NEWN @ ASU

Designing Nature to Enhance Resilience for Built Infrastructure in Western U.S. Landscape

Natural infrastructure can be defined as a network of natural or semi-natural features that [intends to accomplish] the same objectives as built infrastructure. Natural water infrastructure (NWI) under this definition can include wetlands, healthy soils, forest ecosystems, and snowpack and the water it provides through runoff and this NWI provides services that include flood protection, erosion control, water storage, and purification. Some barriers to fully integrating NWI into built water infrastructure (BWI) systems include this narrowed definition of NWI (which has itself limited the science), and a lack of integrated modeling tools to evaluate NWI in a more coordinated context with BWI. Therefore the goals of the ASU node of the Network for Engineering with Nature (N-EWN) are to

  • broaden the definition of NWI to include natural assets below and above ground and altered or unaltered by human use, and specifically creating the science necessary to understand the degree to which NWI is cross-sectoral and includes the same dependencies that link BWI to other critical infrastructure sectors;

  • develop a modeling, analysis, and visualization platform for combining, co-operating and designing portfolios of interoperable assets of natural and built water infrastructure, or NABWI, that will align with field implementation projects from other N-EWN nodes;

  • leverage our modeling toolkits to provide rapid, quantitative, scenario-based assessment of outcomes of combinations of NABWI within a multi-stakeholder environment; and

  • help N-EWN create a value proposition for natural infrastructure within the USACE and beyond and create equitable solutions that deliver benefits to the most inclusive base of end users.

We are developing an EWN toolkit, with domain science in four relevant water resources settings and in four geographies of the western US from Texas to California:

  • Wetland construction and coordination with dam operations in coastal Texas basins to take advantage of extreme weather—to game flood and drought cycles.

  • Designing watershed scale portfolios of agricultural best management practices to reduce sediment infilling and improve water quality in downstream drinking water reservoirs in coastal Texas basins.

  • Forest management and fire prevention interventions to improve infiltration to aquifers and reduce sediment infilling to downstream reservoirs in Navajo lands of Arizona, Utah and Colorado.

  • Capturing flood water from atmospheric rivers and using it to recharge depleted aquifers under farmland in California.

Motivation

Natural infrastructure tends to be built in a haphazard way, often without reference to basin-scale objectives for flood-control and water supply. We advocate for and develop the science foundation for Engineering With Nature (EWN) as a strategic, outcomes-based approach to the design and operations of integrated NABWI systems. This EWN approach supports design of both constructed and restored natural assets strategically placed and operated to improve the function of existing (and failing) built water infrastructure. Specifically, we are developing a modelling toolkit that will allow for rapid, scenario-based assessment of outcomes of combinations of natural and built infrastructure. This toolkit will include domain science (hydrology and geohydrology) and data science (data integration, artificial intelligence, operations research and visualization). Specifically we ask: “What combinations of data science are needed to advance EWN solutions within a particular hydrologic and water resources context?” In other words, what is the missing data science ingredient necessary to bring EWN solutions to decision makers such that EWN solutions are implemented, replicated and scaled strategically?

We evaluate this question in the context of impact (water resources and environmental flows), economics (cost efficacy), institutional tractability and equity of benefit (full ESG). Our motivation l is to identify shovel-ready pilot projects in western landscapes that the US Army Corps of Engineers could lead in collaboration with state agencies, private companies and NGOs. In addition to this R&D, we focus on crosscutting activities, online short courses and equity standards, that will help the Network for EWN (NEWN) create a value proposition for natural infrastructure within the Army Corps and beyond and create equitable solutions that deliver benefits to the most inclusive base of end users.