risk Series: An Update, GAO-13-283 (Washington, D.C.: February 2013).
Page 3 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

and USGS, which collect and interpret weather and climate information 

that is valuable for effective water resource management. In addition, the 

Corps and Reclamation coordinate with state and local water resource 

managers and other stakeholders who are responsible for water 

resources activities within their jurisdictions to manage water for 

agricultural, municipal, and conservation uses, among others.

Congress and the Executive Office of the President have directed federal 

agencies to address the potential impacts of climate change. In 2009, a 

law—commonly referred to as the SECURE Water Act—was enacted, 

requiring, among other things, that Reclamation establish a climate 

change adaptation program to (1) assess the effect of and risk resulting 

from global climate change on the quantity of water resources and (2) 

develop strategies to address potential water shortages and other 

impacts.7 Reclamation was also required to report to relevant 

congressional committees its progress implementing the act within 2 

years of passage and every 5 years thereafter. Also in 2009, the 

President signed Executive Order 13514,8 calling for federal agencies to 

participate in the existing Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task 

Force (Task Force). The executive order directed the Task Force to 

develop federal recommendations for adapting to climate change impacts 

both domestically and internationally and to recommend key components 

to include in a national strategy. Based on the Task Force 

recommendations, the President’s Council on Environmental Quality 

issued implementing instructions directing federal agencies to, among 

other things, establish an agency climate change adaptation policy and 

deliver to the council and the Office of Management and Budget a climate 

adaptation plan for implementation in fiscal year 2013.9

You requested that we review the climate adaptation efforts of the Corps 

and Reclamation. This report examines (1) the actions the Corps and 

Reclamation have taken since 2009 to assess and respond to the 

potential effects of climate change on water infrastructure and (2) what 

 7

Pub. L. No. 111-11, tit. IX, subtit. F (2009).

8

Executive Order 13514, Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic 

Performance, October 5, 2009. 74 Fed. Reg. 52117 (Oct. 5, 2009).

9

Instructions for Implementing Climate Change Adaptation Planning in Accordance with 

Executive Order 13514, Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic 

Performance, March 4, 2011.
Page 4 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

challenges, if any, the Corps and Reclamation face in assessing and 

responding to the potential effects of climate change on water 

infrastructure, and the steps the agencies are taking to address them.

To describe what actions the Corps and Reclamation have taken to 

assess and respond to the potential effects of climate change since 2009, 

we reviewed and analyzed federal law, an executive order, and relevant 

guidance to identify the climate change impact assessment and 

adaptation activities that the Corps and Reclamation are directed to 

perform. We reviewed and analyzed the agencies’ orders, policy, and 

program guidance and interviewed agency officials to determine how the 

Corps and Reclamation have interpreted and implemented federal laws 

and orders. We also reviewed and analyzed documentation, such as 

reports, studies, and plans, and interviewed agency officials, as well as 

other water resource managers and climate science specialists to gather 

information on what the Corps and Reclamation have done to assess and 

respond to the potential effects of climate change on existing and planned 

federal water infrastructure investments. We identified and selected the 

resource managers and climate science specialists using an iterative 

process, soliciting names from agency officials and others we 

interviewed, and selecting those identified as having a high level of 

participation and knowledge. From among those identified, we conducted 

semistructured interviews to obtain their views on the Corps’ and 

Reclamation’s efforts to assess and respond to the potential effects of 

climate change. We did not assess the Corps’ and Reclamation’s actions 

to implement specific climate change adaptation planning frameworks or 

steps because their efforts are in the early stages. We used in-house 

scientific expertise to analyze the soundness of the methodological 

approaches utilized in selected documents, and we determined them to 

be sufficiently sound for our purposes. Relevant assessments, reports, 

and studies are cited throughout this document.

To describe what challenges, if any, the Corps and Reclamation face in 

assessing and responding to the potential effects of climate change on 

water infrastructure, as well as steps these agencies are taking to 

address these challenges, we reviewed and analyzed agency documents, 

including planning documents and assessments of efforts to date. We 

also reviewed and analyzed documentation of actions taken by the Corps, 

Reclamation, and other water managers to help mitigate these 

challenges, and we assessed the extent to which these efforts have been 
Page 5 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

collaborative based on prior GAO work.

10 In addition, we spoke with 

agency officials, as well as sought the perspectives of state and local 

water managers and climate specialists, to learn about the challenges 

faced by the Corps and Reclamation and the steps the agencies have 

taken to address them. We selected these managers and specialists 

using an iterative process, based on recommendations of agency officials 

and others we interviewed. From among those identified, we conducted 

semistructured interviews about challenges and potential steps to 

address them and conducted a content analysis of their responses.

We conducted this performance audit from October 2012 to November 

2013 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing 

standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to 

obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for 

our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe 

that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings 

and conclusions based on our audit objectives.

Climate change is having a variety of impacts on natural resources in the 

United States, ranging from more severe drought to increased flooding, 

and is altering assumptions that have been central to water resource 

planning and management. Congress and the Executive Office of the 

President have directed federal agencies to address the potential impacts 

of climate change. The two key federal water resource management 

agencies included in this review—the Corps and Reclamation—have 

similar yet distinct roles in managing water for a wide variety of purposes. 

In addition to the water management challenges posed by climate 

change, both agencies are dealing with aging water management 

infrastructure with limited funding for maintenance and construction.

 10GAO, Results-Oriented Government: Practices That Can Help Enhance and Sustain 

Collaboration among Federal Agencies, GAO-06-15 (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 21, 2005).

Background
Page 6 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

According to the U.S. Global Change Research Program, changes in the 

climate in the United States and its coastal waters have altered—and will 

continue to alter—the water cycle, affecting where, when, and how much 

water is available for all uses. Changes in the climate—including warmer 

temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, rising sea levels, and 

more frequent and intense storms—affect water resources in a number of 

ways such as increased flooding in some areas and drought in others, 

and inundation and erosion in coastal areas. Precisely how and to what 

extent changes in the climate will affect particular water resources in the 

future is uncertain, but climate-related changes are expected to continue 

and increase in intensity in some areas of the nation.

Climate change has the potential to affect many aspects of the 

environment and society in which water resource management plays an 

active role. A 2011 federal interagency review of the potential impacts of 

climate change on water resources identified four interrelated areas of 

concern for water resource managers as follows11:

• assuring an adequate water supply for multiple needs, such as 

drinking water, agriculture, energy production, industrial uses, 

navigation, and recreation;

• protecting life, health, and property in the face of risks posed by 

climate change;

• protecting the quality of freshwater resources, including the quality of 

surface water and groundwater, and the health of fisheries and 

aquatic habitat; and

• protecting coastal and ocean resources as rising sea levels and 

changes in storm frequency, intensity, and duration impact coastal 

infrastructure.

Adaptation—defined by the National Research Council as adjustments in 

natural or human systems to a new or changing environment that exploits 

beneficial opportunities or moderates negative effects—is an element of 

the proposed responses to climate change that is gaining more attention. 

More specifically, policymakers are increasingly viewing adaptation as a 

risk-management strategy to protect vulnerable sectors and communities 

that might be affected. As we reported in our May 2013 report on land 

 11Federal Interagency Panel on Climate Change and Water Data and Information, 2011, 

Report to Congress—Strengthening the scientific understanding of climate change 

impacts on freshwater resources of the United States, 49.

