Exploration of Emerging Methods to Assess Equity in USACE Project Planning

The Water Institute has supported the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and Engineering With Nature® (EWN) with policy research to better integrate and align traditional infrastructure approaches with Nature-based Solutions (NBS). A previous project, Enhancing Benefits Evaluation for Water Resources Projects: Towards a More Comprehensive Approach for Nature Based Solutions was completed in 2023 (Fischbach, Bond, et al., 2023). That policy research project used a retrospective case study analysis to explore how to best quantify, and potentially monetize, a more complete range of economic, environmental, and social costs and benefits provided by projects incorporating NBS. To better consider equity, a further research effort was devised, using the same case studies previously analyzed for NBS valuation. This report builds on the previous research project by using these case studies to test quantitative methods for incorporating equity considerations into project planning.