Leaf area index drives soil water availability and extreme drought-related mortality under elevated CO2 in a temperate grassland model system.

Science.gov (United States)

Manea, Anthony; Leishman, Michelle R

2014-01-01

The magnitude and frequency of climatic extremes, such as drought, are predicted to increase under future climate change conditions. However, little is known about how other factors such as CO2 concentration will modify plant community responses to these extreme climatic events, even though such modifications are highly likely. We asked whether the response of grasslands to repeat extreme drought events is modified by elevated CO2, and if so, what are the underlying mechanisms? We grew grassland mesocosms consisting of 10 co-occurring grass species common to the Cumberland Plain Woodland of western Sydney under ambient and elevated CO2 and subjected them to repeated extreme drought treatments. The 10 species included a mix of C3, C4, native and exotic species. We hypothesized that a reduction in the stomatal conductance of the grasses under elevated CO2 would be offset by increases in the leaf area index thus the retention of soil water and the consequent vulnerability of the grasses to extreme drought would not differ between the CO2 treatments. Our results did not support this hypothesis: soil water content was significantly lower in the mesocosms grown under elevated CO2 and extreme drought-related mortality of the grasses was greater. The C4 and native grasses had significantly higher leaf area index under elevated CO2 levels. This offset the reduction in the stomatal conductance of the exotic grasses as well as increased rainfall interception, resulting in reduced soil water content in the elevated CO2 mesocosms. Our results suggest that projected increases in net primary productivity globally of grasslands in a high CO2 world may be limited by reduced soil water availability in the future.

Design and Application of Drought Indexes in Highly Regulated Mediterranean Water Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Castelletti, A.; Zaniolo, M.; Giuliani, M.

2017-12-01

Costs of drought are progressively increasing due to the undergoing alteration of hydro-meteorological regimes induced by climate change. Although drought management is largely studied in the literature, most of the traditional drought indexes fail in detecting critical events in highly regulated systems, which generally rely on ad-hoc formulations and cannot be generalized to different context. In this study, we contribute a novel framework for the design of a basin-customized drought index. This index represents a surrogate of the state of the basin and is computed by combining the available information about the water available in the system to reproduce a representative target variable for the drought condition of the basin (e.g., water deficit). To select the relevant variables and combinatione thereof, we use an advanced feature extraction algorithm called Wrapper for Quasi Equally Informative Subset Selection (W-QEISS). W-QEISS relies on a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm to find Pareto-efficient subsets of variables by maximizing the wrapper accuracy, minimizing the number of selected variables, and optimizing relevance and redundancy of the subset. The accuracy objective is evaluated trough the calibration of an extreme learning machine of the water deficit for each candidate subset of variables, with the index selected from the resulting solutions identifying a suitable compromise between accuracy, cardinality, relevance, and redundancy. The approach is tested on Lake Como, Italy, a regulated lake mainly operated for irrigation supply. In the absence of an institutional drought monitoring system, we constructed the combined index using all the hydrological variables from the existing monitoring system as well as common drought indicators at multiple time aggregations. The soil moisture deficit in the root zone computed by a distributed-parameter water balance model of the agricultural districts is used as target variable. Numerical results show that

Assessment of Groundwater Quality of Ilorin Metropolis using Water Quality Index Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. A. Olatunji

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Groundwater as a source of potable water is becoming more important in Nigeria. Therefore, the need to ascertain the continuing potability of the sources cannot be over emphasised. This study is aimed at assessing the quality of selected groundwater samples from Ilorin metropolis, Nigeria, using the water quality index (WQI method. Twenty two water samples were collected, 10 samples from boreholes and 12 samples from hand dug wells. All these were analysed for their physico – chemical properties. The parameters used for calculating the water quality index include the following: pH, total hardness, total dissolved solid, calcium, fluoride, iron, potassium, sulphate, nitrate and carbonate. The water quality index for the twenty two samples ranged from 0.66 to 756.02 with an average of 80.77. Two of the samples exceeded 100, which is the upper limit for safe drinking water. The high values of WQI from the sampling locations are observed to be due to higher values of iron and fluoride. This study reveals that the investigated groundwaters are mostly potable and can be consumed without treatment. Nonetheless, the sources identified to be unsafe should be treated before consumption.

Water quality assessment of the Borska Reka river using the WPI (Water Pollution Index method

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Milijašević Dragana

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The Borska Reka river (47 km long, 373 km2 of basin area is located in eastern Serbia and it is the biggest tributary of the river Veliki Timok. It is also one of the most polluted watercourses in Serbia. Using the data of the Republic Hydrometeorological Service of Serbia, the paper analyzes water pollution using the combined physical-chemical WPI index (water pollution index over two periods: 1993-1996 and 2006-2009. The analysis of parameters showed significantly increased values of heavy metals (especially iron and manganese which are indicators of inorganic pollution (primarily because of mining, but also increased values of organic pollution indicators (Biological Oxygen Demand-BOD5, ammonium, coliform germs, as the result of uncontrolled domestic wastewater discharge.

A novel water poverty index model for evaluation of Chinese regional water security

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, L.; Jin, C. L.; Li, Y. X.; Zhou, Z. L.

2017-08-01

This study proposed an improved Water Poverty Index (WPI) model employed in evaluating Chinese regional water security. Firstly, the Chinese WPI index system was constructed, in which the indicators were obtained according to China River reality. A new mathematical model was then established for WPI values calculation on the basis of Center for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) model. Furthermore, this new model was applied in Shiyanghe River (located in western China). It turned out that the Chinese index system could clearly reflect the indicators threatening security of river water and the Chinese WPI model is feasible. This work has also developed a Water Security Degree (WSD) standard which is able to be regarded as a scientific basis for further water resources utilization and water security warning mechanism formulation.

WATER QUALITY INDEX AS AN TOOL FOR RIVER ASSESSMENT IN AGRICULTURAL AREAS IN THE PAMPEAN PLAINS OF ARGENTINA

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Carlos Moscuzza

2007-01-01

Full Text Available The contributions of nutrients and xenobiotics by anthropogenic activities developed in riverside deteriorate water quality. In this context, the impact of different agroindustry effluents on the water quality of Salado River in Buenos Aires Province (Argentina was analyzed applying water quality indexes (WQI. Water quality index is an efficient a simple monitoring tool to instrument corrective and remediation policies. Winter and summer samplings were performed. A minimal water quality index (WQImin was calculated using only two parameters which can be easy determined in situ. The use of WQImin may be a useful methodology for river management. Meat industry appears as the most pollutant source. Since it is considered as point pollution source, effluents should be treated previous to its disposal with the available technologies.

ASSESSMENT OF WATER QUALITY INDEX FOR GROUNDWATER ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2013-12-31

Dec 31, 2013 ... The advantages of an index include its ability to represent measurements of a ... Fair. Water quality is usually protected but occasionally threatened or ... Electrical Conductivity (EC) value is an index to represent the total.

