Papers on Sustainable Water Resources Presented at Technical Conferences of the Water Environment Federation (WEFTEC). See https://weftec.org/ Papers from all WEFTEC conferences are available at http://ingentaconnect.com/content/wef/wefproc Permission to utilize these papers courtesy of the Water Environment Federation.

DEVELOPING KEY WATER QUALITY INDICATORS FOR SUSTAINABLE WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

Ethan T. Smith ¹ and Harry X. Zhang ²

¹ Coordinator, Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable, c/o U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA 20192

² Senior Engineer, Parsons Corporation, Fairfax, VA 22030

ABSTRACT

Agenda 21 of the 1992 UN Earth Summit on Environment and Development called for the development of new ways to measure and assess progress toward sustainable development. The nation needs a framework for tracking and understanding changes to the health of its fresh and coastal waters, surface and groundwater, wetlands and watersheds. It also needs to a framework for understanding the sustainability of these changes long term for ecosystems, communities and businesses. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the key water quality candidate indicators for sustainable water resources management and preliminary evaluation of their performance metrics.

This paper presents the inter-agency collaboration efforts by Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable (SWRR) (http://water.usgs.gov/wicp/acwi/swrr/), which has begun the endeavor of developing sustainable water resources indicators. Key issues include: (1) what are the important questions to ask to determine the degree to which the nation is on a sustainable course in its use and management of water resources? (2) How can a set of indicators be developed that is large enough to be comprehensive, but small enough to be readily understandable and practical? Clearly, data gaps exist in order to answer these questions comprehensively, if the available statistics are compared to conceptual models of what is really needed to understand water resources as it relates to human and ecosystem requirements. However, it is now possible to begin to address the key problem of how to create measures of tracking by using analytical and statistical tools for voluminous data on water resources.

The long-term goals of SWRR include the development of principles, criteria and indicators to support decision-making and identification of opportunities for collaboration on research needs. The work of the Roundtable is just beginning. The sustainable solutions to water resources problems can be found if people thoroughly understand the issues and how each aspect of the society contributes to them.

FULL TEXT CAN BE FOUND HERE:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T5kaQRRF4uWgIypKzGR4yx5Src_biO7G/view?usp=sharing

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FORMULATING KEY INDICATORS FOR SUSTAINABLE WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT

PART II: SCALE ISSUE AND GEOGRAPHIC PATTERNS

Ethan T. Smith ^* and Harry X. Zhang ¹

^* Coordinator, Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable, c/o U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA 20192

¹ Principal Engineer/Project Manager, Parsons Corporation, Fairfax, VA 22030

ABSTRACT

Agenda 21 of the 1992 UN Earth Summit on Environment and Development called for the development of new ways to measure and assess progress toward sustainable development. The nation needs a framework for tracking and understanding changes to the health of its fresh and coastal waters, surface and groundwater, wetlands and watersheds. It also needs a methodology for understanding the implications of these long term changes for ecosystems, communities and businesses.

When considering key questions about water sustainability, some important technical problems such as scale and geographic patterns immediately arise. Certain kinds of measures and indicators may be good for tracking national level phenomena, but questions may arise about how this kind of data relates to smaller geographic areas within the nation. The first paper in this publication series entitled “Formulating Key Water Quality Indicators for Sustainable Water Resources Development” (Smith and Zhang, 2004 and 2004a) emphasizes the application of water sustainability framework to the water quality field. The objective of this second paper is to address the importance of scale issue and geographic patterns and how they may influence the formulation of key water sustainability indicators. By presenting statistics from which indicators are developed to be shown in graphical form, the paper highlights several available studies that have proved to be promising in generating concrete results for developing water sustainability indicators at various scale and geographic patterns.

It certainly appears that geographic scale has an influence on what kind of water indicators is used. Indicators that ensure sustainability at a national scale may or may not be effective at regional or local scales. The implications for further work in developing indicators would then be to continue to seek commonalities across geographic lines that can help to define the national level water indicators, and also to continue to examine in detail the various regional characteristics that may lead to developing water indicators unique to each region. Overall, the sustainable solutions to water resources problems can be found if people thoroughly understand the issues and how each aspect of the society contributes to them.

