Wetlands, flood control and ecosystem services in the Smith Creek drainage basin : A case study in Saskatchewan, Canada / John K. Pattison-Williams, John W. Pomeroy, Pascal Badiou, and Shane Gabor.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 46-47).

This paper applies a social return on investment (SROI) analysis to the issue of flood control and wetland
conservation in the Smith Creek basin of southeastern Saskatchewan, Canada. Basin hydrological modeling
applied to wetland loss and restoration scenarios in the study area provides local estimates of the ecosystem
service (ES) provision related to flood control and nutrient removal. Locally appropriate monetary values are
applied to these services to gauge the cost effectiveness of wetland conservation funding at two levels: flood
control capacity alone and then incorporating a suite of ES. SROI ratios for flood control alone provide ratios
between 3.17 (retention) and 0.80 (full restoration) over 30 years; when other ES are included, the ratios increase,
ranging from 7.70 (retention) to 2.98 (full restoration) over 30 years. Retention of existing wetlands
provides the highest SROI and therefore we argue that government policy should focus on preventing further loss
of wetlands as a strategic investment opportunity. Overall, these results indicate that wetland retention is an
economically viable solution to limit the financial, social and environmental damages of flooding in
Saskatchewan specifically and the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) generally.