Automated Water Extraction Index

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Feyisa, Gudina Legese; Meilby, Henrik; Fensholt, Rasmus

2014-01-01

Classifying surface cover types and analyzing changes are among the most common applications of remote sensing. One of the most basic classification tasks is to distinguish water bodies from dry land surfaces. Landsat imagery is among the most widely used sources of data in remote sensing of water...... resources; and although several techniques of surface water extraction using Landsat data are described in the literature, their application is constrained by low accuracy in various situations. Besides, with the use of techniques such as single band thresholding and two-band indices, identifying...... an appropriate threshold yielding the highest possible accuracy is a challenging and time consuming task, as threshold values vary with location and time of image acquisition. The purpose of this study was therefore to devise an index that consistently improves water extraction accuracy in the presence...

Determination of water quality index and portability of Iguedo stream ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Determination of water quality index and portability of Iguedo stream in Edo ... has been found functional in assessing the water quality of this stream based on the ... Key words: Water quality index, physicochemical parameters, Iguedo Stream.

Comparison of index systems for rating water quality in intermittent rivers.

Science.gov (United States)

Perrin, Jean-Louis; Salles, Christian; Bancon-Montigny, Chrystelle; Raïs, Naoual; Chahinian, Nanée; Dowse, Lauryan; Rodier, Claire; Tournoud, Marie-George

2018-01-08

Water quality indexes (WQI) are a practical way to evaluate and compare the level of chemical contamination of different water bodies and to spatially and temporally compare levels of pollution. The purpose of this study was to check if these indexes are appropriate for intermittent rivers under arid and semi-arid climates. A literature review enabled the comparison of 25 water quality indexes to discern their capability to evaluate spatial (inter and intra catchment) and temporal (high and low water flow conditions) variations in water quality in three Mediterranean intermittent rivers: the River Vène (France) and the Oued Fez and the River Sebou (Morocco). Hierarchical cluster analysis identified groups of WQI with similar behavior and brought to light the 6 most distinguishing indexes. Whatever the hydrological conditions at the two sites, both the ME-MCATUHE and NCS indexes, which were developed for Morocco and Greece, and the CCMEWQI and BCWQI indexes, which were developed for non-arid or semi-arid zones, gave appropriate water quality evaluations.

Selection of an evaluation index for water ecological civilizations of water-shortage cities based on the grey rough set

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, X. Y.; Zhu, J. W.; Xie, J. C.; Liu, J. L.; Jiang, R. G.

2017-08-01

According to the characteristics and existing problems of water ecological civilization of water-shortage cities, the evaluation index system of water ecological civilization was established using a grey rough set. From six aspects of water resources, water security, water environment, water ecology, water culture and water management, this study established the prime frame of the evaluation system, including 28 items, and used rough set theory to undertake optimal selection of the index system. Grey correlation theory then was used for weightings in order that the integrated evaluation index system for water ecology civilization of water-shortage cities could be constituted. Xi’an City was taken as an example, for which the results showed that 20 evaluation indexes could be obtained after optimal selection of the preliminary framework of evaluation index. The most influential indices were the water-resource category index and water environment category index. The leakage rate of the public water supply pipe network, as well as the disposal, treatment and usage rate of polluted water, urban water surface area ratio, the water quality of the main rivers, and so on also are important. It was demonstrated that the evaluation index could provide an objectively reflection of regional features and key points for the development of water ecology civilization for cities with scarce water resources. It is considered that the application example has universal applicability.

Water quality index and eutrophication indices of Caiabi River, MT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Grasiane Andrietti

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study was to evaluate the water quality of the Caiabi River based upon the water quality index (WQI and the trophic state index (TSI, considering seasonal and spatial variations, with the aim of determining the most appropriate monitoring design for this study site. Sampling for water quality monitoring was conducted at five points on the Caiabi River from July 2012 to June 2013. Quality parameters quantified were as follows: pH, temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, total and thermotolerant coliforms, turbidity, Kjeldahl nitrogen, nitrite, nitrate, total phosphorus, biochemical oxygen demand, series of solids, and chlorophyll a. Sampling procedures and analysis followed the methods recommended by the Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater. The WQI results showed that the quality of the Caiabi River water is good. TSI results demonstrated the low risk of eutrophication in the Caiabi River, indicating an ultra-oligotrophic lotic environment. Analysis of variance showed that 10 of the 16 monitored quality parameters presented differences of means between the dry and rainy seasons or among the monitored points or in the interaction between seasons and points. These results indicate that two annual sampling collections at two points may be sufficient to describe the water quality behavior in the basin, as long as the conditions of land use are stable.

Developing index maps of water-harvest potential in Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Senay, G.B.; Verdin, J.P.

2004-01-01

The food security problem in Africa is tied to the small farmer, whose subsistence farming relies heavily on rain-fed agriculture. A dry spell lasting two to three weeks can cause a significant yield reduction. A small-scale irrigation scheme from small-capacity ponds can alleviate this problem. This solution would require a water harvest mechanism at a farm level. In this study, we looked at the feasibility of implementing such a water harvest mechanism in drought prone parts of Africa. A water balance study was conducted at different watershed levels. Runoff (watershed yield) was estimated using the SCS curve number technique and satellite derived rainfall estimates (RFE). Watersheds were delineated from the Africa-wide HYDRO-1K digital elevation model (DEM) data set in a GIS environment. Annual runoff volumes that can potentially be stored in a pond during storm events were estimated as the product of the watershed area and runoff excess estimated from the SCS Curve Number method. Estimates were made for seepage and net evaporation losses. A series of water harvest index maps were developed based on a combination of factors that took into account the availability of runoff, evaporation losses, population density, and the required watershed size needed to fill a small storage reservoir that can be used to alleviate water stress during a crop growing season. This study presents Africa-wide water-harvest index maps that could be used for conducting feasibility studies at a regional scale in assessing the relative differences in runoff potential between regions for the possibility of using ponds as a water management tool. ?? 2004 American Society of Agricultural Engineers.

STUDY OF POND WATER QUALITY BY THE ASSESSMENT OF PHYSICOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS AND WATER QUALITY INDEX

OpenAIRE

Vinod Jena; Satish Dixit; Ravi ShrivastavaSapana Gupta; Sapana Gupta

2013-01-01

Water quality index (WQI) is a dimensionless number that combines multiple water quality factors into a single number by normalizing values to subjective rating curves. Conventionally it has been used for evaluating the quality of water for water resources suchas rivers, streams and lakes, etc. The present work is aimed at assessing the Water Quality Index (W.Q.I) ofpond water and the impact of human activities on it. Physicochemical parameters were monitored for the calculation of W.Q.I for ...

Nationwide water availability data for energy-water modeling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tidwell, Vincent Carroll [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Zemlick, Katie M. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Klise, Geoffrey Taylor [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2013-11-01

The purpose of this effort is to explore where the availability of water could be a limiting factor in the siting of new electric power generation. To support this analysis, water availability is mapped at the county level for the conterminous United States (3109 counties). Five water sources are individually considered, including unappropriated surface water, unappropriated groundwater, appropriated water (western U.S. only), municipal wastewater and brackish groundwater. Also mapped is projected growth in non-thermoelectric consumptive water demand to 2035. Finally, the water availability metrics are accompanied by estimated costs associated with utilizing that particular supply of water. Ultimately these data sets are being developed for use in the National Renewable Energy Laboratories' (NREL) Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) model, designed to investigate the likely deployment of new energy installations in the U.S., subject to a number of constraints, particularly water.