FULL TEXT CAN BE FOUND HERE:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1svr6qkmjxGJcQcz7AKRGSSvpUX7LbW85/view?usp=sharing

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OUR JOURNEY TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT: PRELIMINARY REPORT BY SUSTAINABLE WATER RESOURCES ROUNDTABLE

Ethan T. Smith ^* and Harry X. Zhang ¹

^* Coordinator, Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable, c/o U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA 20192

¹ Principal Engineer / Project Manager, Parsons Corporation, Fairfax, VA 22030

ABSTRACT

Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable (SWRR) has been a subgroup of the Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI) since 2001 and operates under authority of OMB M-92-01. The purpose of the Roundtable is to provide an open forum for exchanging ideas and information to foster collaboration on ways to manage water resources in such a way that the resource and its uses may be sustained over the long term. SWRR participants are committed to interdisciplinary, inter-jurisdictional, and cross-ownership collaboration that identifies and supports national, state, and field-level activities to sustain water resources.

Two earlier papers in this series described work leading up to the completion of this Preliminary Report. The present paper is a summary of the Preliminary Report that contains all the background about development of the conceptual framework, how sustainability indicators might be selected, and how the Nation’s water resources can be described in terms of seventeen such indicators. The paper begins by describing the conceptual foundations that have been developed to aid in understanding sustainability. SWRR recognizes the importance of the 1987 Brundtland Commission definition, which relies on maintaining equity between generations to help define terms. Beyond this, however, SWRR embraces systems analytic concepts to sharpen the definition. Systems analysis divides each of these systems into progressively more disaggregate subsystems, which can then be tracked by indicators that will also show the interrelationships among the systems. Furthermore, SWRR grappled with the problem of how to choose indicators, and the report contains the criteria that were developed. In general, indicators should consider the condition and capacity of ecological, social, and economic systems; must focus on long-terms consequences; must include both substantial geographic and temporal scales; must be measurable and scientifically based; and, must not be so abstruse that the informed lay reader is unable to comprehend them. The long-term goals of SWRR include the development of principles, criteria and indicators to support decision-making and identification of opportunities for collaboration on research needs. The sustainable solutions to water resources problems can be found if people thoroughly understand the issues and how each aspect of the society contributes to them.

FULL TEXT CAN BE FOUND HERE:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XUZCKrL7DvTGGcRFUr3qxxeyqtCx0myM/view?usp=sharing

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EVOLUTION OF SUSTAINABLE WATER RESOURCES INDICATORS

Ethan T. Smith ^* and Harry X. Zhang ^**

^* Coordinator, Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable, c/o U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA 20192

^** Principal Technologist, CH2M Hill, 15010 Conference Center Drive, Chantilly, VA 20151

ABSTRACT

The Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable (SWRR) is one of several natural resource roundtables with government, corporate, and NGO participation. SWRR has been a subgroup of the Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI) since 2001, and operates under authority of OMB M-92-01 and the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The purpose of the Roundtable is to provide an open forum for exchanging ideas and information to foster collaboration on ways to manage water resources in such a way that the resource and its uses may be sustained over the long term.

Earlier three papers in this series described work leading up to the completion of the 2005 Preliminary Report. The present paper continues the idea that water indicators will have to evolve over many years to really become accepted for public policy making. Some of the most important topics that do not appear in the 2005 Preliminary Report are shown here. The intent is to illustrate how gaps in the indicator series might be filled, and how additional indicators may be needed to complete a short list of key national water indicators.

The journey toward Sustainable Water Resources Management begins by determining the most important water issues and indicators. Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable participants are committed to interdisciplinary, inter-jurisdictional, and cross-ownership collaboration that identifies and supports national, state, and field-level activities to sustain water resources. The long-term goals of SWRR include the development of principles, criteria and indicators to support decision-making and identification of opportunities for collaboration on research needs.

FULL TEXT CAN BE FOUND HERE:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iofTi8itmgK2qRQNQ-yqv-S6ncSEoegy/view?usp=sharing

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Sustainability of Marine Resources: Fisheries Utilization

Ethan T. Smith¹ and Harry X. Zhang²

¹ Coordinator, Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable, c/o U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA 20192

² Principal Technologists, CH2M HILL Inc., 15010 Conference Center Drive, Chantilly, VA 20151

ABSTRACT

The Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable (SWRR) is one of several natural resource roundtables with government, corporate, and NGO participation. SWRR has been a subgroup of the Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI) since 2001, and operates under authority of OMB M-92-01 and the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The purpose of the Roundtable is to provide an open forum for exchanging ideas and information to foster collaboration on ways to manage water resources in such a way that the resource and its uses may be sustained over the long term.

Four earlier papers in this series described work leading up to the completion of the 2005

Preliminary Report. The present paper breaks new ground, and represents a challenge to the traditional disciplines of civil and sanitary engineering. Here we address the problem of sustainable marine fisheries, as exemplified by the work of the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Marine Stewardship Council. This is a new challenge that we begin to address by examining the idea of developing indicators for commercial fisheries resources. The goal is to help policy makers balance the economic benefits of commercial fisheries against the exhaustion of a finite resource of creatures that dwell in water. This “blue water” approach serves to connect creatures that dwell in water with the important economic benefits they bring to us all.

