Water, Volume 12, Issue 1 (January 2020) – 308 articles

Increasing water scarcity causes a variety of pressures on agricultural production given current and growing food demands. This paper seeks to add to our understanding of water scarcity adaptations by explicitly addressing linkages between water scarcity, water productivity, cropping choices, and farm labor. We challenge the widespread claim that tightening foreign (especially Mexican) labor supply will necessarily result in less labor-intensive crop choices. Instead, by linking water scarcity and farm labor through the lens of water productivity we illustrate scenarios under which climate and technological change result in greater future labor demand in agriculture, including temporary and seasonal workers, largely due to water productivity increases resulting from switching to more labor-intensive crops. We conclude that a focus on crop choices is central to understanding changes in water productivity, labor demand, and technological innovations in response to water scarcity. Full article

Channel changes are receiving growing interest in relation to the relevant implications for river management and restoration. In this kind of analysis, purely qualitative approaches have been gradually replaced by quantitative approaches aimed at reconstructing the temporal variations in parameters (e.g., channel width and depth) to investigate not only the evolutionary trend of the river but also the possible cause-effect connections. This paper investigates the channel dynamics in the Basento River (Basilicata Region, Italy) over the past 150 years, when the river was heavily affected by human activities (e.g., hydraulic interventions and gravel mining) and climate changes. Channel adjustments were analysed with historical maps, aerial photos, and geomorphological surveys. The results show that the channel underwent a strong narrowing during the twentieth century, similar to many rivers in Italy, with the most intense phase from the 1950s to the 1990s (with the width varying from −30% to −80%). The morphology pattern remained almost completely unchanged, apart from a few reaches located in the hilly area that were affected by intense modifications before the 1940s. The causes of channel adjustments were identified as human disturbances (land use variations, channel interventions at the reach scale, sediment mining) from the end of the 1800s to present, as well as natural factors (changes in frequency, duration, and intensity of flood events), whose effects have intensified since the late 1990s. Full article

In recent years, aquaponics has been receiving increased interest globally as a commercial food production technology and aquaponics start-up companies have been formed in most European countries. Between 2014 and 2018, the European-funded COST Action FA1305 “The EU Aquaponics Hub-Realising Sustainable Integrated Fish and Vegetable Production for the EU” created a strong network of researchers and entrepreneurs. However, surveys show that the aquaponic production in Europe is still very limited, and very few companies are economically viable. In order to obtain insights into the barriers to early development of commercial aquaponics, two surveys were carried out—one in Europe, which included France, and one in France alone, with a different protocol. Henceforth, for simplicity, the former will be referred to as Europe and the latter as France. The results reveal that the development of commercial aquaponics has hit the level of “disillusionment”, caused by numerous challenges facing commercial food production. As the understanding of the processes involved in aquaponics is increasing, it will be very interesting to follow the developments in the field over the coming years in order to ascertain whether aquaponics will follow the phases outlined by the “Gartner’s Hype Cycle” and thus proceed to become an established technology, or whether it will remain an “one hit wonder” and disappear in the “Trough of Disillusionment”. Full article

According to a recent report by the World Health Organization (WHO), the countries which still have limited access to water for drinking purposes are mainly those in the Sub-Saharan region. In this context, the current study provides an overview of the quality of surface water and groundwater in rural and peri-urban areas of the Republic of South Africa (RSA) and Mozambique (MZ) in terms of concentrations of conventional pollutants, inorganic chemicals, microorganisms, and micropollutants. Their values were compared with the drinking water standards available for the two countries. Regarding surface water, it was found that microorganisms occur at high concentrations; nickel (RSA) and boron (MZ) are other critical parameters. Regarding groundwater, arsenic and lead (RSA) and boron, sodium, and chloride (MZ) are the main critical substances. With regard to micropollutants, their surface water concentrations are much higher than those in European rivers. The highest values were for ibuprofen, acetylsalicylic acid, clozapine, and estriol. Suitable treatment is necessary to produce safe water depending on the main critical pollutants but, at the same time, action should be taken to improve wastewater treatment in rural areas to improve and safeguard surface water bodies and groundwater which are sources for drinking needs. Full article