Indexes for water management and planning on the Paraopeba River Basin, Minas Gerais State

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Bruno Marcel Barros da Silva

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Knowledge of the true amount of officially granted use of water and the spatial distribution of water usage in a watershed has become indispensable for the appropriate management of water resources. In this process, the use of indexes allows for the identification of possible water use conflicts. The objective of this study was to evaluate the indexes of conflict regarding water use in the management (icg and planning (icp of water resources in the Paraopeba River Basin, focusing on identifying possible water resource conflicts and on providing supportive information for the water management agency in Minas Gerais State. Besides the Digital Elevation Model (DEM for hydrological analyses to calculate the drainage area for every river segment, the official amount of granted water use and estimated river flows at watershed confluences was also needed. The results of the icg calculation demonstrated that in 22.7% of the analyzed river segments the use of water was higher than what is legally granted, and this indicates a potential conflict regarding water use. The icp analyses showed that in three river segments the use of water was higher than the long-term mean flow. The combined icg and icp analyses led us to conclude that in the water use conflict scenario the solution could be establishing an infrastructure that would allow a year-round increase in the availability of water to be granted.

Absolute Measurement of the Refractive Index of Water by a Mode-Locked Laser at 518 nm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhaopeng Meng

2018-04-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we demonstrate a method using a frequency comb, which can precisely measure the refractive index of water. We have developed a simple system, in which a Michelson interferometer is placed into a quartz-glass container with a low expansion coefficient, and for which compensation of the thermal expansion of the water container is not required. By scanning a mirror on a moving stage, a pair of cross-correlation patterns can be generated. We can obtain the length information via these cross-correlation patterns, with or without water in the container. The refractive index of water can be measured by the resulting lengths. Long-term experimental results show that our method can measure the refractive index of water with a high degree of accuracy—measurement uncertainty at 10−5 level has been achieved, compared with the values calculated by the empirical formula.

Indexes of contamination for characterization of continental waters and discharges. Formulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ramirez, Restrepo R; Cardenosa, M

1999-01-01

Contamination indexes (ICO) for characterization of natural water bodies and industrial discharges have been formulated in previous works by Ramirez, et al, 1997 in this work, complementary indexes not correlated with other ICOS previously developed are established thus resulting in a complementary tool to be applied in the interpretation and characterization on continental surface water bodies. First, a pH index (ICOpH) is obtained to determine ph incidence on water quality interpretation. A temperature index (ICOTEM) is also obtained to evaluate effluent incidence on receiving water bodies. ICOTEM is based on temperature difference of the wastewater discharge and the water body. Finally, indexes for the evaluation of aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons are also developed based on data collected on sediments and fish tissue samples. These hydrocarbon compounds are highly viable to accumulate and produce long-term detrimental effects on living organisms. These latter indexes have been developed based on data of nearly 130 samples collected during monitoring campaigns in streams and water bodies affected by discharges of the petroleum industry or by accidental spills of crude oil or hydrocarbon by-products in Colombian streams; its also possible that anthropic influence other than petroleum discharges might be affecting the streams included in the monitoring campaigns

WATER QUALITY INDEX FOR ASSESSMENT OF DRINKING WATER SOURCES FROM MEDIAŞ TOWN, SIBIU COUNTY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ROŞU CRISTINA

2014-03-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to evaluate the drinking water sources quality from Mediaş Town, Sibiu County. In November 2013, 6 water samples were taken from different drinking water sources and each water sample was analysed to determinate physico-chemical parameters (using a portable multiparameter WTW 320i major ions (using DIONEX ICS1500 ion chromatograph and heavy metals (using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer model ZENIT 700 Analytik Jena. The investigated physico-chemical parameters were: temperature, salinity, electrical conductivity (EC, pH, total dissolved solids (TDS and redox potential (ORP. The analysed major ions were: lithium (Li+, sodium (Na+, potassium (K+, magnesium (Mg2+, calcium (Ca2+, fluoride( F-, chloride (Cl-, bromide (Br-, nitrite (NO2-, nitrate (NO3-, phosphate (PO43- and sulphate (SO42-. The investigated heavy metals were: lead (Pb, zinc (Zn, cooper (Cu, iron (Fe, cadmium (Cd, nickel (Ni, chromium (Cr and arsenic (As. The Water Quality Index (WQI was calculated using the analysed water quality parameters and it ranged from 76 (very poor water quality to 375 (unsuitable for drinking.

Water scarcity: moving beyond indexes to innovative institutions.

Science.gov (United States)

Jarvis, W Todd

2013-01-01

Water scarcity is a media darling often times described as a trigger of conflict in arid regions, a by-product of human influences ranging from desertification to climate change, or a combination of natural- and human-induced changes in the water cycle. A multitude of indexes have been developed over the past 20 years to define water scarcity to map the "problem" and guide international donor investment. Few indexes include groundwater within the metrics of "scarcity." Institutional communication contributes to the recognition of local or regional water scarcity. However, evaluations that neglect groundwater resources may incorrectly define conditions as scarce. In cases where there is a perception of scarcity, the incorporation of groundwater and related storage in aquifers, political willpower, new policy tools, and niche diplomacy often results in a revised status, either reducing or even eliminating the moniker locally. Imaginative conceptualization and innovative uses of aquifers are increasingly used to overcome water scarcity. © 2013, National Ground Water Association.

A Survey of Fluoride Dosage in Driniking Water and DMF Index in Damghan City

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Hamid Reza Nasehi nia

2004-05-01

Full Text Available Fluoride is one of the important elements. There are so many controversial scientific points of view regarding fluoride and its presence in food chain. Water fluoridation is the best and most reliable method for the control of dental caries. In this research, the presence and concentration of fluoride in drinking water resources in the city of Damghan and DMF index (decayed, missed, filled between 560 school students (12-15 was investigated. The mean concentration of fluoride in water supplies of Damaghan city was measured in low rain seasons 0.37 mg/l and high rain seasons 0.6 mg/l the DMF index for 12 year sold student was equal 2.00 that comparing these data with the WHO classify cation for DMF index, showed them to be considered in the second surface (low classificatino. For conclusion, based on the mentioned data, a significant correlation may be found between the two parameters in different communities, and the most logic solution for the control of dental cavities in these communities, is the adjusment of fluoride concentration in drinking water.

An assessment of groundwater quality using water quality index in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

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I Nanda Balan

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Context : Water, the elixir of life, is a prime natural resource. Due to rapid urbanization in India, the availability and quality of groundwater have been affected. According to the Central Groundwater Board, 80% of Chennai′s groundwater has been depleted and any further exploration could lead to salt water ingression. Hence, this study was done to assess the groundwater quality in Chennai city. Aim : To assess the groundwater quality using water quality index in Chennai city. Materials and Methods: Chennai city was divided into three zones based on the legislative constituency and from these three zones three locations were randomly selected and nine groundwater samples were collected and analyzed for physiochemical properties. Results: With the exception of few parameters, most of the water quality assessment parameters showed parameters within the accepted standard values of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS. Except for pH in a single location of zone 1, none of the parameters exceeded the permissible values for water quality assessment as prescribed by the BIS. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that in general the groundwater quality status of Chennai city ranged from excellent to good and the groundwater is fit for human consumption based on all the nine parameters of water quality index and fluoride content.

