Session 1 -  The Challenge of Water for All

The two-edged sword of altruism in willingness to pay for water infrastructure and affordability programs

1:00PM  Oral Presentation 
Authors: Sampriti Sarkar
Presenting Author: Sampriti Sarkar
Contact: sarkars6@msu.edu 

Most water and sewer infrastructure in the United States is approaching the end of its life cycle and needs replacement. Aging infrastructure increases health and environmental risk and drives up water and sewer bills, raising affordability concerns. Although current water and sewer rates remain affordable for most consumers, rising rates are exacerbating affordability challenges for low-income households, who are disconnected from these essential services if they fail to pay the bills. Public support through higher water and sewer rates can help replace old infrastructure but can exacerbate affordability concerns for low-income households.  This study employs a choice experiment to estimate public valuation of policies that replace aging infrastructure and support low-income households’ ability to afford this essential service through a statewide water affordability program. This study also examines behavioral drivers such as altruistic preferences, perception about beneficiaries’ water use, and subjective income that might influence support for these policies. Given that altruistic preferences, that is how much people care about other households, are likely to influence support for an affordability program and community water system policies, we explore how respondents' altruistic preference affect their valuation of policy attributes. To measure altruism, we develop a novel instrument that is suitable for online surveys. Analysis of survey responses from 1,732 Michigan and Ohio residents reveals strong public support for health and environmental improvements from infrastructure replacement programs. Notably, altruists generally display a higher willingness to pay for programs compared to non-altruists. However, altruists harboring concerns about beneficiaries’ water wastefulness have a lower willingness to pay for an affordability program compared to non-altruists without such concerns. These results underscore the complex dual nature of altruism in public support for community water programs. Additionally, respondents’ perceptions of their own social status and respondents’ conditional altruism influence their policy valuations. Policy implications for a viable water affordability program such as addressing wastefulness concerns and incentive-based affordability programs are discussed. These findings offer critical insights for academics, policymakers, and stakeholders aiming to design effective strategies that address both infrastructure replacement and water affordability challenges.

Presenter Bio

I am a PhD candidate at Michigan State University. I am an empirical economist with a focus on environmental, agricultural, and behavioral economics.  My research employs econometric tools to address policy-relevant questions that have long-term societal impacts.  I am pursuing a doctoral dual major in Environmental Economics and Environmental Science and Policy Program from Michigan State University. My dissertation work focuses on issues related to water, agriculture, and agro-environmental policies.

Evaluating the Impact of Numeric Phosphorus Standards on Nutrient Pollution in U.S. Waterways

1:15PM  Oral Presentation 
Authors: Saesol Kang (kangsaes@msu.edu) and Molly Sears (searsmo1@msu.edu)
Presenting Author: Saesol Kang
Contact: kangsaes@msu.edu 

Although phosphorus is critical for ecosystems and agriculture, excess amounts can trigger harmful algal blooms and disrupt aquatic life. The EPA has advocated for waterbody-specific numeric phosphorus standards since the 1990s, yet only 13 states have adopted them as of 2024. This study examines how these numeric phosphorus standards affect nutrient concentrations in U.S. rivers and streams. Drawing on a 41-year dataset (1981–2021) with 104,217 phosphorus readings from 28,151 monitoring stations across 32 states, this analysis uses data from the EPA’s Water Quality Portal. Sites near regulated waterbodies serve as treated sites, while those near unregulated waterbodies act as controls, as identified by spatial and water quality standards data. A quasi-experimental design combines event studies and synthetic control methods, incorporating precipitation and temperature data from PRISM to account for local environmental conditions. The model also includes state-by-year fixed effects to control for statewide factors (e.g., environmental policies, natural disasters, leakage incidents) that may influence phosphorus levels over time. The full-dataset analysis shows phosphorus levels declining in regulated waterbodies during years 5–6 post-adoption, then gradually rebounding by years 25–26. However, when limiting the analysis to the first nine post-adoption years—capturing data from all treated states—improvements in phosphorus conditions appear consistently, with little attenuation. Because states adopted numeric standards at different times, focusing on the first nine years offers a more accurate measure of the average treatment effect. Under this nine-year window, phosphorus decreases by an average of -0.04 µg/L, about a 20% reduction from the sample average. These findings suggest numeric standards are a cost-effective alternative to stricter point-source regulations. Broader adoption could substantially enhance water quality in the near future.

