NSF Convergence Accelerator Track K: Prototyping decision support and monitoring tools for equitable management of salt contamination of water supplies in tidal rivers

美国大约70%的饮用水供应来自地表沃茨，包括潮汐河流，河口的潮汐淡水区。干旱和海平面上升导致海水从海洋侵入，土地使用的变化导致淡水盐碱化，使这一宝贵的水资源面临危险。这种风险延伸到热电、灌溉和工业生产用水。然而，到目前为止，只有最大和最富有的用水者能够为盐度的增加做好准备。许多水用户，如小型或农村饮用水供应商，没有必要的规划和技术能力为这些变化做好准备。该项目拟通过与水资源管理人员、资源不足的农村社区和供水商合作开发和制作用于盐度管理的决策支持和监测工具原型。创新的流域河口模型和决策支持工具的拟议融合研究与确保获得清洁水的巨大挑战相一致。这个项目是及时的，因为美国国会最近通过了两党基础设施投资就业法案，其中10%致力于更新水基础设施。一个更好的盐度管理和沿海社区的决策支持系统将有助于加强水基础设施的恢复能力和保护公众健康。研究人员将开发一个新的耦合流域河口模型，利用水文和河口建模的最新进展，模拟主要盐离子的运输和命运，使用切萨皮克湾及其潮汐河流作为试点研究地点。耦合模型将与人工智能算法结合使用，在规划工具中确定管理战略，并量化淡水资源竞争需求之间的权衡。这一方法还将用于寻找适应途径形式的长期规划战略。将与利益攸关方共同开发网络和移动的决策支持工具，采用完整的软件生命周期方法，重点关注农村社区和小型供水的需求。盐监测工具的原型将侧重于开发电导率和各种盐离子之间的关系，以评估盐污染对水质、水基础设施和公共健康的相关影响。该奖项反映了NSF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。

About 70% of the U.S. drinking water supply comes from surface waters, including tidal rivers, the tidal fresh region of estuaries. Drought and sea level rise, which lead to saltwater intrusion from the ocean, and changes in land-use, which lead to freshwater salinization, are putting this precious water resource at risk. This risk extends to water uses for thermoelectric power, irrigation, and industrial production. As yet, however, only the largest and wealthiest water users are able to prepare for increasing salinity. Many water users, like small or rural drinking water suppliers, do not have the necessary planning and technical capacity to prepare for these changes. This project proposes to develop and prototype decision support and monitoring tools for salinity management through co-production with water resource managers, under-resourced rural communities, and water suppliers. The proposed convergence research of innovative watershed–estuary models and decision support tools aligns with the grand challenge of ensuring access to clean water. This project is timely as the U.S. Congress recently passed the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act, 10% of which is dedicated to renewing water infrastructure. A better decision support system for salinity management and coastal communities will be valuable for bolstering the resilience of water infrastructure and protecting public health.The researchers will develop a new coupled watershed–estuary model that simulates the transport and fate of major salt ions by leveraging recent advances in hydrological and estuarine modeling, using Chesapeake Bay and its tidal rivers as a pilot study site. The coupled model will then be used in combination with artificial intelligence algorithms, in a planning tool to identify management strategies and quantify the tradeoffs between competing needs for freshwater resources. This approach will also be used to search for long-term planning strategies in the form of adaptation pathways. Web and mobile decision support tools will be co-developed with stakeholders using a full software life cycle approach, focusing on the needs of rural communities and smaller water supplies. Prototyping of the salt monitoring tool will focus on developing relationships between conductivity and various salt ions in order to assess the associated impacts of salt contamination on water quality, water infrastructure, and public health.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.