Collaborative Research: Connecting local stormwater decision-making to environmental outcomes

在美国，雨水管理是一项价值数十亿美元的事业，它依靠人类在地方到区域尺度上的决策来实现流域尺度的环境目标。本研究旨在确定决策过程如何影响在流域尺度上为管理雨水和随后的环境结果而采取的行动。该项目将比较具有不同制度和环境条件的克利夫兰和丹佛大都会地区，以提炼城市化地区雨水管理动态的一般经验。调查人员将通过对政策文件的分析和对雨水管理者的调查，确定个人和机构的决策过程如何影响雨水管理行动（目标1）。研究小组将通过现场监测和建模相结合，量化雨水管理行动如何影响流域尺度的流量状况（目标2）。此外，该团队将评估流量状况如何改变城市流域的生态系统健康状况（目标3）。通过将决策与环境结果联系起来的贝叶斯网络模型，将这些目标的结果综合起来，以预测雨水管理战略的环境结果（目标4）。本研究提出了一个综合框架，以经验确定决策对区域内和跨区域的雨水管理行动和环境结果的级联效应。对城市水生态系统健康的雨水管理的新科学见解旨在为美国城市地区雨水计划的未来方向提供信息。这项研究将通过实践研究和基于数据的课程活动，为K-12、本科生和研究生提供有关工程雨水系统和城市流域的教育和培训机会。科学传播培训将通过一个以撰写“数据块”为高潮的研讨会，提供给研究团队成员、大学研究人员和区域环境教育合作伙伴。数据掘金是针对K-12课堂的练习，它使用真实数据，为学生提供基于定量证据做出科学主张的练习。研究小组开发的数据掘金将根据克利夫兰地铁公园和丹佛KIC-NET合作伙伴的需求进行定制，并将在网上提供。数据将通过国家水文信息系统水文信息系统提供。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。

Stormwater management is a multi-billion dollar enterprise in the United States that depends on human decisions at local to regional scales to achieve watershed scale environmental goals. This research aims to determine how decision-making processes influence actions taken to manage stormwater and the subsequent environmental outcomes at the watershed scale. The project will compare the Cleveland and Denver metropolitan regions, which are characterized by distinct institutional and environmental conditions, in order to distill general lessons about stormwater management dynamics in urbanizing regions. The investigators will determine how individual and institutional decision-making processes influence stormwater management actions through analysis of policy documents and a survey of stormwater managers (Objective 1). The research team will quantify how stormwater management actions influence flow regime at watershed scales through a combination of field monitoring and modeling (Objective 2). Further, the team will evaluate how flow regime modifies the ecosystem health status of urban watersheds (Objective 3). Findings from these objectives will be integrated to predict environmental outcomes from stormwater management strategies through a Bayesian network model linking decision-making to environmental outcomes (Objective 4). This study presents an integrative framework to empirically establish the cascading effects of decisions on stormwater management actions and environmental outcomes, both within and across regions. New scientific insight into stormwater management for urban aquatic ecosystem health is targeted to inform future directions of stormwater programs in US urban areas. This research will provide education and training opportunities around engineered stormwater systems and urban watersheds for K-12, undergraduate, and graduate students through hands-on research and data-based course activities. Science communication training, through a workshop that culminates in writing a "Data Nugget", will be provided to research team members, university researchers, and regional environmental education partners. Data Nuggets are exercises for K-12 classrooms that use real data to provide students with practice making scientific claims based on quantitative evidence. Data Nuggets developed by the research team will be tailored to the needs of Cleveland Metroparks and Denver KIC-NET partners and will also be made available online. Data will be made available through the CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System.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.