(Press-News.org) An interdisciplinary team of researchers has developed a suite of tools to estimate the total economic value of improving water quality in urban streams. The work can assist federal and state agencies charged with developing environmental regulations affecting urban ecosystems across the Piedmont Region of the United States, which stretches from Maryland to Alabama.
“Urban streams are ubiquitous and face a number of stressors from rapid economic development,” says Roger von Haefen, professor of agricultural and resource economics at North Carolina State University and corresponding author of a paper on the work. “But there have not been well-established tools to help agencies assess the benefits of regulations aimed at improving the water quality of these streams. Our work here provides a robust set of tools that allow us to assess both use and non-use benefits associated with improved water quality in urban streams.”
“Use” benefits arise from how people directly interact with urban streams. For example, attractive streams can increase property values of nearby homes, whereas polluted streams may diminish property values. “Non-use” benefits capture existence and bequest values, or what people are willing to pay to protect natural resources in their natural state for the benefit of future generations.
To capture the broad range of potential benefits, the researchers developed an “ecological production function framework” that translates observable, biophysical measures of water quality into ecological outcomes that people perceive and value. For example, a biotic index is a scale that uses the diversity of species in a waterbody to assess a stream’s overall ecosystem health, which is an ecological output that the public values.
Specifically, the framework draws on existing water quality monitoring data and uses computational modeling to predict water quality changes related to various regulatory interventions. The framework then leverages expert assessments of how these water quality changes translate into ecological endpoints the public values. A stated preference survey of area residents is then used to quantify the public’s willingness to pay for these outcomes – and, by extension, for improvements in stream water quality.
The researchers demonstrated the utility of the new benefit estimation tools by looking at the Upper Neuse River Basin in Durham and Wake counties, North Carolina.
In this proof-of-concept demonstration, the researchers found that residents of the area containing the Upper Neuse River Basin would be willing to pay an average of $127 per household per year – approximately $54 million in total – for water quality improvements derived from increasing tree cover along stream banks by 25% and decreasing runoff from impervious surfaces, such as streets and parking lots.
“We’ve shown that this approach can work, and it is designed for use in urban areas throughout the Piedmont region,” von Haefen says. “Currently, EPA has limited tools to assess the benefits associated with environmental regulations that affect urban streams. We’re optimistic that federal and state agencies can use this framework to better capture those benefits and make more informed regulatory decisions.”
The paper, “Estimating the Benefits of Stream Water Quality Improvements in Urbanizing Watersheds: An Ecological Production Function Approach,” will be published the week of April 24 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The paper was co-authored by Daniel Obenour, an associate professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering at NC State; Jonathan Miller, a teaching assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering at NC State; George Van Houtven of RTI International; Alexandra Naumenko of Visa, Inc.; Melissa Kenney and Hillary Waters of the University of Minnesota; and Michael Gerst of the University of Maryland.
The work was done with support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under STAR grant number 83616501. In addition to its publication in PNAS, the work will be presented at a symposium of research funded through EPA’s STAR grant program, with a focus on research into the benefits of water quality improvements.
END
New tools capture economic benefit of restoring urban streams
2023-04-24
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
A blinking fish reveals clues as to how our ancestors evolved from water to land
2023-04-24
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — An unusual blinking fish, the mudskipper, spends much of the day out of the water and is providing clues as to how and why blinking might have evolved during the transition to life on land in our own ancestors. New research shows that these amphibious fish have evolved a blinking behavior that serves many of the same purposes of our blinking. The results suggest that blinking may be among the suite of traits that evolved to allow the transition to life on land in tetrapods — the group of animals that includes mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians — some 375 million years ago.
The study appears the week ...
New machine-learning method predicts body clock timing to improve sleep and health decisions
2023-04-24
A new machine-learning method could help us gauge the time of our internal body clock, helping us all make better health decisions, including when and how long to sleep.
The research, which has been conducted by the University of Surrey and the University of Groningen, used a machine learning programme to analyse metabolites in blood to predict the time of our internal circadian timing system.
To date the standard method to determine the timing of the circadian system is to measure the timing of our ...
