Water quality and climate change in Southeast Alaska

SAWC Science Director Rebecca Bellmore visited Whale Pass on July 25 to meet with the Prince of Wales Community Advisory Council. She discussed a potential research project to study the effects of climate change on drinking water quality. Many communities in Southeast Alaska have concerns about high organic matter concentrations in drinking water sources, and increasingly extreme weather events may exacerbate these issues. Analyzing water quality data in the context of historic precipitation data and recently downscaled climate change projections for Alaska could provide some insights into how water quality may change in the future.