Baseflow is a critical component of streamflow in arid areas. Determining variations in baseflow and the factors affecting it have positive roles for water resource utilization in arid watersheds. Two watersheds, the Hailiutu River watershed (HLTR) and the Dali River watershed (DLR), located in two different geomorphological regions of the middle Yellow River, were selected for this study. By using the Eckhardt segment method (fourth digital filtering method, DF4), baseflow was separated from streamflow based on its daily data. Mann-Kendall trend test analysis (M-K trend test) was used to test the trends in baseflow change at different times. Complex Morlet wavelet analysis was used to judge baseflow periodicity. Heuristic segmentation and sequential cluster analysis were used to identify the potential change points in the baseflow series for the two regions together with Pearson correlation coefficient. The results showed: (1) the annual baseflow of the HLTR and the DLR showed significantly decreasing trends (P < 0.01), more significantly for the HLTR (0.33 × 10⁸ m³) than the DLR (0.20 × 10⁸ m³). The annual base flow index (BFI, baseflow/total streamflow) in the wind-sand region (0.75) was larger than for the loess region (0.55), and the BFI in the wind-sand region was more stable in different periods. (2) The annual baseflow of the HLTR and the DLR both exhibited a complete main cycle of 42 years and 38 years, respectively. The change points of the annual baseflow in the HLTR were 1967 and 1986, and 1971 and 1996 in the DLR. (3) There was no significant change in annual precipitation in the two watersheds, while annual reference evapotranspiration (ET₀) in the DLR showed a significant increasing trend (P < 0.01). The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) on the DLR (0.40) was higher than on the HLTR (0.26). (4) Baseflow in the wind-sand region, where vegetation improvement was the only ecological activity, decreased faster than in the loess region where there had been numerous ecological measures such as vegetation improvement, check dams and terraces. This implied that comprehensive measures such as these were helpful in slowing the rate at which the baseflow decreases. Therefore, the effect of ecological construction should be considered in future baseflow studies in other geomorphological types within the Middle Yellow River Basin. Full article

Climate change and human activities have profound effects on the characteristics of groundwater in arid oases. Analyzing the change of groundwater level and quantifying the contributions of influencing factors are essential for mastering the groundwater dynamic variation and providing scientific guidance for the rational utilization and management of groundwater resources. In this study, the characteristics and causes of groundwater level in an arid oasis of Northwest China were explored using the Mann–Kendall trend test, Morlet wavelet analysis, and principal component analysis. Results showed that the groundwater level every year exhibited tremendous regular characteristics with the seasonal exploitation. Meanwhile, the inter-annual groundwater level dropped continuously from 1982 to 2018, with a cumulative decline depth that exceeded 12 m, thereby causing the cone of depression. In addition, the monthly groundwater level had an evident cyclical variation on the two time scales of 17–35 and 7–15 months, and the main periodicity of monthly level was 12 months. Analysis results of the climatic factors from 1954 to 2018 observed a significant warming trend in temperature, an indistinctive increase in rainfall, an inconspicuous decrease in evaporation, and an insignificant reduction in relative humidity. The human factors such as exploitation amount, irrigated area, and population quantity rose substantially since the development of the oasis in the 1970s. In accordance with the quantitative calculation, human activities were decisive factors on groundwater level reduction, accounting for 87.79%. However, climate change, including rainfall and evaporation, which contributed to 12.21%, still had the driving force to change the groundwater level in the study area. The groundwater level of Yaoba Oasis has been greatly diminished and the ecological environment has deteriorated further due to the combined effect of climate change and human activities. Full article

Several impacts over ecosystem services have been produced by land use/cover changes, placing it as one of the main factors driving global environmental change. In the present study, the SWAT model was used to assess the effect of land use/cover changes on the hydrology response in the Andalien river basin from the south-central zone of Chile. Three land use/cover scenarios (LU_1986, LU_2001, and LU_2011) were compared over a period of 30 years (1984–2013) to remove the effect of climate variability on hydrology. The results show a significant decrease in total annual flows among the three LU scenarios. The greater differences in the annual flows of 25.05 m³/s were observed between LU_1986 and LU_2011 scenarios. The hydrological cycle dynamics in the basin show an increasing trend of evapotranspiration and surface flows with a significant decrease in percolation and lateral flow on a monthly and seasonal scale. This behavior can be explained by the increasing percentage of the basin area covered by exotic plantations, from 35.22% to 63.93% during the period. The evidence of these changes and the evaluation of their effects are particularly relevant for the long-term sustainable management of water resources. Full article

