Water, Volume 10, Issue 1 (January 2018) – 90 articles

Interest in Stable Isotopes Analyses (SIA) is increasing in freshwater ecology to better clarify ecosystems’ functioning. By measuring carbon and nitrogen isotopic signatures, food sources and organism trophic levels can be tracked, providing quantitative estimates of bi-dimensional niches. In order to describe some general patterns of carbon and nitrogen stable isotope signatures in lakes, we applied SIA to zooplankton community in five subalpine lakes sampled in spring and summer along a trophic gradient (from oligotrophy to hypereutrophy). Within zooplankton taxa, temporal variation in food sources and trophic levels were compared to find out taxon-specific patterns. Carbon and nitrogen isotopic signatures differed among the five lakes, reflecting depth, topography, and trophic status of the lakes. Carbon isotopic signatures varied more considerably in deeper and larger lakes (Mergozzo and Pusiano) than in a shallower and smaller lake (Lake Endine). Nitrogen isotopic signatures were generally more enriched in lakes Pusiano and Moro than in Lake Mergozzo, whereas in summer, they were depleted in all lakes. These observations indicate that zooplankton taxa specific trophic roles differed among lakes and in time. Full article

Gemini surfactants, with double hydrophilic and hydrophobic groups, offer potentially orders of magnitude greater surface activity compared to similar single unit molecules. A cationic Gemini surfactant (Propyl didodecyldimethylammonium Bromide, PDDDAB) and a conventional cationic surfactant (Dodecyltrimethylammonium Bromide, DTAB) were used to pre-treat and generate activated carbon. The removal efficiency of the surfactant-modified activated carbon through adsorption of chromium(VI) was investigated under controlled laboratory conditions. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to investigate the surface changes of surfactant-modified activated carbon. The effect of important parameters such as adsorbent dosage, pH, ionic strength and contact time were also investigated. The chromium(VI) was adsorbed more significantly on the Gemini surfactant-modified activated carbon than on the conventional surfactant-modified activated carbon. The correlation coefficients show the data best fit the Freundlich model, which confirms the monolayer adsorption of chromium(VI) onto Gemini surfactant-modified activated carbon. From this assessment, the surfactant-modified (especially Gemini surfactant-modified) activated carbon in this study showed promise for practical applications to treat water pollution. Full article

The reductive dissolution of Fe-oxide driven by organic matter oxidation is the primary mechanism accepted for As mobilization in several alluvial aquifers. These processes are often mediated by microorganisms that require a minimum Gibbs energy available to conduct the reaction in order to sustain their life functions. Implementing this threshold energy in reactive transport modeling is rarely used in the existing literature. This work presents a 1D reactive transport modeling of As mobilization by the reductive dissolution of Fe-oxide and subsequent immobilization by co-precipitation in iron sulfides considering a threshold energy for the following terminal electron accepting processes: (a) Fe-oxide reduction, (b) sulfate reduction, and (c) methanogenesis. The model is then extended by implementing a threshold energy on both reaction directions for the redox reaction pairs Fe(III) reduction/Fe(II) oxidation and methanogenesis/methane oxidation. The optimal threshold energy fitted in 4.50, 3.76, and 1.60 kJ/mol e⁻ for sulfate reduction, Fe(III) reduction/Fe(II) oxidation, and methanogenesis/methane oxidation, respectively. The use of models implementing bidirectional threshold energy is needed when a redox reaction pair can be transported between domains with different redox potentials. This may often occur in 2D or 3D simulations. Full article

Vertical line source irrigation is a water-saving irrigation method for enhancing direct water and nutrient delivery to the root zone, reducing soil evaporation and improving water and nutrient use efficiency. To identify its influencing factors, we performed computer simulations using the HYDRUS-2D software. The results indicate that for a given soil, the line source seepage area, but not the initial soil water content and buried depth, has a significant effect on the cumulative infiltration. We thus proposed a simplified method, taking into account the seepage area for predicting the cumulative infiltration based on the Philip model. Finally, we evaluated the accuracy of the simplified method using experimental data and found the cumulative infiltrations predicted by the simplified method were in very good agreement with the observed values, showing a low mean average error of 0.028–0.480 L, a root mean square error of 0.043–0.908 L, a percentage bias of 0.321–0.900 and a large Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient close to 1.0 (NSE ≥ 0.995). The results indicate that this simplified infiltration model, for which the only emitter parameter required is the seepage area, could provide a valuable and practical tool for irrigation design. Full article