Standardized Water Budget Index and Validation in Drought Estimation of Haihe River Basin, North China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shaohua Liu

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The physical-based drought indices such as the self-calibrated Palmer Drought Severity Index (sc-PDSI with the fixed time scale is inadequate for the multiscalar drought assessment, and the multiscalar drought indices including Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI, Reconnaissance Drought Index (RDI, and Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI based on the meteorological factors are lack of physical mechanism and cannot depict the actual water budget. To fill this gap, the Standardized Water Budget Index (SWBI is constructed based on the difference between areal precipitation and actual evapotranspiration (AET, which can describe the actual water budget but also assess the drought at multiple time scales. Then, sc-PDSI was taken as the reference drought index to compare with multiscalar drought indices at different time scale in Haihe River basin. The result shows that SWBI correlates better with sc-PDSI and the RMSE of SWBI is less than other multiscalar drought indices. In addition, all of drought indices show a decreasing trend in Haihe River Basin, possibly due to the decreasing precipitation from 1961 to 2010. The decreasing trends of SWBI were significant and consistent at all the time scales, while the decreasing trends of other multiscalar drought indices are insignificant at time scale less than 3 months.

Water availability, water quality water governance: the future ahead

Science.gov (United States)

Tundisi, J. G.; Matsumura-Tundisi, T.; Ciminelli, V. S.; Barbosa, F. A.

2015-04-01

The major challenge for achieving a sustainable future for water resources and water security is the integration of water availability, water quality and water governance. Water is unevenly distributed on Planet Earth and these disparities are cause of several economic, ecological and social differences in the societies of many countries and regions. As a consequence of human misuse, growth of urbanization and soil degradation, water quality is deteriorating continuously. Key components for the maintenance of water quantity and water quality are the vegetation cover of watersheds, reduction of the demand and new water governance that includes integrated management, predictive evaluation of impacts, and ecosystem services. Future research needs are discussed.

Use of crop water stress index for monitoring water stress in some sinanthropic plant species

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marinela Roxana ROŞESCU

2010-11-01

Full Text Available The water stress indicator (crop water stress index, CWSI is a measure of the transpiration rate of a plant, influenced by the leaf and air temperature difference from the plant’s vicinity and the air pressure deficit of the water vapors from the atmosphere. The experiments were realized in July-August 2008 and 2009 for six species in the cities Pitesti, Mioveni and Maracineni: Cichorium intybus L., Conyza canadensis (L. Cronq., Erigeron annuus L. (Pers., Lactuca serriola Torn., Polygonum aviculare L. and Echinochloa crus-galli (L. Beauv. For those species we calculated the CWSI to estimate the water stress on the selected plants in the urban environment conditions. The analyzed species were exposed to a less accentuated water stress while vegetating in the soil and to a more intense one they were grown in the asphalt cracks. Cichorium intybus had the smallest CWSI value (0.26 while Lactuca serriola the highest one (0.44.

Identification of Phytoplankton Blooms under the Index of Inherent Optical Properties (IOP Index in Optically Complex Waters

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Jesús A. Aguilar-Maldonado

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Phytoplankton blooms are sporadic events in time and are isolated in space. This complex phenomenon is produced by a variety of both natural and anthropogenic causes. Early detection of this phenomenon, as well as the classification of a water body under conditions of bloom or non-bloom, remains an unresolved problem. This research proposes the use of Inherent Optical Properties (IOPs in optically complex waters to detect the bloom or non-bloom state of the phytoplankton community. An IOP index is calculated from the absorption coefficients of the colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM, the phytoplankton (phy and the detritus (d, using the wavelength (λ 443 nm. The effectiveness of this index is tested in five bloom events in different places and with different characteristics from Mexican seas: 1. Dzilam (Caribbean Sea, Atlantic Ocean, a diatom bloom (Rhizosolenia hebetata; 2. Holbox (Caribbean Sea, Atlantic Ocean, a mixed bloom of dinoflagellates (Scrippsiella sp. and diatoms (Chaetoceros sp.; 3. Campeche Bay in the Gulf of Mexico (Atlantic Ocean, a bloom of dinoflagellates (Karenia brevis; 4. Upper Gulf of California (UGC (Pacific Ocean, a diatom bloom (Coscinodiscus and Pseudo-nitzschia and 5. Todos Santos Bay, Ensenada (Pacific Ocean, a dinoflagellate bloom (Lingulodinium polyedrum. The diversity of sites show that the IOP index is a suitable method to determine the phytoplankton bloom conditions.

Modified Optimization Water Index (mowi) for LANDSAT-8 Oli/tirs

Science.gov (United States)

Moradi, M.; Sahebi, M.; Shokri, M.

2017-09-01

Water is one of the most important resources that essential need for human life. Due to population growth and increasing need of human to water, proper management of water resources will be one of the serious challenges of next decades. Remote sensing data is the best way to the management of water resources due time and cost effectiveness over a greater range of temporal and spatial scales. Between many kinds of satellite data, from SAR to optic or from high resolution to low resolution, Landsat imagery is more interesting data for water detection and management of earth surface water. Landsat8 OLI/TIRS is the newest version of Landsat satellite series. In this paper, we investigated the full spectral potential of Landsat8 for water detection. It is developed many kinds of methods for this purpose that index based methods have some advantages than other methods. Pervious indices just use a limited number of spectral band. In this paper, Modified Optimization Water Index (MOWI) defined by consideration of a linear combination of bands that each coefficient of bands calculated by particle swarm algorithm. The result shows that modified optimization water index (MOWI) has a proper performance on different condition like cloud, cloud shadow and mountain shadow.

Water availability reconstructions using tree-rings in the Valdivian rainforest ecoregion, Chile

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Urrutia, Rocio; Pena, M P; Christie, Duncan A; Lara, Antonio

2010-01-01

Water availability can be considered as one of the main restrictions for future development in South-Central Chile, due to the reported decreasing trends in precipitation in the last decades and the increasing demand for this resource. This issue makes the study of past water availability fundamental for the understanding of present and future variations. This paper presents a comparison of two water availability reconstructions within the Valdivian rainforest ecoregion (35 0 -48 0 S), one corresponding to a precipitation (37 0 -39.5 0 S) and the other to a streamflow reconstruction (41 0 S). This study shows that there are fundamental differences between them especially in the long term variability. However, there are also coincidences, mainly at higher frequency variations, such as at a bidecadal, decadal and annual scale. Another important finding is that these reconstructions show significant correlations with different climatic forcings in this area. The northern reconstruction presents a significant relationship with ENSO (El Nino Southern Oscillation), while the southern does the same with the AAO (Antarctic Oscillation Index).

Development of innovative computer software to facilitate the setup and computation of water quality index.

Science.gov (United States)

Nabizadeh, Ramin; Valadi Amin, Maryam; Alimohammadi, Mahmood; Naddafi, Kazem; Mahvi, Amir Hossein; Yousefzadeh, Samira

2013-04-26

Developing a water quality index which is used to convert the water quality dataset into a single number is the most important task of most water quality monitoring programmes. As the water quality index setup is based on different local obstacles, it is not feasible to introduce a definite water quality index to reveal the water quality level. In this study, an innovative software application, the Iranian Water Quality Index Software (IWQIS), is presented in order to facilitate calculation of a water quality index based on dynamic weight factors, which will help users to compute the water quality index in cases where some parameters are missing from the datasets. A dataset containing 735 water samples of drinking water quality in different parts of the country was used to show the performance of this software using different criteria parameters. The software proved to be an efficient tool to facilitate the setup of water quality indices based on flexible use of variables and water quality databases.

