Arizona State University

Our goals are to broaden the definition of natural infrastructure to include natural assets below and above ground and altered or unaltered by human use, and create the science necessary to understand how NI is cross-sectoral and includes the same dependencies that link BWI to other critical infrastructure sectors; Develop a modeling, analysis, and visualization platform for siting and co-operating portfolios of interoperable assets of natural and built water infrastructure, that will align with field implementation projects (Army Corps studies), in collaboration with state agencies; Leverage our modeling toolkits to provide rapid, quantitative, scenario-based assessment of outcomes of combinations of natural and built water infrastructure within a multi-stakeholder environment; Help N-EWN create a value proposition for natural infrastructure within the UASCE and beyond and create equitable solutions that deliver benefits to the most inclusive base of end users.

Natural infrastructure can be defined as a network of natural or semi-natural features that [intends to accomplish] the same objectives as built infrastructure (Palmer et al. 2015). 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.

N-EWN Points of Contact:

John Sabo (Tulane)

Selcuk Candan (ASU)

Glen Low (Earth Genome)