With nearly $3 million in federal funding, Climate School researchers will help develop a climate action plan to mitigate the effects of climate change on the city’s water supply.

Ecosystems provide humankind with food, fuel and fiber; they help clean the air and water, control flooding and regulate climate. Now, a group of scientists has laid out guidelines to gauge how effective we are at setting a price on such benefits of nature.

New York City is world-renowned for its clean and delicious drinking water. The NYC watershed delivers roughly 1.2 billion gallons of unfiltered water each day to 9 million New Yorkers. But in 2013, the Croton Water Filtration Plant, currently under construction in the Bronx, will begin filtering 1.2 million cubic meters or 10% of New York’s water supply each day.