Our main water supply model is calibrated to the historical record; we should calibrate it to climate model outputs, too. In S&T 1816 we developed climate models with this purpose in mind. We can generate weather on a monthly time scale and stress the current water supply system with realistic rainfall and snow distributions derived from future scenarios. We can find out how the system would respond to a drought or a whiplashing climate. This kind of modeling could inform decision-making about projects like dams with long operational lives.
