Torrential rain and high winds? That's the least of it. On the cards for the next five decades or so and getting worse by the year, add polluted drinking water, frequent flood damage and power black outs.

This is just part of how climate change threatens our critical infrastructure.

Even if we cap greenhouse gases at 2000 levels, climate change will have a major impact in the coming decades due to inertia in the climate system.

The damage is done.

We urgently need to adapt our critical infrastructure which is at risk from climate change and to ensure that any new infrastructure is future proofed.

Practical and immediate measures to counter the threats climate change poses to our water and energy supplies and, through floods, coastal erosion and storm surges, to our towns and cities.

unacceptable

Failure to act now will put our society and economy at an unacceptable risk. Acting now will be far more cost effective than waiting for catastrophe.

You've only to think of Hurricane Katrina for an example of how climate change coupled with poor planning and zoning decisions can lead to social and economic disaster.

If we don't take urgent action to strengthen adversely affected critical infrastructure the following will happen. Changing rainfall patterns will affect water supplies.

Rising sea levels will inundate coastal cities and towns. Severe weather incidents will damage energy installations, hospitals, telecommunications, railways and other critical infrastructure, and contaminate water supplies.

This isn't the plot of some apocalyptic movie, it is fact -- all contained in an Irish Academy of Engineering (IAE) report entitled "Ireland at Risk: Critical infrastructure -- adaptation for climate change".

More than 60 researchers, engineers, scientists, policy experts and administrators from north and south, and was launched this month by Environment Minister John Gormley .

steps

Significantly, most of our recommendations do not involve any immediate capital expenditure, but deal with the institutional steps needed to ensure the problem is tackled effectively and economically.

Recommendations include:

If we move now, significant economic benefits will accrue - but it we do "too little too late" we risk social and economic disaster.

The full text of the report will be available online at www.iae.ie