Abutment scour is a complex three-dimensional phenomenon, which is one of the leading causes of marine structure damage. Structural integrity is potentially attainable through the precise estimation of local scour depth. Due to the high complexity of scouring hydrodynamics, existing regression-based relations cannot make accurate predictions. Therefore, this study presented a novel expansion of extreme learning machines (ELM) to predict abutment scour depth (d_s) in clear water conditions. The model was built using the relative flow depth (h/L), excess abutment Froude number (F_e), abutment shape factor (K_s), and relative sediment size (d₅₀/L). A wide range of experimental samples was collected from the literature, and data was utilized to develop the ELM model. The ELM model reliability was evaluated based on the estimation results and several statistical indices. According to the results, the sigmoid activation function (correlation coefficient, R = 0.97; root mean square error, RMSE = 0.162; mean absolute percentage error, MAPE = 7.69; and scatter index, SI = 0.088) performed the best compared with the hard limit, triangular bias, radial basis, and sine activation functions. Eleven input combinations were considered to investigate the impact of each dimensionless variable on the abutment scour depth. It was found that d_s/L = f (F_e, h/L, d₅₀/L, K_s) was the best ELM model, indicating that the dimensional analysis of the original data properly reflected the underlying physics of the problem. Also, the absence of one variable from this input combination resulted in a significant accuracy reduction. The results also demonstrated that the proposed ELM model significantly outperformed the regression-based equations derived from the literature. The ELM model presented a fundamental equation for abutment scours depth prediction. Based on the simulation results, it appeared the ELM model could be used effectively in practical engineering applications of predicting abutment scour depth. The estimated uncertainty of the developed ELM model was calculated and compared with the conventional and artificial intelligence-based models. The lowest uncertainty with a value of ±0.026 was found in the proposed model in comparison with ±0.50 as the best uncertainty of the other models. Full article

There is a general agreement on the impact of beaver dams regarding the increasing diversity of habitats and the improvement of the water quality, whereas the retention effect during flood events is still being discussed. In this study, we modeled 12 beaver dam cascade scenarios in two catchments for eight flood events with a two-dimensional (2D) hydrodynamic model. The implementation of the potential cascades in the model is based on the developed three-stage model for predicting location-dependent dam cascades in Bavaria. A Bavaria-wide questionnaire regarding dam occurrences and characteristics in combination with a detailed survey of 51 dams was used to set up a prediction scheme. It was observed that beaver dams are most likely built in rivers with riparian forest, with widths from 2 to 11 m and depths smaller than 1 m. The hydraulic model results showed larger inundation areas (>+300%) for the beaver dam scenarios. There is a noticeable peak attenuation and translation for elevated peak discharges (five times the annual mean discharge: up to ≤13.1% and 2.75 h), but no remarkable effect could be observed for flood events with return periods of more than 2 years. We conclude from the results that beaver dam cascades can have an impact on runoff characteristics, but do not lead to relevant peak reductions during flood events and therefore cannot be counted as flood mitigation measure. Full article

Mediterranean-climate catchments are characterized by significant spatial and temporal hydrological variability caused by the interaction of natural as well human-induced abiotic and biotic factors. This study investigates the non-linearity of rainfall-runoff relationship at multiple temporal scales in representative small Mediterranean-climate catchments (i.e., <10 km²) to achieve a better understanding of their hydrological response. The rainfall-runoff relationship was evaluated in 43 catchments at annual and event—203 events in 12 of these 43 catchments—scales. A linear rainfall-runoff relationship was observed at an annual scale, with a higher scatter in pervious (R²: 0.47) than impervious catchments (R²: 0.82). Larger scattering was observed at the event scale, although pervious lithology and agricultural land use promoted significant rainfall-runoff linear relations in winter and spring. These relationships were particularly analysed during five hydrological years in the Es Fangar catchment (3.35 km²; Mallorca, Spain) as a temporal downscaling to assess the intra-annual variability, elucidating whether antecedent wetness conditions played a significant role in runoff generation. The assessment of rainfall-runoff relationships under contrasted lithology, land use and seasonality is a useful approach to improve the hydrological modelling of global change scenarios in small catchments where the linearity and non-linearity of the hydrological response—at multiple temporal scales—can inherently co-exist in Mediterranean-climate catchments. Full article

