DISES : Through the Prism of Groundwater Pollution: The Interplay of Extreme Wet Events, Socio-Economic Well-Being, and Polity in Unincorporated Communities

沿海非建制社区，即那些没有在当地市政当局正式组织起来的社区，面临着多重挑战，包括由于遗留污染和易受自然灾害影响而受到污染的地下水资源。本研究通过评估贫困、有限资源和环境危害等因素如何影响沿海非建制社区，促进了我们对社会经济因素、水质和居民福祉之间复杂关系的理解。该研究将社会和环境数据结合起来，对潜在风险进行建模，改进决策，并增强沿海非建制社区面对未来挑战的复原力。该项目强调包容性，让代表性不足的少数民族学生和社会经济弱势群体以及主要边缘化群体的居民参与水资源管理和教育项目。这项研究有助于增加科学知识，帮助解决现实世界的问题，并使社区能够对其水资源做出明智的选择。该研究项目解决了墨西哥湾西北部未合并沿海社区面临的挑战，特别是那些易受自然和人为灾害影响的社区。由于这些社区的社会经济和政治属性，例如靠近垃圾填埋场、废弃油井和基础设施不足，这些社区面临地下水污染的风险更高。该项目采用社区层面的方法来了解社会经济学、含水层补给区、地下水污染和健康之间的相互作用。该项目支持一个拉美裔服务机构的跨学科研究人员联盟。该研究利用污染物连续输入地下水作为自然示踪实验，促进了我们对极端事件如何影响海岸带过程、地下水补给和水化学的理解。本研究：(a)在社会经济属性的背景下，证实了极端潮湿事件引起的含水层补给和地下水污染的概念信息；(b)提高我们对具有不同政治、经济和文化资本水平的社区的认识和理解，这些社区经常被排除在科学探究和集体决策过程之外。这项研究为人类与自然系统耦合科学做出了贡献，并改变了在非合并的、依赖地下水的社区进行环境和社会经济评估的方式。由此产生的模型将地下水补给和质量与居民的福祉、社会经济信息、水文气候条件和土地利用结合起来，为弹性规划和管理提供了未来的方案。该项目为拉美裔服务机构中代表性不足的少数族裔学生提供跨学科教育和培训机会，并通过研讨会和K-12教育项目积极吸引当地弱势社区参与水资源治理。由此产生的模型在利益相关者和决策者参与的情况下，增强了决策支持工具，促进了环境正义和公平的资源管理。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Coastal unincorporated communities, those not formally organized under a local municipality, face multiple challenges, including contaminated underground water resources, due to legacy pollution and vulnerability to natural disasters. This research advances our understanding of the complex relationship between socioeconomic factors, water quality, and residents’ wellbeing by evaluating how factors like poverty, limited resources, and environmental hazards impact coastal unincorporated communities. The research combines social and environmental data to model potential risks, improve decision-making, and enhance the resilience of coastal unincorporated communities in the face of future challenges. The project emphasizes inclusivity by involving underrepresented minority students and residents from socio-economic disadvantaged and predominantly marginalized populations in water resource management and educational programs. This research contributes to scientific knowledge, helps address real-world issues, and empowers communities to make informed choices about their water resources.This research project addresses the challenges faced by unincorporated coastal communities in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico, particularly those vulnerable to natural and human-made hazards. These communities are at a higher risk of groundwater contamination due to their socio-economic and polity attributes, such as proximity to landfills, abandoned oil wells, and inadequate infrastructure. The project uses a community-level approach to understand the interplay between socioeconomics, aquifer recharge areas, groundwater contamination, and wellness. The project supports a transdisciplinary consortium of researchers at a Hispanic-Serving Institution. The research advances our understanding of how extreme events impact coastal zone processes, groundwater recharge, and water chemistry, using the continuous input of contaminants into groundwater as a natural tracer experiment. This research: (a) substantiates conceptual information on the extreme wet event-induced aquifer recharge and contamination of groundwater in the context of socio-economic attributes; and (b) advances our knowledge and understanding of communities with variable levels of political, economic, and cultural capital, often excluded from scientific inquiry and collective decision-making processes. This research contributes to the science of Coupled Human and Natural Systems and transforms the way environmental and socioeconomic evaluations are performed in unincorporated, groundwater-dependent communities. The resultant model integrates groundwater recharge and quality with residents’ wellbeing, socioeconomic information, hydro-climatic conditions, and land use providing future scenarios for resiliency planning and management. The project provides cross-disciplinary education and training opportunities for underrepresented minority students at Hispanic-Serving Institutions and actively engages local disadvantaged communities in water resource governance through workshops and K-12 educational programs. The resultant model, informed by stakeholder and policymaker involvement, enhances decision-support tools, and promotes environmental justice and equitable resource management.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.