Browsing by Author "Weiss, Tiffany"
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Item Regional Water Planning for Climate Resilience(2018-05-11) Schmeling, Alyssa; Brittain, Christopher; Weiss, TiffanyThis report on regional water planning for climate resilience considers the specific circumstances of the Midwest Ecoregion of the United States. In our analysis, we explore climate data resources across the state to discover ways in which climate change will severely impact or hinder communities in the Midwest, particularly those in Minnesota. Climate change will cause extreme rain events, increased temperatures, and drought in the ecoregion, which will overwhelm infrastructure and leave communities in disrepair if they are not well prepared. Through research on the One Water approach to water management (too much, too little, too dirty) and several regional entities in the Midwest Ecoregion, we suggest ways in which both regional and local planning strategies can coincide to assist communities and regions as they adapt to a changing climate. The proposed strategies are split between regional and local contexts as they epitomize two types of entities with different implementation policies. The regional strategies are: “Implementing adaptation on a broad scale”, “Adapting regionally with urban green infrastructure”, “Performing broad-scale monitoring”, and “Performing species and community-specific assessments”. The local strategies are: “Adapting at the local level with urban green infrastructure”, “Supporting state climatologists”, “Creating a framework for local government planning”, and “Implementing short term solutions”.Item Will the Faucet Turn On? Water Conservation Strategies for Ramsey, Minnesota(Resilient Communities Project (RCP), University of Minnesota, 2017) Alarcon, Frank; Ayers-Johnson, Joseph; Buechler, Gretchen; Dix, Alec; Goodwin, Matthew; Weiss, TiffanyThis project was completed as part of the 2017-2018 Resilient Communities Project (rcp.umn.edu) partnership with the City of Ramsey. Ramsey obtains its water supply exclusively from public and private ground water wells. The city’s soil is very sandy and drains quickly, creating a significant demand for water in summer months as homeowners and businesses irrigate their lawns and gardens. To reduce water demand and encourage water conservation practices, the City wanted to explore strategies for educating residents about the effects of excessive water use. Drawing on case studies and literature on best practices, students in Dr. Dan Milz’s Planning and Participation Processes class created a toolkit for City staff with recommendations for reducing household water use, outreach strategies to encourage household water conservation, a ‘water scorecard’ to help residents understand their personal water use, examples of successful water conservation programs, and potential partners and funding sources for the City of Ramsey to use in its outreach efforts. The students’ final report, poster, and scorecard are available.