The journey toward Sustainable Water Resources Management begins by determining the most important water issues and indicators. The long-term goals of SWRR include the development of principles, criteria and indicators to support decision-making and identification of opportunities for collaboration on research needs. Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable participants are committed to interdisciplinary, inter-jurisdictional, and cross-ownership collaboration that identifies and supports national, state, and field-level activities to sustain water resources.

FULL TEXT CAN BE FOUND HERE:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Fuu-mngRJ5eHfPsRfplZzdQhCePnr4XA/view?usp=sharing

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Water Sustainability Indicators and Biofuels Production

Ethan T. Smith¹, Harry X. Zhang²

^1* Coordinator, Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable (http://acwi.gov/swrr/), c/o U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA 20192

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: Etsmithsiri@aol.com.

² Principal Engineer and Industrial Water Resources Lead, CH2M HILL, 15010 Conference Center Drive, Chantilly, VA 20151

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the use of water sustainability indicators when applied to a current problem that has major water impacts. The work has been stimulated in part by the passage of the Energy and Independence Security Act (EISA) of 2007, which calls for significant government action regarding biofuels, including periodic reports to Congress. Part of this paper relies heavily on the work by the National Academy of Sciences, specifically the 2008 report entitled Water Implications of Biofuels Production in the United States.

Water sustainability solutions are characterized by certain systems analysis properties that may indicate the overall stability of the system. An important aspect of the approach we advocate is the principle that public policy issues act as driving forces in deciding which indicators are important. There may be many kinds of graphical and statistical displays, but indicators should be unique in providing some kind of information that facilitates public policy decision making. In the context of biofuel, key water resource issues (such as water availability and use, alternative use of feedstock, production options, and water quality issues) and the related indicators are discussed in this paper.

For each of the public policy issues, we have developed a series of suggestions about which indicators might assist policy makers. The issues include those water availability and use, alternative use of feedstock, production options, and water quality. There are probably many other indicators that could be developed to assist policy making concerning biofuels and water resources. Emerging issues such as algae to biofuels will be considered for sustainability indicators as it evolves. In this paper, we present at least a “starter set” that will begin the journey and we hope it will lead to greater water sustainability in the future. Specifically, we recommend that the work on algae to biofuels should be carefully tracked to discover how this technology could produce indicators that should be considered when national water policy issues are addressed.

FULL TEXT CAN BE FOUND HERE:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16aAx52-LaaI9YGl1KqpNjXtuK4LWkC_l/view?usp=sharing

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Evolving Methodology for Rating Watershed Sustainability in Preparation for Possible Certification

Ethan T. Smith¹ and Harry X. Zhang²

^1* Coordinator, Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable, c/o U.S. Geological Survey (retired), Reston, VA 20192

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: Etsmithsiri@aol.com.

² Principal Engineer, CH2M HILL, 15010 Conference Center Drive, Chantilly, VA 20151

ABSTRACT

A research program on Sustainable Water Resources Management has been carried out by the authors since 2004. The 2008 WEF Sustainability Community of Practice established a Sustainable Watersheds Task Force and the authors are co-chairs of the Certification Project Team under that Task Force. Working within this framework, the authors prepared a WEF Technical Practice Update (TPU), which was published after peer review in September 2009. The present paper is an expansion and amplification of the TPU to illustrate the watershed certification concept for the benefit of a larger audience of water resources professionals.The TPU can be found at:

https://www.e-wef.org/Default.aspx?TabID=251&productId=4164

This paper proposes a methodology of watershed sustainability rating that combines and expands existing elements used to assess the sustainability of a watershed. The proposed rating methodology uses a site-analysis approach and ratings from elements in the watershed including (1) human use of physical characteristics; (2) municipal water and wastewater systems, and (3) major industries with water and wastewater facilities. These elements were chosen because they seem to have the greatest potential for affecting the degree to which human use of the watershed is sustainable in the long run. Inherent in these discussions is the concept that human activity, at a minimum, should only use nature's resources at a rate at which they can be safely replenished naturally so that future generations can meet their own needs.

This paper shows that it is possible to combine several existing techniques into a methodology that can be applied to an entire watershed. The proposed methodology can be then tested by application to a pilot area to produce results that are relevant to the stakeholders in that particular area. This can serve as an example that may help others who are attempting to determine the sustainability of their own watersheds. Planning for watershed sustainability may affect how water, wastewater, and industrial facilities are designed, funded, and linked with other organizations. Design, location, and operation of water, wastewater, and industrial facilities can materially affect the potential sustainability of a given watershed.