Spatial Variation in Seasonal Water Poverty Index for Laos: An Application of Geographically Weighted Principal Component Analysis

OpenAIRE

Kallio, Marko; Guillaume, Joseph; Kummu, Matti; Virrantaus, Kirsi-Kanerva

2017-01-01

Water poverty, defined as insufficient water of adequate quality to cover basic needs, is an issue that may manifest itself in multiple ways. Extreme seasonal variation in water availability, such as in Laos, located in Monsoon Asia, results in large differences in water poverty conditions between dry and wet seasons. In this study, seasonal Water Poverty Indices (WPI) are developed for 8215 villages in Laos. WPI is a multidimensional composite index integrating five dimensions of water: reso...

Fuel and heavy water availability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1980-01-01

The general guidelines for the Working Group's evaluation of the availability of nuclear fuel and heavy water were set at the Organizing Conference of the International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation (INFCE), which was held in Washington, United States of America, 19-21 October 1977. The agreed technical and economic scope for the evaluation was to: (1) Estimate needs for nuclear energy and correlated needs for uranium and heavy water according to different fuel cycle strategies; (2) Review uranium availability with specific regard to: Assessment of resources and production capacities; policies and incentives for encouraging exploration and production including joint ventures; marketing policies and/or guarantees of sales for companies investing in exploration and production; marketing policies and/or guarantees of supply for utilities; technical development of exploration, mining and milling methods; (3) Review heavy water availability; (4) Review thorium availability; (5) Consider special needs of developing countries. The illustrations of availability and requirements developed in this report do provide a useful framework for considering future options and alternatives for the development of nuclear power

Water Quality Assessment for Deep-water Channel area of Guangzhou Port based on the Comprehensive Water Quality Identification Index Method

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yi

2018-03-01

The comprehensive water quality identification index method is able to assess the general water quality situation comprehensively and represent the water quality classification; water environment functional zone achieves pollution level and standard objectively and systematically. This paper selects 3 representative zones along deep-water channel of Guangzhou port and applies comprehensive water quality identification index method to calculate sea water quality monitoring data for different selected zones from year 2006 to 2014, in order to investigate the temporal variation of water quality along deep-water channel of Guangzhou port. The comprehensive water quality level from north to south presents an increased trend, and the water quality of the three zones in 2014 is much better than in 2006. This paper puts forward environmental protection measurements and suggestions for Pearl River Estuary, provides data support and theoretical basis for studied sea area pollution prevention and control.

Ground-Water Availability in the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Reilly, Thomas E.; Dennehy, Kevin F.; Alley, William M.; Cunningham, William L.

2008-01-01

Ground water is among the Nation's most important natural resources. It provides half our drinking water and is essential to the vitality of agriculture and industry, as well as to the health of rivers, wetlands, and estuaries throughout the country. Large-scale development of ground-water resources with accompanying declines in ground-water levels and other effects of pumping has led to concerns about the future availability of ground water to meet domestic, agricultural, industrial, and environmental needs. The challenges in determining ground-water availability are many. This report examines what is known about the Nation's ground-water availability and outlines a program of study by the U.S. Geological Survey Ground-Water Resources Program to improve our understanding of ground-water availability in major aquifers across the Nation. The approach is designed to provide useful regional information for State and local agencies who manage ground-water resources, while providing the building blocks for a national assessment. The report is written for a wide audience interested or involved in the management, protection, and sustainable use of the Nation's water resources.

Water Resources Availability in Kabul, Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Akbari, A. M.; Chornack, M. P.; Coplen, T. B.; Emerson, D. G.; Litke, D. W.; Mack, T. J.; Plummer, N.; Verdin, J. P.; Verstraeten, I. M.

2008-12-01

The availability of water resources is vital to the rebuilding of Kabul, Afghanistan. In recent years, droughts and increased water use for drinking water and agriculture have resulted in widespread drying of wells. Increasing numbers of returning refugees, rapid population growth, and potential climate change have led to heightened concerns for future water availability. The U.S. Geological Survey, with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development, began collaboration with the Afghanistan Geological Survey and Ministry of Energy and Water on water-resource investigations in the Kabul Basin in 2004. This has led to the compilation of historic and recent water- resources data, creation of monitoring networks, analyses of geologic, geophysical, and remotely sensed data. The study presented herein provides an assessment of ground-water availability through the use of multidisciplinary hydrogeologic data analysis. Data elements include population density, climate, snowpack, geology, mineralogy, surface water, ground water, water quality, isotopic information, and water use. Data were integrated through the use of conceptual ground-water-flow model analysis and provide information necessary to make improved water-resource planning and management decisions in the Kabul Basin. Ground water is currently obtained from a shallow, less than 100-m thick, highly productive aquifer. CFC, tritium, and stable hydrogen and oxygen isotopic analyses indicate that most water in the shallow aquifer appears to be recharged post 1970 by snowmelt-supplied river leakage and secondarily by late winter precipitation. Analyses indicate that increasing withdrawals are likely to result in declining water levels and may cause more than 50 percent of shallow supply wells to become dry or inoperative particularly in urbanized areas. The water quality in the shallow aquifer is deteriorated in urban areas by poor sanitation and water availability concerns may be compounded by poor well

A Three-Dimensional Index for Characterizing Crop Water Stress

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jessica A. Torrion

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The application of remotely sensed estimates of canopy minus air temperature (Tc-Ta for detecting crop water stress can be limited in semi-arid regions, because of the lack of full ground cover (GC at water-critical crop stages. Thus, soil background may restrict water stress interpretation by thermal remote sensing. For partial GC, the combination of plant canopy temperature and surrounding soil temperature in an image pixel is expressed as surface temperature (Ts. Soil brightness (SB for an image scene varies with surface soil moisture. This study evaluates SB, GC and Ts-Ta and determines a fusion approach to assess crop water stress. The study was conducted (2007 and 2008 on a commercial scale, center pivot irrigated research site in the Texas High Plains. High-resolution aircraft-based imagery (red, near-infrared and thermal was acquired on clear days. The GC and SB were derived using the Perpendicular Vegetation Index approach. The Ts-Ta was derived using an array of ground Ts sensors, thermal imagery and weather station air temperature. The Ts-Ta, GC and SB were fused using the hue, saturation, intensity method, respectively. Results showed that this method can be used to assess water stress in reference to the differential irrigation plots and corresponding yield without the use of additional energy balance calculation for water stress in partial GC conditions.

Water availability pollution and control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qureshi, K.A.

2001-01-01

Water has played a very important role in the development of human society. Resources of water have shaped the development of people and nations. Management of water gave the birth to innovations and technologies. Our complex metropolitan civilization and advanced technologies have generated new demands for water. Its importance to society and government has never diminished. The growing concern over resources availability and a rapid spread of water pollution, the link between water supply and water quality have become more apparent. The global management of water demands economy in use, restricted chemical and sanitation emissions, population control, discouragement of urbanization and water pollution awareness can greatly assist in averting the water holocaust that the world is expecting to face in the years to come. The scientific community in Pakistan is required to diagnose these problems in a systematic way to give advance warning of expected water scarcity, water pollution, water related land degradation, urban growth and population to assure the water cycle integrity of our world. (author)

25 CFR 137.2 - Availability of water.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Availability of water. 137.2 Section 137.2 Indians BUREAU... COSTS, SAN CARLOS INDIAN IRRIGATION PROJECT, ARIZONA § 137.2 Availability of water. Pursuant to section... notice to announce when water is actually available for lands in private ownership under the project and...

