Imagine if you were the environmental manager responsible for assessing the valu
ID: 299022 • Letter: I
Question
Imagine if you were the environmental manager responsible for assessing the value of the Neponset River Watershed. The of Neponset River Watershed is 300 km^2 and 330,000 people live the Neponset River Watershed. The Neponset River Watershed includes 14 communities, and the river itself meanders some 47 km from Foxborough to UMassBoston. Describe five (3) ecosystem goods and (3) ecosystem services that the Neponset River Watershed provides. Assign a dollar (S) value to ecosystem services of the Neponset River Watershed. Please be clear about how you assessed this economic value [for if clean air worth example, is SI per person per day, the total ecosystem service is worth $1 x 365 days x 900,000 people $328 million per year you cannot use air since I gave you this example)] Describe how would you assess (measure) the " health" of the Neponset River Watershed? In other words, what data/evidence would you present to the public to support statement that the ecosystem was "healthy" or "not healthy"Explanation / Answer
3 Ecosystems Goods are:
Provides healthy atmosphere with more oxygen due to vegetation along the river
Controls the pollution in air and water
Provides water to domestic and agriculture
3 Ecosystem services Neponset river provides are:
Mitigate drought and floods
Protect people from the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays
Maintain biodiversity
Neponset river hosting 333,000 population in its 47 km length. The Neponset Watershed association achieved cleaning the river system and made it as a potable water. Now it is providing drinking water for all the people living there. If we calculate its value in dollars and its worth is depicted below:
Water consumption per person per day = 400 litres
Cost of one litre of water = $ 1
So one person water cost = $ 400
Total population cost per year =
$400 x 365 x 333,000 =48,618,000,000 = @48.618 billion
But local people must be pay 10% of this value.= $4.8 billion
So cleaning up of Neponset river water is benefiting the local people to the tune of $ 43 billion.
Neponset river watershed health is now far better than earlier periods. Local people and governments putting all efforts to save river from pollution. Now they have achieved maximum success but still some pollution problems are existing to remove.
Before 1967 this river was highly polluted and hazardous for survive ecosystem and human beings there. Good actions of members, volunteers and staff of Neponset river watershed association solved many a problems.
They have taken action in diverting sewerage water, not mixing pesticide and fertilizer contaminated water from agriculture and not throwing waste in the river.
Still there are some pollution problems mainly from polluted runoff from roads and parks. During the rains oil, pet waste, sand and lawn chemicals flushed into the river and polluting it the river and its streams. But the watershed association is working to fix these problems may get success in their actions and plans