Grantee Research Project Results
2023 Progress Report: Valuing Water Quality Improvements in Nationwide Ecosystems: Total Value Based on the Biological Condition Gradient
EPA Grant Number: R840465Title: Valuing Water Quality Improvements in Nationwide Ecosystems: Total Value Based on the Biological Condition Gradient
Investigators: Phaneuf, Daniel J. , Vossler, Christian , Finlay, Jacques C , Keiser, David A , Kling, Catherine L , Dolph, Christy , Jie, Yongjie
Institution: University of Wisconsin - Madison , Cornell University , University of Minnesota , University of Massachusetts Amherst , University of Tennessee -Knoxville , Iowa State University
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: September 1, 2022 through August 31, 2025
Project Period Covered by this Report: September 1, 2022 through August 31,2023
Project Amount: $741,864
RFA: Water Quality Benefits (2022) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Water Quality , Water
Objective:
In this research we are pursuing four overarching project goals related to holistically valuing surface water quality in the US. The first is to expand our assessment of baseline BCG conditions to a nationwide scale. This in turn enables us to adapt our existing BCG and SP survey instruments to measure and compare total values for major ecoregions across the country, including regions that are underrepresented in the body of prior valuation research. Third, to enhance our understanding of the relative magnitudes of use and non-use values, we supplement the SP estimates of total value with revealed preference (RP) recreation demand estimates. Finally, we incorporate a nationwide BCG valuation module into our ongoing Integrated Assessment Model (IAM) development work that aims to provide broadscale water quality valuation capabilities.
Progress Summary:
Identify a set of watersheds to study that span US ecoregions and are ecologically, geographically, and demographically representative of waterbodies and populations in the country, including areas underrepresented in valuation research.
These are related in that study sites need to be selected based on the availability of biological data to characterize baseline conditions. Assembling the biological data (objective 1) required labor-intensive coordination with individual state agencies. Team members completed the following steps:
· Designed a protocol for systematically reaching out to state agencies to locate a cooperative contract.
· Constructed a spreadsheet to track the status of agency contacts and data acquisition.
· Designed a databasing method to house the various types of biological data shared by state agencies.
· Constructed maps to illustrate progress in where data has been secured.
With two exceptions (pursuing leads with agency personnel in AZ and NE, and initiating contact with FL), we have now completed the data assembly elements of objective 1. The first figure on the following page shows the spatial distribution of available biological data, divided out by EPA ecoregion and with example sources labeled.
Our efforts this reporting period also included identifying study sites (objective 2). Our research goal is to characterize water quality values using the BCG across the full US by selecting representative study sites that will be the focus on primary data collection. We are planning to use HUC4s as our study site unit of analysis. Selecting study sites requires balancing representation along the following dimensions: ecoregions, baseline water quality conditions, and population distributions (urban/rural). In practice, the selection of study sites is constrained by (a) the availability of biological data; (b) sufficient within-HUC4 variability in water quality conditions; (c) and the ability to pull a large enough sample from households living in the HC4. To quantify these conditions across potential study regions we have constructed ecoregion-specific maps that illustrate spatial variation in population and surface water quality (measured using total phosphorus concentrations). The second figure on this page provides an example of nutrient levels for the coastal plain ecoregion.
Future Activities:
Early in year 2 of the project we will complete calculation of BCG scores via the biological data that we have assembled, and we will finalize our study sites. With these preliminary steps completed we will focus on the following project objectives:
- Objective 3 (Communicate Water Quality): Design communication and presentation strategies for translating ecological concepts specific to BCG levels in our set of river basins into commodity descriptions suitable for use in SP surveys.
- Objective 4 (SP Survey): Field a large scale, online SP survey that focuses on our nationwide sample of watersheds and implements our BCG-L valuation approach across ecologically and socio-economically diverse locations.
Our goal is to complete objective 3 and fully draft and test the SP survey during the next project year, with the goal of fielding the SP and RP surveys during the third year of the project. We also aim to produce a grant output summarizing the biological data and BCG predictions that will be completed early in the new reporting period.
Supplemental Keywords:
nonmarket valuation, stated preference, Biological Condition GradientThe 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.