Potential Climate Change 

Impacts on Water 

Resources Can Be 

Addressed through 

Adaptation Planning
Page 7 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

resource management agency adaptation efforts, climate change 

adaptation planning frameworks generally consist of four key elements 

that are reviewed and revised as needed as new information emerges.12

These four elements are the following:

• Establish a mandate to address climate change with clearly 

articulated adaptation goals, objectives, and measures of success 

toward meeting goals.

• Assess and understand the risks, vulnerabilities, and opportunities 

posed by climate change by determining (1) what aspects of the 

climate are changing and over what periods, (2) which resources will 

be most at risk, (3) why these resources are likely to be vulnerable, 

and (4) what uncertainties are associated with the predicted climate 

change impacts and how this may impact adaptation efforts.

• Develop and prioritize management adaptation actions; that is, 

determine how to respond to the identified risks by considering a wide 

array of possible adaptation measures and identifying the highest 

priority adaptation measures.

• Implement management options, evaluate the results to determine the 

actions’ effectiveness, and makes adjustments as necessary. As 

climate continues to change, adaptation actions need to be regularly 

monitored for effectiveness and plans need to incorporate new 

information about risks, lessons learned, and modified priorities.

According to a 2009 study collaboratively produced by the Corps, NOAA, 

Reclamation, and USGS,13 a variety of water-management options might 

be considered to facilitate adaptation to climate change, including 

operational changes, demand management, and infrastructure changes. 

The study concluded that the options for responding to the effects of 

climate change will vary by location, and that evaluating options will likely 

require a partnership between federal, state, and local interests to attain 

consensus among water managers and users.

 12GAO, Climate Change Various Efforts Are Under Way at Key Natural Resources 

Management Agencies, GAO-13-253 (Washington, D.C.: May 31, 2013).

13L.D. Brekke, J.E. Kiang, J.R. Olsen, R.S. Pulwarty, D.A. Raff, D.P. Turnipseed, R.S. 

Webb, and K.D. White, Climate change and water resources management—A federal 

perspective: USGS Circular 1331 (2009).
Page 8 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

In 2009, Congress passed the SECURE Water Act, requiring 

Reclamation to establish a climate change adaptation program to (1) 

assess the effect of and risk resulting from global climate change on the 

quantity of water resources and (2) develop strategies to address 

potential water shortages and other impacts.14 To assess the effect of 

climate change, the law requires Reclamation to analyze the extent to 

which changes in water supply will impact several areas, including 

Reclamation’s ability to deliver water to its customers, hydroelectric power 

generation, fish and wildlife habitat, and recreation. The law requires 

Reclamation to assess specific risks to the water supply of each of its 

major river basins, including risks related to, among other things, changes 

in snow cover and the timing and quantity of runoff. To develop strategies 

to address impacts, the law requires Reclamation, in consultation with 

nonfederal stakeholders such as appropriate state water resource 

agencies, to consider and develop appropriate strategies to mitigate the 

impacts of water supply changes, such as strategies for modifying 

reservoir storage or operating guidelines and water conservation.15

Also in 2009, the President signed Executive Order 13514, Federal 

Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance which, 

among other things, directs agencies to participate in the Interagency 

Climate Change Adaptation Task Force (Task Force), which was already 

developing a strategy for adaptation to climate change, and to develop 

approaches through which the policies and practices of the agencies can 

 14Pub. L. No. 111-11, tit. IX, subtit. F (2009).

15In addition, the law requires Reclamation to (1) coordinate with USGS, NOAA, and 

appropriate state water resource agencies to ensure that its climate change program has 

access to the best available scientific information on presently observed and projected 

future impacts of global climate change on water resources; (2) consult with other federal 

and applicable state agencies to develop a monitoring plan to acquire and maintain water 

resources information; and (3) submit a report to relevant congressional committees that 

describes, among other things, the results of its assessments and analysis, the mitigation 

strategies developed and implementation of the monitoring plans within 2 years of its 

passage, and every 5 years thereafter.

Federal Agencies Have 

Been Directed to Address 

Climate Change 

Adaptation
Page 9 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

be made compatible with the Task Force’s strategy.16 In October 2010, 

the Task Force delivered a progress report to the President through the 

Council on Environmental Quality containing overarching policy goals to 

advance climate adaptation and recommending the development of a 

national action plan to strengthen climate change adaptation for 

freshwater resources.17 Based on the work of the Task Force, the Council 

on Environmental Quality subsequently issued detailed adaptation 

planning implementation instructions in March 2011.18 The instructions 

directed the agencies to issue an agency-wide climate change adaptation 

policy statement, complete a high-level analysis of agency vulnerability to 

climate change, and submit to the Council on Environmental Quality and 

the Office of Management and Budget their climate adaptation plans by 

June 4, 2012, for implementation in fiscal year 2013.19

For over 230 years, the Corps has led the development and stewardship 

of much of the nation’s public water resources. The Corps’ Civil Works 

Program plans and manages water for transportation, recreation, energy, 

wildlife habitat, aquatic ecosystems, and water supply, while reducing the 

impacts of flood damages and other natural disasters. Specifically, the 

Corps has constructed—and continues to operate, maintain, and 

rehabilitate—a large inventory and wide variety of water management 

 16In our 2013 High-Risk Update, we noted that while individual agency actions are 

necessary, a centralized strategy driven by a government-wide plan is also needed to 

reduce the federal fiscal exposure to climate change, maximize investments, achieve 

efficiencies, and better position the government for success. Even then, such approaches 

will not be fully sufficient unless also coordinated with decisions at the state and local 

levels that drive much of the federal government’s fiscal exposure. The challenge is to 

develop a cohesive approach at the federal level that also informs action at the state and 

local levels.

17Council on Environmental Quality, Progress Report of the Interagency Climate Change 

Adaptation Task Force: Recommended Actions in Support of a National Climate Change 

Adaptation Strategy, October 5, 2010.

18Council on Environmental Quality, Federal Agency Climate Change Adaptation 

Planning, Implementing Instructions and Federal Agency Climate Change Adaptation 

Planning, Support Document, March 4, 2011.

19In addition, as recommended in the 2010 progress report, the Task Force issued the 

National Action Plan—Priorities for Managing Freshwater Resources in a Changing 

Climate in October 2011, which established a goal for managing water resources in a 

changing climate, identified key recommendations to achieve that goal, and described 

specific supporting actions that federal agencies should take to implement the 

recommendations.

The Corps and 

Reclamation Construct, 

Operate, and Manage 

Federal Water 

Infrastructure
Page 10 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

infrastructure, including reservoirs, hydropower facilities, commercial 

inland waterways, harbors, and levee systems. In June 2011, in response 

to the implementing instructions for Executive Order 13514, the Corps 

established its adaptation policy statement for addressing the effects of 

climate change, which called for the integration of climate change 

adaptation in all Corps activities.20 Two Corps programmatic efforts—the 

Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force/Hurricane Protection 

Decision Chronology Lessons Learned Implementation Team (also 

known as Actions for Change) and the Responses to Climate Change 

Program—support the Corps’ ongoing adaptation activities.

Since 1902, Reclamation has carried out its mission to manage, develop, 

and protect water and related resources in 17 western states. The agency 

has led or provided assistance in constructing most of the large dams and 

water diversion structures in the West for the purpose of developing water 

supplies for irrigation—that is, “reclaiming” these lands for human use. In 

2009, Reclamation directed its Office of Research and Development and 

its Office of Policy and Administration to take the lead in implementing the 

actions required by the SECURE Water Act. Reclamation’s climate 

adaptation efforts fall within the larger effort by Interior to, among other 

things, implement Executive Order 13514. In 2013, Interior adopted a 

policy directing the agency to integrate climate change adaptation 

strategies into its operations, policies, programs, and planning. See 

appendix I for more information on the Corps’ and Reclamation’s 

organization and infrastructure.