Presenter Bio

Saesol Kang is a Ph.D. student in Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics at Michigan State University, specializing in water pollution and environmental policy evaluation. Her research focuses on the effectiveness of effluent discharge permits in regulating water quality. She holds a master’s degree in agricultural economics from Seoul National University and a bachelor’s degree in Policy Studies from Hanyang University, Korea.

Collaborating to Build Climate Resilience with the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians

1:30PM  Oral Presentation 
Authors: Grace Akintan (akintano@msu.edu), Tori Bonn (bonntori@msu.edu), Lifeng Luo (lluo@msu.edu),  Destiny McEntyre (mcentyr5@msu.edu),  Pang-Ning Tan (ptan@msu.edu), Ike Iyioke (ike@msu.edu), Justin Simard, Wenona T. Singel (singel@law.msu.edu), and Daniel Uyeh (uyehdani@msu.edu).  
Presenting Author: Justin Simard
Contact: justin.simard@law.msu.edu 

Native American tribes like the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians (LTBB) are among North America's most climate-sensitive communities. Yet vulnerable groups like the LTBB have often been left behind by technological change. Our project, built on a collaboration with the LTBB, is designed to help the tribe build climate resilience and adapt to the changing waters in which they find themselves. Our paper describes our methods and the lessons we have learned from outreach. In December, our team hosted a workshop with LTBB members and other related community members. At the workshop, we gathered survey and qualitative data on the current environmental impacts on traditional Anishinaabe practices, such as fishing, gathering, and farming. Our participants were eager to engage with us and to share their experiences of how climate change has affected them. Community members’ personal experiences provided unique insight on their changing relationship to water. Fishing has importance for the LTBB traditionally, recreationally, and commercially, and climate change has forced the tribe to change their practices. One participant, a commercial and recreational fisherman since 1965, observed the significant decline in perch, trout, and white fish in Lake Michigan. He also discussed the change in water levels in the soil, and its impact on planting, tending, and harvesting. Another individual discussed how indigenous people have always adapted their practices, and technology should complement traditional practices rather than replace them. Our paper summarizes these and other insights, providing information about how members of the LTBB understand technology and the climate changes they face. Understanding the perspectives of vulnerable communities like the LTBB is critical to learn how climate change has shaped their relationship to water and to helping them develop climate resilience.

Collaborative approaches to understanding and predicting cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cHABs)

1:45PM  Oral Presentation 
Authors: Elena Litchman and Carol Waldmann Rosenbaum
Presenting Author: Elena Litchman
Contact: litchman@msu.edu 

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are becoming more widespread around the globe, including the lakes in the Midwest, negatively impacting local economies and human and animal health. Current research on HABs includes field and remote sensing observations, laboratory experiments as well as process-based and statistical models. Enhancing the links between these different approaches to studying HABs can increase our understanding of and the ability to predict HABs under changing conditions. Here we present examples and ideas on how to increase the synergy and collaborations across different research approaches to HABs, focusing on how experimental studies can enhance observations and inform models. We have isolated into culture and analyzed key eco-physiological traits of more than a hundred different strains of major HAB-forming cyanobacteria from the Laurentian Great Lakes. Our results show that there is a high inter- and intraspecific variation in the responses to different nutrients and temperature and evidence of local adaptation. This experimental information should be incorporated into predictive models to improve bloom forecasts for different locations and suggests that field observations of bloom dynamics should monitor the temporal trends in different cHAB taxa, including intraspecific variation. These synergies across different approaches and researchers can improve our understanding of HABs.

Presenter Bio

Elena Litchman is an MSU Research Foundation Professor studying aquatic ecology and harmful algal blooms (HABs). She has led many large scale international projects on studying aquatic ecosystems around the globe and is a recipient of several major awards, including the NSF CAREER award, PECASE award, the Hutchinson Award from the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography, The Peterson Foundation Excellence Professorship from Germany and is an ASLO Fellow.

Session 1 -  Water Science Around the World

Modulation of Extreme Precipitation in West Africa by the Madden-Julian Oscillation: Insights from Observations and CMIP6 Models

1:00PM  Oral Presentation 
Authors: Coumba Niang, Lifeng Luo and Amadou T. Gaye
Presenting Author: Coumba Niang
Contact: niangcou@msu.edu 

West Africa has been experiencing increasingly severe extreme weather events, particularly floods, which pose significant challenges to rain-fed agriculture and regional socio-economic stability. The Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) is a key driver of intraseasonal variability in tropical convection, strongly influencing heavy precipitation events over the region. Understanding its impact is crucial for improving predictive capabilities and assessing climate model performance. 

