• Asia
• Climate change

Adapting to climate change: Implications for the design, construction and operation of dams

• As global temperatures rise, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and intense, posing significant risks to the security of water infrastructure, particularly reservoirs, across various stages of design, construction, and operation. It is therefore important to understand the impacts of climate change on reservoir security, to develop adaptive strategies and to guarantee sustainable socio-economic development. This review examines the impacts of climate change on large-scale reservoirs in China, focusing on shifts in temperature, precipitation patterns, and the occurrences of extreme climatic events over the past decades. The review highlights the effect of these changes on engineering materials, drawing on case studies of reservoir projects affected by extreme climatic conditions. The potential influence of extreme climate change and its induced hydrological extremes on reservoir design and operation have been analysed. Finally, adaptive strategies for mitigating climate risks to reservoir safety have been addressed. The authors emphasize the need for incorporating climate change projections into reservoir design and operation, acknowledging the uncertainty in future climate conditions and the profound consequences for water security and socio-economic development.
• Vol. 32 - Issue 2, 2025

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