Milk whey processing wastewaters (MWPWs) are characterized by high COD and organic nitrogen content; the concentrations of phosphorus are also relevant. A microalgal-based process was tested at lab scale in order to assess the feasibility of treating MWPW without any dilution or pre-treatment. Different microalgal strains and populations were tested. Based on the obtained results, Scenedesmus acuminatus (SA) and a mixed population (PM) chiefly made of Chlorella, Scenedesmus, and Chlamydomonas spp. were grown in duplicate for 70 days in Plexiglas column photobioreactors (PBRs), fed continuously (2.5 L culture volume, 7 days hydraulic retention time). Nutrient removal, microalgae growth, photosynthetic efficiency, and the composition of microalgal populations in the columns were monitored. At steady state, the microalgal growth was similar for SA and PM. The average removal efficiencies for the main pollutants were: 93% (SA), 94% (PM) for COD; 88% (SA) and 90% (PM) for total N; and 69% (SA) and 73% (PM) for total P. The residual pollution levels in the effluent from the PBRs were low enough to allow their discharge into surface waters; such good results were achieved thanks to the synergy between the microalgae and bacteria in the CO₂ and oxygen production/consumption and in the nitrogen mineralization. Full article

The interactions of groundwater with surface waters such as streams, lakes, wetlands, or oceans are relevant for a wide range of reasons—for example, drinking water resources may rely on hydrologic fluxes between groundwater and surface water. However, nutrients and pollutants can also be transported across the interface and experience transformation, enrichment, or retention along the flow paths and cause impacts on the interconnected receptor systems. To maintain drinking water resources and ecosystem health, a mechanistic understanding of the underlying processes controlling the spatial patterns and temporal dynamics of groundwater–surface water interactions is crucial. This Special Issue provides an overview of current research advances and innovative approaches in the broad field of groundwater–surface water interactions. The 20 research articles and 1 communication of this Special Issue cover a wide range of thematic scopes, scales, and experimental and modelling methods across different disciplines (hydrology, aquatic ecology, biogeochemistry, environmental pollution) collaborating in research on groundwater–surface water interactions. The collection of research papers in this Special Issue also allows the identification of current knowledge gaps and reveals the challenges in establishing standardized measurement, observation, and assessment approaches. With regards to its relevance for environmental and water management and protection, the impact of groundwater–surface water interactions is still not fully understood and is often underestimated, which is not only due to a lack of awareness but also a lack of knowledge and experience regarding appropriate measurement and analysis approaches. This lack of knowledge exchange from research into management practice suggests that more efforts are needed to disseminate scientific results and methods to practitioners and policy makers. Full article

In this paper, we quantify the water balance of Jessour at the scale of agricultural plots. Jessour (plural of Jesr) are ancestral hydro-agricultural systems in the Dahar plateau (southeastern Tunisia). They consist of small dams built across wadis and gullies, which retain rainwater and sediments, hence enabling cropping. Despite arid climate conditions, Jessour allow the culture of the olive tree beyond its ecological limits. Weather monitoring stations were set up and soil moisture sensors installed down to a depth of 1.25 m in the soil in two neighboring gullies in the village of Zammour: one with a Jesr and one without. Laser granulometry and organic matter analyses were carried out on samples collected near the soil moisture sensors. Measurements were recorded from 28 September 2017 to 21 September 2018. From 10 to 12 November 2017, the region received 123.3 mm rainfall. The Jesr retained the equivalent of 410.3 mm of soil moisture to a depth of 1.25 m whereas the value in the gully was 224.6 mm. Throughout the summer of 2018, the soil available water capacity (AWC) remained above 55 mm in the Jesr, while it dropped to zero in the gully. Jessour are thus very suitable hydro-agricultural systems to face the climate changes concerning this fragile region, located in the transition zone between the semi-arid to arid Mediterranean region and the Sahara. Full article

