Critical Outcomes, Lasting Impact: 5 Years of Science for Utah's Water Future
In this series of 5 presentations, research and education/outreach leads for iUTAH, a statewide, NSF-funded infrastructure-building project, present important outcomes and lasting impacts of the research, training, education and outreach activities conducted by iUTAH's 800+ current and former participants, 10 participating institutions of higher education, and over 100 partner organizations.
Full Abstracts:
* denotes presenter
I. Transcending system boundaries through integrative ecohydrologic research
Dr. Zachary T. Aanderud*, Brigham Young University, Amber Spackman Jones, Utah State University, Jeffery S. Horsburgh, Utah State University, David Eiriksson, University of Utah, Dylan Dastrup, Brigham Young University, Christopher Cox, Utah State University, Scott Jones, Utah State University, David Bowling, University of Utah, Jobie Carlisle, Utah State University, Greg Carling, Brigham Young University, and Michelle A. Baker, Utah State University
The effects of urbanization on water quality vary in time and are extremely hard to capture. Further, in the semi-arid Western U.S., variable snowpack levels due to a warming climate, seasonal flows from agriculture run-off, and unprecedented population growth and water use in metropolitan areas may create rapid changes in water quality. To more fully understand the temporal impact of urbanization on water resources, we created a real-time observatory network spanning three watersheds in northern Utah which possess similar climates and a common water source, mountain winter-derived precipitation, but differ levels of urbanization. The aquatic monitoring stations in the GAMUT Network include sensors to measure chemical (dissolved oxygen, specific conductance, pH, nitrate, and fluorescent dissolved organic matter, (fDOM)), physical (stage, temperature, and turbidity), and biological components (chlorophyll content and phycocyanin) logging every 15 minutes. As fall transitioned to winter, our high frequency water quality data captured runoff events in urbanized areas carrying pulses of nutrients and organic matter to rivers. In Red Butte Creek, the most urbanized of the GAMUT watersheds, pulses of fDOM occurred 22 times over a three-month period, sometimes lasting up to 3 days. By comparison, levels of fDOM remained relatively constant around 30 quinine sulfate units (QSU) in the Provo River and 1.5 QSU in the Logan River over the same time period. Further, urbanization led to more blooms demonstrated by Red Butte Creek experiencing 236 cyanobacteria blooms, measured as changes in phycocyanin. Over the same time period, 75 green algal blooms occurred, which increased chlorophyll-a concentrations an average of 313% per day compared to days without elevated levels. Photosynthetic pigment spikes were also present in the Provo River from mid-November to the end of December but to a much lesser extent (33 algal and 11 cyanobacterial). Our findings suggest that the built infrastructure, high percentages of impervious surfaces, and multiple storm drain outfalls that often accompanies the urbanization of rivers may lead to the flashier changes in water quality.
II. Innovations and integration in social and engineering water science
Dr. Courtney G. Flint*, Utah State University
iUTAH’s social and engineering water science investigated the drivers of water and land use management in the Wasatch Region Metropolitan Area as well as how natural, built, and social structures interact in the water system. We explored the potential for green infrastructure to improve water sustainability and modeled the impacts of urban growth and planning. Using innovative methods for integrating data representing water perspectives, alternatives, and actions across a diverse set of stakeholders, we have informed decision-making throughout Utah’s water system.
III. Coupling the human-natural water system: five years of participatory modeling and innovative visualization
Dr. Courtenay Strong*, University of Utah, and Dr. Sarah E. Null, Utah State University
iUTAH research on coupled human-natural water system modeling builds on Utah’s strengths in hydrologic modeling to enhance forecasting capabilities for water managers and stakeholders. Our teams have created new models and linked previously disparate models and data sets to investigate system processes and future water outcomes focused on supply, demand, quality, and ecosystem services. New capabilities include agent-based modeling of households, a framework for decadal-scale water supply criticality analysis, the HydroCouple Software framework which enables linkage of diverse modeling frameworks, methods for optimizing strategies for infrastructure changes such as water barrier removal, and impactful visualization technologies.
IV. Cyberinfrastructure to support large scale, collaborative water research in Utah: critical outcomes from the iUTAH project
Dr. Jeff Horsburgh, Utah State University, and Amber Spackman Jones*, Utah State University
iUTAH (innovative Urban Transitions and Aridregion Hydro-sustainability) is a statewide effort focused on water sustainability in Utah. Synthesis of diverse data collection and modeling by cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional research teams, such as those working on the iUTAH project, requires storage, software, networking, computational, and human resources. Over the past 5 years, our team has built cyberinfrastructure to support the full data life cycle and increase capacity for data collection, organization, management, sharing, synthesis to higher-level products, and integration with models. iUTAH cyberinfrastructure is comprised of hardware and software systems that have enabled iUTAH researchers and partners to share data, models, and other digital resources. This includes cyberinfrastructure deployed for management of streaming sensor data from iUTAH’s Gradients Along Mountain to Urban Transitions (GAMUT) network of aquatic and terrestrial monitoring sites, databases and web applications supporting publication of water quality and biological data derived from samples, tools for interactive dissemination of extensive social science survey datasets, and a sharing and publication workflow for the various other types of data collected by iUTAH researchers. In this presentation, we describe the challenges associated with creating cyberinfrastructure to support a research project of this scale, which are not unique to iUTAH, but are faced by many collaborative scientific groups. We describe how iUTAH Cyberinfrastructure coordinates across Utah universities, including provisioning hardware that enables hosting of data publication and sharing services as well as data storage resources for redundancy and for High Performance Computing. We also describe the hardware and software platforms that have improved data access and new tools for collaboration among iUTAH participants.
V. Advancing a water-literate workforce and citizenry for Utah
Dr. Mark W. Brunson*, Utah State University, and Ellen Eiriksson, Utah State University
Utah has both incentive and opportunity to lead the nation in innovative solutions for water management and sustainability. A critical component of iUTAH’s mission has been to help build a foundation for innovation in sustainable water management through education and outreach programs that can train students to meet the challenges facing our state while increasing awareness of those challenges by Utah residents. iUTAH’s Education, Outreach, and Diversity (EOD) activities have encompassed the work of four teams – Workforce Development, External Engagement, Diversity Enhancement, and Communications – whose efforts are designed to have lasting impact