Ecosystem services mapping is becoming increasingly popular through the use of various readily available mapping tools, however, uncertainties in assessment outputs are commonly ignored. Uncertainties from different sources have the potential to lower the accuracy of mapping outputs and reduce their reliability for decision-making. Using a case study in an Australian mining region, this paper assessed the impact of uncertainties on the modelling of the hydrological ecosystem service, water provision. Three types of uncertainty were modelled using multiple uncertainty scenarios: (1) spatial data sources; (2) modelling scales (temporal and spatial) and (3) parameterization and model selection. We found that the mapping scales can induce significant changes to the spatial pattern of outputs and annual totals of water provision. In addition, differences in parameterization using differing sources from the literature also led to obvious differences in base flow. However, the impact of each uncertainty associated with differences in spatial data sources were not so great. The results of this study demonstrate the importance of uncertainty assessment and highlight that any conclusions drawn from ecosystem services mapping, such as the impacts of mining, are likely to also be a property of the uncertainty in ecosystem services mapping methods. Full article

With the deepening discrepancy between water supply and demand caused by water shortages, alleviating water shortages by optimizing water resource allocation has received extensive attention. How to allocate water resources optimally, rapidly, and effectively has become a challenging problem. Thus, this study employs a meta-heuristic swarm-based algorithm, the whale optimization algorithm (WOA). To overcome drawbacks like relatively low convergence precision and convergence rates, when applying the WOA algorithm to complex optimization problems, logistic mapping is used to initialize swarm location, and inertia weighting is employed to improve the algorithm. The resulting ameliorative whale optimization algorithm (AWOA) shows substantially enhanced convergence rates and precision than the WOA and particle swarm optimization algorithms, demonstrating relatively high reliability and applicability. A water resource allocation optimization model with optimal economic efficiency and least total water shortage volume is established for Handan, China, and solved by the AWOA. The allocation results better reflect actual water usage in Handan. In 2030, the p = 50% total water shortage is forecast as 404.34 × 10⁶ m³ or 14.8%. The shortage is mainly in the primary agricultural sector. The allocation results provide a reference for regional water resources management. Full article

We examined fossil Cladocera (Crustacea) communities and their functional assemblages in a ~60-year sediment record from Lake Maggiore, northern Italy. Our main objective was to document the response of aquatic community functioning to environmental stress during eutrophication (1960–1985) and recovery (post-1985), and to identify environmental controls on cladoceran functionality. Of the functional groups, large filter feeders and oval epibenthos thrived prior to eutrophication (reference conditions pre-1960) and globular epibenthos and small filter feeders increased during eutrophication and as the lake recovered. Multivariate analyses suggested that bottom-up controls (i.e., total phosphorus) were important for shaping functional assemblages but taxonomic community changes were likely related to top-down control by predators, particularly the predaceous cladoceran Bythotrephes longimanus. Functional diversity (FD) was higher and Daphnia ephippia length (DEL) larger during the reference and early eutrophication periods and decreased during eutrophication and recovery. Both FD (high) and DEL (large) were distinct during reference period, but were similar (FD low, DEL small) between the eutrophication and recovery periods. The functional attributes and the assemblages did not recover post-eutrophication, suggesting that the system exhibited a clear shift to low FD and dominance of small filterers. Cladoceran functionality appears to be related to fundamental ecosystem functions, such as productivity, and may thus provide insights for long-term changes in ecological resilience. Full article

