Kristan Cockerill

Communicating How Water Works: Results From a Community Water Education Program

Based on feedback from attendees at an environmental summit who requested information about regional water sources, a team comprised of a local nonprofit, a state university, and a cooperative extension office created a community water education program. Undergraduate student interns worked with the author to develop a 20-minute science-based presentation that was delivered in 14 different venues in a three-county region of northwestern North Carolina. Following each presentation there was a discussion session that highlighted questions about how water works and community concerns about water availability and management. Program evaluations reflect that people believed they better understood the science related to water quantity and that the key messages in the program were important to their communities.

COMMENTARY: Cooperative Modeling Lessons for Environmental Management

Environmental practitioners may find cooperative modeling an effective tool to address complex environmental management needs. The method involves convening a multidisciplinary team to collaboratively construct a system dynamics model. Advances in computational tools have made this technique increasingly effective because the process and the product allow individuals to better understand the complexity inherent in the system being studied. The authors describe four cooperative modeling projects and document some of the “lessons learned” from these experiences. Two of these projects were largely academic and team members were all professionals who agreed to work together to build a model. The other two teams were convened to contribute to water management processes. One of these emanated from a regional planning exercise and the team included professionals and volunteers from the public. The final project team presented includes professionals, members of the public, and government agency personnel. Like any multidisciplinary effort, the teams encountered communication challenges. The overarching lessons derived from these efforts are that teams can never pay too much attention to group dynamics and that the proximity to a “real” management decision does influence the cooperative modeling process. Recommendations to others embarking on a cooperative modeling effort include reviewing the literature regarding previous projects; establishing clear guidelines for team interaction early in the project; and remaining flexible, to allow the project to evolve.

Context is Key: The Media Role in Shaping Public Perceptions about Environmental Issues

Many environmental professionals are reluctant to interact with the media, often because of a negative experience and the perception that poor coverage can affect environmental programs and policies. Using a case study of media coverage related to the Albuquerque, New Mexico, water supply, this research documents that indeed, the media can influence public opinion and this can have policy and program implications. This research compared media coverage about various water customers (residential, commercial, institutional, industry) to public perceptions about who uses the most water and to actual use levels reported by the city. The results show that coverage in terms of numbers of articles, article content and language, as well as page placement, correlates with public perceptions about which customers use the most water, and that these perceptions do not well match actual use levels. A key point for this work is that although the information presented within the individual articles was largely accurate, it was the pool of coverage assessed as a whole that misrepresented water use levels. This report also provides key steps that environmental professionals can take to help improve overall coverage and help raise the potential for public perception to better match actual data.

Leveraging opportunities for campus sustainability: a case study of water resources.

Abstract Institutions of higher education are well situated globally for transformation toward sustainability. The case of the Water Resources Planning Committee (WRPC) at Appalachian State University in North Carolina, United States offers insight into how educational institutions might identify and leverage transformative opportunities. The article suggests that a “window of opportunity” can open when diverse actor-groups share a common interest or goal and when individuals are able to “bridge” the groups as a way to create synergy. Once together, these groups can collaborate by sharing knowledge and resources. They do not avoid conflict, but rather constructively use organizational tensions and cultivate flexibility to further common goals. This case study focuses on interrelationships among a public university’s teaching and research missions and its place within a broader community as it transforms toward sustainably managing campus-water resources.

Endogenous Consequentiality in Stated Preference Referendum Data: The Influence of the Randomly Assigned Tax Amount

Recent empirical and theoretical research stresses it is important for survey respondents to believe that survey votes are consequential, meaning their votes can potentially influence whether a proposed policy is undertaken. We test the effect of a randomly assigned referendum tax on consequentiality, using a survey about water conservation in western North Carolina. We find that consequentiality is endogenous to hypothetical referendum responses. Specifically, as the assigned tax amount increases, respondents are less likely to find the survey consequential. As in related studies, respondents who self-report they perceive the survey to be consequential have a higher willingness to pay. (JEL Q25, Q51)

To Restore or Not to Restore: Assessing Pre-project Conditions of a Habitat Restoration Project on the New River, North Carolina

