A mixed-methods approach to strategic planning for multi-benefit regional water infrastructure

Harris-Lovett, Sasha; Lienert, Judit; Sedlak, David L.

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.11.112

Cited by 37 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 108 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Instead of the traditional 'cost-efficiency' approach, a multi-criteria decision analysis based on the full understanding of regional ecological issues and needs is necessary for CW management. Such a multi-criteria decision analysis approach can reflect the whole spectrum of opinions of all stakeholders who may express a preference for the co-benefits of management options and helps decision-makers identify key areas of disagreement [148].…”

Section: Cws May Become An 'Ecological Trap'mentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Constructed Wetlands be Wildlife Refuges? A Review of Their Potential Biodiversity Conservation Value

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The degradation of wetland ecosystems is currently recognized as one of the main threats to global biodiversity. As a means of compensation, constructed wetlands (CWs), which are built to treat agricultural runoff and municipal wastewater, have become important for maintaining biodiversity. Here, we review studies on the relationships between CWs and their associated biodiversity published over the past three decades. In doing so, we provide an overview of how wildlife utilizes CWs, and the effects of biodiversity on pollutant transformation and removal. Beyond their primary aim (to purify various kinds of wastewater), CWs provide sub-optimal habitat for many species and, in turn, their purification function can be strongly influenced by the biodiversity that they support. However, there are some difficulties when using CWs to conserve biodiversity because some key characteristics of these engineered ecosystems vary from natural wetlands, including some fundamental ecological processes. Without proper management intervention, these features of CWs can promote biological invasion, as well as form an ‘ecological trap’ for native species. Management options, such as basin-wide integrative management and building in more natural wetland components, can partially offset these adverse impacts. Overall, the awareness of managers and the public regarding the potential value of CWs in biodiversity conservation remains superficial. More in-depth research, especially on how to balance different stakeholder values between wastewater managers and conservationists, is now required.

show abstract

Section: Cws May Become An 'Ecological Trap'mentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Constructed Wetlands be Wildlife Refuges? A Review of Their Potential Biodiversity Conservation Value

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…These new types of constructed wetlands can also provide restored habitat and a suite of additional benefits ( Kadlec and Wallace, 2009 ; Cecchetti et al., 2020a ). Their low cost and resource requirements relative to conventional single-benefit solutions make constructed wetlands particularly attractive to utility managers ( Kadlec and Wallace, 2009 ; Harris-Lovett et al., 2019 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of stable nitrogen isotopes to track plant uptake of nitrogen in a nature-based treatment system

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In nature-based treatment systems, such as constructed wetlands, plant uptake of nutrients can be a significant removal pathway. Current methods for quantifying plant uptake of nitrogen in constructed wetlands, which often involve harvesting biomass and assuming that all nitrogen stored in plants was derived from wastewater, are inappropriate in pilot- and full-scale systems where other sources of nitrogen are available. To improve our understanding of nitrogen cycling in constructed wetlands, we developed a new method to quantify plant uptake of nitrogen by using stable isotopes and a mixing model to distinguish between nitrogen sources. We applied this new method to a pilot-scale horizontal levee system (i.e., a subsurface constructed wetland) over a two-year monitoring period, during which 14% of nitrogen in plants was wastewater-derived on average and the remaining plant nitrogen was obtained from the soil. Analysis of nitrogen isotopes indicated substantial spatial variability in the wetland: 82% of nitrogen in plants within the first 2 m of the slope came from wastewater while less than 12% of plant nitrogen in the remainder of the wetland originated from wastewater. By combining these source contributions with remote-sensing derived total biomass measurements, we calculated that 150 kg N (95% CI = 50 kg N, 330 kg N) was taken up and retained by plants during the two-year monitoring period, which corresponded to approximately 8% of nitrogen removed in the wetland. Nitrogen uptake followed seasonal trends, increased as plants matured, and varied based on design parameters (e.g., plant types), suggesting that design decisions can impact this removal pathway. This new method can help inform efforts to understand nitrogen cycling and optimize the design of nature-based nutrient control systems.

show abstract

“…These technical objectives can be viewed as means to achieve higher level objectives, such as health and well-being or good water quality. We decided to keep them as separate objectives, because they are practical preconditions for the design of water infrastructure and they appear in some of our secondary data (Ferguson et al, 2013;Harris-Lovett et al, 2019, 2018Lienert et al, 2015). These are often also based on technical and legal constraints and hence have a different form than the other three groups.…”

Section: Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Incorporating objectives of stakeholders in strategic planning of urban water management

Skrydstrup

Madsen

Löwe

et al. 2020

Urban Water Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Incorporating objectives of stakeholders in strategic planning of urban water management AcknowledgementThis project was funded by Innovation Fund Denmark through the Water Smart Cities Project (Grant no. 5157-00009B). We wish to thank Odense municipality, VandCenter Syd (VCS Denmark), Ramboll and KLIKOVAND for aiding us in the data collection. We would also like to thank Shane Carnohan and Ursula S. McKnight from DTU Environment, for their valuable feedback on our manuscript. We declare no conflict of interest. Incorporating objectives of stakeholders in strategic planning of urban water managementUrban water management (UWM) strategies are difficult to implement in the urban space due to conflicting professional objectives and lack of communication tools. We explore stakeholders, objectives and indicators for urban water management and urban planning to make UWM relevant for other urban disciplines. Stakeholder analysis was applied to systematically identify stakeholders and their objectives by screening literature published in professional journals and conference proceedings. The literature study was supplemented with three workshops. Similar sets of planning objectives and stakeholders were identified in the two analyses. 14 stakeholders were identified, from the utility to legal stakeholders. We identified 17 objectives and nine sub-objectives, that can be divided into four overall groups; welfare for citizens, environmental protection, economic growth and technical objectives. Our results are relevant for a variety of UWM projects, providing a common terminology when discussing objectives between stakeholders and enabling an exploration of multifunctional UWM strategies.

show abstract

A mixed-methods approach to strategic planning for multi-benefit regional water infrastructure

Cited by 37 publications

References 108 publications

Can Constructed Wetlands be Wildlife Refuges? A Review of Their Potential Biodiversity Conservation Value

Can Constructed Wetlands be Wildlife Refuges? A Review of Their Potential Biodiversity Conservation Value

Use of stable nitrogen isotopes to track plant uptake of nitrogen in a nature-based treatment system

Incorporating objectives of stakeholders in strategic planning of urban water management

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About