Extreme rainfall causes surface runoff to flow towards lowlands and subterranean facilities, such as subway stations and buildings with underground spaces in densely packed urban areas. These facilities and areas are therefore vulnerable to catastrophic submergence. However, flood modeling of underground space has not yet been adequately studied because there are difficulties in reproducing the associated multiple horizontal layers connected with staircases or elevators. This study proposes a convenient approach to simulate underground inundation when two layers are connected. The main facet of this approach is to compute the flow flux passing through staircases in an upper layer and to transfer the equivalent quantity to a lower layer. This is defined as the ‘adaptive transfer method’. This method overcomes the limitations of 2D modeling by introducing layers connecting concepts to prevent large variations in mesh sizes caused by complicated underlying obstacles or local details. Consequently, this study aims to contribute to the numerical analysis of flow in inundated underground spaces with multiple floors. Full article

The utilization for water resource has been of great concern to human life. To assess the natural water system in Kangding County, the integrated methods of hydrochemical analysis, multivariate statistics and geochemical modelling were conducted on surface water, groundwater, and thermal water samples. Surface water and groundwater were dominated by Ca-HCO₃ type, while thermal water belonged to Ca-HCO₃ and Na-Cl-SO₄ types. The analyzing results concluded the driving factors that affect hydrochemical components. Following the results of the combined assessments, hydrochemical process was controlled by the dissolution of carbonate and silicate minerals with slight influence from anthropogenic activity. The mixing model of groundwater and thermal water was calculated using silica-enthalpy method, yielding cold-water fraction of 0.56–0.79 and an estimated reservoir temperature of 130–199 °C, respectively. δD and δ¹⁸O isotopes suggested that surface water, groundwater and thermal springs were of meteoric origin. Thermal water should have deep circulation through the Xianshuihe fault zone, while groundwater flows through secondary fractures where it recharges with thermal water. Those analytical results were used to construct a hydrological conceptual model, providing a better understanding of the natural water system in Kangding County. Full article

The accurate estimation of soil hydraulic parameters (θ_s, α, n, and K_s) of the van Genuchten–Mualem model has attracted considerable attention. In this study, we proposed a new two-step inversion method, which first estimated the hydraulic parameter θ_s using objective function by the final water content, and subsequently estimated the soil hydraulic parameters α, n, and K_s, using a vector-evaluated genetic algorithm and particle swarm optimization (VEGA-PSO) method based on objective functions by cumulative infiltration and infiltration rate. The parameters were inversely estimated for four types of soils (sand, loam, silt, and clay) under an in silico experiment simulating the tension disc infiltration at three initial water content levels. The results indicated that the method is excellent and robust. Because the objective function had multilocal minima in a tiny range near the true values, inverse estimation of the hydraulic parameters was difficult; however, the estimated soil water retention curves and hydraulic conductivity curves were nearly identical to the true curves. In addition, the proposed method was able to estimate the hydraulic parameters accurately despite substantial measurement errors in initial water content, final water content, and cumulative infiltration, proving that the method was feasible and practical for field application. Full article

Nutrient removal in tidal flow constructed wetlands (TF-CW) is a complex series of nonlinear multi-parameter interactions. We simulated three tidal flow systems and a continuous vertical flow system filled with synthetic wastewater and compared the influent and effluent concentrations to examine (1) nutrient removal in artificial TF-CWs, and (2) the ability of a backpropagation (BP) artificial neural network to predict nutrient removal. The nutrient removal rates were higher under tidal flow when the idle/reaction time was two, and reached 90 ± 3%, 99 ± 1%, and 58 ± 13% for total nitrogen (TN), ammonium nitrogen (NH₄⁺-N), and total phosphorus (TP), respectively. The main influences on nutrient removal for each scenario were identified by redundancy analysis and were input into the model to train and verify the pollutant effluent concentrations. Comparison of the actual and model-predicted effluent concentrations showed that the model predictions were good. The predicted and actual values were correlated and the margin of error was small. The BP neural network fitted best to TP, with an R² of 0.90. The R² values of TN, NH₄⁺-N, and nitrate nitrogen (NO₃⁻-N) were 0.67, 0.73, and 0.69, respectively. Full article

