| NSF Org: |
EAR Division Of Earth Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | July 8, 2015 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | July 8, 2015 |
| Award Number: | 1541891 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Holly Barnard
EAR Division Of Earth Sciences GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | July 15, 2015 |
| End Date: | June 30, 2018 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $260,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $260,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
633 CLARK ST EVANSTON IL US 60208-0001 (312)503-7955 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
2145 Sheridan Road Evanston IL US 60201-3149 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Sustainable Energy Pathways |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.050 |
ABSTRACT
A variety of urban food production strategies have been proposed to reduce energy required to provide food to urban residents, reduce flooding, increase water reuse, increase biodiversity in cities, improve supplies of healthy fresh food to urban residents, and stimulate economic development. However, the water, nutrient, and energy requirements of urban food production have not been determined, and the resulting impacts on flooding and water quality have not been documented. To meet these needs, this project will instrument and monitor three urban agriculture demonstration sites in the Chicago area, and use the resulting data to assess the effects of alternative urban food production strategies on water, energy, and nutrients in cities.
The project will 1) develop a general techno-economic life-cycle modeling framework for urban food systems, 2) monitor water, energy, nutrient, and carbon balances in urban food production, 3) develop physically-based models for hydrologic and biogeochemical dynamics at these sites, and 4) integrate these data and process models into the techno-economic model in order to compare whole-lifecycle energy, water, nutrient, and carbon impacts of alternative urban food production strategies relative to each other and to conventional production of the same crops. Very little data are available to quantify the water, energy, nutrient, and carbon requirements and impacts of urban food production. The projectwill yield novel data enabling parameterization of both process-based and techno-economic models for three alternative urban food production strategies. The project will be conducted in collaboration with the Chicago Botanic Garden through the Windy City Harvest program (WCH). This collaboration will engage apporoximately 200 students (grades 9-14) and community members per year in project science activities, and enable direct use of project results to improve design and operation of urban food production facilities. The project will also involve a student-science effort at Northwestern University, thereby engaging approximately 700 undergraduate students per year to analyze metals concentrations in samples obtained from WCH sites. Overall, the project will provide capability to estimate the magnitude of potential impacts that could be achieved by deploying urban food production at regional scales, along with information needed to design these production systems and optimize their location within urban landscapes, and engage approximately 2,000 students and community members in analysis and development of sustainable urban food production.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
This project developed methods for analyzing water, nutrients, metals, and salt accumulation in urban greenspaces to better understand the functioning of green infrastructure in cities. The results of this study enable better design of urban greenspaces to maximize their utility for multiple purposes, including food production, biodiversity conservation, recreation, and energy efficiency. Greenspaces were monitored using Waggle sensor node technology linked to the Array of Things (AoT) sensor network and the public Chicago Data Portal. Waggle nodes monitored atmospheric conditions in and around urban greenspaces. An additional array of sensors for water and salinity were deployed around the Waggle nodes to better understand water storage and habitat conditions within greenspaces. This includes a specific on contaminant inputs into greenspaces via both air (atmospheric deposition) and water (stormwater runoff). Water sensors were linked into Waggle nodes, yielding a new 'MicroWaggle' sensor platform that increases the measurement capability of the Waggle/AoT sensor platform.
Sensors were deployed in a variety of greenspaces in Chicago, including an urban farm, a green roof, a nature preserve, and an urban park. The measurements showed a large amount of water storage in urban prairie and wetland systems, which substantially reduced stormwater runoff. Most of the water was stored belowground, and there was also significant water storage in wetland ponds. Even though wetlands only had visible standing water for a few months of the year, there was always substantial water storage in subsurface groundwater after every rainstorm. This indicates that surface-groundwater interactions are much more important in urban greenspaces than previously realized, and water storage in groundwater is an important benefit of urban greenspaces for flood reduction.
Soil conditions are critical to all types of plant growth in urban greenspaces, including food crops, native prairie vegetation, and ornamental vegetation. While irrigation is now closely monitored in modern large-scale agricultural systems, information on water use and soil moisture conditions is not available for most urban greenspaces. Soil moisture varied considerably in all types of urban greenspaces. In nature preserves, distributions of soil moisture played a major role in the distributions of prairie and wetland plant communities within the nature preserve. In urban farm plots, direct measurements of soil moisture showed that conventional watering saturated soils, leading to excess water loss and therefore inefficient use of water. In green roofs, the growth matrix used to support plants dehydrated very rapidly, yielding harsh conditions for plant growth.
The results of this study will be used to optimize growing conditions and minimize water use for urban green infrastructure. Collaboration with the Chicago Botanic Garden is yielding information on the types of plants that can be grown under the dry conditions found in green roofs. Native prairie plants are adapted to rapid wetting-drying conditions, and collaborators at The Garden have shown that native plants can be successfully grown in green roofs under these conditions. Collaboration with The Nature Conservancy is also identifying factors that threaten native plants in urban nature preserves. Project soil data showed significant accumulation of lead, copper, and zinc in nature preserves. The most likely source of these metals is vehicle traffic on nearby roads, along with historical accumulation of lead from use of leaded gasoline. However, the concentrations of these metals were not high enough to risk long-term damage to the nature preserve. Monitoring of water and soil salinity also showed inputs of road salt around the periphery of nature preserves. This does represent a long-term risk of harm to the ecosystem, because there was some evidence of salt accumulation in the prairie near roads and drainage ditches.
Overall, this project documented that water storage in urban greenspaces provides a buffer against extreme weather conditions (flooding, heatwaves). In addition, the project identified factors needed to support healthy and productive urban greenspaces.
Last Modified: 11/05/2018
Modified by: Aaron Packman
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