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Social Cost of Water Pollution Workshop

2024 Agenda

7th Annual Social Cost of Water Pollution Workshop

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Headquarters
Ruckelshaus Conference Center
1301 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20004
October 2-4, 2024

Sponsored by Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability and the U.S. EPA

October 2, 2024
The National Press Club: 529 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20045

6:00-8:00 P.M.

Gathering Reception

The National Press Club is a secure facility which for entry all attendees/staff must scan this QR code (on phone or printed ) to pass through the security gates at the entrance of the Club on the 13th floor.

October 3, 2024
EPA Ruckelshaus Conference Center, Washington, D.C.

(Zoom Links: Auditorium | Breakout Room)

8:00-8:30 A.M.

Breakfast

8:30-8:45 A.M.

Welcome and Panel Discussion

  • Catherine Kling and Al McGartland/Julie Hewitt: Welcome Remarks and Motivation for Symposium
8:45-10:15 A.M.

Panel 1: Frontiers in Ecology
Moderator: David Keiser

  • Christopher J. Kucharik
  • Jana Compton
  • Grace Wilkinson
  • Jacques Finlay
10:15-10:30 A.M.

Break

10:30-Noon

Two Split/Parallel Sessions 

Each paper will be allocated 22 minutes total, 16-18 minutes for presentation followed by 3-4 minutes for questions and discussion.

Session 1: Agricultural Conservation and Water

Moderator: Nilesh Shinde

  • Gabriel Lade: Size-Based Regulation and Environmental Quality: Evidence from the US Livestock Industry
  • Isabelle Picciotto: A Clean SWEEP? Estimating the Impacts of Irrigation Efficiency Subsidy Programs on Water and Energy Use
  • Jeffrey Hadachek: Can Farmer-Led Initiatives Reduce Nonpoint Source Pollution
  • Nilesh Shinde: Costs and Benefits of Adaptive Groundwater Irrigation in U.S. Corn and Soybeans

Session 2: Integrated Assessment Modelling

Moderator: Will Wheeler

  • David Newburn: Integrated Assessment Modeling of Household Fertilizer Behavior: Implications for Nonpoint Nutrient-Reduction Programs and Coastal Water Quality
  • Derek Wietelman: Interacting Incentives for Agricultural Conservation Subsidies and Trading Programs: An Integrated Assessment Model for Water Quality and Carbon Sequestration Benefits in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
  • Charles Griffiths: The Social Cost and Inequity of Nutrient Pollution in U.S. Freshwater Streams
  • Yu-Kai Huang: Effectiveness of Alternative Strategies for Nutrient Loss Reduction under Uncertainty in the Racoon River Basin.
Noon-1:15 P.M.

Lunch
Speaker: Chris Timmins

  • Environmental Injustice: Correlations, Causes and Consequences.
1:15-1:30 P.M.

Break

1:30-3:00 P.M.

Two Split/Parallel Sessions 

Each paper will be allocated 22 minutes total, 16-18 minutes for presentation followed by 3-4 minutes for questions and discussion.

Session 3: Valuation of Water Quality

Moderator: Kristen Swedberg

  • Chris Moore: Valuing Changes in Aquatic Biodiversity and Recreation with a Nationwide Survey
  • Yoojin Cha and Yusuke Kuwayama: Estimating Water Quality Benefits with Revealed Preference
  • Nabin Khanal: Unveiling the Hidden Costs: Housing Market Impact of Drinking Water PFAS Contamination
  • Yongjie Ji: The Impact of Nutrient Water Pollution on Lakeside Property Values in the US

Session 4: Wildfires, Drinking Water Quality

Moderator: Mainul Hoque

  • Jordan Suter: Characterizing Community Drinking Water Systems Exposed to Wildfire in the Western U.S.
  • Beth Haley: The Effects of Wildfires on Drinking Water Quality in the Western United States
  • Steven Dundas: Wildfire Impacts on the Value of Safe Drinking Water: Evidence from Housing in Oregon’s Willamette Basin
  • Praharsh Patel: Behavioral responses to two-part tariffs: Evidence from the introduction of volumetric water pricing
3:00-3:30 P.M.

Break

3:30-5:00 P.M.

Two Split/Parallel Sessions 

Each paper will be allocated 24 minutes total, 18-20 minutes for presentation followed by 4-6 minutes for questions and discussion.

