Impacts of social indicators on assessing the recovery potential of impaired watersheds.
An analysis was carried out to understand how watersheds' potential for restoration was impacted by social indicators. This study employed the USEPA Recovery Potential Screening tool, a decision support system, to compare 51 watersheds in the state of Mississippi, USA, using ecological, stressor, and social indices, and the recovery potential integrated (RPI) index. An in-depth analysis was performed on four watersheds in the Delta region of Mississippi (Lake Washington, Harris Bayou, Steele Bayou, and Coldwater River), each impaired by sediments and nutrients. Sixteen social indicators were categorized into three subcategories: Socio-Economic, Organizational, and Informational. Watersheds with lower social indices had lower RPI scores. In the particular watersheds studied, the Socio-Economic subcategory was observed to be the most impactful to the overall recovery potential when compared to the other two social subcategories. As a sensitivity analysis, a "what if" simulation was performed to explore alternatives to upgrade a watershed's social index and, consequently, the relative recovery potential of the watershed to a target level. This analysis is useful for understanding how particular social indicators of a community impact the relative potential for recovering a watershed, beyond just the ecological and stressor conditions. It also sheds light on assessing which social indicators can be improved.
['Sinshaw|Tadesse A|TA|', 'Surbeck|Cristiane Q|CQ|']
D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources D004784:Environmental Monitoring D006801:Humans D060106:Lakes D008922:Mississippi D045483:Rivers D012924:Social Conditions D014861:Washington D014881:Water Supply D053833:Wetlands
Social indicators Recovery potential Watershed Sensitivity analysis Multi-criteria decision analysis Multi-metric index