WSC Category 1 Water Sustainability in Coastal Environments: Exploratory Research for an Integrated Study of the Effect of Anticipated Sea Level Rise on Contaminated Site Risk

本研究旨在了解在预期海平面上升的背景下污染物运输的化学和水文，可用的工程解决方案以及人类处理风险的方式。预测海平面上升和污染场地的相互作用是一个鲜为人知的问题，但它是一个重要的问题，位于自然科学和社会科学的界面。科学问题是复杂的，考虑到诸如盐度、pH值、氧化还原的化学效应、水力梯度变化的物理效应、地下水位上升、沼泽淹没、新地区被风暴潮淹没以及目前固定成分可能被释放的风险等因素。经济选择实验和实验室实验提供了一种结合这种复杂性并了解人类可能如何反应的方法。特拉华大学的一个探索小组正在调查受污染地点和预期海平面上升的共同影响如何影响水的可持续性需求。对气候变化和海平面上升的关切超出了人类适应的传统问题，例如加固建筑物和道路、建造水屏障、气候变化对健康的影响、不断变化的农业用地以及保险问题。由于海平面上升，城市地区、工业场所和废物处理场受污染土壤的水文和化学变化可能会加强污染物的释放和流动性，威胁到饮用水供应和食物来源。该项目分析了海平面上升和污染的共同风险如何影响未来几十年沿海地区人口的经济机会、生态系统、水质和生活质量。该研究最终寻求比较不同补救方案的收益和成本，从而得出直接的政策建议。这项研究的政策影响可能包括对补救技术解决方案的不同优先次序，包括放弃、遏制和人类适应的选择。这一建议取决于人类对感知风险的处理，以及在不同人群中获得的收益和成本的分配模式。了解公众对风险的反应，包括研究以不同方式传达风险时的反应，将为改进风险管理提供见解。

This research seeks to understand the chemistry and hydrology of contaminant transport within the context of anticipated sea level rise, the engineering solutions available, and the way humans process the risks. The projected interaction of sea level rise and contaminated sites is a poorly understood problem, but a significant one, positioned at the interface of natural science and social science. The scientific problem is complex, given factors such as the chemical effects of salinity, pH, redox, the physical effects of changes in hydraulic gradients, rising water tables, marsh drowning, new areas inundated by storm surges, and the risk that currently-immobilized constituents may be released. Economic choice experiments and laboratory experiments provide a way to incorporate this complexity and to understand how humans may respond. An exploratory team at the University of Delaware is investigating how water sustainability needs are impacted by the joint impacts of contaminated sites and anticipated sea level rise. Concerns about climate change and sea level rise extend beyond traditional issues of human adaptation, such as reinforcing buildings and roads, building water barriers, health impacts of climate change, changing agricultural land use, and insurance issues. Alterations in hydrology and chemistry of contaminated soils in urban areas, industrial sites, and waste disposal sites, as the result of sea level rise, could enhance release and mobility of contaminants, threatening drinking water supplies, and food sources. The project analyzes how the joint risk of sea level rise and contamination may affect the economic opportunities, ecosystems, water quality and quality of life in the coming decades for coastal zone populations. The research ultimately seeks to compare the benefits and costs of different remediation alternatives, resulting in direct policy advice. The policy implications of this research may include a different prioritization of technological solutions for remediation, including options for abandonment, containment, and human adaptation. This advice depends on the human processing of perceived risks, and the distributional patterns of received benefits and costs across different populations. Understanding how the public responds to risk, including research on responses when the risk is communicated in different ways, will provide insights toward improving risk management.