Despite continued emphasis on restoring streams to improve ecological function, there remains a dearth of data documenting pre-restoration conditions to clearly establish a need for restoration. Without establishing a clear, data-driven need for restoration, it is difficult to determine which restoration measures will be most effective. The study reported here offers a pre-project evaluation of a restoration on a headwaters stream in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, USA. The authors conducted in-depth interviews with project sponsors, and reviewed the project environmental assessment and construction plans. Additionally, the authors evaluated available data, including benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages, fish communities, riverbed coarse particle size, and ambient water quality. Primary goals for the restoration project include halting erosion and improving aquatic habitat. The data that were used to justify the restoration and develop the environmental assessment and project plan, however, present temporal and spatial issues that may preclude effective evaluation of the need for the project and conducting valid post-project assessments. Available data reveal that current conditions are quite good and potentially do not warrant ecological restoration measures. Over a longer temporal scale, this project may be limited in the ability to improve conditions or prevent degradation because of concentrated anthropogenic activities occurring upstream within the watershed as well as adjacent to the restored reach.

Individualized water source as an indicator of attitudes about water management and conservation in humid regions

Public perceptions about water quantity and water as a common pool resource are understudied in humid regions. As water demand increases, the need to more closely manage water, even in humid areas, will increase, requiring better understanding how people perceive their water supply, how they view paying for water conservation and how water user characteristics influence attitudes. A survey finds correlations between utilizing an individual water source (e.g. well or spring) and attitudes toward water management and conservation. Compared to respondents with a shared water source, those with an individual source believe they are segregated from regional water concerns. They are less willing to pay for water management or conservation measures and less supportive of any government intervention in water management. These results suggest that planners and water managers may face resistance to conservation policies or any policy based on the idea of water as a common pool resource.

ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEWS & CASE STUDIES: Cooperative Modeling to Promote Systems Thinking in Applying the National Environmental Policy Act

When the National Environmental Policy Act was passed in 1969, it presupposed that there were clear ways to identify and then address environmental impacts from federal actions. Since then, it has become evident that environmental issues are grounded in complex systems, which are often difficult to “see” in traditional venues for gathering public input and informing decision makers. To address this, practitioners have been exploring collaborative modeling using system dynamics as a method for promoting systems thinking in a variety of decision venues. Historically applied in the business world, system dynamics has expanded into other arenas, including natural resource management. Cooperative modeling combines principles of collaboration with system dynamics to link relevant physical and social systems. In this approach, a multidisciplinary team convenes to engage in dialogue, to identify key variables for a particular issue, to identify relevant data, and to construct a systems-based computer model that helps team members “see” the complexity inherent in the system. Results from these experiences suggest that participants develop a deeper level of understanding about the policy issue, increase their agreement about root problems, and generate sound information about the issue being addressed. This article suggests that cooperative modeling can be an effective tool to meet both the letter and the spirit of the National Environmental Policy Act.

Environmental Reviews & Case Studies: Engaging the Public and Decision Makers in Cooperative Modeling for Regional Water Management

In cooperative modeling projects, a group of people work together to develop a model to better understand a complex system and explore consequences of various “what if” scenarios. This report describes a case study from New Mexico in which representatives from diverse organizations and institutions employed system dynamics–based cooperative modeling enhanced by computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) to design a model that could be used as a tool in making water management decisions. In this case, CSCW was necessitated by the geographically dispersed nature of the participating stakeholders. The case study reflects that, although it is no panacea, cooperative modeling can be a successful way to create a sense of community, even among geographically dispersed citizens and decision makers, to understand contentious and complex water management issues. The purpose of this article is to highlight lessons learned for applying cooperative modeling with CSCW to assist other practitioners and broaden possibilities for improved water management decisions.

Hot, Salty Water: A Confluence of Issues in Managing Stormwater Runoff for Urban Streams†

Research increasingly highlights cause and effect relationships between urbanization and stream conditions are complex and highly variable across physical and biological regions. Research also demonstrates stormwater runoff is a key causal agent in altering stream conditions in urban settings. More specifically, thermal pollution and high salt levels are two consequences of urbanization and subsequent runoff. This study describes a demonstration model populated with data from a high gradient headwaters stream. The model was designed to explain surface water-groundwater dynamics related to salinity and thermal pollution. Modeled scenarios show long-term additive impacts from salt application and suggest reducing flow rates, as stormwater management practices are typically designed to do, have the potential to greatly reduce salt concentrations and simultaneously reduce thermal pollution. This demonstration model offers planners and managers reason to be confident that stormwater management efforts can have positive impacts.