Digital or intelligent water meters are being rolled out globally as a crucial component in improving urban water management. This is because of their ability to frequently send water consumption information electronically and later utilise the information to generate insights or provide feedback to consumers. Recent advances in machine learning (ML) and data analytic (DA) technologies have provided the opportunity to more effectively utilise the vast amount of data generated by these meters. Several studies have been conducted to promote water conservation by analysing the data generated by digital meters and providing feedback to consumers and water utilities. The purpose of this review was to inform scholars and practitioners about the contributions and limitations of ML and DA techniques by critically analysing the relevant literature. We categorised studies into five main themes: (1) water demand forecasting; (2) socioeconomic analysis; (3) behaviour analysis; (4) water event categorisation; and (5) water-use feedback. The review identified significant research gaps in terms of the adoption of advanced ML and DA techniques, which could potentially lead to water savings and more efficient demand management. We concluded that further investigations are required into highly personalised feedback systems, such as recommender systems, to promote water-conscious behaviour. In addition, advanced data management solutions, effective user profiles, and the clustering of consumers based on their profiles require more attention to promote water-conscious behaviours. Full article

This study evaluates the hydrologic response of restoration of a montane meadow by removal of encroached Pinus contorta and thinning of the adjacent forest. It is now a follow-up with four years of post-restoration data, on a previous analysis of a hydrologic response of the same meadow one year following restoration. A hydrologic change was evaluated through a statistical comparison of soil moisture and depth to groundwater between the restored Marian Meadow and a Control Meadow. Meadow water budgets and durations of water table depths during the growing season were evaluated. The four years following restoration of Marian Meadow had an increase in volumetric soil moisture during the wet season, but decreased soil moisture during the dry season. An average decrease in depth to groundwater of 0.15 m was found, which is consistent with the first-year post-restoration. The water budget confirms the first-year results that the hydrologic change following removal of encroached conifers was primarily due to a reduction of vegetation interception capture. There was no measurable difference in depth to groundwater or soil moisture following the upslope forest thinning likely due to the low level of forest removal with 2.8 m²/hectare reduction of the forest basal area. The cost of restoration to water gained was $0.69 USD/1000 L ($2.62 USD/1000 gal.). Full article

The broadcast fertilization method is widely used under basin irrigation in China. A reasonable broadcast fertilization method can effectively improve application performance of fertilization and reduce pollution from non-point agricultural sources. In this study, firstly, a non-uniform broadcast fertilization method and a non-uniform application coefficient were proposed. The value of non-uniform application coefficient is defined in this paper. It represents the ratio of the difference between the maximum and the average fertilization amount of fertilizer applied on the basin surface to the average fertilization amount of fertilizer applied on the basin surface. Secondly, field experiments were conducted to study the movement characteristics of fertilizer under non-uniform broadcast fertilization for basin irrigation. Field experiment results showed that under the condition of basin irrigation, the non-uniform broadcast fertilization method could weaken the non-uniform distribution of fertilizer due to erosion and transport capacity of solid fertilizer by irrigation water flow, which could significantly improve the uniformity of soil solute content. Thirdly, the solute transport model for broadcast fertilization was corroborated by the field experiment results. The variation rule of fertilization performance with non-uniform application coefficient under different basin length and inflow rate was achieved by simulation. The simulation results showed that fertilization uniformity and fertilization storage efficiency increased first and then decreased with the increase of non-uniform application coefficient. In order to be practically applicable, suitable irrigation programs of non-uniform application coefficient under different basin length and inflow rate conditions were proposed by numerical simulation. Full article

Analysis of wastewater treatment plant reliability is a difficult process, therefore it is often limited to selected aspects, e.g., mechanical reliability of equipment or technological availability of the process. The research presents a method of combining the above mentioned aspects in order to determine the complex operational availability index (CAVO). A hypothetical technological system with activated sludge (AS) in a typical layout (denitrification-nitrification) was selected for the studies. A number of operational scenarios have been developed, taking into account the possible mechanical failures of system components. Computer simulations with the use of Activated Sludge Model No.1 (ASM1), performed for selected scenarios allowed the determination of a complex operational availability of the system. Obtained results confirm high reliability of AS system in terms of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total suspended solids (TSS) removal (CAVO > 0.96) and indicate the necessity of further research in order to determine representative value of reliability of total nitrogen removal (from the study, CAVO-N_tot < 0.4) and to evaluate other technological solutions in terms of their complex reliability. Full article