Regional Responses to Constrained Water Availability

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, Y.; Calvin, K. V.; Hejazi, M. I.; Clarke, L.; Kim, S. H.; Patel, P.

2017-12-01

There have been many concerns about water as a constraint to agricultural production, electricity generation, and many other human activities in the coming decades. Nevertheless, how different countries/economies would respond to such constraints has not been explored. Here, we examine the responding mechanism of binding water availability constraints at the water basin level and across a wide range of socioeconomic, climate and energy technology scenarios. Specifically, we look at the change in water withdrawals between energy, land-use and other sectors within an integrated framework, by using the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM) that also endogenizes water use and allocation decisions based on costs. We find that, when water is taken into account as part of the production decision-making, countries/basins in general fall into three different categories, depending on the change of water withdrawals and water re-allocation between sectors. First, water is not a constraining factor for most of the basins. Second, advancements in water-saving technologies of the electricity generation cooling systems are sufficient of reducing water withdrawals to meet binding water availability constraints, such as in China and the EU-15. Third, water-saving in the electricity sector alone is not sufficient and thus cannot make up the lowered water availability from the binding case; for example, many basins in Pakistan, Middle East and India have to largely reduce irrigated water withdrawals by either switching to rain-fed agriculture or reducing production. The dominant responding strategy for individual countries/basins is quite robust across the range of alternate scenarios that we test. The relative size of water withdrawals between energy and agriculture sectors is one of the most important factors that affect the dominant mechanism.

The Assessment of Sustainability Indexes and Climate Change Impacts on Integrated Water Resource Management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joel Hernández-Bedolla

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Integrated water resource management (IWRM is facing great challenges due to growing uncertainties caused by climate change (CC, rapid socio-economic and technological changes, and population growth. In the present study, we have developed different indices to assess the availability of water using an IWRM approach. These indices evaluate supply to demands, surface availability, groundwater availability, reservoirs, and environmental flow. Moreover, reliability, resilience, and vulnerability were determined. Sustainability index (SI and sustainability index by groups (SG were determined based on the five indices (all indices vary from 0 to 1. The impacts of climate change affect surface and groundwater availability, as do the agricultural, urban, and industrial requirements on the different supplies. We used the generalized AQUATOOL Decision Support System Shell (DSSS to evaluate the IWRM in the Rio Grande Basin (Morelia, México. Various emission scenarios from representative concentration pathways (RCPs were applied to the basin for the years 2015–2039 and 2075–2099. The results indicate increases in agricultural and urban demand, and decreases in surface runoff, as well as groundwater recharge. The proposed indices are useful for different approaches (decision-makers, water policy, and drought risks, among others. CC significantly affects the different proposed indices and indicates a decrease of the SI, SG1, and SG2 (i.e., less availability. For example, we found that SG2 decreased from 0.812 to 0.195 under the RCP 8.5 2075–2099 scenario, and SG2 equal to 0.252 and 0.326 for the RCP 6.0 2075–2099 and RCP 4.5 2070–2099 scenarios, respectively (values close to 0 indicate worst drought conditions.

Review of 'plant available water' aspects of water use efficiency ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Review of 'plant available water' aspects of water use efficiency under ... model relating the water supply from a layered soil profile to water demand; the ... and management strategies to combat excessive water losses by deep drainage.

Development of a water quality index based on a European ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This index has advantages over pre-existing indices by reflecting the appropriateness of water for specific use, e.g. drinking water supply rather than general supply, and has been developed by studying the supranational standard, i.e. the European Community Standard. Three classification schemes for water quality are ...

Determination of symmetrical index for 3H in river waters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jankovic, M.; Todorovic, D.; Jankovic, B.; Nikolic, J.; Sarap, N.

2011-01-01

The paper presents the results of determining the symmetric index, which describes the magnitude of the tritium content changes with time, for samples of Sava and Danube river waters and Mlaka creek water. The results cover the period from 2003 to 2008. It was shown that the value of the symmetric index is the highest for Mlaka samples, which is in accordance with the fact that in these samples the highest concentration of tritium was found in comparison with samples of the Sava and Danube. [sr

Application of the Water Needs Index: Can Tho City, Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Science.gov (United States)

Moglia, Magnus; Neumann, Luis E.; Alexander, Kim S.; Nguyen, Minh N.; Sharma, Ashok K.; Cook, Stephen; Trung, Nguyen H.; Tuan, Dinh D. A.

2012-10-01

SummaryProvision of urban water supplies to rapidly growing cities of South East Asia is difficult because of increasing demand for limited water supplies, periodic droughts, and depletion and contamination of surface and groundwater. In such adverse environments, effective policy and planning processes are required to secure adequate water supplies. Developing a Water Needs Index reveals key elements of the complex urban water supply by means of a participatory approach for rapid and interdisciplinary assessment. The index uses deliberative interactions with stakeholders to create opportunities for mutual understanding, confirmation of constructs and capacity building of all involved. In Can Tho City, located at the heart of the Mekong delta in Vietnam, a Water Needs Index has been developed with local stakeholders. The functional attributes of the Water Needs Index at this urban scale have been critically appraised. Systemic water issues, supply problems, health issues and inadequate, poorly functioning infrastructure requiring attention from local authorities have been identified. Entrenched social and economic inequities in access to water and sanitation, as well as polluting environmental management practices has caused widespread problems for urban populations. The framework provides a common language based on systems thinking, increased cross-sectoral communication, as well as increased recognition of problem issues; this ought to lead to improved urban water management. Importantly, the case study shows that the approach can help to overcome biases of local planners based on their limited experience (information black spots), to allow them to address problems experienced in all areas of the city.

Performance of commercially available solar and heat pump water heaters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lloyd, C.R.; Kerr, A.S.D.

2008-01-01

Many countries are using policy incentives to encourage the adoption of energy-efficient hot water heating as a means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Such policies rely heavily on assumed performance factors for such systems. In-situ performance data for solar and heat pump hot water systems, however, are not copious in the literature. Otago University has been testing some systems available in New Zealand for a number of years. The results obtained are compared to international studies of in-situ performance of solar hot water systems and heat pump hot water systems, by converting the results from the international studies into a single index suitable for both solar and heat pump systems (COP). Variability in the international data is investigated as well as comparisons to model results. The conclusions suggest that there is not too much difference in performance between solar systems that have a permanently connected electric boost backup and heat pump systems over a wide range of environmental temperatures. The energy payback time was also calculated for electric boost solar flat plate systems as a function of both COP and hot water usage for a given value of embodied energy. The calculations generally bode well for solar systems but ensuring adequate system performance is paramount. In addition, such systems generally favour high usage rates to obtain good energy payback times

Glophymed: an index to establish the ecological status for the Water Framework Directive based on phytoplankton in coastal waters.