In addition to each agency’s individual efforts, the Corps and Reclamation 

established a partnership in 2007—the Climate Change and Water 

Working Group (CCAWWG)—to address their mutual concerns about the 

potential effects of climate change on their agencies’ missions.21 In 2009, 

 20The USACE Climate Change Adaptation Policy Statement issued June 3, 2011, 

established a Climate Change Adaptation Steering Committee to oversee and coordinate 

agency-wide climate change adaptation planning and implementation. The Corps’ Climate 

Change Adaptation Steering Committee is chaired by the Chief, Engineering and 

Construction. The Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works was designated as the 

USACE Senior Adaptation Point of Contact responsible for ensuring implementation of the 

Corps’ adaptation policy.

21In addition to the Corps and Reclamation, founding CCAWWG members included USGS 

and NOAA—two key climate science agencies. CCAWWG has since expanded to include, 

among others, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Emergency 

Management Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and U.S. 

Department of Agriculture.
Page 11 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

the CCAWWG partners jointly produced a preliminary assessment of how 

climate could impact federal water resources management, which 

explored strategies to improve water management by tracking, 

anticipating, and responding to climate change, and identified adaptation 

challenges.22

According to a 2012 National Research Council report on Corps 

infrastructure,23 large portions of the Corps’ water resources infrastructure 

were built over 50 years ago and are experiencing various stages of 

decay and disrepair, making project maintenance and rehabilitation a high 

priority. The report also found that federal funding over the past 20 years 

has consistently been inadequate to maintain the Corps’ infrastructure at 

acceptable levels of performance and efficiency. Similarly, most of 

Reclamation’s water infrastructure facilities are more than 50 years old 

and, according to a 2011 Congressional Research Service report, with 

limited budgetary resources and aging infrastructure, Reclamation’s 

maintenance needs are likely to increase, as is competition for limited 

funding.24

Despite the ongoing challenges of operating and maintaining aging 

infrastructure under budgetary constraints, it is important that the Corps 

and Reclamation address the challenge of managing climate change risk 

in order to limit the fiscal exposure of the federal government. As noted in 

our 2013 high-risk update, climate change poses a significant financial 

risk to the federal government, including, but not limited to its role as the 

owner or operator of extensive infrastructure vulnerable to climate 

impacts. State and local authorities are responsible for planning and 

implementing many types of infrastructure projects, and decisions at 

these levels of government can affect the federal government’s fiscal 

 22L.D. Brekke, J.E. Kiang, J.R. Olsen, R.S. Pulwarty, D.A. Raff, D.P. Turnipseed, R.S. 

Webb, and K.D. White, Climate change and water resources management—A federal 

perspective: USGS Circular 1331(2009).

23Committee on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Water Resources Science, Engineering, 

and Planning; Water Science and Technology Board; Division on Earth and Life Studies; 

National Research Council, Corps of Engineers Water Resources Infrastructure: 

Deterioration, Investment, or Divestment? (The National Academies Press, Washington, 

D.C.: 2012).

24Congressional Research Service, The Bureau of Reclamation’s Aging Infrastructure,

March 30, 2011.

Agencies Manage Climate 

Change Risk While Facing 

Aging Infrastructure
Page 12 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

exposure.25 While implementing adaptive strategies to protect 

infrastructure may be costly, there is a growing recognition that the cost of 

inaction could be greater and—given the government’s precarious fiscal 

position—increasingly difficult to manage given expected budget 

pressures, which will constrain not just future ad hoc responses, but other 

federal programs as well. As stated in a 2010 National Research Council 

report, increasing the nation’s ability to respond to a changing climate can 

be viewed as an insurance policy against climate change risks.26

Since 2009, as directed by executive order or required by law, the Corps 

and Reclamation have taken steps to assess water resource and 

infrastructure vulnerabilities and develop guidance and strategies for 

adapting to climate change, as shown in table 2.27 Officials from both 

agencies told us that as they develop the necessary guidance, they plan 

to implement specific adaptation strategies and share costs with state and 

local partners.

 25The federal government annually invests billions of dollars in infrastructure projects that 

state and local governments prioritize and supervise through, for example, decisions on 

zoning and how to build vulnerable infrastructure such as roads and bridges. See 

GAO-10-113.

26National Research Council, America’s Climate Choices: Adapting to the Impacts of 

Climate Change (Washington, D.C.: 2010).

27Other activities to address adaptation challenges, such as the development of new 

climate and hydrologic projections, computer tools to work with the projections, websites 

to facilitate user access to these resources, and training programs for on-the-ground water 

resources practitioners, are discussed later in this report.

Efforts Under Way by 

the Corps and 

Reclamation to 

Assess Water 

Resource and 

Infrastructure 

Vulnerabilities to 

Climate Change and 

Develop Adaptation 

Strategies
Page 13 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

Table 1: Corps and Reclamation Efforts to Assess Climate Change Vulnerabilities and Develop Adaptation Strategies and 

Guidance

Activities Corps Reclamation

Assessing climate change 

vulnerabilities

Completed: High-level assessment of climate 

change impacts on agency missions and 

operations.

Ongoing: Conducting an initial assessment of 

climate change impact vulnerability for coastal 

activities.

Developing and testing methodologies for 

assessing climate impacts at the watershed 

level for inland activities and a separate 

methodology for coastal activities.

Completed: High-level assessment of climate 

change impacts on water supplies in the major 

river basins in the West.

Ongoing: Assessment of climate change 

impacts to water demands, including 

agricultural demands.

Developing adaptation strategies 

and guidance

Ongoing: Conducting pilot studies to support 

the development of adaptation guidance and a 

portfolio of adaptation approaches.

Developing guidance for considering 

adaptation in all agency activities and for the 

implementation of adaptation approaches.

Ongoing: Conducting more focused 

assessments within basins to develop 

strategies to mitigate climate change impacts 

on water supplies.

Developing guidance for considering 

adaptation in specific agency activities.

Sources: GAO analysis of Corps and Reclamation information.

Since 2009, the Corps has broadly assessed how climate change could 

affect its missions. Specifically, a phased assessment of the vulnerability 

of coastal projects is under way, more refined watershed-level 

vulnerability assessments are being developed, and pilot studies are 

being conducted to develop adaptation guidance and strategies. In March 

2012, responding to guidance for implementing Executive Order 13514, 

the Corps provided the President’s Council on Environmental Quality with 

a high-level analysis of the vulnerability of the Corps’ missions and 

operations to climate change.28 The Corps’ analysis included an 

assessment of whether the potential effects of climate change on the 

Corps’ business areas would likely be negative, positive, or a mix of 

both.29 The analysis found, for example, that increasing air temperatures 

may have an effect on glaciers that could negatively impact Corps 

 28The Corps included excerpts of this assessment in its June 2012 Climate Adaptation 

Plan and Report, provided to the Council on Environmental Quality as required by 

Executive Order 13514.

29Corps business areas cover the following: navigation, flood and coastal storm damage 

reduction, environment, hydropower, regulatory, recreation, emergency management, and 

water supply.

The Corps Completed a 

Mission-Level Vulnerability 

Assessment and Is 

Conducting Pilot Studies 

to Identify Adaptation 

Strategies
Page 14 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

business areas such as navigation, flood and coastal storm damage 

reduction, ecosystem restoration, and emergency management, but the 

effect of increasing air temperatures on river ice could have both positive 

and negative impacts on those same four business areas.