Located southwest of the city of Santiago (Chile), the Aculeo Lagoon used to be an important body of water, providing environmental, social, and economic services to both locals (mostly drinking water and small-scale agricultural irrigation) and tourists who visited the area for fishing, sailing, and other recreational activities. The lagoon dried completely in May of 2018. The phenomenon has been attributed to the current climatic drought. We implemented and calibrated a surface-groundwater model to evaluate the hydrogeologic causes of the lagoon’s disappearance, and to develop feasible solutions. The lagoon’s recovery requires a series of urgent actions, including environmental education and significant investment in infrastructure to import water. Ultimately, there are two goals: bringing back historic water levels and ensuring the sustainability of water resources at the catchment scale. Full article

To study the effects of water stress on the fluorescence parameters and photosynthetic characteristics of rice under drip irrigation and mulching, so as to determine the response mechanisms to water stress during the tillering stage. A two-year trial was carried out at Shihezi University, China. Three water gradients were investigated. The results showed that the chlorophyll content (a + b), photosynthetic rate (P_n), and leaf area index (LAI) decreased with decreasing soil moisture content at the tillering stage. The chlorophyll content (a + b) and P_n in the flooding irrigation (CK) treatment were significantly higher than those in the stress treatments, and the chlorophyll content (a + b) and P_n in the W1 and W2 treatments were significantly lower than those in the other treatments. The maximum LAI of the CK, W1, and W2 treatments were similar, while the W3 produced lower values; stress treatment improved the ability of tillering in the early and middle stages, while the decrease in soil water content in the tillering stage resulted in a decrease in the final tillering rate; drought stress in the tillering stage resulted in decreased rice yields. The yield of the W1 and W2 treatments were similar, while that of the W3 treatment was seriously reduced. The main reasons for the reduction in yield was the significant decrease in the number of effective panicles, the seed setting rate, and a decrease in the 1000-grains weight. Water consumption in the stress treatments decreased by 51.69%–58.78% compared to the CK treatment; water-use efficiency in the CK treatment was only 0.25 kg·m⁻³, and the water-use efficiency of the stress treatments increased by 40%–72%. We should make full use of the compensation effect of drought stress in the water regulation of drip irrigation in covered rice and adopt the water control measure of the W2 treatment in the tillering stage. These measures are conducive to improving water-use efficiency and achieving the goal of high quality, high yield, and high efficiency. Full article

A risk management methodology is presented for the adaptation of water supply to changing climate and land-use activities, considering socio-economic aspects. Several management options were selected for the case of the public water supply of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. The major management actions for improving drinking water safety are (1) land-use limitations within the drinking water protection areas and (2) drinking water treatment. Trends in groundwater level are decreasing, above all in the area of well fields; therefore, artificial recharge and setting up a new independent well field were also considered. The management actions were evaluated according to several criteria, such as water supply risk reduction for the various users (drinking, agricultural, and industrial) and realization of the actions (cost, flexibility, and leg time). For management options, the ranking “Fuzzy Decimaker” tool was applied, which is based on a Multiple Criterion Decision Making (MCDM) technique. Ranking of management actions has shown that all management actions are good as they are clustering in the corner close to the ideal value. For a particular well field, farming limitations in the drinking water protection areas are the best and water treatment is the worst management action, which is due to high costs, low flexibility, and longer lag time. Full article

The objective of this study was to develop a complete analytical solution to determining the effect of any varying rainfall recharge rates on groundwater flow in an unconfined sloping aquifer. The domain of the unconfined aquifer was assumed to be semi-infinite with an impervious bottom base, and the initial water level was parallel to the impervious bottom of a mild slope. In the past, similar problems have been discussed mostly by considering a uniform or temporally varying recharge rate, but the current study explored the variation of groundwater flow under temporally and spatially distributed recharge rates. The presented analytical solution was verified by comparing its results with those of previous research, and the practicability of the analytical solution was validated using the 2012 and 2013 data of a groundwater station in Dali District of Taichung City, Taiwan. Full article

