| dc.description.abstract |
Climate change is a challenge that society must face not just from an environmental
perspective but also from an economic perspective. The goal of this research is to
model how implementing climate change adaptation activities can impact the financial
health and stability of a water utility located in a coastal community in the southeast
United States. To measure financial health of the water utility, two categories of
financial models were developed to project the utility’s future financial health,
one model without climate change impacts and adaptation and one with climate change
adaptation expenses. By comparing the two sets financial models, we can learn about
the potential financial implications of climate change adaptation at the local utility
level. In addition, this paper, offers suggestions on ways that the utility can improve
their financial health as climate change impacts progress and adaptation activities
are required. The results of this paper indicate that the utility analyzed has the
capacity to pay for climate change adaptation under all of the modeled scenarios.
However, the utility should still financially prepare early for climate change adaptation
as projecting the financial impacts of executing climate change adaptation activities
at the utility level is extremely difficult.
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