As part of the high-level analysis, the Corps also identified a number of 

adaptation priorities. To address its priority of developing more refined 

vulnerability assessments, the Corps is currently undertaking coastal 

project vulnerability assessments and is developing and testing a 

methodology for nationwide, watershed-level vulnerability assessments of 

its inland missions, operations, programs, and projects. The nationwide 

watershed-level vulnerability assessments will, according to Corps 

officials, help them make initial screening-level determinations of where 

adaptation strategies are needed or not needed, and then to prioritize 

accordingly. The agency officials expect to complete the first phase of 

screening assessments in 2013, with more refined assessments to come 

in future years. Ultimately, the Corps plans to combine the coastal and 

inland assessments into a unified methodology. In addition, Corps Civil 

Works officials told us that they are developing syntheses of literature to 

provide up-to-date information about regional climate impacts in order to 

support project-specific planning and help implement adaptation 

strategies.

As part of its efforts to address the adaptation priorities of developing a 

risk-informed decision-making framework for climate change adaptation 

and a portfolio of adaptation approaches, the Corps is conducting 15 pilot 

studies nationwide to test different methods and frameworks for adapting 

to climate change. The Corps has completed 5 of these studies and 10 

others are ongoing.30 According to Corps Civil Works officials, the pilot 

studies were proposed by Corps district staff and selected by senior 

Corps staff in a competitive, internal process. The 15 pilots are led by 13 

different Corps districts and address project planning, engineering, 

operations, and maintenance for 6 different Corps business areas, 

involving a variety of different infrastructure types, such as flood risk 

reduction projects, reservoirs, and canals. Some of the pilots are being 

conducted collaboratively with federal, state, and university partners. 

Taken together, Corps officials expect the pilot projects to provide a body 

of knowledge and tested methods that will serve as the foundation for its 

 30The Corps plans to initiate one additional pilot in 2013.
Page 15 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

guidance and future adaptation efforts. See appendix II for additional 

information on the locations and results of the Corps’ pilot studies.

Reclamation has broadly assessed how climate change may affect water 

resources in the western United States as part of the Basin Study 

Program it established to meet the requirements of the SECURE Water 

Act. Specifically, responding to the Act’s requirement to assess specific 

risks to water supplies,31 Reclamation reported to Congress in 2011 its 

assessments of the potential effects of climate change on water supplies 

in the major river basins in the West.32 The studies, known as West-Wide 

Climate Risk Assessments (WWCRA), are high-level, baseline 

assessments of the potential impacts of climate change on future water 

supplies—including impacts on Reclamation’s ability to deliver water and 

hydropower—for each of the major river basins where Reclamation owns 

and operates water management infrastructure. According to agency 

officials, Reclamation is now conducting WWCRAs that focus on future 

water demand and will combine this information with its water supply 

assessments to form a more complete picture of the potential impacts of 

climate change on its water infrastructure.33 Reclamation policy officials 

told us that these combined assessments will be included in 

Reclamation’s next SECURE Water Act report that is due in 2016. These 

assessments will also be updated based on the latest climate science as 

water uses and conditions change, and they will be included in future 

reports that are due to Congress every 5 years.34

In addition to its WWCRAs, Reclamation is partnering with nonfederal 

entities to conduct more focused assessments, known as Basin Studies, 

to identify specific water resources vulnerabilities and to implement the 

SECURE Water Act’s requirement that Reclamation consider and 

develop strategies to mitigate climate change impacts on water 

 31Pub. L. No. 111-11, § 9503(b)(2) (2009).

32The SECURE Water Act identifies eight major reclamation river basins, but Reclamation 

only conducted seven West-Wide Climate Risk Assessments because one covers both 

the Sacramento and San Joaquin River Basins.

33Reclamation officials told us the assessments are meant to fulfill the requirements of 

section 9503(b)(3) of the SECURE Water Act.

34Pub. L. No. 111-11, § 9503(c) (2009).

Reclamation Assessed 

Vulnerabilities in Major 

Western River Basins and 

Is Developing Potential 

Adaptation Strategies
Page 16 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

supplies.35 Reclamation selects the Basin Studies through a competitive 

process and shares their costs with nonfederal partners. Through the 

Basin Studies, Reclamation intends to identify basin-wide water supply 

vulnerabilities, project climate change’s impacts on the performance of 

water infrastructure, and develop adaptation strategies—such as 

operational or physical changes to existing water infrastructure or 

development of new facilities—to address these impacts. According to 

Reclamation guidance, the Basin Studies are to develop long-term 

projections of water supply and demand that take into account specific 

climate change risks identified in the SECURE Water Act.36 The studies 

will analyze how well existing water and power infrastructure are meeting 

current demands and then forecast their performance in light of projected 

water supply and demand. To address projected imbalances in supply 

and demand, the studies are to identify adaptation strategies that include 

strategies for nonstructural (i.e., management and operations) and 

structural (i.e., capital expenditures) changes.

As of September 2013, 3 Basin Studies have been completed, and an 

additional 14 studies have been funded and are under way.37

Reclamation and its partners, including state water management 

agencies and local irrigation districts, completed the Yakima River Basin 

Study in 2011, and both the St. Mary River and Milk River Basins Study 

and Colorado River Basin Study in 2012. Some studies entirely cover the 

major river basins specified in the SECURE Water Act—such as the 

Colorado River Basin Study, while other studies cover subbasins or 

tributaries within the boundaries of the major river basins—such as the 

Yakima River Basin Study, covering a tributary of the Columbia River. 

Reclamation officials told us that they next intend to initiate feasibility 

studies for adaptation strategies identified in completed Basin Studies by 

making funds available to nonfederal partners, beginning with an initial 

feasibility study in 2013. See appendix II for additional information on the 

locations and results of Reclamation’s Basin Studies.

 35Pub. L. No. 111-11, § 9503(b)(4) (2009).

36Pub. L. No. 111-11, § 9503(b)(2) (2009).

37Two additional studies were selected for funding in fiscal year 2013.
Page 17 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

As recommended by the Task Force in 2010, the Corps and Reclamation 

are taking a phased approach to climate adaptation, including developing 

agency-wide guidance for adaptation. Specifically, through broad climate 

vulnerability assessments, agency officials told us they have expanded 

their knowledge of climate change and its impacts, allowing them to 

assess, at a high level, how these impacts may affect agency missions, 

programs, and operations. These initial vulnerability assessments have 

informed the agencies in developing and conducting more detailed 

vulnerability assessments, while also identifying specific strategies for 

climate change adaptation through the pilots and basin studies. Both 

agencies have also begun integrating what they have learned into their 

policies and program guidance. For example, beginning in 2009 and 

updated in 2011, the Corps issued guidance requiring that potential sealevel changes be considered in all of the agency’s coastal planning, 

engineering, operations, and maintenance activities. The Corps is 

currently developing guidance for implementing coastal and inland 

adaptation strategies. Similarly, in 2013, Reclamation officials told us they 

began to incorporate climate change adaptation considerations into its 

policies and guidance for project feasibility studies and environmental 

impact studies, among other things, using information and lessons 

learned from its WWCRA and Basin Study vulnerability assessments.