The Richards’-equation is widely used for modeling complex soil water dynamics in the vadose zone. Usually, the Richards’-equation is simulated with the Finite Element Method, the Finite Difference Method, or the Finite Volume Method. In all three cases, huge systems of equations are to be solved, which is computationally expensive. By employing the free software library AMGCL, a reduction of the computational running time of up to 79% was achieved without losing accuracy. Seven models with different soils and geometries were tested, and the analysis of these tests showed, that AMGCL causes a speedup in all models with 20,000 or more nodes. However, the numerical overhead of AMGCL causes a slowdown in all models with 20,000 or fewer nodes. Full article

Eutrophication caused by the entry of nutrients into a water body may lead to algal bloom. Russia possesses the world’s second highest supply of renewable freshwater resources and has faced the problem of eutrophication for many years. Nevertheless, as far as we know, no general analysis of Russia’s algal bloom situation has been before carried out. We have analyzed mass media and scientific reports about algal outbreaks from 2016 to 2018, which allowed us to determine the geographical distribution of algal blooms in Russia, as well as the major effects of eutrophication. As a result, we showed that algal blooms happened in all major climate zones and all federal districts. Cyanobacteria are the most frequently reported photosynthetic organisms comprising algal blooms in freshwater reservoirs located in the continental part of Russia and in the Baltic Sea. Dinoflagellate dominated blooms are more characteristic for the coastal parts of the northeastern Pacific Ocean. The largest number of reports comes from the south of the European part of Russia. However, we did not find significant correlations between state statistics data on factors possibly affecting eutrophication (e.g., population, arable land area, fertilizers, livestock, air temperature, etc.) and the number of algal outbreaks in the regions. Mass media analysis showed that algal blooms attract considerable public attention in Russia, which requires the scientific community to actively participate in solving the problem. Full article

Lake water quality monitoring has the potential to be improved through integrating detailed spatial information from new generation remote sensing satellites with high frequency observations from in situ optical sensors (WISPstation). We applied this approach for Lake Trasimeno with the aim of increasing knowledge of phytoplankton dynamics at different temporal and spatial scales. High frequency chlorophyll-a data from the WISPstation was modeled using non-parametric multiplicative regression. The ‘day of year’ was the most important factor, reflecting the seasonal progression of a phytoplankton bloom from July to September. In addition, weather factors such as the east–west wind component were also significant in predicting phytoplankton seasonal and diurnal patterns. Sentinel 3-OLCI and Sentinel 2-MSI satellites delivered 42 images in 2018 that successfully mapped the spatial and seasonal change in chlorophyll-a. The potential influence of localized inflows in contributing to increased chlorophyll-a in mid-summer was visualized. The satellite data also allowed an estimation of quality status at a much finer scale than traditional manual methods. Good correspondence was found with manually collected field data but more significantly, the greatly increased spatial and temporal resolution provided by satellite and WISPstation sensors clearly offers an unprecedented resource in the research and management of aquatic resources. Full article

River water temperature (TW) is a key environmental factor that determines the quality of the fluvial environment and its suitability for aquatic organisms. Atmospheric warming, accompanied by more frequent extreme weather phenomena, especially heat waves and prolonged drought, may pose a serious threat to the river environment and native river ecosystems. Therefore, reliable and up-to-date information on current and anticipated changes in river flow and thermal conditions is necessary for adaptive water resource management and planning. This study focuses on semi-natural mountain river systems to reliably assess the magnitude of water temperature change in the Polish Carpathians in response to climatic warming. The Mann–Kendall test was used to detect trends in water temperature series covering the last 35 years (1984–2018). Significant, rising trends in annual water temperature were found for all studied sites, with differences in intensity (0.33–0.92 °C per decade). Trends in TW were strongest in summer and autumn (0.75–1.17 and 0.51–1.08 °C per decade), strong trends were found in spring (0.82–0.95 °C per decade), and weaker in winter (0.25–0.29 °C per decade). Simultaneous air temperature trends were broadly consistent with water temperature trends. This indicates the urgent need for adaptive management strategies to counteract thermal degradation of the fluvial environment under study. Full article

