Colorado Water Management

The potential of carbon markets to accelerate green infrastructure based water quality trading

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 16:40:56 +0000

The potential of carbon markets to accelerate green infrastructure based water quality trading Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 08/09/2024 - 10:40

Green infrastructure solutions can improve in-stream water quality in lieu of building electricity-consuming gray infrastructure. Permitted under the United States Clean Water Act, these programs allow regulated utilities to trade point-source water quality obligations with non-point source mitigation efforts in the watershed. Carbon financing can provide an incentive for water quality trading. Here we combine data on impaired waters, treatment technologies, and life cycle greenhouse gas emissions in the Contiguous United States, and compare traditional treatment technologies to alternative green infrastructure.

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NSF Awards Mortenson Center In International Climate Change Research Competition

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Jun 2024 20:42:45 +0000

NSF Awards Mortenson Center In International Climate Change Research Competition Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 06/05/2024 - 14:42

Sarah Goodroad

The Mortenson Center in Global Engineering & Resilience at the University of Colorado Boulder proudly announces its selection as one of the recipients of the National Science Foundation 2023 International Joint Initiative for Research on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation competition. This esteemed recognition, coordinated with Canada's New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) and in partnership with the University of British Columbia and the Oslo School of Architecture and Design, highlights the Mortenson Center's commitment to addressing pressing global challenges through innovative and collaborative research efforts.

The awards aim to leverage world-class expertise to tackle global challenges and support unique, innovative and transformational ideas that will forge a path toward a more sustainable planet for generations to come.

The Mortenson Center in Global Engineering & Resilience is dedicated to advancing research and innovation in climate change adaptation and mitigation. Led by Principal Investigators Karl Linden and Evan Thomas and Co-Principal Investigator Denis Muthike, the Mortenson Center brings expertise to the table with their interdisciplinary project to reduce the risk of water insecurity of indigenous communities living in five climate-vulnerable locations namely Turkana in Kenya, Nile region in South Sudan, Varanger in Norway, First Nations communities in western Canada, and Native communities in rural Alaska.

The "Community Water Systems: Climate Vulnerabilities and Resilience Opportunities" project funded under this new initiative will combine cutting-edge climate scenario modeling with stakeholder engagement to better understand local water systems' current and future climate vulnerabilities. The project aims to address the interconnected risks of displacement due to droughts, wildfires, floods, landslides, erosion, and their adverse effects on ecosystems, traditional land-based activities, community livelihoods, and food security.

“Vulnerable groups such as communities in low- and middle-income countries, Indigenous communities or groups that are vulnerable due to their geographic, social, and economic circumstances are the most-at-risk to the impacts of climate change,” stated Denis Muthike. “Our research will empower these global communities to comprehend climate vulnerabilities in their water systems, develop action plans to support climate resilience and water security goals, and implement and evaluate localized interventions to enhance the resilience of their water systems.”

“This research builds on our Drought Resilience Impact Program (DRIP) with the Millennium Water Alliance, reaching hundreds of thousands of people with improved water security in Northern Kenya since 2015,” said Mortenson Center Director, Professor Evan Thomas.

Only eleven collaborative research projects were awarded a collective total of $26M of funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH), and other international partner funding agencies with the NSF and NEF contributions totaling about $6.5M. The NSF and NEH are optimistic that this significant investment in high-risk/high-reward research will generate transformative impacts at local, regional, and global scales. Funding for the Mortenson Center project will come from the NSF.

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Landmark Colorado Bill and Congressional Earmark for Green Water Quality Infrastructure

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Jun 2024 20:52:02 +0000

Landmark Colorado Bill and Congressional Earmark for Green Water Quality Infrastructure Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/03/2024 - 14:52

Governor Jared Polis has signed into law the new Colorado Senate Bill SB24-037, titled "Study Green Infrastructure for Water Quality Management." Sponsored by Senators Cleave Simpson and Jeff Bridges, along with Representatives Mike Lynch and Karen McCormick, this significant legislation aims to enhance water quality and environmental sustainability in Colorado. This landmark bill is supported by a NASA-funded Congressional earmark provided by Colorado Congressman Joe Neguse.

The bill directs the team at the University of Colorado Boulder Mortenson Center in Global Engineering & Resilience and Colorado State University's Energy Institute to work directly with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to identify new pathways to restore rivers and watersheds in Colorado, improve water quality, and reduce emissions associated with water and wastewater treatment.

Over the next two years, this team will develop up to three pilot projects in collaboration with communities and utilities to demonstrate the use of green infrastructure and green financing mechanisms. This work will include actively restoring watersheds using public and private sector investment, including the purchase of carbon credits based on avoided electricity demand from water treatment.