According to agency officials, as the Corps and Reclamation integrate 

climate adaptation considerations into their policies and program 

guidance, they will begin to take steps toward implementing the potential 

adaptation strategies that they have identified. According to the Corps’

2012 adaptation plan, the agency’s goal is to create a policy and 

guidance framework that will support the implementation of practical, 

nationally consistent, legally justifiable, and cost-effective adaptation 

strategies. Accordingly, Corps Civil Works officials told us that the pilots 

conducted to date have been largely focused on informing the 

development of policy and guidance, and that no structural or operational 

adaptation strategies have been implemented. Similarly, Reclamation 

officials told us no structural or operational adaptation strategies have 

been implemented in response to the agency’s vulnerability assessments, 

and that its efforts to update guidance will be informed by the adaptation 

strategy feasibility studies as they are completed.

Corps and Reclamation officials told us that because they are early in the 

adaptation process, the extent to which limited budgets and existing 

infrastructure maintenance backlogs will affect the implementation of 

adaptation strategies remains to be determined. However, the 

implementation of adaptation strategies by both agencies will likely rely 

Both Agencies Are 

Developing and Enhancing 

Guidance for 

Implementing Climate 

Adaptation Strategies 

Identified
Page 18 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

on collaborative sharing of costs and resources with federal, state, local, 

and nongovernmental stakeholders. Both agencies have already initiated 

cost-sharing and resource-leveraging measures. For example, according 

to agency officials, the Corps is leveraging resources for adaptation pilot 

studies with state, local, and nongovernmental entities, and Reclamation 

is splitting the cost of Basin Studies with state and local partners. The 

agencies plan to continue such collaborative approaches going forward. 

For example, as required under the SECURE Water Act, Reclamation 

officials told us they intend to share the cost of the feasibility studies for 

adaptation strategies equally with nonfederal partners.

In 2009, the Corps and Reclamation—with its CCAWWG partners NOAA 

and USGS—published a study,38 (referred to in this report as the 

CCAWWG study). This study identified several challenges that climate 

change poses for water resource managers, including (1) identifying the 

data and tools needed by water managers to address climate change, 

(2) ensuring the sustained collection of climate data, (3) incorporating 

climate science into water management tools, and (4) educating water 

managers to use climate data and tools. We found that the Corps and 

Reclamation are addressing these challenges, making collaboration a key 

element of their efforts, and doing so in a manner generally consistent 

with best practices for sustained collaboration.

The CCAWWG study identified a number of challenges faced by the 

Corps and Reclamation in adapting to climate change, and the agencies 

have taken a variety of actions to address these challenges.

• Identifying the data and tools needed by water managers to address 

climate change: The CCAWWG agencies are collaborating to produce 

a series of four documents identifying their common data and tool 

needs and a strategy for meeting them, with the objective, among 

 38L.D. Brekke, J.E. Kiang, J.R. Olsen, R.S. Pulwarty, D.A. Raff, D.P. Turnipseed, R.S. 

Webb, and K.D. White, Climate change and water resources management—A federal

perspective: USGS Circular 1331 (2009).

The Corps and 

Reclamation Face 

Several Challenges in 

Assessing and 

Responding to the 

Effects of Climate 

Change and Are 

Working 

Collaboratively to 

Address Them

The Corps and 

Reclamation Are 

Addressing Several 

Challenges to Climate 

Adaptation
Page 19 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

other things, of guiding and fostering federal and nonfederal research 

and technology investments toward meeting these needs.39 The first 

document, published in 2011, described the water management 

community’s needs for climate change information and tools to 

support long-term planning for time scales of 5 years and more. The 

second document, published in 2013, described the data and tools 

needed to support short-term planning of less than 5 years. For both 

documents, the Corps and Reclamation asked their water resource 

managers to identify the information and tools most relevant to their 

programs, and they also consulted with other federal, state, and local 

agencies and stakeholders with a role in water resource management 

about their needs. The documents summarized the information and 

tools needed into categories and identified the users’ most pressing 

needs within each category. According to these documents, the 

CCAWWG agencies plan next to prepare two companion documents 

to identify a scientific strategy for meeting the research needs 

identified in the two initial documents. The two completed documents 

note that USGS and NOAA will jointly prepare the companion 

documents, incorporating perspectives from other federal and 

nonfederal representatives of the scientific community.

• Ensuring the sustained collection of climate data: The Corps and 

Reclamation are coordinating with the data collecting agencies and 

sharing some costs associated with their efforts. According to the 

2009 CCAWWG study, at the same time as the need for observational 

data to support climate adaptation is increasing, the observational 

networks crucial to increasing understanding are shrinking. For 

example, in recent decades, maintenance of long-term monitoring 

networks has declined because of a lack of funding—USGS alone has 

deactivated or discontinued almost 1,700 surface-water stream 

gauges. Corps Civil Works officials told us that stream gauge data is 

extremely important, not only to the Corps’ ongoing operations, but 

also because science agencies use the data to produce the climate 

change information upon which the Corps bases its adaptation 

planning. To ensure the needed data is collected, the Corps has a 

 39Addressing Climate Change in Long-Term Water Resources Planning and 

Management: User Needs for Improving Tools and Information, U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers and U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation (Washington D.C.: 

January 2011) and Short-Term Water Management Decisions: User Needs for Improved 

Climate, Weather, and Hydrologic Information, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of 

Reclamation, and NOAA (Washington D.C.: January 2013).
Page 20 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

formal agreement to provide funding to USGS—about $18 million in 

fiscal year 2013 according to Corps officials—to operate stream 

gauges that provide data for the Corps’ water planning and 

management activities. This data is also available for use by all 

federal and state agencies, as well as others interested in water 

information.

Reclamation policy officials told us, in response to a SECURE Water 

Act requirement to consult with federal and applicable state agencies 

to develop a monitoring plan for acquiring and maintaining water 

resources information, agency staff are currently identifying 

information needs and plans to work collaboratively with data 

collecting agencies, including NOAA, USGS, and the U.S. Department 

of Agriculture, to develop the plan.40 Reclamation policy officials 

stated that the Basin Study Program activities, including the 

WWCRAs and Basin Studies, are also contributing to the planning 

effort by providing valuable information about how the agency’s 

monitoring needs are changing as a result of climate change. 

Reclamation officials told us that they intend to work with the U.S. 

Department of Agriculture and USGS to initiate the required 

monitoring plan in 2014. These collaborative efforts can help ensure 

that the long-term water resource monitoring networks critical for 

detecting and quantifying climate change and its impacts—as well as 

measuring the effectiveness of future adaptation strategies—will be 

properly configured and continue to operate.

• Incorporating climate science into water management tools: The 

Corps, Reclamation, and others are collaborating in a number of 

efforts to incorporate climate science into water management tools.41

 40We found in previous reports that gaps in NOAA’s satellite coverage, which could occur 

as soon as 2014, are expected to affect the continuity of climate and space weather 

measurements. Given the importance of satellite data to weather forecasts, the likelihood 

of significant gaps, and the potential impact of such gaps on the health and safety of the 

U.S. population and economy, GAO has concluded that the potential gap in weather 

satellite data is a high-risk area and added it to the High-Risk List in 2013. For example, 

see GAO, Environmental Satellites: Focused Attention Needed to Mitigate Program Risks, 

GAO-12-841T (Washington, D.C.: June 27, 2012). See also GAO, Environmental 

Satellites: Strategy Needed to Sustain Critical Climate and Space Weather 

Measurements, GAO-10-456 (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 27, 2010).

