Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Virginia
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Virginia Project


How does current management of water quality align with ecological health and human well-being? A preliminary study of Virginia

January 2017 - June 2017


Personnel

Participating Agencies

  • Virginia Tech Global Change Center

OBJECTIVES: Our overall aim was to integrate available geo-referenced socioeconomic, human health, and biophysical water (WQ) data to answer the following questions: 1. To what extent is human well-being (HWB) spatially correlated with healthy waterbodies and how do such relations vary across regions and socio-cultural groups? 2. What are local WQ managers’ perceptions of the greatest threats to waterbodies and to what extent are these perceptions supported by available data? 3. What are local WQ managers’ beliefs about a) how to achieve WQ goals and b) common knowledge and desires of local publics relative to WQ?