This study examines the modulation of extreme precipitation by the MJO across its phases using observational datasets and evaluates the ability of 23 CMIP6 historical simulations to reproduce these patterns. The results reveal distinct precipitation anomalies associated with different MJO phases, with significantly enhanced rainfall during the active phases and suppressed rainfall during the inactive phases. The results provide clear evidence that the MJO exerts a strong influence on the probability of extreme precipitation events. The analysis of CMIP6 model performance shows that while some models reliably capture these patterns, others exhibit inconsistencies, particularly in simulating the likelihood of extreme precipitation events. 

The MJO’s influence is particularly pronounced over the Gulf of Guinea, where increased moisture transport enhances precipitation intensity and frequency. Observational analysis also highlights a contrast in anomalous convection between the Indian Ocean and West Africa, a key relationship that may serve as a potential predictor for extreme events. However, model skill in capturing this mechanism varies, largely depending on how well the models simulate the eastward propagation of the MJO.

This study underscores the need for improved convective parameterizations to enhance MJO-related precipitation simulations. It also provides insights into model uncertainties, highlights opportunities for improving extreme event forecasting and offers a foundation for refining future climate projections over West Africa. 

Presenter Bio

I am working as postdoc in the Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences in MSU. My work mainly focuses on the study of the intraseasonal variability of West African Monsoon (WAM) features and their large-scale drivers and also; evaluates the skill of dynamical forecast models for the monsoon features and their variability. I performed a study to evaluate the Lagrangian analysis of West African monsoon features using mathematical tools. That work was the first one using the Lagrangian descriptor to analyze the essential elements of the WAM system, for which typically, transport has been described based on a Eulerian perspective. In my research work I am also interested in studying the modulation of the large-scale conditions on the potential predictability of extreme precipitation events, an issue with important operational applications.

Could cultural perceptions of communal water management among ethnic minorities be the solution in water-insecure coastal Bangladesh? A qualitative inquiry

1:15PM  Oral Presentation  
Authors: Saleh Ahmed
Presenting Author: Saleh Ahmed
Contact: salahm@msu.edu 

Coastal Bangladesh is at the frontline of global environmental change. Millions of people in the region are heavily exposed to various water-related risks, including tropical cyclones, sea level rise, salinity intrusion, and coastal flooding. Due to salinity intrusion, poor infrastructure, and connectivity issues, and other factors people in the region experience significant water insecurity. Often people need to travel several miles to collect drinkable water. Private entrepreneurs may provide water at a high price, but this creates additional challenges for the low-income people. Overall, water insecurity disproportionately affects women, children, and elderly populations. In this context, cultural perceptions and practices of communal water management among ethnic minorities can provide important insights for locally led solutions. For the Rakhine ethnic minorities, who have lived in Coastal Bangladesh for centuries, water is a sacred commodity. Communal ponds are not usually used for washing clothes or dishes, which is common in rural Bangladesh. The Rakhine reserves their pond’s water for drinking, particularly in the dry season, when usually groundwater salinity is very high and the water level in their water pumps is very low. The Rakhine see water is a heavenly blessing, and that is why they don’t want to make their pond impure by using them for their daily household chores. On the contrary, Bengalis, who are local mainstream populations, use their homestead or communal ponds for their daily household tasks, including swimming, bathing, cleaning their livestock, and washing their dishes and cloths. These ponds become very polluted and often carry water-borne and skin-related diseases. Based on a long-term qualitative inquiry in the region, this presentation highlights that Rakhine ethnic minorities have developed their own water security, while local majority Bengalis lack that opportunity. Because of these differences of cultural perceptions and use of communal water, it is not uncommon that conflict occurs between both groups. In context of regional water insecurity, local people and government should explore more options for locally led adaptations and create opportunities for collaboration on communal water management. It is clear that local Rakhine minorities can provide important insights on addressing water insecurity in the region. As regions around the world are experiencing increasing water insecurity, this research can provide important insights on how culture norms and values can play an important role in shaping local water management as well as adaptation efforts.

