A new tool to help Columbia basin adapt to climate change

Washington State University researchers have received a $1.5 million grant from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Water Sustainability Climate program to develop a computer model which will enable them to make economic and social predictions about climate change, reports Oregon Public Radio. “What we’d really like to do is provide information that can help people plan ahead of the time when we need to be making those decisions. And hopefully reduce conflict,” lead researcher Cailin Huyck Orr said. He added that the model will also predict how public policies could impact the Columbia River Basin.