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Assessing Holistic Sustainability of Riparian Buffer Designs using Data Envelopment Analysis
Citation:
Ghimire, S., A. Nayak, JohnM Johnston, R. Parmar, J. Corona, R. Srinivasan, AND K. Mendoza. Assessing Holistic Sustainability of Riparian Buffer Designs using Data Envelopment Analysis. iEMSs 2022, Brussels, BELGIUM, July 03 - 09, 2022.
Impact/Purpose:
We present a methodology for assessing holistic sustainability of riparian buffer zone (RBZ) designs. The methodology is demonstrated in three Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC)-12 watersheds in the Albemarle-Pamlico river basin (Back Creek, Sycamore Creek, and Greens Mill Run). Holistic sustainability analyses revealed urban RBZ as the most sustainable design across all watersheds.
Description:
Riparian buffer zones (RBZs) represent best management practices (BMPs) that can provide multiple benefits to watershed ecosystems. However, the holistic sustainability assessment of individual RBZ designs is at infancy. We discuss RBZ sustainability indicators that include five river water quality parameters as environmental indicators, namely, dissolved oxygen (DO), total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), total suspended solids as sediment (TS), and biochemical oxygen demand (BD), and an economic indicator of net present value (NPV) costs. We then present an approach for integrating the sustainability indicators of 120 RBZ decision management objectives (DMOs) that are derived from the combination of RBZ widths and vegetations types (Grass, Urban, Two-Zone Forest, Three-Zone Forest, Wildlife, and Naturalized) simulated in three 12-digit Hydrologic Unit Code watersheds (Back Creek, Sycamore Creek, and Greens Mill Run) within the Albemarle-Pamlico River basin, southeastern USA. Using data envelopment analysis, we integrated these indicators into a single sustainability measure for three sets of unique RBZ designs (40, 32, and 48 DMOs in Back Creek, Sycamore Creek, and Greens Mill Run respectively). The evaluation of NPV costs showed that the economic indicators varied by DMOs across all watersheds ranging from 4% (Grass RBZ - 1.9 m) to 500% (Wildlife RBZ - 91.4 m) of the mean total NPV costs, due primarily to the greater width and the establishment and opportunity costs of the corresponding RBZ. Holistic sustainability analyses revealed urban RBZ as the most sustainable DMO with the highest measure at 1.00 across all watersheds. This study utilized previously published RBZ water quality parameter data assessed through Hydrologic and Water Quality System (HAWQS) by U.S. EPA and cost data set by the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program.