Presenter Bio

Dr. Saleh Ahmed is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Michigan State University. As an interdisciplinary environmental social scientist, Dr. Ahmed’s research interest lies at the intersection of environment, development, and social justice.

What Happens After the Boom? Stagnation, Continuity, Diversification, and Exit in Aquaculture in Central Thailand

1:30PM  Oral Presentation  
Authors: Leo Baldiga, Ben Belton, Lin Yan and David Roy
Presenting Author: Leo Baldiga
Contact: baldigal@msu.edu 

Since the 1990s, aquacultural production across the globe has rapidly expanded, especially so in peri urban deltaic regions of Asia. This paper examines the historical development and current state of aquaculture in the Chao Phraya River delta of central Thailand through the lens of its construction as a ‘crop boom’ in the literature, integrating insights from geospatial analysis of remotely sensed data with quantitative social surveys and interviews with aquaculture farmers. We build upon recent scholarship that complicates traditional cyclic ‘boom-bust’ understandings in this context. Two decades after the initial boom, bust, and 'echo boom', aquacultural production and associated land use change have entered a more complex phase - rather than clearly defined cycles, our analysis shows that stagnating growth and continuous adaptation of production methods to changing market conditions better define the current landscape. Across various styles of aquaculture production system, we identify four distinct but overlapping themes in post-boom processes operating in the Thai context: stagnation, continuity, diversification and exit. In examining the aftermath of Central Thailand's aquaculture boom, we provide insight on long-term trajectories for smallholder agrarian change and continuity. 

Are Systematic Inequalities in the Piped Water Infrastructure Paving Way for the Water Mafia?

1:45PM  Oral Presentation 
Authors: Noormah Rizwan (rizwanno@msu.edu) and James Sears (searsja1@msu.edu)
Presenting Author: Noormah Rizwan
Contact: rizwanno@msu.edu 

Water scarcity and poor infrastructure in many developing countries lead to inadequate public water supply, forcing poorer communities to rely on non-state actors, or the 'Water Mafia.' The mafia procures water illegally from public supplies and sells it at higher prices, exacerbating inequalities by making drinking water unaffordable for the poor.   Additionally, they create artificial shortages further limiting access to piped water. However, as the burden of unreliable piped supply often falls disproportionately on the poor, the mafia acts as the only reliable source of clean drinking water, without which the poor resort to lower-quality water. It remains unclear whether the benefits of the mafia outweigh the exploitation, and without a thorough understanding, market reforms may do more harm. This study represents the first empirical effort to document systematic disparities in piped water access, examine the prevalence of the water mafia, and directly comment on both the overall and distributional welfare impacts of their existence.

To answer these questions, we implemented a novel survey instrument in Karachi, Pakistan that gathered information on household water usage, access to formal and informal water suppliers, and the prices they faced. Using data from 460 households and 17 tanker operators, we analyze households’ choices between formal and informal water sources through detailed modules that differentiate between piped water, formal tankers, and informal/illegal sources.

We find significant evidence of systematic inequalities in access to piped water infrastructure and water affordability. Poorer households are on average less likely to receive water in their piped connections as they are located at the tail-end of the water supply distribution. We find that, among the households receiving water, poorer households receive water for 8 hours in a week, whereas richer households receive water for 26 hours in a week. Despite infrequent supply and low consumption, poorer households pay higher per-gallon water bills. These underlying inequalities in the piped water supply force the poorer households to participate a lot more frequently in the illegal tanker market, purchasing smaller quantities at higher prices. Cheaper government water alternatives remain accessible primarily to wealthier households, forcing the poorest to pay PKR 7 per gallon for tanker water, while richer households pay only PKR 4 per gallon. Some poor households allocate up to 60% of their budget to water, often at the expense of essential needs like education.  Our findings are valuable for policies targeting low-income communities, who bear the brunt of water mismanagement.

Presenter Bio

I am a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate specializing in environmental and resource economics. My research focuses on adaptation to scarcity induced by climatic or man-made factors.  My research examines both supply- and demand-side adaptations in agriculture and drinking water access, particularly in developing countries that are highly vulnerable to climate change. As climate change exacerbates existing inefficiencies in resource distribution, understanding these challenges is more critical than ever. Through empirical analysis and economic modeling, I aim to identify practical solutions that enhance resilience, improve resource allocation, and inform policies that promote equitable and sustainable access to essential resources.