Drinking water safety is increasingly perceived as one of the top global environmental issues. Plankton has been commonly used as a bioindicator for water quality in lakes and reservoirs. Recently, DNA sequencing technology has been applied to bioassessment. In this study, we compared the effectiveness of the 16S and 18S rRNA high throughput sequencing method (HTS) and the traditional optical microscopy method (TOM) in the bioassessment of drinking water quality. Five stations reflecting different habitats and hydrological conditions in Danjiangkou Reservoir, one of the largest drinking water reservoirs in Asia, were sampled May 2016. Non-metric multi-dimensional scaling (NMDS) analysis showed that plankton assemblages varied among the stations and the spatial patterns revealed by the two methods were consistent. The correlation between TOM and HTS in a symmetric Procrustes analysis was 0.61, revealing overall good concordance between the two methods. Procrustes analysis also showed that site-specific differences between the two methods varied among the stations. Station Heijizui (H), a site heavily influenced by two tributaries, had the largest difference while station Qushou (Q), a confluence site close to the outlet dam, had the smallest difference between the two methods. Our results show that DNA sequencing has the potential to provide consistent identification of taxa, and reliable bioassessment in a long-term biomonitoring and assessment program for drinking water reservoirs. Full article

Impacts from floods in urban areas can be diverse and wide ranging. These can include the loss of human life, infrastructure and property damages, as well as other kinds of nuisance and inconvenience to urban life. Hence, the ability to identify and quantify wider ranging effects from floods is of the utmost importance to urban flood managers and infrastructure operators. The present work provides a contribution in this direction and describes a methodological framework for analysing cascading effects from floods that has been applied for the Sukhumvit area in Bangkok (Thailand). It demonstrates that the effects from floods can be much broader in their reach and magnitude than the sole impacts incurred from direct and immediate losses. In Sukhumvit, these include loss of critical services, assets and goods, traffic congestion and delays in transportation, loss of business and income, disturbances and discomfort to the residents, and all these can be traced with the careful analysis of cascading effects. The present work explored the use of different visualization options to present the findings. These include a casual loop diagram, a HAZUR resilience map, a tree diagram and GIS maps. Full article

Sustainable groundwater production from karst aquifers is primarily dictated by its recharge rate. Therefore, it is essential to accurately quantify annual groundwater recharge in order to limit overexploitation and to evaluate artificial methods for groundwater enrichment. Infiltration during erratic flood events in karst basins may substantially contribute to aquifer recharge. However, the complicated nature of karst systems, which are characterized in part by multiple springs, sinkholes, and losing/gaining streams, impede accurate quantification of the actual contribution of flood waters to groundwater recharge. In this study, we aim to quantify the proportion of groundwater recharge accrued during runoff events in a karst aquifer. The role of karst conduits on flash flood infiltration was examined during four flood and controlled runoff events in the Soreq creek near Jerusalem, Israel. We distinguished between direct infiltration, percolation through karst conduits, and diffuse infiltration—the latter of which is most affected by evapotranspiration. A water balance was calculated for the 2014/15 hydrological year using the Hydrologic Engineering Center-Hydrologic Modelling System (HEC-HMS). Simulations show that 6.8 to 19.2% of the annual recharge volume was added to the aquifer from infiltration of runoff losses along the creek through the karst system. Full article

The timing of lake ice-out has advanced substantially in many regions of the Northern Hemisphere, however the effects of ice-out timing on lake properties and how they vary regionally remain unclear. Using data from two inter-annual monitoring datasets for a set of three Arctic lakes and one boreal lake, we compared physical, chemical and phytoplankton metrics from two years in which ice-out timing differed by at least three weeks. Our results revealed regional differences in lake responses during early compared to late ice-out years. With earlier ice-out, Arctic lakes had deeper mixing depths and the boreal lake had a shallower mixing depth, suggesting differing patterns in the influence of the timing of ice-out on the length of spring turnover. Differences in nutrient concentrations and dissolved organic carbon between regions and ice-out years were likely driven by changes in precipitation and permafrost thaw. Algal biomass was similar across ice-out years, while cell densities of key Cyclotella sensu lato taxa were strongly linked to thermal structure changes in the Arctic lakes. Our research provides evidence that Arctic and boreal regions differ in lake response in early and late ice-out years, however ultimately a combination of important climate factors such as solar insolation, air temperature, precipitation, and, in the Arctic, permafrost thaw, are key drivers of the observed responses. Full article