Science.gov (United States)

Romero, I; Pachés, M; Martínez-Guijarro, R; Ferrer, J

2013-10-15

Phytoplankton and its attributes (biomass, abundance, composition, and frequency and intensity of phytoplankton blooms) are essential to establish the ecological status in the Water Frame Directive. The aim of this study is to develop an index "Glophymed" based on all phytoplankton attributes for coastal water bodies according to the directive requirements. It is also developed an anthropogenic pressure index that takes into account population density, tourism, urbanization, industry, agriculture, fisheries and maritime transport for Comunitat Valenciana (Spain). Both indexes (Glophymed and human pressure index) based on a multisampling dataset collected monthly during several years, show a significant statistical correlation (r2 0.75 α<0.01) for typology IIA and (r2 0.93 α<0.01) for typology III-W. The relation between these indexes provides suitable information about the integrated management plans and protection measures of water resources since the Glophymed index is very sensitive to human pressures. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Determination of the water quality index ratings of water in the Mpumalanga and North West provinces, South Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Wanda, Elijah M. M.; Mamba, Bhekie B.; Msagati, Titus A. M.

2016-04-01

This study reports on the water quality index (WQI) of wastewater and drinking water in the Mpumalanga and North West provinces of South Africa. The WQI is one of the most effective tools available to water sustainability researchers, because it provides an easily intelligible ranking of water quality on a rating scale from 0 to 100, based on the ascription of different weightings to several different parameters. In this study the WQI index ratings of wastewater and drinking water samples were computed according to the levels of pH, electrical conductivity (EC), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), E. coli, temperature, turbidity and nutrients (nitrogen and phosphates) found in water samples collected from the two provinces between June and December, 2014. This study isolated three groups of WQ-rated waters, namely: fair (with a WQI range = 32.87-38.54%), medium (with a WQI range = 56.54-69.77%) and good (with a WQI range = 71.69-81.63%). More specifically, 23%, 23% and 54% of the sampled sites registered waters with fair, medium and good WQ ratings respectively. None of the sites sampled during the entire period of the project registered excellent or very good water quality ratings, which would ordinarily indicate that no treatment is required to make it fit for human consumption. Nevertheless, the results obtained by the Eerstehoek and Schoemansville water treatment plants in Mpumalanga and North West provinces, respectively, suggest that substantial improvement in the quality of water samples is possible, since the WQI values for all of the treated samples were higher than those for raw water. Presence of high levels of BOD, low levels of dissolved oxygen (DO), E. coli, nitrates and phosphates especially in raw water samples greatly affected their overall WQ ratings. It is recommended that a point-of-use system should be introduced to treat water intended for domestic purposes in the clean-water-deprived areas.

Drought Assessment over the Four Major River Basins of India using GRACE-based estimates of Water Availability

Science.gov (United States)

Sinha, D.; Syed, T. H.

2017-12-01

Drought is a natural disaster that has mutilating consequences over agriculture, ecosystems, economy and the society. Over the past few decades, drought related catastrophe, associated with global climate change, has escalated all across the world. Identification and analysis of drought utilizing individual hydrologic variables may be inadequate owing to the multitude of factors that are associated with the phenomenon. Therefore it is crucial to develop techniques that warrant comprehensive monitoring and assessment of droughts. In this study we propose a novel drought index (Water Availability Index (WAI)) that comprehends all the aspects of meteorologic, agricultural and hydrologic droughts. The proposed framework underscores the conceptualization and utilization of water availability, quantified as an integrated estimate of land water storage, using Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) observations, and precipitation. The methodology is employed over four major river basins of India (i.e. Ganga, Krishna, Godavari and Mahanadi) for a period of 155 months (April 2002 to February 2015). Results exhibit the potential of the propounded index (WAI) to recognize drought events and impart insightful quantification of drought severity. WAI also demonstrates enhanced outcomes in comparison to other commonly used drought indices like PDSI, SPI, SPEI and SRI. In general there are at least three major drought periods with intensities ranging from moderate to severe in almost all river basins. The longest drought period, extending for 27 months, from September 2008 to November 2010, is observed in the Mahanadi basin. Results from this study confirm the potential of this technique as an effective tool for the characterization of drought at large spatial scales, which will only excel with better quantification and extended availability of terrestrial water storage observations from the GRACE-Follow On mission.

Water quality index development using fuzzy logic: A case study of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Water quality index development using fuzzy logic: A case study of the Karoon River of Iran. ... PROMOTING ACCESS TO AFRICAN RESEARCH ... Determination of the status of water quality of a river or any other water source is highly ...

Evaluation of water quality index for River Sabarmati, Gujarat, India

Science.gov (United States)

Shah, Kosha A.; Joshi, Geeta S.

2017-06-01

An attempt has been made to develop water quality index (WQI), using six water quality parameters pH, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, electrical conductivity, nitrate nitrogen and total coliform measured at three different stations along the Sabarmati river basin from the year 2005 to 2008. Rating scale is developed based on the tolerance limits of inland waters and health point of view. Weighted arithmetic water quality index method was used to find WQI along the stretch of the river basin. It was observed from this study that the impact of human activity and sewage disposal in the river was severe on most of the parameters. The station located in highly urban area showed the worst water quality followed by the station located in moderately urban area and lastly station located in a moderately rural area. It was observed that the main cause of deterioration in water quality was due to the high anthropogenic activities, illegal discharge of sewage and industrial effluent, lack of proper sanitation, unprotected river sites and urban runoff.

Assessment of Shallow-Water Habitat Availability in Modified Dike Structures, Lower Missouri River, 2004

Science.gov (United States)

Jacobson, Robert B.; Elliott, Caroline M.; Johnson, Harold E.

2004-01-01

This study documented the effects of wing-dike notching on the availabilit of shallow water habitat in the Lower Missouri River. Five wing dikes were surveyed in late May 2004 after they were notched in early May as part of shallow-water habitat (SWH) rehabilitation activities undertaken by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Surveys included high-resolution hydroacoustic depth, velocity, and substrate mapping. Relations of bottom elevations within the wing dike fields to index discharges and water-surface elevations indicate that little habitat meeting the SWH definition was created immediately following notching. This result is not unexpected, as significant geomorphic adjustment may require large flow events. Depth, velocity, and substrate measurements in the post-rehabilitation time period provide baseline data for monitoring ongoing changes. Differences in elevation and substrate were noted at all sites. Most dike fields showed substantial aggradation and replacement of mud substrate with sandier sediment, although the changes did not result in increased availability of SWH at the index discharge. It is not known how much of the elevation and substrate changes can be attributed directly to notching and how much would result from normal sediment transport variation.

Water Availability as a Measure of Cellulose Hydrolysis Efficiency

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hsieh, Chia-Wen

of sugars, salts, and surfactants impact the water relaxation time. Systems with high concentrations of sugars and salts tend to have low water availability, as these form strong interactions with water to keep their solubility, leaving less water available for hydrolysis. Thus, cellulase performance...... decreases. However, the addition of surfactants such as polyethylene glycol (PEG) increases the water mobility, leading to higher water availability, and ultimately higher glucose production. More specifically, the higher water availability boosts the activity of processive cellulases. Thus, water...... availability is vital for efficient hydrolysis, especially at high dry matter content where water availability is low. At high dry matter content, cellulase activity changes water interactions with biomass, affecting the water mobility. While swelling and fiber loosening also take place during hydrolysis...

