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Abstract
Increase in population and economic development combined with climate change modifies the river system both by changing the watershed characteristic and the hydrologic regime. These lead to altered flow patterns, poor water quality, and destruction of aquatic habitat if it is not appropriately managed. To effectively manage the precious resource, it is vital to understand and consider the combined impact of climate and land-use changes to the river flow. In this project, ArcSWAT was used to model the flow in the Middle Oconee River with three different climate projection models. A Land Transformation Model projected possible land-use changes in the study area. The projected flow shows a slight increase for GISS and MIROC5 models and a decrease for CanESM2. Projected land-use changes indicated a decrease in flow. By 2050, all three models suggest the need to be planning now for alternative water sources in order to achieve the desired basin resilience.