RAISE: Safeguarding U.S. Coastal Groundwater Supplies from Flooding and Saltwater Intrusion

University Of Florida, Gainesville FL

Investigators

Abstract

Many coastal communities face challenges with freshwater quality. This project will develop strategies to counter issues resulting from rising sea levels, climate change, urban sprawl and farming. Researchers will develop decision-support tools and recommend nature-based solutions to reduce groundwater hazards. Collaborative efforts with local governments and agricultural managers will help ensure practical, scalable solutions. This work will increase our understanding of saltwater intrusion and flooding in low-lying, densely populated regions. The project will evaluate nature-based solutions, such as mangrove restoration, wetland conservation and green stormwater infrastructure, using advanced groundwater and economic modeling. Field data collection will inform analyses to project future hazards and support adaptive management strategies. A user-friendly decision-support tool with a graphical interface will empower decision-makers to implement tailored solutions. Results will be applicable in similar coastal regions. The project will train graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in advanced techniques and interdisciplinary problem-solving. Long-term, sustainable strategies to manage groundwater resources in the face of natural hazards will benefit local populations and the broader global community. Actionable solutions will help protect crops, infrastructure, natural environments and freshwater quality, promoting community resilience. The project will explore feedback controls among natural (groundwater systems, sea level rise, and climate change) and societal (nature-based solutions, grey infrastructure, best management practices in urban planning and agricultural production) systems and processes that determine the capacity to reduce hazard risk and increase the resiliency of a coastal community. Groundwater modeling approaches and tools created from the project will enable the investigation of the interaction between fresh groundwater and seawater in coastal areas and the projection of future groundwater elevation and seawater intrusion processes. In addition, economic modeling and analysis will allow the formulation of an adaptation portfolio required for informed decision-making processes of local communities and the evaluation of the efficacy of management scenarios and strategies that the communities can implement given societal and economic situations. This study will investigate the feedback control between nature-society systems by integrating groundwater, economy modeling, and iterative evaluation, which will provide a novel approach to characterizing driving forces for Earth-system processes through the linked understanding of natural and societal processes as an integrated system. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.