Outdoor education (OE) stream classes provide students with an opportunity to gain hands-on experience with sampling methods for evaluating stream water quality. Trampling by students as a result of stream classes may disrupt the substrate and negatively impact aquatic macroinvertebrates. The impact of student-induced trampling in headwaters as a result of stream classes on aquatic macroinvertebrates has not been evaluated. Our aim was to document the short-term macroinvertebrate responses to an experimental disturbance that simulated the impacts of trampling by students in riffles within small headwater streams. We measured hydrologic variables, visually estimated substrate composition and sampled aquatic macroinvertebrates within control and experimental riffles in three agricultural headwater streams in central Ohio one day prior to experimental disturbance, immediately after disturbance and one day after disturbance. Hydrologic variables and substrate type did not differ daily or between riffle types. Macroinvertebrate abundance, percentage of Ephemeroptera Plecoptera Trichoptera and percentage of Leuctridae increased after experimental disturbance, while diversity, evenness, percentage of clingers and non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMS) axis 1 site scores declined after disturbance. Macroinvertebrate diversity, percent clingers and NMS axis 1 site scores were lower in experimental riffles than control riffles. None of the macroinvertebrate response variables exhibited a significant interaction effect of day × riffle type that is indicative of an effect of the experimental disturbance. Our results suggest the one-time use of an undisturbed riffle within an agricultural headwater stream for an OE stream class is not likely to impact aquatic macroinvertebrates. Full article

The environmental benefits of combining traditional infrastructure solutions for urban drainage (increasing storage volume) with real time control (RTC) strategies were investigated in the Lundofte catchment in Denmark, where an expensive traditional infrastructure expansion is planned to comply with environmental requirements. A coordinating, rule-based RTC strategy and a global, system-wide risk-based dynamic optimization strategy (model predictive control), were compared using a detailed hydrodynamic model. RTC allowed a reduction of the planned storage volume by 21% while improving the system performance in terms of combined sewer overflow (CSO) volumes, environmental impacts, and utility costs, which were reduced by up to 10%. The risk-based optimization strategy provided slightly better performance in terms of reducing CSO volumes, with evident improvements in environmental impacts and utility costs, due to its ability to prioritize among the environmental sensitivity of different recipients. A method for extrapolating annual statistics from a limited number of events over a time interval was developed and applied to estimate yearly performance, based on the simulation of 46 events over a five-year period. This study illustrates that including RTC during the planning stages reduces the infrastructural costs while offering better environmental protection, and that dynamic risk-based optimisation allows prioritising environmental impact reduction for particularly sensitive locations. Full article

In the present study, the flow structure of discontinuous double-layered vegetation patches was investigated using a 3D Reynolds stress turbulence model (RSM). The channel domain was built using GAMBIT (Geometry and Mesh Building Intelligent Toolkit). For the simulation and postprocessing, FLUENT (ANSYS) was used to analyze the distribution of the mean velocity, Reynolds stresses, and other flow properties against two different flow conditions. The results captured by the turbulence model at specific locations and the cross section are presented in the form of various velocity profiles and contour plots. In the gap portion, the velocity was visibly lower than that in the vegetation areas, while the influence of patch distribution was not visible in the overlying flow layer. The velocity profiles at critical locations were categorized by numerous modulation points and velocity projections close to the bed, principally for positions straight after the vegetation structures. A distinction in the velocity at the topmost of the smaller vegetation structure was prominent. Reynolds stresses, turbulent kinetic energy, and turbulence intensity exhibited large fluctuations inside the vegetation regions and just behind the vegetation structures compared with in the gap regions. Full article

This study assesses the impact of climate change on hydrological processes under rice intensification in three headwater inland valley watersheds characterized by different land conditions. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool was used to simulate the combined impacts of two land use scenarios defined as converting 25% and 75% of lowland savannah into rice cultivation, and two climate scenarios (A1B and B1) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Emissions Scenarios. The simulations were performed based on the traditional and the rainfed-bunded rice cultivation systems and analyzed up to the year 2049 with a special focus on the period of 2030–2049. Compared to land use, climate change impact on hydrological processes was overwhelming at all watersheds. The watersheds with a high portion of cultivated areas are more sensitive to changes in climate resulting in a decrease of water yield of up to 50% (145 mm). Bunded fields cause a rise in surface runoff projected to be up to 28% (18 mm) in their lowlands, while processes were insignificantly affected at the vegetation dominated-watershed. Analyzing three watersheds instead of one as is usually done provides further insight into the natural variability and therefore gives more evidence of possible future processes and management strategies. Full article