Evan Thomas, Director of the Mortenson Center in Global Engineering & Resilience at CU Boulder said, “It has been a rewarding experience to propose this idea and work with Senator Simpson and other elected representatives and state officials in Colorado to bring it to life, and we're looking forward to what this could mean for Colorado's water and air.”

Dr. Thomas, who is also an environmental engineering professor at CU Boulder will additionally lead a $950,000 congressionally mandated, NASA-funded research project to monitor water quality and understand the impact of wildfires on the Yampa and Cache la Poudre rivers in Colorado. “About half of America’s rivers don’t meet the Clean Water Act standards and that’s also true in Colorado,” Thomas said. “We have many rivers that are on what is called the 303(d) list, meaning that they’re impaired and they don’t meet the Clean Water Act,” said Thomas.

Thomas and his team have already been utilizing sensors to monitor these rivers. With the new funding, these sensors will continue to collect data for at least another year. The objective is to identify contamination sources and develop effective, nature-based solutions. Unlike traditional point-in-time sampling methods, the robust and durable sensors provide cost-effective, continuous measurements.

“The idea is that we can develop technologies that help communities and help the state better manage watersheds so that we can restore watersheds, we can restore land cost-effectively and in a way that benefits more people,” Thomas said.

Photo: Director/Professor Evan Thomas, Governor Jared Polis & Senator Cleave Simpson at the Senate bill signing in Alamosa, Colorado.

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CU Boulder leading effort to improve water quality in Rockies’ rivers

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 00:41:28 +0000

CU Boulder leading effort to improve water quality in Rockies’ rivers Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 04/10/2024 - 18:41

Using machine learning for better water quality

University of Colorado Boulder and Colorado State University researchers are teaming up to improve river water quality in the Rockies.

A team led by Environmental Engineering Professor Evan Thomas has received a $650,000 Convergence Accelerator grant from the National Science Foundation, to measure and mitigate pollution in the Cache la Poudre and Yampa Rivers in Colorado through new sensor technology, monitoring, and a voluntary carbon credits trading system with industry.

The Convergence Accelerator grant complements other Thomas-led initiatives also working to improve water quality. The work has also been funded by the Moore Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation. Thomas was influential in scoping the $160 million dollar NSF funded Colorado-Wyoming Regional Innovation Engine, and recently received a United States Congressional earmark directed-grant from NASA also targeted at the Yampa and Poudre rivers.

Thomas has been working with Colorado State Senators Cleave Simpson and Jeff Bridges, and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to advance legislation that could accelerate watershed restoration in Colorado by pairing wastewater utility water quality obligations under the Clean Water Act with restorative programs.

A central component of these projects is the use of ongoing, instream water quality measurements that will allow the team the ability to trace back negative changes, said Thomas, who also serves as director of the Mortenson Center in Global Engineering and Resilience.

“Typically, this work is done with point-in-time measurements when someone goes out and manually takes a sample, which is very expensive and infrequent. These new sensors we have are robust and durable and will allow us to do things continuously,” Thomas said.

The sensor data, enabled by a partnership with Fort Collins based sensor company In-Situ, will be fed into a machine learning system to develop predictive models that can track pollution and determine sources.

“Machine learning and AI aren’t new, but we’re applying these techniques in a place they haven’t been applied before – managing watersheds and enabling climate finance to pay for ongoing performance,” Thomas said.

Fernando Rosario-Ortiz, a professor of environmental engineering at CU Boulder and co-investigator on the project, said the grant builds on a wealth of earlier research.

"I am excited about taking all we have learned about wildfires and water quality and focusing now on how we can proactively work with communities to limit these impacts and the stresses they have on water infrastructure," Rosario-Ortiz said.

Being able to track back pollution sources has been a long-sought goal of environmental researchers. While it is simple to monitor pollution coming from fixed-point sources, like the outlet of a wastewater treatment plant, it is much harder to analyze diffuse sources, like runoff from industrial agriculture, mining, or forestry operations.

“It has been a technology barrier, and regulators have been reluctant to approve water quality projects that are hard to measure,” Thomas said. “We hope to change this. We’re working with landowners, stakeholders, and cities to make positive changes for restorative agriculture, irrigation, and wildfire management.”

In addition to water researchers at CU Boulder and CSU, the team has built a network of outside partners, including the cities of Steamboat Springs and Fort Collins, Friends of the Yampa, and Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed, as well as Virridy Inc., a CU Boulder spinout company that develops global water security programs.

A second key part of the project is a voluntary carbon market that aims to build industry investment in green infrastructure to improve water quality. Although the project is just getting underway, Mortenson Construction has already purchased $2 million in credits through it. Thomas said this market could generate as many as 1.6 billion carbon credits per year.

