Program:  Dr. Bo Svoma, Principal Climate Scientist and Meteorologist in the Atmospheric Sciences and Hydrology department at the Salt River Project, discussed the considerable across Arizona variation of the effects of the current western US multidecade drought on water supply and demand.

Wet winters intervening in multiple dry years are invaluable to some supplies, with lesser impact on others. Summer monsoon rains can reduce water demand but generally have a more minor impact on supplies. Hotter temperatures with climate change increase evaporative demand on the landscape which affects river flows. Although gaps in scientific understanding of both the natural drought cycle and climate change make precise predictions difficult, water resource managers should plan for deeper droughts in the future.

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Note: We had problems with the audio for the first 15 minutes. You may wish to enable Closed Captions.  Click the CC icon at bottom of the frame.

Speaker: Bohumil (Bo) Svoma is a Principal Climate Scientist/Meteorologist in the Atmospheric Sciences and Hydrology department at the Salt River Project (SRP). Dr. Svoma has published ~35 peer-reviewed research articles in the fields of climatology, meteorology, and hydrology and his current research interests are focused on improving the predictability of Arizona precipitation and streamflow from sub-seasonal through decadal time scales. Dr. Svoma supports several long-term water supply planning projects, and his operational duties include watershed monitoring and weather forecasting. Before joining SRP, Dr. Svoma was an Assistant Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Missouri from 2013-2017. He received his PhD in Geographical Sciences at Arizona State University in 2011 and BS degrees in Mathematics and Geographical Sciences from Arizona State University in 2007.

SRP is a community-based, not-for-profit public power utility and the largest electricity provider in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area. SRP provides water to about 2.5 million Valley residents, delivering 260 billion gallons of water each year, and manages a 13,000-square-mile watershed that includes an extensive system of reservoirs, wells, irrigation laterals, and 131 miles of canals.