Aquatic environmental deterioration is becoming a serious problem due to rapid urbanization and economic development, particularly in developing countries. As two important components of the aquatic environment, water quality and sediment pollution are widely considered to be concerns; however, they are considered separately in most cases. The relationship between water quality and sediment pollution with heavy metals has been little addressed. In this study, the Haihe River Basin (HRB), one of the most polluted areas in China, was used as a case study, and the eutrophication index (EI) and the potential ecological risk index (RI) were employed to evaluate water quality and sediment pollution of heavy metals, respectively. The results showed that generally in the HRB, the water quality was poor, while the risk of heavy metal pollution was relatively low. Surface water quality was mainly influenced by sewage discharges from human daily life, and heavy metal pollution was affected by industry structure, in that the areas with resource/energy consumption industries and high-pollution industries often have high risks of heavy metal pollution Synergic pollution from water eutrophication and sediment pollution with heavy metals was found, especially in the central areas of the HRB, and it was largely dependent on the type of human activities. In the places with intensive human activities, such as secondary industry, eutrophication occurred simultaneously with heavy metal pollution, other than in less human-affected areas. These findings are useful for planning aquatic environment protections and river ecosystem management. Full article

A novel time-domain Green’s function is developed for dealing with two-dimensional interaction between water waves and floating bodies with considering viscous dissipation effects based on the “fairly perfect fluid” model. In the Green’s function, the temporal (lower order viscosity coefficient term) and spatial (higher order viscosity coefficient term) viscous dissipation effects are fully considered. As compared to the methods based on the existing time-domain Green’s functions that could not account for the spatial viscous dissipation, the method based on the new time-domain Green’s function can give much better numerical results and overcome instability problems related to the existing Green’s function, according to the numerical tests and comparison with CFD modeling data for a few cases related to floating bodies with a flare angle. Full article

This paper assesses the effect of climate change on reliability of rainwater harvesting systems for Kabarole district, Uganda, as predicted by 6 best performing global circulation models (GCMs). A daily water balance model was used to simulate the performance of a rainwater harvesting system using historical daily rainfall data for 20 years. The GCMs used to generate daily rainfall projections for 2025–2055 and 2060–2090 periods included; ACCESS1-0, BCC-CSM-1-M, CNRM-CM5, HADGEM2-CC, HADGEM2-ES and MIROC5. Analysis was based on the Ugandan weather seasons which included March, April, May (MAM) and September, October, November (SON) rain seasons in addition to December, January, February (DJF) and June, July, August (JJA) dry seasons. While an increase in reliability is predicted for the SON season, the worst-case scenario is projected during the MAM season with a reliability reduction of over 40% for the 2055–2090 period. This corresponds to a 27% reduction in water security for the same period. The DJF season is also expected to experience reduced water security by 1–8% for 2025–2055 and 2060–2090 with a 0.5 m³ tank size. Therefore, some form of extra harvesting surface and increased tank size will be required to maintain 80% systems reliability considering climate change. Full article

Lake ice phenology (timing of ice breakup and freeze up) is a sensitive indicator of climate. We acquired time series of lake ice breakup and freeze up, local weather conditions, and large-scale climate oscillations from 1981–2015 for seven lakes in northern Wisconsin, USA, and two lakes in Ontario, Canada. Multiple linear regression models were developed to understand the drivers of lake ice phenology. We used projected air temperature and precipitation from 126 climate change scenarios to forecast the day of year of ice breakup and freeze up in 2050 and 2070. Lake ice melted 5 days earlier and froze 8 days later over the past 35 years. Warmer spring and winter air temperatures contributed to earlier ice breakup; whereas warmer November temperatures delayed lake freeze. Lake ice breakup is projected to be 13 days earlier on average by 2070, but could vary by 3 days later to 43 days earlier depending upon the degree of climatic warming by late century. Similarly, the timing of lake freeze up is projected to be delayed by 11 days on average by 2070, but could be 1 to 28 days later. Shortened seasonality of ice cover by 24 days could increase risk of algal blooms, reduce habitat for coldwater fisheries, and jeopardize survival of northern communities reliant on ice roads. Full article

