Vulnerability of water resources to Climate Change in Kansas

Water resources are vulnerable to extreme climate and hydrologic events in the form of floods and droughts. Water supply, irrigation, flood control, aquatic ecosystem, environmental infrastructure and recreation are some of the systems relating to water resources that are vulnerable to climate change. Further, the demands on these systems due to environmental change and population growth impact the existing vulnerability of water resources, creating a need for adaptive and mitigation strategies. In this paper, we develop indicators for exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity of communities to water resources. A vulnerability index is constructed based on these indicators to emphasize the importance of water resources to communities across Kansas.