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The U.S. has declared a drought disaster for parts of Puerto Rico, where more than 180,000 residents have been rationing water since Aug. 7 due to drought and infrastructure problems. Experts from the University of Michigan, including those from the School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS), are available to discuss a variety of issues related to this crisis.

Jonathan Overpeck, professor and dean of the School for Environment and Sustainability, is an expert on climate and weather extremes, sea-level rise and the impacts of climate change and options for dealing with it. He served as lead author on the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2007 and 2014 reports.

“Both the intensifying strong El Niño and human-caused climate change are likely driving the current observed drought conditions in Puerto Rico,” Overpeck said. “Whereas the El Niño influences will likely diminish as we get into the fall, climate change—and in particular rapidly warming global temperatures—will increase the odds of drought persistence beyond the fall. Puerto Rico and other parts of the Caribbean will continue to see increases in the risk of drought until climate change is halted, and will thus need to adapt water infrastructure and water use strategies going forward in order to build resilience to the worsening drought risk.”

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Sara Hughes, adjunct professor at the School for Environment and Sustainability, is a senior policy researcher at RAND and professor of policy analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy. Her research focuses on designing and evaluating solutions to water, climate change and environmental policy problems from the local to the global.

“Puerto Rico is a reminder to communities everywhere that a water crisis can develop long before the day the taps run dry,” Hughes said. “Climate variability, aging infrastructure and growing demands can gradually erode a system’s margin for error. The challenge for policymakers is to recognize those warning signs and make investments before a drought or other shock turns vulnerability into a crisis. Water security isn’t simply having enough water in a reservoir. It means having a system that can reliably deliver safe and affordable water even when conditions aren’t normal. That requires infrastructure, financial capacity, good information, coordination across government and, importantly, public trust.”

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View the full list of experts available for comment on the Michigan News website.