CAREER: Science for Sustainable and Resilient Groundwater Management

职业：可持续和弹性地下水管理科学

• 批准号: 1351558
• 负责人: Gretchen Miller
• 金额: $ 41.88万
• 依托单位: Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-06-01 至 2021-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1351558&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Science; Sustainable; Resilient; Groundwater

1351558 (Miller). Sustainable management of groundwater requires the judicious allocation of resources to meet societal, ecological, and environmental needs, both now and over the long-term. Historically, groundwater sustainability has been narrowly defined in terms of protecting aquifers from contamination and limiting pumping to match groundwater use with recharge. However, a broader paradigm is necessary, one which considers the diverse requirements of multiple, sometimes conflicting consumers of groundwater, including groundwater dependent ecosystems (GDEs), and one which fosters aquifer resilience to changes in the hydroclimate. In order to develop this paradigm, the PI has the long-term career goals of promoting the sustainable management of groundwater resources by advancing the scientific understanding of groundwater dependent ecosystems and by providing engineering and water resources professionals with tools to incorporate sustainability into their decision making processes. This CAREER grant aims to further these goals through three project specific research objectives: 1) integrate the representation of GDEs into land-surface and groundwater availability models; 2) test and create improved metrics for quantifying sustainability and resilience of groundwater resources; and 3) explore management strategies for optimizing groundwater withdrawals to reduce impacts on GDEs and prevent water system failures. These will be complemented by three project specific educational objectives: 1) teach sustainable engineering practices across the civil engineering curriculum; 2) improve the application of sustainability principles by groundwater professionals; and 3) enhance the diversity of the engineering workforce by using sustainability concepts as a tool to engage those from underrepresented groups. This project addresses critical gaps that prevent a holistic assessment of the sustainability of groundwater resources and their resilience to climate and anthropogenic stressors. It targets to improve the modeling of GDEs, as well as create new metrics for assessing the impact of groundwater management decisions on these sensitive ecosystems. Using these metrics, it will explore new optimization methods to create more sustainable and resilient groundwater systems. The project tests the hypothesis that teaching and researching sustainability is beneficial to the recruitment, retention and engagement of students from under-represented groups in engineering, particularly women. The PI's CAREER plan integrates research and education within the existing framework for the professional development of civil engineers, who are expected to be able to define, explain, apply, and analyze sustainability principles, in relation to engineering design, before they are licensed to practice in the field. At the student level, the project will develop course modules for teaching sustainability throughout the civil engineering curriculum; materials will be drawn from the PI?s research on both groundwater modeling and sustainability metrics. Students will participate in the research through course projects, and student volunteers will lead the publication of these results. These activities will directly impact the education of up to 1900 undergraduates and 50 graduate students at Texas A&M University, as well as that of the one Ph.D. student and five undergraduates funded by the project. Course materials will be disseminated to a wider audience through the PI's ongoing outreach activities and through existing NSF sponsored websites, potentially improving pedagogic approaches for teaching sustainability in civil engineering at universities across the country. At the professional level, the project will create two new continuing-education opportunities for groundwater managers, consultants, and policy makers which will aid in broadly disseminating research to enhance understanding and benefits to society. A workshop on the relationship between desired future conditions and the sustainability and resilience of an aquifer will invite stakeholders to guide this research project at its start and will produce a report on research and education needs for groundwater management. A short-course on groundwater sustainability metrics and modeling will teach professionals about decision making tools available for sustainable groundwater allocation, including those developed by this project.

1351558（米勒）。 地下水的可持续管理需要明智地分配资源，以满足当前和长期的社会、生态和环境需求。从历史上看，地下水的可持续性一直被狭义地定义为保护含水层不受污染，并限制抽水以使地下水的使用与补给相匹配。然而，一个更广泛的模式是必要的，一个考虑到多种多样的，有时相互冲突的地下水消费者，包括依赖地下水的生态系统（GDEs）的不同要求，一个促进含水层的水文气候变化的恢复力。为了发展这种模式，PI有促进地下水资源的可持续管理的长期职业目标，通过推进对地下水依赖生态系统的科学认识，并通过提供工程和水资源专业人员的工具，将可持续性纳入他们的决策过程。该CAREER赠款旨在通过三个项目特定的研究目标进一步实现这些目标：1）将GDE的代表性整合到土地-地表和地下水可用性模型中; 2）测试和创建用于量化地下水资源可持续性和恢复力的改进指标; 3）探索优化地下水抽取的管理策略，以减少对GDE的影响并防止水系统故障。这些将由三个项目具体的教育目标补充：1）在土木工程课程中教授可持续工程实践; 2）提高地下水专业人员对可持续性原则的应用; 3）通过使用可持续性概念作为工具来提高工程劳动力的多样性，以吸引那些代表性不足的群体。该项目旨在解决妨碍对地下水资源的可持续性及其对气候和人为压力的恢复力进行全面评估的关键差距。它的目标是改进GDE的建模，并创建新的指标来评估地下水管理决策对这些敏感生态系统的影响。利用这些指标，它将探索新的优化方法，以创建更具可持续性和弹性的地下水系统。该项目测试的假设，教学和研究的可持续性是有益的招聘，保留和参与的学生人数不足的群体在工程，特别是妇女。PI的职业生涯计划将研究和教育整合到现有的土木工程师专业发展框架中，预计他们将能够定义，解释，应用和分析与工程设计相关的可持续性原则，然后才被许可在该领域实践。在学生一级，该项目将开发课程模块，在整个土木工程课程的教学可持续性;材料将从PI？的地下水建模和可持续性指标的研究。学生将通过课程项目参与研究，学生志愿者将领导这些结果的出版。这些活动将直接影响德克萨斯州农工大学多达1900名本科生和50名研究生的教育，以及一名博士生的教育。学生和五名本科生由该项目资助。课程材料将通过PI正在进行的外联活动和通过现有的NSF赞助网站传播给更广泛的受众，可能会改善全国大学土木工程可持续性教学的教学方法。在专业层面，该项目将为地下水管理人员、顾问和决策者创造两个新的继续教育机会，这将有助于广泛传播研究成果，以增进对社会的理解和利益。关于含水层未来理想状况与可持续性和复原力之间关系的研讨会将邀请利益攸关方在研究项目开始时提供指导，并将编写一份关于地下水管理研究和教育需求的报告。关于地下水可持续性指标和建模的短期课程将向专业人员传授可用于可持续地下水分配的决策工具，包括本项目开发的工具。