Grantee Research Project Results
2016 Progress Report: Estimating the Benefits of Stream Water Quality Improvements in Urbanizing Watersheds: An Ecological Production Function Approach
EPA Grant Number: R836165Title: Estimating the Benefits of Stream Water Quality Improvements in Urbanizing Watersheds: An Ecological Production Function Approach
Investigators: von Haefen, Roger , Van Houtven, George L. , Obenour, Daniel Redd , Taylor, Laura , Kenney, Melissa , Gerst, Michael
Current Investigators: von Haefen, Roger , Taylor, Laura , Van Houtven, George L. , Obenour, Daniel Redd , Kenney, Melissa , Gerst, Michael
Institution: North Carolina State University , Desert Research Institute , University of Maryland - College Park
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: June 1, 2016 through May 31, 2020 (Extended to May 31, 2021)
Project Period Covered by this Report: June 1, 2016 through May 31,2017
Project Amount: $799,728
RFA: Water Quality Benefits (2015) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Water
Objective:
To advance knowledge for conducting economic evaluations of environmental policies, the main objective of our proposed research is to develop and demonstrate methods for valuing the use and nonuse benefits of improving water quality in wadeable streams in urbanizing watersheds. These streams provide valuable ecosystem services and are subject to a combination of anthropogenic stressors that have led to pervasive degradation referred to as “urban stream syndrome.” Understanding how the general public perceives and values improvements in stream conditions is necessary to quantify the public’s willingness to pay (WTP) for water quality improvements.
Progress Summary:
Research efforts commenced in Fall 2016. A stakeholder meeting of Triangle-area experts was organized where the nature and scope of water quality impairments was discussed. Focus groups with lay people followed to better understand how the general public perceives and values water quality in wadeable streams in urbanizing watersheds. Concomitantly, water resources data have been compiled for the Piedmont region within the Upper Neuse River and Cape Fear River Basins. Land cover and digital elevation data have also been compiled for the Piedmont region. Hierarchical models have been developed to predict the biotic index of macroinvertebrate species across the Piedmont region using statistically identified water quality and stream characteristic variables. The full research team has convened several meetings to discuss how to integrate available water quality data with the public’s perceptions within our ecological production function framework.
Future Activities:
Focus groups will continue to better understand the general public’s perception and value of water quality. Over time the purpose of these focus groups will shift as we develop a survey instrument that will elicit how people trade off money and water quality. At the same time, an expert elicitation will commence where we will leverage the expertise of water quality modelers to translate objective, measurable water quality data in ecological endpoints that the general public understands and values. Finally, hierarchical models will be developed and refined to forecast the likely improvements in measurable water quality at wadeable streams in the Upper Neuse River and Cape Fear River Basins from alternative realistic policy scenarios.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 2 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
Water quality, economic benefits, willingness to pay, stated preference methods, expert elicitation, ecological production function, wadeable streams, Upper Neuse River Basin, Cape Fear River BasinProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.