WSC Category 1 Water Sustainability in Coastal Environments: Exploratory Research for an Integrated Study of the Effect of Anticipated Sea Level Rise on Contaminated Site Risk

这项研究试图在预期海平面上升的背景下，了解污染物迁移的化学和水文学，可用的工程解决方案，以及人类处理风险的方式。海平面上升和污染场地的预测相互作用是一个鲜为人知的问题，但却是一个重要的问题，处于自然科学和社会科学的交界处。考虑到盐度、pH值、氧化还原的化学效应、水力梯度变化的物理效应、水位上升、沼泽溺水、被风暴潮淹没的新地区以及目前固定的成分可能被释放的风险等因素，科学问题是复杂的。经济选择实验和实验室实验提供了一种将这种复杂性纳入其中并理解人类可能做出反应的方法。特拉华大学的一个探索小组正在调查受污染场地和预期海平面上升的联合影响如何影响水的可持续性需求。对气候变化和海平面上升的担忧超出了人类适应的传统问题，如加固建筑物和道路、修建水屏障、气候变化对健康的影响、改变农业土地利用以及保险问题。由于海平面上升，城市地区、工业场地和垃圾处理场地受污染土壤的水文和化学变化，可能会增加污染物的释放和流动，威胁饮用水供应和食物来源。该项目分析了海平面上升和污染的共同风险可能如何影响未来几十年沿海地区人口的经济机会、生态系统、水质和生活质量。这项研究最终寻求比较不同补救方案的收益和成本，从而得出直接的政策建议。这项研究的政策影响可能包括对补救技术解决方案的不同优先顺序，包括放弃、遏制和人类适应的选择。这一建议取决于人类对感知风险的处理，以及所获得的收益和成本在不同人群中的分配模式。了解公众如何应对风险，包括研究风险以不同方式传达时的反应，将为改进风险管理提供见解。

This research seeks to understand the chemistry and hydrology of contaminant transport within the context of anticipated sea level rise, the engineering solutions available, and the way humans process the risks. The projected interaction of sea level rise and contaminated sites is a poorly understood problem, but a significant one, positioned at the interface of natural science and social science. The scientific problem is complex, given factors such as the chemical effects of salinity, pH, redox, the physical effects of changes in hydraulic gradients, rising water tables, marsh drowning, new areas inundated by storm surges, and the risk that currently-immobilized constituents may be released. Economic choice experiments and laboratory experiments provide a way to incorporate this complexity and to understand how humans may respond. An exploratory team at the University of Delaware is investigating how water sustainability needs are impacted by the joint impacts of contaminated sites and anticipated sea level rise. Concerns about climate change and sea level rise extend beyond traditional issues of human adaptation, such as reinforcing buildings and roads, building water barriers, health impacts of climate change, changing agricultural land use, and insurance issues. Alterations in hydrology and chemistry of contaminated soils in urban areas, industrial sites, and waste disposal sites, as the result of sea level rise, could enhance release and mobility of contaminants, threatening drinking water supplies, and food sources. The project analyzes how the joint risk of sea level rise and contamination may affect the economic opportunities, ecosystems, water quality and quality of life in the coming decades for coastal zone populations. The research ultimately seeks to compare the benefits and costs of different remediation alternatives, resulting in direct policy advice. The policy implications of this research may include a different prioritization of technological solutions for remediation, including options for abandonment, containment, and human adaptation. This advice depends on the human processing of perceived risks, and the distributional patterns of received benefits and costs across different populations. Understanding how the public responds to risk, including research on responses when the risk is communicated in different ways, will provide insights toward improving risk management.