FULL TEXT CAN BE FOUND HERE:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mR-luk8hpbieGaCrWtdfOSG0MrtGy_9S/view?usp=sharing

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EVOLVING METHODOLOGY FOR RATING WATERSHED SUSTAINABILITY PART II: MOVING TOWARD APPLICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION

Ethan T. Smith¹ and Harry X. Zhang²

¹ Sustainable Water Resources Coordinator, c/o U.S. Geological Survey (retired), Reston, Virginia 20192; Email: etsmithsiri@aol.com

² Principal Engineer and Industrial Water Resources Lead, CH2M HILL, 15010 Conference Center Drive, Chantilly, Virginia 20151; Email: Harry.Zhang@CH2M.com

ABSTRACT

This present study is the second paper in the authors’ attempt to focus the knowledge gained to date on assessing the sustainability of an entire watershed. Inherent in these discussions is the concept that nature's resources should only be used at a rate at which they can be safely replenished naturally, to enable future generations to meet their own needs. It may now be possible to apply certification to an entire watershed. This paper series shows steps in this direction and addresses how a foundation might be established for a subsequent certification process. This paper expands and amplifies WEF’s Technical Practice Update (TPU) and the previous paper. This proposed rating methodology rates watershed sustainability by combining the elements noted above. This paper discusses methods such as a Delphi survey, the Sustainable Sites Initiative, Canadian Water Sustainability Index, and Hydrology, Environment, Life, and Policy (HELP).

FULL TEXT CAN BE FOUND HERE:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KdsWig3OSnHdj_Uq-1p6t5IsOvltcpdo/view?usp=sharing

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HYDRAULIC FRACTURING IN THE CONTEXT OF SUSTAINABLE WATER MANAGEMENT

Ethan T. Smith¹ and Harry X. Zhang²

¹ Sustainable Water Resources Coordinator, c/o U.S. Geological Survey (retired), Reston, Virginia 20192; Email: etsmithsiri@aol.com

² Principal Engineer and Industrial Water Resources Lead, CH2M HILL, 15010 Conference Center Drive, Chantilly, Virginia 20151; Email: Harry.Zhang@CH2M.com

ABSTRACT

A large amount of clean, domestic energy in the form of unconventional shale gas exists in the U.S. In the last 15 years, opportunities for obtaining shale gas have grown increasingly attractive with the evolution of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies, greatly escalating production nationwide. However, there exists vocal public concern over the impact of shale gas production and the chemical constituents used in hydraulic fracturing on groundwater and surface water resources, local infrastructure and air quality. Therefore, balancing energy production and mitigating negative environmental and social impact will require proactive management and cooperation. Both technical and institutional contributions are needed to achieve this delicate balance. Surface and groundwater supply can be affected by development, especially when existing sources are near capacity. Disposal of produced water can be a serious issue due to the nature of the contaminants. Site-specific analysis may be the best way to address the issues involved, as demonstrated in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Balancing energy production with environmental impact is an evolving public policy issue that requires public and private cooperation.

FULL TEXT CAN BE FOUND HERE:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fSTCz7s7hde1mOO1GXjt9HPMMvm9Rd_7/view?usp=sharing

Permission to Utilize Papers from Water Environment Federation

Mary Ann Linder <mlinder@wef.org>

Mon, Sep 10, 2018 at 12:28 PM

To: "etsmithsiri@gmail.com" <etsmithsiri@gmail.com>

Cc: Laura Childs <LChilds@wef.org>

We are okay with you doing this. Provided you keep the header and footers on it. Ideally as well if you could link to the WEFTEC.org site that would be great.

Thank you!

Mary Ann Linder, CMP

Senior Manager, WEFTEC Education

The Water Environment Federation

From: Laura Childs

Sent: Monday, September 10, 2018 10:05 AM

To: Mary Ann Linder <mlinder@wef.org>

Subject: FW: #summary#

Laura (Herman) Childs, PMP

Water Environment Federation

703.684.2400 x7010

lchilds@wef.org

From: etsmithsiri@gmail.com <etsmithsiri@gmail.com>

Sent: Sunday, September 9, 2018 6:42 PM

To: Diana Prado <dprado@wef.org>

Subject: #summary#

I am a former member of WEF who presented papers at WEFTEC 2006-2013. I am interested in putting copies of my papers on my web site at

https://sites.google.com/site/sustainablewaterresources/ I have copies of the papers, and request your permission to place them on my web site. The attribution to WEFTEC would remain on the papers. Please let me know your decision. E. T. Smith, 703-860-1038