41In our 2013 High-Risk Update, we identified the need to develop a government-wide 

approach for providing (1) the best available climate-related data for making decisions at 

the state and local level and (2) assistance for translating available climate-related data 

into information that officials need to make decisions. 
Page 21 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

For example, Reclamation research and development, as well as 

policy officials told us that as part of their effort to enhance the 

capabilities of water resource managers to use climate data, the 

agency is coleading two of Interior’s Landscape Conservation 

Cooperatives in the Colorado River Basin area. Reclamation officials 

told us that the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives, which are 

partnerships of governmental and nongovernmental stakeholders, will 

focus on developing and communicating science to inform climate 

adaptation strategies for ecological regions, or “landscapes.” In 

collaboration with academia, other federal agencies, local and state 

partners, and the public, the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives 

will provide products and services, such as climate change computer 

models and vulnerability assessments, coordinate with Interior’s 

regional Climate Science Centers to synthesize existing climate 

change impact data and management strategies, and help resource 

managers put them into action on the ground.42 The Landscape 

Conservation Cooperatives will also coordinate with NOAA’s Regional 

Integrated Sciences and Assessment program.43

Similarly, the Corps is engaged in collaborative efforts with external 

partners to integrate climate science into planning tools for water 

resource managers. For example, the Corps partnered with NOAA’s 

National Ocean Service to create an online sea level change 

calculator. According to Corps officials, this collaboration allowed the 

rapid integration of climate science into engineering guidance for 

coastal projects. Corps Civil Works officials also told us that 

collaboration with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and 

NOAA’s Urban Northeast Regional Integrated Sciences and 

Assessment program contributed to the development of a postSuperstorm Sandy sea level rise tool to help affected communities, 

 42Interior’s eight regional Climate Science Centers deliver basic climate change impact 

science to Landscape Conservation Cooperatives within their respective regions, including 

physical and biological research, ecological forecasting, and multiscale modeling. The 

centers prioritize their delivery of fundamental science, data, and decision-support 

activities to meet the needs of the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives

43The Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessment program consists of 11 research 

teams that emphasize collaborative regional climate research to help inform climate 

change adaptation planning and management.
Page 22 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

residents, and other stakeholders consider risks from future sea level 

rise in planning for reconstruction.44

In addition, the Corps and NOAA are coleading actions to implement 

the Task Force recommendation to develop a federal Internet portal to 

provide current, relevant, and high-quality information on water 

resources and climate change data applications and tools for 

assessing the vulnerability of water programs and facilities to climate 

change. As a result, the Corps-hosted Federal Support Toolbox is 

now publicly available online. According to Corps Civil Works officials, 

the website is a “one stop shop” for technical resources to support 

water management. The website states that the Toolbox is an 

evolving and comprehensive water resources data portal with direct 

links to valuable databases, innovative programs and initiatives, and 

state-of-the-art models and tools.45

• Educating water managers to use climate data and tools: The Corps 

and Reclamation are collaborating as coleaders in developing and 

implementing a training program as recommended by the Task 

Force’s National Action Plan: Priorities for Managing Freshwater 

Resources in a Changing Environment.

46 These agencies—joined by 

NOAA, USGS, and the Environmental Protection Agency—are 

collaborating with the University Corporation for Atmospheric 

Research’s COMET Program and the Western Water Assessment to 

produce training courses for federal and nonfederal resource 

management professionals who need to assess the impacts of climate 

 44In 2012, Superstorm Sandy caused tens of billions of dollars in damages to buildings, 

utilities, transportation systems, and other infrastructure. As we pointed out in our 2013 

High-Risk Update, as weather-related events become more frequent and intense due to 

climate change, whatever resulting damages are not covered by insurance or built to be 

resilient to such events increases the federal government’s implicit fiscal exposure through 

federal disaster relief programs.

45The Federal Support Toolbox is available at www.watertoolbox.us

46According to the CCAWWG study, adaptation to climate change will likely require water 

resource managers to move away from the traditional planning assumption of 

stationarity—the idea that historical records of stream flow and weather variation 

represent a reasonable proxy for the future—in designing and operating water resource 

systems. In the absence of stationarity, water managers will need to use new methods to

estimate the likelihood of future hydrologic conditions, including approaches that use 

climate models to project a range of possible future condition scenarios.
Page 23 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

change on water and related resources.47 Specifically, in 2012, the 

agencies implemented an online course on incorporating climate 

change into water resource planning, which was a prerequisite for 

participating in the first two pilot residence courses—addressing 

climate impacts on surface hydrology and on water demand for 

irrigated crops—offered in early 2013. According to the program’s 

website, the online course was designed to provide students with 

water resource planning knowledge, while the residence courses offer 

opportunities for gaining hands-on experience in applying that 

knowledge. According to the website, these courses and the 

numerous planned future classes are collectively designed to provide 

a professional development and training series that will help 

managers assess climate change impacts across the spectrum of 

natural resources.

The Corps and Reclamation have collaborated with each other and other 

agencies in a manner that is generally consistent with practices that we 

have previously identified as important to helping enhance and sustain 

collaboration among federal agencies.48 In 2005, we reported that 

collaboration—broadly defined as any joint activity that is intended to 

produce more public value than could be produced when organizations 

act alone—can be enhanced and sustained by engaging in eight key 

practices: (1) defining and articulating a common outcome; (2) 

establishing mutually reinforcing or joint strategies; (3) identifying and 

addressing needs by leveraging resources; (4) agreeing on roles and 

responsibilities; (5) establishing compatible policies, procedures, and 

other means to operate across agency boundaries; (6) developing 

mechanisms to monitor, evaluate, and report on results; (7) reinforcing 

agency accountability for collaborative efforts through agency plans and 

 47The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research is a consortium of over 100 

member universities and academic affiliates focused on research and training in the 

atmospheric and related earth system sciences. Its COMET Program uses innovative 

methods to disseminate and enhance scientific knowledge in the environmental sciences, 

particularly meteorology, but also including diverse areas such as oceanography, 

hydrology, space weather, and emergency management. The Western Water Assessment 

is a university-based applied research program that addresses societal vulnerabilities 

related to climate, particularly in the area of water resources. Its mission is to identify and 

characterize regional vulnerabilities to and impacts of climate variability and change and to 

develop information, products, and processes to assist decision makers throughout 

Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. 

48GAO-06-15.

The Corps’ and 

Reclamation’s 

Collaborative Efforts Are 

Generally Consistent with 

the Best Practices for 

Enhanced and Sustained 

Collaboration
Page 24 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

reports; and (8) reinforcing individual accountability for collaborative 

efforts through performance management systems. Running throughout 

these practices are a number of factors, such as leadership, trust, and 

organizational culture, which are necessary elements for a collaborative 

working relationship.

The Corps and Reclamation have made collaboration a key element of 

their adaptation policies and plans and have reinforced accountability for 

collaboration through agency performance management systems. For 

example, the Corps’ climate adaptation policy states that collaborations 

are the most effective way to develop strategies to identify and reduce 

vulnerabilities to potential future climate change, and it calls for continued 

collaborative adaptation efforts. As stated in the Corps’ 2012 Climate 

Adaptation Plan and Report, it is the objective of the agency to facilitate 

and promote closer and more fruitful interagency cooperation and to 

promote sharing of impact and adaptation data and information between 

federal, state, and local partners. Finally, to reinforce accountability, the 

draft performance metrics for climate adaptation in the Corps’ 2013 Army 

Campaign Plan includes a target for the number of products developed in 

collaboration with other water resource agencies for adaptation planning 

and action.

