Ecosystems, Water Quality & Climate Change Research
We rely on the natural environment to provide us with food, clean water, and a multitude of natural resources that protect health and well-being. Ecosystems provide many critical functions that protect our health, including pollution buffering, flood control, and food, and habitat support . EPA's climate change research is committed to understanding how climate change currently is affecting these resources, and how they may be impacted in the future.
Research is focused on developing new approaches to prepare for climate change and reduce or adapt to the impacts on the natural environment. The results can be used to assist states, tribes and communities with developing strategies to protect their vulnerable ecosystems from the impacts of climate change.
On this page:
- Ecosystems & Climate Change Research
- Water Quality & Climate Change Research
- Related Resources
- Publications
Ecosystems & Climate Change Research
- Characterizing how climate change impacts ecosystems: Research is improving understanding of how extreme events, air pollution and other changes driven by climate change are impacting ecosystems. Studies are examining potential future climate-driven ecosystem impacts; evaluating consequences to ecosystems undergoing particularly rapid change and determining factors that control ecosystem vulnerability to climate change.
- Characterizing how air pollution impacts ecosystems under a changing climate: Research is underway to better understand how air pollution and climate change interact to affect the health of ecosystems and the services they provide such as clean water and food. The research goals are to:
- Increase understanding of the role of deposition of nitrogen, sulfur, and toxic pollutants on ecosystem functioning and services
- Improve and expand information on critical loads for nitrogen and sulfur
- Increase understanding of how wildland fires affect air and water quality and ecosystem health
- Improve characterization of how air pollution impacts ecosystems under a changing climate
- Assessing the effects of climate change on nature-based carbon sequestration and storage: Research is addressing how air pollution and climate change are impacting the ability of ecosystems to sequester and store carbon, thereby reducing net greenhouse gas emissions. Investigations are being conducted to understand how changes in air pollution and deposition, temperature and precipitation patterns, and wildland fires affect ecosystem carbon sequestration in forests, near-shore marine environments, and freshwater bodies and estuaries.
- Evaluating how ecosystems recover from pollution and climate-related disturbances: Researchers are studying how some ecosystems are able to recover from past exposures to air pollution and climate change. The information will provide insight into how ecosystems can adapt to air pollution, disturbances and changing climate.
Water Quality & Climate Change Research
Nutrient Contamination Research
Runoff of nitrogen and other pollutants during high precipitation storms is leading to more pollution in water bodies. Nutrient contamination research is advancing the science to help EPA, states and tribes make water quality management decisions related to nutrients and other pollutants impacting water quality. The results from the research will help others effectively conduct restoration and recovery of the nation’s water resources.
Research goals include:
- Providing information, methods, and approaches to determine nutrient-related impacts in watersheds and water bodies
- Quantifying how diverse aquatic ecosystems respond to and recover from nutrient pollution
- Collecting and synthesizing data and developing new tools to identify watershed and water bodies that may most effectively respond to restoration and recovery efforts
- Delivering methods and prediction tools that will help stakeholders design and track nutrient reduction activities at watershed scales
Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) Research
Climate change has been linked to an increased risk of the formation of harmful algal blooms in water. These toxic blooms develop when nitrogen and other nutrients are washed off land surfaces into waterways from storms. Warming temperatures from climate change can promote the growth of HABs in waters. Research is underway to provide better monitoring and assessment capabilities for HABs and to develop potential early indicators that can be used to identify and forecast water bodies that are vulnerable.
In addition to the research focused on the underlying processes of HABs and the short-term prediction of them, researchers are also focusing on the longer-term (e.g., multi-decadal) effects of climate change on the risk of HABs in different geographic and bio-physical settings. The research consists of a national-scale, qualitative evidence synthesis of potential future changes in cyanobacterial HAB risk for inland lakes in the conterminous U.S.
Stormwater Management Research
Stormwater management has been made more challenging as extreme rainfall events from storms and hurricanes have increased and caused more water pollution. EPA has a comprehensive research effort to support stormwater management, which is including considerations for a changing climate. Research is being conducted to synthesize existing models, methods, assessment data, and approaches such as flow control to aid communities in stormwater management planning, including evaluation of costs and benefits, operation, and maintenance issues. The research will help communities develop and implement stormwater management strategies.
Wastewater Management Research for Smaller Utilities
The new, complex challenges that wastewater utilities face require a solid understanding of the growing number of innovative technologies and management approaches available to them. While the scientific and engineering foundations of effective wastewater collection and treatment practices applied by all sizes of wastewater utilities are the same, there are unique challenges that smaller utilities face.
Research is addressing many wastewater management needs. A new focus is to deliver scientific and engineering guidance to smaller utilities. The research is focused on providing alternative and innovative collection and treatment system technologies; wastewater infrastructure assessment and management approaches, especially addressing climate resiliency; and evaluation of technology, operation and management options.
Underground Storage Tanks Research
Climate change is causing more extreme rainfall events that are increasing the risk of fuel leaks from underground storage tanks. The leaks from these tanks can impair water quality including drinking water in communities. The United States infrastructure for underground storage tanks is comprised, historically, of 2.2 million tanks at 800,000 facilities, with six billion gallons of fuel being stored daily. Leaking underground storage tanks are a greater burden in disadvantaged communities where many are located. As part of a comprehensive research focus on underground storage tanks, research is focused on addressing the environmental justice concerns of communities that are impacted by increased rainfall. The research is assisting states, tribes and communities with identifying underground storage tanks that may be more vulnerable to leaking during these extreme events and providing solutions to further protect vulnerable populations.
Related Resources
- National Climate Assessment - EPA contributes to the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s development of the National Climate Assessment, including chapters on the impacts of climate on air quality. The Fifth National Climate Assessment was published in November 2023.
- Integrated Climate and Land Use Scenarios (ICLUS) Tool -- EPA's Global Change Explorer (GCX) Integrated Climate and Land-Use Scenarios (ICLUS) Tool produces spatially explicit projections of population and land-use that are based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES).
Publications
- Adaptation Publications for Climate Change Research
- Ecosystem Publications for Climate Change Research
- Nitrogen Publications for Climate Change Research
- Water Quality Publications for Climate Change Research