UCLA’s Daniel Swain says climate change threatens California’s aging water infrastructure in Los Angeles Times article

Daniel Swain, climate scientist within UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, was quoted in a Los Angeles Times article about Southern California’s Prado Dam, which was recently upgraded to the “high urgency” risk category by the U.S. Army Corps. Federal engineers are concerned that a significant flooding event could compromise the dam’s spillways, threatening Orange County communities.

In the article, Swain explained that changing weather patterns due to climate change are threatening older water infrastructure, such as the Prado Dam: “A troubling theme is emerging as the Corps reviews its portfolio of large flood control systems that were built a long time ago and are now showing signs of severe stress,” said Swain. “Federal engineers are finding that these systems are not as resilient as they thought they were, and that the frequency of what were regarded as once-in-a-lifetime storms is increasing significantly.” The Sustainable LA Grand Challenge is working to address these issues through the advancement of climate modeling research that helps us predict future extreme weather events so we can adapt our infrastructure pro-actively. In addition, SLA GC supports the development of technologies needed to mitigate some of these impacts to ensure we have the time needed to adapt.

Read the full article at Los Angeles Times.