NNA Track 2: Groundwater treatment, delivery and use in rural Alaska

新北极航行（NNA）是NSF的十大创意之一。NNA项目解决快速变化的北极地区的趋同科学挑战。北极研究需要为国家、更大地区和地球仪的经济、安全和复原力提供信息。NNA授权从地方到国际规模的新的研究伙伴关系，使下一代北极研究人员多样化，加强正规和非正规教育的努力，并在适当的情况下整合知识的共同生产。该奖项通过支持具有明确潜力的规划活动来实现这一目标的一部分，以开发新颖，前沿的研究思路和方法来实现NNA目标。它整合了自然环境，建筑环境和社会系统的各个方面，解决了重要的社会挑战，并与当地和土著社区合作。地下水是阿拉斯加的主要饮用水源。然而，阿拉斯加的地下水通常被天然存在的金属污染，包括铁，锰和砷。当这些污染物存在于饮用水中时，它们会构成严重的健康威胁。许多农村社区的水处理系统并不总是能够去除这些污染物。这种情况危及社区的福祉，降低了对处理系统的信任，并减少了经处理的水的使用。该项目的目标是应对农村社区饮用水处理、供应和使用方面的挑战，特别关注土著居民。对社会的好处是确定了改善阿拉斯加土著社区供水服务的方法，这些社区使用被铁、锰和砷污染的地下水。天然存在的铁、锰和砷对地下水的污染对将其作为饮用水来源的阿拉斯加人构成了重大威胁。该项目的目标是通过以下方式解决这一威胁：i）创建一个整体概念模型，其中包括影响阿拉斯加农村地区获得安全，可靠和社会可接受的饮用水的因素，互动和反馈，ii）确定我们解决问题的理解或能力方面的差距，iii）建立一个专家和社区成员团队，准备解决这些差距。为了实现这一目标，项目负责人正在利用来自不同专家和利益相关者（包括部落成员）的有关阿拉斯加土著社区受污染地下水的处理、输送和使用的现有知识。该项目由三名具有自然科学、工程学和人类学背景的女科学家领导，分别位于一所传统研究型大学（华盛顿大学）和一个部落非营利组织（阿拉斯加土著部落健康联合会）。项目结果有可能从根本上促进对自然和建筑环境复杂系统的理解，以及影响阿拉斯加农村社区安全饮用水获取的社会因素，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的学术价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

Navigating the New Arctic (NNA) is one of NSF's 10 Big Ideas. NNA projects address convergence scientific challenges in the rapidly changing Arctic. The Arctic research is needed to inform the economy, security and resilience of the Nation, the larger region, and the globe. NNA empowers new research partnerships from local to international scales, diversifies the next generation of Arctic researchers, enhances efforts in formal and informal education, and integrates the co-production of knowledge where appropriate. This award fulfills part of that aim by supporting planning activities with clear potential to develop novel, leading edge research ideas and approaches to address NNA goals. It integrates aspects of the natural environment, built environment, and social systems, addresses important societal challenges, and engages with local and Indigenous communities. Groundwater is a key drinking water source in Alaska. However, groundwater in Alaska is commonly contaminated with naturally occurring metals including iron, manganese, and arsenic. When these contaminants are present in drinking water, they pose a serious health threat. Water treatment systems in many rural communities are not always able to remove these contaminants. This situation endangers the well-being of the community, diminishes trust in the treatment system, and reduces use of the treated water. The goal of this project is to address challenges involved with treatment, delivery, and use of drinking water in rural communities, with a special focus on indigenous residents. Benefits to society result from identification of ways to improve water services for communities of indigenous Alaskans that use groundwater contaminated with iron, manganese, and arsenic. Contamination of groundwater with naturally occurring iron, manganese, and arsenic poses a significant threat to Alaskans who use it as a source of drinking water. The goal of this project is to address this threat by: i) creating a holistic conceptual model of the factors, interactions, and feedbacks that shape access to safe, reliable, and socially acceptable drinking water in rural Alaska, ii) identifying gaps in our understanding or capacity to solve the problem, and iii) building a team of experts and community members poised to tackle these gaps. To accomplish this goal, project leaders are leveraging existing knowledge about treatment, delivery, and use of contaminated groundwater in indigenous Alaskan communities from a diverse set of experts and stakeholders, including Tribal members. The project is led by three female scientists with backgrounds in natural science, engineering, and anthropology located at a traditional research university (University of Washington) and a Tribal non-profit (Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium). Project results hold the potential to fundamentally advance understanding of the complex system of natural and built environments, as well as social factors that affect safe drinking water access in rural Alaskan communities, and facilitate the generation of novel hypotheses about how this complex system will respond to Arctic climate change.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.