Sustainable water supply and climate change

It is argued from a global perspective that rivers are the only renewable fresh water source on earth that can be developed practicably on a large scale to supply fresh water reliably and sustainably. The variability of river flow, which is expected to increase with climate change, makes it necessary to provide reservoir storage space through the construction of dams to supply fresh water, particularly in regions characterized by multiple-year droughts. This paper demonstrates that the need for dams and for the sustainable management of reservoir storage space will increase in the future as climate change establishes.