Reclamation has similarly included collaboration as a key element of its 

adaptation policy, plans, and performance metrics. Under Interior’s 2013 

Climate Change Adaptation Policy, Reclamation is to integrate climate 

change adaptation strategies into its policies and practices by, among 

other actions, collaborating with stakeholders through Landscape 

Conservation Cooperatives, Climate Science Centers, and other 

partnerships to increase understanding of climate change. Furthermore, 

Reclamation’s strategic plan for its adaptation and conservation programs 

states that collaborative partnerships must be developed to identify the 

adaptive strategies needed to address climate change. Finally, through its 

climate adaptation efforts, Reclamation is contributing to Interior’s goal of 

identifying resources that are particularly vulnerable to climate change 

and implementing coordinated adaptation responses for half of the nation 

by September 30, 2013.

We also found that the Corps and Reclamation have collaborated 

together and with others in accordance with best practices for 

collaboration among agencies. For example, in their key collaborative 

effort—CCAWWG—each agency’s role is well defined; the Corps and 

Reclamation provide water engineering and management expertise, and 

their partner agencies provide climate science expertise. CCAWWG has 
Page 25 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

clearly defined common objectives, including the development of working 

level relationships between federal water management and federal 

science agencies, and it leverages resources across agencies to meet 

common needs. The CCAWWG agencies also have mutually reinforcing 

strategies. For example, the operating needs of the Corps and 

Reclamation drive the direction of science inquiries by the science 

agencies, resulting in improved operations, while at the same time the 

data collected and compiled by the water management agencies for a 

specific purpose can be used by the science agencies for alternative 

objectives. Outside of CCAWWG, as mentioned elsewhere in this report, 

the agencies have also followed key collaborative practices, such as the 

Corps leveraging resources to fund maintenance of the USGS’s streamflow monitoring networks, and Reclamation establishing joint strategies 

with state agencies and others to conduct Basin Studies.

We provided a draft of this product for review and comment to the 

Departments of Defense and the Interior. The Department of Defense

provided technical comments that were incorporated, as appropriate.

As agreed with your offices, unless you publicly announce the contents of 

this report earlier, we plan no further distribution until 30 days from the 

report date. At that time we will send copies to the Secretaries of 

Defense and the Interior; the appropriate congressional committees; and 

other interested parties. In addition, the report will be available at no 

charge on the GAO website at http://www.gao.gov.

If you or your staff members have questions about this report, please 

contact me at (202) 512-3841 or morriss@gao.gov. Contact points for our 

Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on 

the last page of this report. GAO staff who made key contributions to this 

report are listed in appendix III.

Steve D. Morris

Acting Director, Natural Resources and Environment

Agency Comments
Appendix I: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ 

and the Bureau of Reclamation’s Organization 

and Infrastructure

Page 26 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps)—an agency within the 

Department of Defense and a Major Command within the Army—is 

composed of four program areas including Civil Works, Military 

Construction, Real Estate, and Research and Development. To carry out 

its Civil Works missions nationwide, the program is organized into eight 

geographic divisions composed of 38 districts, as shown in figure 1. 

Division and district geographic boundaries are generally aligned with 

watershed boundaries.

Appendix I: The U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers’ and the Bureau of Reclamation’s 

Organization and Infrastructure
Appendix I: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ 

and the Bureau of Reclamation’s Organization 

and Infrastructure

Page 27 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

Figure 1: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Division and District Boundaries

Note: In addition to the eight divisions that manage U.S. water resources, the Corps also operates a 

Gulf Region Division, Afghanistan Engineer District, and Europe District.

The Corps’ Civil Works Program is implemented through nine business 

areas that represent the diversity of the nation’s water resource 

management needs as follows:
Appendix I: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ 

and the Bureau of Reclamation’s Organization 

and Infrastructure

Page 28 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

• Navigation—provides safe and reliable commercial waterways;

• Flood and Coastal Storm Damage Reduction—reduces risks to 

people, homes, and communities from flooding and coastal storms;

• Environment—restores and protects wetlands and other aquatic 

ecosystems;

• Hydropower—generates hydroelectric power for distribution to 

communities;

• Regulatory—regulates work in navigable rivers and the discharge of 

dredges and fill materials in U.S. waters;

• Recreation—provides recreational and educational opportunities;

• Emergency Management—prepares for natural disasters and acts 

when they occur;

• Water Supply—provides water storage for multiple purposes; and

• Executive Direction and Management—provides leadership, strategic 

planning and performance measurement.

To implement its responsibilities in the business areas, the Corps has 

constructed—and continues to operate, maintain, and rehabilitate—a 

large inventory and wide variety of water management infrastructure. For 

example, according to Corps records, as of September 2012, its inventory 

includes 702 reservoirs that, among other things, provide water supply 

storage and help reduce flood risk, and 75 hydropower facilities with 353 

generating units that produce hydroelectric power for homes, businesses, 

and communities. In the area of navigation, the Corps’ inventory includes 

12,000 miles of commercial inland waterways, 193 lock sites with 239 

chambers, and 926 harbors.1 For flood reduction, the Corps inventory 

includes 14,501 miles of levee systems. For recreation, the Corps’

inventory includes 54,879 miles of lakeshore and recreation areas that 

support 370 million annual visitors, 270,000 jobs, and $16 billion of 

economic activity. In 2012, the National Research Council reported that 

the Corps’ infrastructure had an estimated value of approximately $164 

billion.

The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) is, 

according to agency records, the nation’s largest wholesale water 

supplier, providing water to over 31 million people and irrigation water to 

one out of five western farmers on 10 million acres of farm land, which 

produce 60 percent of the nation’s vegetables and one-quarter of its fresh 

 1

A lock is a navigation device with one or more fixed chambers in which the water level 

can be varied, allowing the raising and lowering of boats between stretches of water of 

different levels on rivers and canals.
Appendix I: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ 

and the Bureau of Reclamation’s Organization 

and Infrastructure

Page 29 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

fruit and nut crops. Reclamation is also the second largest producer of 

hydropower in the United States. To carry out its mission and operations, 

Reclamation is organized into five regions, as shown in figure 1.

Figure 2: Bureau of Reclamation Regional Boundaries

According to agency records as of 2011, Reclamation’s asset inventory 

includes 476 dams and dikes, creating 337 reservoirs with a total storage 
Appendix I: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ 

and the Bureau of Reclamation’s Organization 

and Infrastructure

Page 30 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

capacity of 245 million acre-feet of water.2 Reclamation’s inventory also 

includes 53 hydroelectric power plants that it owns and operates. These 

plants provide an average of more than 40 megawatt hours of energy per 

year.3 In 2011, Reclamation, estimated that the replacement value of its 

assets was approximately $90 billion. According to the Congressional 

Research Service, about two-thirds of the assets in Reclamation’s 

inventory are “transferred works”—facilities that it owns, but for which it 

has transferred operations and maintenance to nonfederal entities. The 

remaining one-third of these facilities are “reserved works”—facilities that 

are owned, operated, and maintained by Reclamation, where the 

nonfederal beneficiaries, such as irrigation districts, are responsible for 

repaying construction and maintenance costs.

 2

An acre-foot is 325,851 gallons of water that, according to Reclamation, supplies enough 

water for a family of four for 1 year.

3

A megawatt hour is one thousand kilowatt-hours or one million watt-hours, which will 

power the average American home for 1 week.
Appendix II: Locations and Initial Results of 

the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s Pilot 

Studies and Bureau of Reclamation’s Basin 

Studies

Page 31 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

The Corps is conducting pilot studies nationwide to support the 

development of adaptation guidance and a portfolio of adaptation 

approaches. Reclamation is conducting Basin Studies—focused 

assessments within basins—to develop strategies to mitigate climate 

change impacts on water supplies.

