Climate Change/Global Warming & Water Quality & Quantity
The Connection Between Global Warming/Climate Change & H2O
As result of the burning of fossil fuels, increasing levels of the greenhouse gases (GHGs) carbon dioxide (now at ~ 415 parts per million [ppm]), methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases will increase ambient temperatures, which leads to evapo-transpiration increases, all caused by global warming. In most latitudes, increasing temperatures have been shown to cause more precipitation and less snowfall, leading to less snowmelt that renders less surface water flows and less groundwater recharge in the spring-late Spring (IPCC, 2021).
Global CO2 Emissions
After a slight decrease in 2020 due to less energy consumption s a result of the pandemic, CO2 emissions returned to the 2018-2019 all-time high in 2021 at about 38 billion tons, or 38 gigaton (Joint Research Centre + International Energy Agency + Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency October 14, 2022) .
Focus on Methane
Methane's ability to trap heat by trapping radiation is about 25 times greater than carbon dioxide over a 100-year period (US EPA 2022). Globally, 50-65% of total methane (CH4) come from human activities including energy, industry, agriculture, land use, and waste management,