Health surveys, studies exclude trans people and gender-diverse communities, impacting health care
2023-04-24
ANN ARBOR—Health surveys and clinical studies have a data collection problem: Because of the way they record sex or gender, they often exclude transgender and gender-diverse people, according to University of Michigan research.
Most studies and surveys either ask participants for their sex, a biological construct, or their gender, a social construct. In this way, they only consider either sex or gender independently or use the two concepts interchangeably, says Kate Duchowny, a research assistant professor in the Survey Research Center at the U-M Institute for Social Research.
Participants either respond with their sex assigned at birth or the ...
Scientists detect seismic waves traveling through Martian core for the first time
2023-04-24
Scientists observed seismic waves traveling through Mars’ core for the first time and confirmed model predictions of the core’s composition.
An international research team—which included University of Maryland seismologists—used seismic data acquired by the NASA InSight lander to directly measure properties of Mars’s core, finding a completely liquid iron-alloy core with high percentages of sulfur and oxygen. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on April 24, 2023, these findings reveal new insights into how Mars formed and geological differences ...
Pioneering research sheds new light on the origins and composition of planet Mars
2023-04-24
A new study has uncovered intriguing insights into the liquid core at the centre of Mars, furthering understanding of the planet’s formation and evolution.
The research, led by the University of Bristol and published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the US, reveals the first-ever detections of sound waves travelling into the Martian core. Measurements from this acoustic energy, called seismic waves, indicate its liquid core is slightly denser and smaller than previously thought, and comprises a mixture of iron and numerous other elements.
The ...
Testing antibiotic resistance with a fast, cheap, and easy method
2023-04-24
“We have developed a technique in our laboratories that allows us to obtain an antibiogram within 2-4 hours – instead of the current 24 hours for the most common germs and one month for tuberculosis,” says Dr Sandor Kasas at EPFL. Professor Ronnie Willaert at Vrije Universiteit Brussel adds: “Our technique is not only faster but also simpler and much cheaper than all those existing now.”
Antibiotic resistance happens when bacteria develop the ability to defeat the drugs designed to kill them. It ...
Interfering with antiviral pathway may deter Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia
2023-04-24
Targeting part of an antiviral pathway triggered by the accumulation of a key pathogen shared in Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia may one day offer a new therapeutic approach to deterring or delaying cognitive decline, according to preclinical research led by Weill Cornell Medicine scientists.
The study, published April 24 in Nature Neuroscience, demonstrates that inhibiting an innate immune system enzyme called cyclic GMP–AMP synthase (cGAS) helps neurons become resilient to the build-up of the protein tau into bundles known as fibrils, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s and some forms of frontotemporal dementia, the two most ...
Outstanding performance of organic solar cell using tin oxide
2023-04-24
Organic solar cells have a photoactive layer that is made from polymers and small molecules. The cells are very thin, can be flexible, and are easy to make. However, the efficiency of these cells is still much below that of conventional silicon-based ones. Applied physicists from the University of Groningen have now fabricated an organic solar cell with an efficiency of over 17 percent, which is in the top range for this type of material. It has the advantage of using an unusual device structure that is produced using a scalable technique. The design involves a conductive layer of tin oxide that is grown ...
Redox Medicine 2023: Where is the target?
2023-04-24
The 25th International Conference on Redox Medicine will take place on June 21-23 in Paris. Redox Medicine 2023 will provide a glimpse into the role of redox in tomorrow’s medicine.
What to Expect in Redox Medicine 2023?
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been studied for decades, but the results remain controversial. ROS are beneficial to biological mechanisms, acting as signaling molecules and enhancing immune defense. However, they also have harmful effects, such as causing tissue and organ damage.
Dr. Carole Nicco, stated that “The work and results presented at the Redox Medicine Congress will give ...
Small acts of kindness are frequent and universal, study finds
2023-04-24
Key takeaways
A study by researchers from UCLA, Australia, Ecuador, Germany, the Netherlands and the U.K. found that people around the world signal others for assistance every couple of minutes.
The research, which examined behaviors in towns and rural areas in several different countries, revealed that people comply with these small requests for help far more often than they decline them.
The findings suggest that people from all cultures have more similar cooperative behaviors than prior research has established.
A new study by UCLA sociologist Giovanni Rossi and an international team of collaborators finds that people rely on ...