As part of its efforts to address the priorities of developing a risk-informed 

decision-making framework and a portfolio of adaptation approaches, the 

Corps is conducting 15 pilot studies nationwide to test different methods 

and frameworks for adapting to climate change (see fig. 3). As of 

September 2013, the Corps has completed 5 of these studies, and 10 

others are ongoing. The Corps plans to initiate 1 additional pilot in 2013.

Appendix II: Locations and Initial Results of 

the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s Pilot Studies 

and Bureau of Reclamation’s Basin Studies

Corps Pilot Studies
Appendix II: Locations and Initial Results of 

the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s Pilot 

Studies and Bureau of Reclamation’s Basin 

Studies

Page 32 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

Figure 3: Location and Description of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pilot Projects, as of September 2013

Note: Pilot studies 1-5 have been completed as of September 2013.
Appendix II: Locations and Initial Results of 

the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s Pilot 

Studies and Bureau of Reclamation’s Basin 

Studies

Page 33 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

According to the Corps’ September 2012 report on its climate change 

adaptation pilots,1 each study addresses a central question designed to 

help the Corps, according to officials, test new ideas, develop and utilize 

information at the project-level scale, and to collect information needed to 

develop policy and guidance for incorporating adaptation into all agency 

activities. For example, because the reliability of a planned flood 

reduction project could depend on how climate change affects future 

flooding, the Corps launched a pilot study with the goals of determining 

(1) whether tools and data are available for the Corps to provide reliable 

estimates of future flooding using climate projections and (2) how

changes in precipitation patterns will affect flood events. This pilot study’s 

results supports the Corps’ effort to design an approximately $1.8 billion 

flood risk reduction project on the Red River of the North, where flooding 

has increased in magnitude and frequency since 1942. According to 

Corps officials, the pilot study successfully adapted existing tools and 

data to project future flooding, while also testing current guidance and 

contributing to the development of new guidance for future adaptation 

efforts. Specifically, Corps officials told us that climate data indicated a 

trend of flooding consistent with climate change projections. In 

accordance with existing Corps risk analysis guidance, the pilot study 

leader convened an expert panel to review the climate information. Based 

on the expert panel’s findings, the pilot team is integrating climate data 

into the Corps’ flood model to project future river conditions. In addition, a 

member of the pilot study team who is also responsible for developing the 

Corps’ guidance for inland adaptation activities told us that he is 

integrating his observations and experiences from this study—as well as 

from his participation in other Corps pilots—into the guidance.

Corps officials told us that the information developed by the Corps’

climate change adaptation pilots is also contributing to subsequent Corps 

studies. For example, the climate change and modeling data for a pilot 

study of sediment impacts to Cochiti Dam and Lake in New Mexico is 

contributing to ongoing studies in the Corps’ Albuquerque District. One is 

the Santa Clara Pueblo Watershed Assessment, which is studying 

observed climate trends and projected climate changes to address likely 

future changes to watershed hydrology on the Pueblo’s lands, with 

particular attention to flood risk and water resources development.

 1

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Climate Change Adaptation Pilots (June 2012).
Appendix II: Locations and Initial Results of 

the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s Pilot 

Studies and Bureau of Reclamation’s Basin 

Studies

Page 34 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

Reclamation is partnering with nonfederal entities to conduct focused 

assessments, known as Basin Studies, to identify specific water 

resources vulnerabilities and to implement the SECURE Water Act’s 

requirement that Reclamation consider and develop strategies to mitigate 

climate change impacts on water supplies.2 As of September 2013, 3 

Basin Studies have been completed, and an additional 14 studies have 

been funded and are under way in western states (see fig. 4).3

 2

Pub. L. No. 111-11, § 9503(b)(4) (2009).

3

Two additional studies were selected for funding in fiscal year 2013: the San Diego 

Watershed Basin Study and the West Salt River Valley Basin Study. Reclamation is 

developing the scopes of the studies with the respective funding partners.

Reclamation Basin Studies
Appendix II: Locations and Initial Results of 

the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s Pilot 

Studies and Bureau of Reclamation’s Basin 

Studies

Page 35 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

Figure 4: Locations of the Bureau of Reclamation’s 17 Funded Basin Studies, as of September 2013

All three of Reclamation’s completed Basin Studies projected climate 

change to result in warming and changes in precipitation that will alter the 

snow cover and runoff that supply water to the river basins, although the 

changes may be difficult to predict with certainty for any particular location 

and time. For example, the Colorado River Basin study projected that 

snow cover will decrease in the basin as more precipitation falls as rain, 

rather than snow, and warmer temperatures cause earlier melting. As a 

result, the runoff in the basin is generally projected to decrease—except 

in the northern Rockies. The study concluded that without additional 
Appendix II: Locations and Initial Results of 

the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s Pilot 

Studies and Bureau of Reclamation’s Basin 

Studies

Page 36 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

water management actions, a wide range of future imbalances in supply 

and demand are plausible, primarily because of the uncertainty in future 

water supplies.

The completed Basin Studies also found that climate change is expected 

to contribute to long-term imbalances in water supply and demand. The 

completed Basin Studies also identified, with varying degrees of 

specificity, possible adaptation strategies to address the projected effects 

of climate change on water resources. For example, the Colorado River 

Basin Study identified various combinations of potential adaptation 

strategies to address projected water supply and demand imbalances. 

The study noted that the purpose of identifying these strategies was not 

to select a single, best strategy, but rather to recognize that there are 

various ways to address projected water imbalances in the basin, and 

that each approach has positive and negative implications that should be 

considered in future planning efforts. Agency officials and study 

participants told us that Reclamation has formed workgroups to further 

refine the strategies and identify options that should then be evaluated 

through feasibility studies. In contrast, the Yakima River Basin Study 

identified a more specific set of adaptation strategies for which feasibility 

studies are planned. Nonfederal stakeholders, including those 

representing agricultural and the environmental interests, told us they are 

collaboratively pursuing state funding to initiate the feasibility studies.

Reclamation policy officials and several other basin stakeholders—

including state water managers, environmental advocates, and local 

water providers—told us that a key outcome of the completed Basins 

Studies is the establishment of a shared view of how climate change will 

impact the basins and their water management infrastructure. 

Reclamation policy officials, as well as basin stakeholders representing 

environmental and tribal interests, told us that the Basin Studies 

represent Reclamation’s first concerted efforts at holistic planning in the 

river basins, taking into account not only the needs and concerns of 

irrigation users, but also the interests of tribes, recreational users, 

environmental advocates, and others. A state water manager told us that 

a prior river basin planning effort had largely been unsuccessful due to 

the lack of involvement or opposition by environmental and tribal 

interests, and several stakeholders commended Reclamation for working 

to ensure that the views of a wide range of stakeholders, including 

environmental and tribal interests, were considered in the Basin Studies.
Appendix III: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgments

Page 37 GAO-14-23 Climate Change Adaptation

Steve D. Morris, (202) 512-3841 or morriss@gao.gov

In addition to the individual named above, Elizabeth Erdmann, Assistant 

Director; Brad Dobbins; Richard Johnson; Mick Ray; Jeanette Soares; 

Lorelei St. James; and Sarah E. Veale made key contributions to this 

report. Nirmal Chaudhary, John Delicath, Cindy Gilbert, and Armetha 

Liles provided additional technical assistance.

Appendix III: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgments

GAO Contact

Staff 

Acknowledgments

(361441)
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