A Hydro-Economic Perspective into South Florida's Water Resource Management Tradeoffs under Climate Change

South Florida's water and environmental resources are already under pressure from socio-economic growth and declining ecosystems. The region has one of the world's largest systems of canals, levees and water control structures to manage water resources under extreme drought and flood conditions. Emerging challenges such as sea level rise and climate change increase the need for adaptive water resources management strategies to sustain human and natural systems in the region. Understanding the tradeoffs of integrated water resources management within this unique, multi-purpose water resources system under existing and projected conditions is key for developing effective adaptation strategies. We apply a hydro-economic model to investigate the tradeoffs associated with reliable water supply for urban and agricultural sectors, while maintaining fragile ecosystems and protecting metropolitan areas against flooding. Furthermore, we explore climate change impacts on the system-wide tradeoffs by running the hydro-economic optimization model under a set of climate change and sea level rise scenarios. Results illustrate implications of potential climatic changes on integrated water resources management in south Florida, providing insights for infrastructure investments that will be needed to maintain current levels of service.