Identification of the key environmental indicators (KEIs) from a large number of environmental variables is important for environmental management in tidal flat reclamation areas. In this study, a modified principal component analysis approach (MPCA) has been developed for determining the KEIs. The MPCA accounts for the two important attributes of the environmental variables: pollution status and temporal variation, in addition to the commonly considered numerical divergence attribute. It also incorporates the distance correlation (dCor) to replace the Pearson’s correlation to measure the nonlinear interrelationship between the variables. The proposed method was applied to the Tiaozini sand shoal, a large-scale tidal flat reclamation region in China. Five KEIs were identified as dissolved inorganic nitrogen, Cd, petroleum in the water column, Hg, and total organic carbon in the sediment. The identified KEIs were shown to respond well to the biodiversity of phytoplankton. This demonstrated that the identified KEIs adequately represent the environmental condition in the coastal marine system. Therefore, the MPCA is a practicable method for extracting effective indicators that have key roles in the coastal and marine environment. Full article

This study aims at exploring the characteristic parameters of the Estuarine Turbidity Maxima (ETM) and at investigating their tidal variations within the Cam-Nam Trieu estuary (North Vietnam) during the early wet season. Six longitudinal river transects were performed at spring tide. Two types of ETM were observed: an upper well mixed ETM with high Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) concentrations up to the surface at low salinity (0.11 to <1 psu), and a lower ETM confined in a bottom layer over stratified waters at salinities between ~1 psu and 15 psu. Their length depended on the longitudinal salinity gradient and was highest at low tide than at high tide. D₅₀ of the flocs varied between 35 and 90 μm, their excess of density between 60 and 300 kg m⁻³ and their settling velocity ranged from 0.07 to 0.55 mm s⁻¹ with values between 0.12 and 0.40 mm s⁻¹ in the core of ETMs. The average fractal dimension of flocs was estimated to vary between 1.93 (at high tide) to 2.04 (at low tide). Full article

The sustainability of the Hetao Irrigation System, located in the water scarce upper Yellow River basin, is a priority considering the need for water saving, increased water productivity, and higher farmers’ incomes. The upgrading of basin irrigation, the main irrigation method, is essential and includes the adoption of precise land levelling, cut-off management, improved water distribution uniformity, and adequate irrigation scheduling. With this objective, the current study focuses on upgrading wheat basin irrigation through improved design using a decision support system (DSS) model, which considers land parcels characteristics, crop irrigation scheduling, soil infiltration, hydraulic simulation, and environmental and economic impacts. Its use includes outlining water saving scenarios and ranking alternative designs through multi-criteria analysis considering the priorities of stakeholders. The best alternatives concern flat level basins with a 100 and 200 m length and inflow rates between 2 and 4 L s⁻¹ m⁻¹. The total irrigation cost of designed projects, including the cost of the autumn irrigation, varies between 2400 and 3300 Yuan ha⁻¹; the major cost component is land levelling, corresponding to 33–46% of total irrigation costs. The economic land productivity is about 18,000 Yuan ha⁻¹. The DSS modelling defined guidelines to be applied by an extension service aimed at implementing better performing irrigation practices, and encouraged a good interaction between farmers and the Water Users Association, thus making easier the implementation of appropriate irrigation management programs. Full article