Thomas has been involved in large scale drinking water treatment carbon credit programs in Africa over the last 15 years, reaching over 5 million people with improved water security. This represents the first major effort in the United States.

“This is a way for industry and companies to demonstrate to shareholders and customers they’re committed to climate impact,” Thomas said. “It takes local water problems and brings them into the global market, creating business opportunities.”

In addition to Thomas and Rosario-Ortiz, the team at CU Boulder includes Kat Demaree, environmental engineer and doctoral student. At Colorado State University, the effort is being led by Matt Ross, an assistant professor of ecosystem science and sustainability, and Jason Quinn, a professor of mechanical engineering. Also involved in the project is Krister Andersson, a sustainable development professor at Notre Dame who previously was a CU Boulder faculty member.

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The Climate Crisis is a Water Crisis

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 20:11:35 +0000

The Climate Crisis is a Water Crisis Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/19/2024 - 14:11

Why Water Must Be at the Heart of Climate Action

The Mortenson Center in Global Engineering & Resilience at the University of Colorado Boulder along with Castalia Advisors were commissioned by WaterAid’s Resilient Water Accelerator (RWA), the Voluntary Carbon Market Integrity Initiative (VCMI), and HSBC to discover an achievable pathway to creating a green, resilient future for global water supplies supported by voluntary carbon markets.

Through their research, it was found that over 1.6 billion CO2 emissions could be saved per year in the global water sector, equivalent to nearly half of the EU’s annual emissions, confirming the importance of placing water at the heart of climate action. Their report, just out, is titiled Decarbonizing Water: Applying the Voluntary Carbon Market Toward Global Water Security.

Evan Thomas, Director of the Mortenson Center in Global Engineering & Resilience and co-author of the report says, “The first thing many people notice about climate change is what it’s doing to our water. Dry places are becoming drier; wet places are becoming wetter. But funding water security solutions is challenging because water is a local problem. In this report, we show how local water projects can be brought into a global carbon credit economy. Over 1.6 billion carbon credits could be generated per year from water security projects – for example to encourage water conservation in Colorado or water treatment in Rwanda. These credits as part of a liquid market can be bought and sold and create revenue that incentivizes the actions we all need to take to make sure water is available for everyone, always.”

Resilient water, sanitation and hygiene systems are essential to building healthy communities and thriving economies, with the risk of water stress on the most vulnerable communities elevating climate, political and economic fragility, as noted in this year’s global Top Risks 2024.

In practice, this would mean generating carbon credits from projects that deliver carbon savings as well as water benefits such as improved drinking water access in developing countries, reduced methane emissions from latrines and centralized wastewater treatment plants or restored coastal environments.

The research looked at where emissions come from within the water sector and found that delivering improvements in coastal blue carbon, wastewater treatment, drinking water treatment, irrigation, as well as energy efficiency more broadly, could improve water security and generate carbon credit emission reductions.

This work comes at a critical time with increasing recognition that the climate crisis is a water crisis. 90% of all natural disasters are water-related, whether it be experienced through too little or too much water. From flood defences to drought resistance, the solutions are out there. But more investment and management are needed now to develop robust and reliable water, sanitation and hygiene systems that can withstand any climate.

The Resilient Water Accelerator is in an unique position to deepen access to the Voluntary Carbon Market. They are working to build and strengthen efforts to develop robust monitoring and management of water risk, and they are engaging with finance organizations such as African Development Bank, 2030 Water Resources Group and African Finance Corporation.

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CU Boulder Part of $160M NSF-funded Effort to Promote Climate Resilience

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 07:55:25 +0000

CU Boulder Part of $160M NSF-funded Effort to Promote Climate Resilience Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/30/2024 - 00:55

The National Science Foundation today announced the Colorado-Wyoming Climate Resilience Engine (CO-WY Engine) as a recipient of its inaugural Regional Innovation Engines program.

The prestigious award totals up to $160 million over 10 years and positions the CO-WY Engine at the forefront of the nation's environmental and climate technology initiatives.

As a key university partner, CU Boulder will enable data analysis, monitoring technologies and predictive analytics to develop trustworthy decision support systems, mitigate environmental and economic degradation and advance climate solutions that result in regional community resiliency and economic vitality. The university will also contribute to the creation and acceleration of new startup companies and play a role in leadership and governance of the CO-WY Engine.

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Colorado legislators to consider expanding program that has increased Yampa River flow in dry years

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Aug 2019 15:11:21 +0000

Colorado legislators to consider expanding program that has increased Yampa River flow in dry years Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 08/23/2019 - 09:11

Evan Thomas, director of the Mortensen Center in Global Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, presented on possible applications of blockchain in the world of water rights. Blockchain could create a system to trade water by using sensors that track how much water is used or conserved to create “water credits.”

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