Citation:

Ghimire, S., A. Nayak, J. Corona, R. Parmar, R. Srinivasan, K. Mendoza, AND J. Johnston. Holistic Sustainability Assessment of Riparian Buffer Designs: Evaluation of Alternative Buffer Policy Scenarios Integrating Stream Water Quality and Costs. Sustainability. MDPI, Basel, Switzerland, 14(19):12278, (2022). https://doi.org/10.3390/su141912278

Impact/Purpose:

In this study, we developed a methodology for evaluating holistic sustainability of alternative riparian buffer zone (RBZ) designs or decision management objectives. We demonstrated the methodology separately in three 12-digit Hydrologic Unit Code watersheds in the southeastern USA. We adapted the RBZ - hydrologic and water quality system assessment data of dissolved oxygen, total phosphorus, total nitrogen, total suspended solids - sediment, and biochemical oxygen demand, recently published by U.S. EPA, as environmental indicators. We calculated 20-year net present value costs as economic indicators using the costs data published by the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The holistic sustainability assessments using data envelopment analysis revealed urban RBZ to be the most sustainable (with holistic sustainability score of 1.00) across all watersheds. The article is expected to make a considerable impact to broader audience who consider RBZ as best management practice. The presented methodology is general enough to be applied to develop sustainable RBZ design strategy in the Southeast U.S. and beyond.

Description:

Riparian buffer zones (RBZs) have been shown to be effective best management practices (BMPs) in controlling non-point source pollutants in waterbodies. However, the holistic sustainability assessment of individual RBZ designs is lacking. We present a methodology for evaluating the holistic sustainability of RBZ policy scenarios by integrating environmental and economic indicators simulated in three watersheds in the southeastern USA. We developed three unique sets of 40, 32, and 48 RBZ policy scenarios as decision management objectives (DMOs), respectively, in Back Creek, Sycamore Creek, and Greens Mill Run watersheds (Virginia and North Carolina) by combining the RBZ—widths with vegetation types (grass, urban, naturalized, wildlife, three-zone forest, and two-zone forest). We adapted the RBZ—hydrologic and water quality system assessment data of instream water quality parameters (dissolved oxygen, total phosphorus, total nitrogen, total suspended solids—sediment and biochemical oxygen demand) as environmental indicators, recently published by U.S. EPA. We calculated 20-year net present value costs as economic indicators using the RBZ’s establishment, maintenance, and opportunity costs data published by the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The mean normalized net present value costs varied by DMOs ranging from 4% (grass RBZ—1.9 m) to 500% (wildlife RBZ—91.4 m) across all watersheds, due primarily to the width and the opportunity costs. The mean normalized environmental indicators varied by watersheds, with the largest change in total nitrogen due to urban RBZs in Back Creek (60–95%), Sycamore Creek (37–91%), and Greens Mill (52–93%). The holistic sustainability assessments revealed the least to most sustainable DMOs for each watershed, from least sustainable wildlife RBZ (score of 0.54), three-zone forest RBZ (0.32), and three-zone forest RBZ (0.62), respectively, for Back Creek, Sycamore Creek, and Greens Mill, to most sustainable urban RBZ (1.00) for all watersheds.

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