In addition to research on the likely impacts of climate change on the availability of water and hydropower resources, Reclamation is actively exploring means for adapting to these changes from research through implementation. An example of large-scale adaptation is Reclamation's WaterSMART Program, which is focused on the long term sustainability of water resources. The WaterSMART program includes Basin Studies, in which Reclamation collaborates with partners to identify water supply and demand imbalances and develop strategies to adapt. The Research and Development program seeks to develop new tools that can support adaptation to climate change, including methods to screen candidate facilities to receive retrofits designed to permit pumped storage, methods for developing optimized scheduling of hydropower generation in order to get the most renewable energy out of our powerplants, and methods to improved forecasts of water demand as agricultural growing seasons lengthen and urban heating and cooling needs increase.

This page will be updated in the future to include a list of Research and Development activities that relate to matter of developing adaptation options, or improving methods to screen such options.