Flooding has been reported more often than in the past in most cities of China in recent years. In response, China’s State Council has urged the 36 largest cities to update the preparedness to handle the 50-year rainfall, which would be a massive project with large investments. We propose a staged optimization design for updating urban drainage that is not only a flexible option against environmental changes, but also an effective way to reduce the cost of the project. The staged cost optimization model involving the hydraulic model was developed in Fuzhou City, China. This model was established to minimize the total present costs, including intervention costs and flooding costs, with full consideration of the constraints of specific local conditions. The results show that considerable financial savings could be achieved by a staged design rather than the implement-once scheme. The model’s sensitivities to four data parameters were analyzed, including rainfall increase rate, flood unit cost, storage unit cost, and discount rate. The results confirm the applicability and robustness of the model for updating drainage systems to meet the requirements. The findings of this study may have important implications on urban flood management in the cities of developing countries with limited construction investments. Full article

Drought class transitions over a sector of Eastern Europe were modeled using log-linear models. These drought class transitions were computed from time series of two widely used multiscale drought indices, the Standardized Preipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) and the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), with temporal scales of 6 and 12 months for 15 points selected from a grid over the Prut basin in Romania over a period of 112 years (1902–2014). The modeling also took into account the impact of North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), exploring the potential influence of this large-scale atmospheric driver on the climate of the Prut region. To assess the probability of transition among different drought classes we computed their odds and the corresponding confidence intervals. To evaluate the predictive capabilities of the modeling, skill scores were computed and used for comparison against benchmark models, namely using persistence forecasts or modeling without the influence of the NAO index. The main results indicate that the log-linear modeling performs consistently better than the persistence forecast, and the highest improvements obtained in the skill scores with the introduction of the NAO predictor in the modeling are obtained when modeling the extended winter months of the SPEI6 and SPI12. The improvements are however not impressive, ranging between 4.7 and 6.8 for the SPEI6 and between 4.1 and 10.1 for the SPI12, in terms of the Heidke skill score. Full article

In rapidly urbanizing catchments, increase in stormwater runoff may cause serious erosion and frequent floods if stormwater management systems are improper and dysfunctional. Through GIS-based modelling, field investigations, resident’s questionnaire survey, and interviews with officials, the study set out to assesses the coverage and efficiency of drainage infrastructure in Mbezi River catchment basin in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Between 2003 and 2016, the catchment imperviousness increased by 41%, causing flood incidents, massive erosion, and numerous pollution sources. Residents strive to address stormwater hazards using terraces, hedges, and physical barriers; however, the problems persist, indicating lack of coordination and poor causality understanding between land-use changes and catchment impacts. Small-scale stormwater harvesting was exercised by 75% of the households, pointing to water supply challenges. Municipal stormwater management efforts was limited to roadside drains covering 17% of road lengths in the catchment, and 65% of those did not meet their design standards. Interviews with officials revealed a need for improved co-understanding and collaborative initiatives to bolster integrated water management. The study suggests a need to adopt a new urban stormwater management paradigm, appropriate for both residents and authorities. Without this new discourse, the urbanization led stormwater increase might jeopardize the liveability of the entire catchment. Full article

Polder watercourses within agricultural areas are affected by high chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biological oxygen demand (BOD₅) concentrations, due to intensive farming activities and runoff. Practical cases have shown that constructed wetlands (CWs) are eco-friendly and cost-effective treatment systems which can reduce high levels of organic and nutrient pollution from agricultural discharges. However, accumulated recalcitrant organic matter, originated by in-situ sources or elements of CWs (i.e., plants or microbial detritus), limits the fulfilment of current COD discharge threshold. Thus, to evaluate its relevance regarding rivers ecosystem health preservation, we analysed the response of bio-indicators, the Multimetric Macroinvertebrate Index Flanders (MMIF) and the occurrence of organic pollution sensitive taxa towards organic pollutants. For this purpose, statistical models were developed based on collected data in polder watercourses and CWs located in Flanders (Belgium). Results showed that, given the correlation between COD and BOD₅, both parameters can be used to indicate the ecological and water quality conditions. However, the variability of the MMIF and the occurrence of sensitive species are explained better by BOD₅, which captures a major part of their common effect. Whereas, recalcitrant COD and the interaction among other physico-chemical variables indicate a minor variability on the bio-indicators. Based on these outcomes we suggest a critical re-evaluation of current COD thresholds and moreover, consider other emerging technologies determining organic pollution levels, since this could support the feasibility of the implementation of CWs to tackle agricultural pollution. Full article