CAREER: Robust aquatic habitat representation for water resources decision-making

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CBET 1653452 PI: Null, Sarah There is a pressing need for innovation in the incorporation of environmental objectives in water resources systems modeling. A promising path is to test aquatic habitat accuracy as complexity increases, and analyze if more complex models lead to more robust water resources decision-making to incorporate effectively environmental objectives into water resources systems modeling. This project will advance representation of aquatic habitat in water resources systems modeling by enlarging the solution space to decisions beyond streamflow and reservoir releases. Evaluating aquatic habitat representation in water resources systems models with robust decision-making provides critical new paths toward stable water resources decision-making. Integrated research and education tasks are: 1) test the accuracy and generality of large spatial scale environmental data to represent aquatic habitat with varying levels of complexity, 2) quantify the robustness of aquatic habitat and hydro-economic tradeoffs in water resources systems models with uncertainty, and 3) expand public science literacy for water resources decision-making by integrating science with art. Because decisions between economic and environmental water use benefits largely rest on the values and preferences of the public, visual art communicates aquatic habitat complexity and the tradeoffs between economic and environmental water uses. This project aspires to reach an estimated 130,000 visitors with museum exhibits at the Natural History Museum of Utah and the Swaner EcoCenter to foster a scientifically-literate public.