Research To Facilitate The Recognition Of Green Infrastructure Co-Benefits

The Water Environment & Reuse Foundation (WE&RF) seeks competitive proposals for research to quantify the multiple benefits of implementing green infrastructure (GI) and to evaluate its economic, environmental/ecological, and social values. Framework and Tools for Quantifying Green Infrastructure Co-Benefits and Linking with Triple Bottom Line Analysis (Project SIWM4T13), seeks to demonstrate the improved environmental and social benefits of GI that has been designed to meet the primary objective of efficient stormwater management. The analysis framework developed from this study should be able to address GI programs that involve public funding, private funding, and public-private partnerships (PPP or P3).

As communities assess their aging water infrastructure systems, rate-payer expectations, the need to maintain healthy waterways, and an increasing interest in pursuing sustainable and livable communities, GI is an emerging technology with potential to assist many communities with their stormwater challenges. More communities are implementing or considering the use of both green and gray infrastructures to reduce the overall costs of meeting stormwater management requirements. GI can be a cost-effective approach to improve water quality and help communities maximize the value of their infrastructure investments by providing other environmental, economic, and community benefits.

Many GI projects provide aesthetic enhancement to communities, particularly when compared with expansion of the built environment. Successful GI projects can make communities more attractive, increase property values, create green jobs, and increase public safety as well. Research is needed to assist communities in evaluating investments in GI. Specifically, a framework is needed for quantifying the co-benefits of GI and evaluating economic, environmental/ecological, and social values of GIs, especially at the community scale. This research seeks to assist communities by holistically evaluating the co-benefits to determine the most appropriate approaches, taking costs and benefits into consideration.

Proposals must be received by WE&RF by 5:00 pm ET on June 19, 2017. Questions may be addressed to Dr. Harry Zhang, Program Director, via email at hzhang@werf.org.

About The Water Environment & Reuse Foundation (WE&RF)
The Water Environment & Reuse Foundation (WE&RF) is a nonprofit (501c3) organization officially formed in July 2016 as the result of the merger of the Water Environment Research Foundation and the WateReuse Research Foundation. The merged research foundation, with a combined research portfolio representing over $200M, conducts research to treat and recover beneficial materials from wastewater, stormwater, and seawater including water, nutrients, energy, and biosolids.