Session 5: Regulation and Policy

Moderator: Tihitina Andarge

  • Margarita Petrusevich: A retrospective analysis of the benefits and costs of the SDWA Arsenic Rule
  • Tihitina Andarge: Major/Minor Thresholds in Environmental Regulation
  • Kaitlynn Sandstrom-Mistry: Evaluating the Impact of the Clean Water Act on Industrial Water Discharges
  • Jianwei Ai: The Impact of Clean Water Act on Employment

Session 6: Methods

Moderator: Joel Corona

  • Klaus Moeltner: Flexible Meta-Regression for Benefit Transfer: Local weighting vs. Random forests
  • Bonnie Keeler: Investigating the distribution of water contaminants in Mississippi River communities
  • Robert J. Johnston: When and How Should Non-Market Values be Used to Inform Water Quality Decisions? Modeling the Accuracy of Valuation and Corresponding Value of Information
  • Kristen Swedberg: Developing a Use Based Water Quality Index
5:15 P.M.

Adjourn

October 4, 2024
EPA Ruckelshaus Conference Center, Washington, D.C.

(Zoom Links: Auditorium | Breakout Room)

8:15-8:45 A.M.

Breakfast

9:00-10:30 A.M.

Panel 2: The Frontiers of Benefit Cost Analysis and the Natural Capital Accounts Efforts
Moderator: Al McGartland

  • Jeff Shrader
  • Heather Klemick
  • Emily Pindilli
10:30-10:45 A.M.

Break

10:45 A.M.-12:15 P.M.

Two Split/Parallel Sessions 

Each paper will be allocated 22 minutes total, 16-18 minutes for presentation followed by 3-4 minutes for questions and discussion.

Session 7: Selected Topics on IAM/SWAT

Moderator: Joel Corona

  • Katrin Bieger: Using Soil and Water Assessment Tool outputs for economic assessments – considerations from a SWAT+ modeler’s perspective
  • Kelsie Ferin: Integrated economic-agroecosystem modeling approaches to address multi-scale water quality issues under contemporary and future climates.
  • Xavier Garcia: Integrating eco-hydrological and economic models to inform effective water quality management policies. The case of the Catalan River Basin District
  • Jordan Burt: Endogenous Impacts of Aquatic Recreation on Households’ Lawn Fertilizer Use: Could Coastal Water Quality Improvements Have Hidden Benefits?

Session 8: Cell Phone Data, Valuation of Water Quality

Moderator: Daniel Phaneuf

  • Dimitris Friesen: Using mobility data to estimate water quality benefits
  • Stephen Newbold: Valuing satellite data for harmful algal bloom
    early warning systems
  • Emmett Saulnier: Out-of-sight, Out-of-mind? Distance Decay in Use and Non-use Value
    of Water Quality
  • Sonia Refulio-Coronado: The impact of water quality at the beach on disadvantaged communities in Rhode Island: Evidence using aggregated visitation data
12:15-1:30 P.M.

Lunch 

1:30 – 2:00 P.M.

Egg Timer Presentations (5 minutes per presentation)

Moderator: Nilesh Shinde

  • Julie Hewitt: EPA’s Upcoming Water Affordability Needs Assessment
  • Sampriti Sarkar: Aging infrastructure, affordability and legacy costs: Consumers’ willingness to pay for risk reduction
  • Patrick  Lloyd-Smith: Putting heterogeneity to use to improve the generalizability of water quality valuation studies
  • Isaiah Bryant-Sheth: A Storm Brewing: Estimating Costs of Climate-Induced Pollution in Drinking Water
  • Emil Kee-Tui: The Value of Harmful Algal Bloom Free Lakes in the U.S.
2:00-3:30 P.M.

2 Split/Parallel Sessions

Each paper will be allocated 22 minutes total, 16-18 minutes for presentation followed by 3-4 minutes for questions and discussion.

Session 9: Drinking Water Quality, Standards, and Human Capital

Moderator: Tihitina Andarge

  • Jiameng Zheng: The effect of lead from drinking water on long-run
    educational outcomes
  • Weizhe Weng: The Legacy of Historical Redlining: A National Study on Drinking Water Violations
  • Wes Austin: Reducing PFAS in Drinking Water and Perinatal Health
  • Tzu-Hui Janet Chen: Agricultural Externality: Health Impacts of Glyphosate Water Pollution

Session 10: Agriculture, Conservation, and Water Quality

Moderator: Catherine Kling

  • Nicole Karwowski: Water Quality and the Conservation Reserve Program: Empirical Evidence from the Mississippi River Basin
  • Tieyue Zhang: The Effects of the Conservation Reserve Program on Downstream Water Quality Across the US.
  • Anthony Ponce: Evaluating state policies supporting conservation in agriculture: Impacts on water quality in Minnesota
  • Ngoc Ha Do: The Effects of Conservation on Water Quality
3:30-3:45 P.M.

Wrap-up

 

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