Urban drainage modelling is a state-of-the-art tool to understand urban water cycles. Nevertheless, there are gaps in knowledge of urban water modelling. In particular pressure drainage systems are hardly considered in the scientific investigation of urban drainage systems, although they represent an important link in its network structure. This work is the conclusion of a series of investigations that have dealt intensively with pressure drainage systems. In particular, this involves the transport of sediments in pressure pipes. In a real-world case study, sediment transport inside a pressure pipe in an urban region in northern Germany was monitored by online total suspended solids measurements. This in situ data is used in this study for the development and calibration of a sediment transport model. The model is applied to investigate sediments transport under low flow velocities (due to energy saving intentions). The resulting simulation over 30 days pumping operation shows that a transport of sediments even at very low flow velocities of 0.27 m/s and under various inflow conditions (dry weather and storm water inflow) is feasible. Hence, with the help of the presented sediment transport model, energy-efficient pump controls can be developed without increasing the risk of deposition formation. Full article

Urbanization is often accompanied by aquatic metal(loid) pollution, which is regulated by dissolved organic matter (DOM). However, the relationships between dissolved metal(loid) concentration and the bulk, chromophoric, and fluorescent DOM in black and odorous urban rivers are still poorly understood. Here, we investigated the dissolved metal(loid) concentrations of Zn, Cu, Cr, As, Pb, and Cd and their correlations with DOM-related parameters in water samples from a polluted urbanized watershed in Shenzhen, China. The results showed that the Zn and Cu concentrations in the mainstream and tributary exceeded the national standards, and the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) was an important source, as indicated by the abrupt concentration increases downstream of the WWTP. The dissolved metal(loid) concentrations were not always significantly correlated with the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration or the ultraviolet absorbance at 254 nm (UV₂₅₄); however, they were more likely to be correlated with the maximum fluorescence intensity (Fmax) of protein-like fluorescent DOM components. A strong correlation between the Cu/DOC ratio and specific UV₂₅₄ (SUVA₂₅₄) previously reported did not exist in the present study. Instead, the Cu/DOC ratio was positively correlated with the Fmax/DOC ratios for protein-like fluorescent DOM components. Our study highlights that protein-like fluorescent DOM may be more important than humic-like fluorescence DOM and chromophoric DOM in terms of interacting with dissolved metal(loid)s in black and odorous urban rivers. Full article

Horizontal bar racks used as fish protection measures at hydropower plants have rapidly gained importance in recent years. Despite the large number of installed racks in Europe, systematic investigations of the hydraulic losses and velocity fields were missing. To fill these research gaps, the hydraulic performance of horizontal bar racks was systematically investigated in a laboratory flume for a large number of rack parameters and different hydropower plant layouts. The results of the head loss assessment are published in a paper entitled Head Losses of Horizontal Bar Racks as Fish Guidance Structures, whereas the present paper focuses on the velocity fields. The measurements show that the bar shape, the horizontal approach flow angle, and the clear bar spacing have only a minor effect on the velocity fields. In contrast, bottom and top overlays might enhance the fish guidance efficiency for bottom and surface oriented fish, while the asymmetric downstream velocity field can reduce turbine efficiencies. The hydropower plant layout strongly affects the approach flow field to horizontal bar racks. For block-type hydropower plants, the installation of a dividing pier or partial opening of the spillways improves the flow field for better fish guidance. Full article

This work performed a three-dimensional numerical study to describe the hydrodynamics of upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor treating domestic wastewater. The simulations were made in the commercial software Ansys CFX^®. Different inclinations of the gas deflector were considered, to assess its influence on the velocity field inside the reactor. In order to validate the numerical study, we used experimental data regarding the inflow, the inlet and outlet concentrations of the organic matter, the concentration of solids at the liquid-gas interface and at the reactor outlet, and the pressure field inside it. The comparison between the numerical and experimental results demonstrated small differences. The mathematical model used to describe the hydrodynamics flow in the UASB reactor was quite satisfactory since it adequately has reproduced the physical behavior inside the reactor. Full article