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Another View on Global Warming
Author(s) -
Pontius Fred
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal ‐ american water works association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.466
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1551-8833
pISSN - 0003-150X
DOI - 10.1002/j.1551-8833.2008.tb09693.x
Subject(s) - legislation , global warming , scrutiny , business , legislature , climate change , environmental resource management , environmental planning , effects of global warming , natural resource economics , environmental science , economics , political science , ecology , law , biology
Virtually every aspect of water utility operations could be affected by global warming and by any legislation eventually enacted to address it. This includes water resources planning as well as system design, operations, water distribution, and customer service. Even the customer's ability to pay increased water rates will be affected as the cost of living increases overall in response to legislative mandates and regulations to address global warming. Large amounts of public monies will be required to address global warming, and human lives are at stake. This article discusses how legislation, regulation, and water utility decisions to mitigate and/or adapt to global warming based on incomplete, incorrect, or spurious information may have disastrous consequences. The article stresses that a higher level of scrutiny and review must be given to public statements by scientists and politicians as well as to the academic research on global warming and climate change.