The impact of Land use Change on Water Pollution Index of Kali Madiun Sub-watershed

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pranatasari Dyah Susanti

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Land use change is one of the effects of population growth and increased human activities. Land use change that overlooked the rule of ecosystem sustainability has a propensity to adversely affect the environment, including the decline of water quality. Kali Madiun is a sub-watershed of Bengawan Solo Watershed that allegedly endured the impacts of land use change. This study aimed to investigate the impacts of land use change on the water quality index of Kali Madiun Sub-watershed. Land use change analysis was done by overlay analysis of spatial data including the maps of land use in 2010 and 2015. Samples were the surface water in the upper, middle and lower part of Kali Madiun Sub-Watershed. Water quality analysis was carried out by comparing the results of water quality parameter assessment based on Government Regulation No. 82 of 2001, while water quality index was figured out by an assessment based on the Decree of the Minister of Environment No. 115 of 2003. The results indicated that during the five years observation, there were land use changes in the upper, middle and lower part of Kali Madiun Sub-watershed. Several parameters increased in 2010 to 2015, namely: TDS, BOD, COD, nitrate, detergents, oils and greases. Pollution index shifted from slightly polluted in 2010 into moderately polluted in 2015. We propose a strategy to solve these problems by the involvement of stakeholders and the participation of local community in managing both domestic and industrial wastes. Also, it should be supported by palpable regulations related to land conversion. Furthermore, it is expected that the effort will reduce the potential of pollution and improve the water quality.

46 CFR 76.10-3 - Water availability.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Water availability. 76.10-3 Section 76.10-3 Shipping... Fire Main System, Details § 76.10-3 Water availability. (a) On all vessels on an international voyage, regardless of the date of construction, water pressure from the firemain protecting enclosed spaces shall be...

Water on Mars - Volatile history and resource availability

Science.gov (United States)

Jakosky, Bruce M.

1990-01-01

An attempt is made to define the available deposits of water in the near-surface region of Mars which will be available to human exploration missions. The Martian seasonal water cycle is reviewed, and geochemical and geological constraints on the availability of water are examined. It is concluded that the only sure source of water in amounts significant as a resource are in the polar ice deposits.

Water Availability and Management of Water Resources

Science.gov (United States)

One of the most pressing national and global issues is the availability of freshwater due to global climate change, energy scarcity issues and the increase in world population and accompanying economic growth. Estimates of water supplies and flows through the world's hydrologic c...

Developing a Water Quality Index (WQI) for an Irrigation Dam.

Science.gov (United States)

De La Mora-Orozco, Celia; Flores-Lopez, Hugo; Rubio-Arias, Hector; Chavez-Duran, Alvaro; Ochoa-Rivero, Jesus

2017-04-29

Pollution levels have been increasing in water ecosystems worldwide. A water quality index (WQI) is an available tool to approximate the quality of water and facilitate the work of decision-makers by grouping and analyzing numerous parameters with a single numerical classification system. The objective of this study was to develop a WQI for a dam used for irrigation of about 5000 ha of agricultural land. The dam, La Vega, is located in Teuchitlan, Jalisco, Mexico. Seven sites were selected for water sampling and samples were collected in March, June, July, September, and December 2014 in an initial effort to develop a WQI for the dam. The WQI methodology, which was recommended by the Mexican National Water Commission (CNA), was used. The parameters employed to calculate the WQI were pH, electrical conductivity (EC), dissolved oxygen (DO), total dissolved solids (TDS), total hardness (TH), alkalinity (Alk), total phosphorous (TP), Cl - , NO₃, SO₄, Ca, Mg, K, B, As, Cu, and Zn. No significant differences in WQI values were found among the seven sampling sites along the dam. However, seasonal differences in WQI were noted. In March and June, water quality was categorized as poor. By July and September, water quality was classified as medium to good. Quality then decreased, and by December water quality was classified as medium to poor. In conclusion, water treatment must be applied before waters from La Vega dam reservoir can be used for irrigation or other purposes. It is recommended that the water quality at La Vega dam is continually monitored for several years in order to confirm the findings of this short-term study.

Equity in water and sanitation: developing an index to measure progressive realization of the human right.

Science.gov (United States)

Luh, Jeanne; Baum, Rachel; Bartram, Jamie

2013-11-01

We developed an index to measure progressive realization for the human right to water and sanitation. While in this study we demonstrate its application to the non-discrimination and equality component for water, the conceptual approach of the index can be used for all the different components of the human right. The index was composed of one structural, one process, and two outcome indicators and is bound between -1 and 1, where negative values indicate regression and positive values indicate progressive realization. For individual structural and process indicators, only discrete values such as -1, -0.5, 0, 0.5, and 1 were allowed. For the outcome indicators, any value between -1 and 1 was possible, and a State's progress was evaluated using rates of change. To create an index that would allow for fair comparisons between States and across time, these rates of change were compared to benchmarked rates, which reflect the maximum rates a State can achieve. Using this approach, we calculated the index score for 56 States in 2010 for which adequate data were available and demonstrated that these index scores were not dependent on factors such as achieved level of coverage or gross national income. The proposed index differs from existing measures of inequality as it measures rate of change and not level of achievement, and thus addresses the principle of progressive realization that is fundamental to human rights. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Zoning of Water Quality of Hamadan Darreh-Morad Beyg River Based on NSFWQI Index Using Geographic Information System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A.R. Rahmani

2009-10-01

Full Text Available Introduction & Objective: Rivers are one of the main water supply resources for various uses such as agricultural, industrial and drinking purposes. As population and consumption increase, monitoring of rivers water quality becomes an important function of environmental management field. Because Darreh-Morad Beyg river of Hamadan is a water supply for different purposes and many pollutants are discharged in it, its water quality assessment seems necessary. Zoning of pollution and depicting a detailed image of surface water resources quality using geographic information system (GIS are the key factors for the better management of these resources.Materials & Methods: This research is a cross sectional- descriptive study and river water samples were taken for 7 months from 6 sampling stations on the length of the river. Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen (D.O., pH, fecal coli form, nitrate, temperature, phosphate and total solids were determined in the samples. Obtained data were analyzed by national sanitation foundation water quality index (NSFWQI and the river was zoned using GIS software.Results: Results of the analyses by NSFWQI showed the best water quality for station 1 and the worst water quality for station 6 with scores of 62.78 and 27.49, respectively.Conclusion: The NSFWQI is a suitable index for zoning of Darreh-Morad Beyg river. Monitoring of physical, chemical, bacteriological quality parameters and using water quality index in various sampling stations are used in the assessment of water pollution. It also helps the officials to correctly decide about the water uses for different purposes.

Water availability and management for food security

Science.gov (United States)

Food security is directly linked to water security for food production. Water availability for crop production will be dependent upon precipitation or irrigation, soil water holding capacity, and crop water demand. The linkages among these components in rainfed agricultural systems shows the impact ...

Review of 'plant available water' aspects of water use efficiency ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... enhanced understanding of the system, thereby enabling the formulation of a quantitative model relating the water supply from a layered soil profile to water demand; the formulation of logical quantitative definitions for crop-ecotope specific upper and lower limits of available water; the identification of the harmful rootzone ...

Proposing water balance method for water availability estimation in Indonesian regional spatial planning

Science.gov (United States)

Juniati, A. T.; Sutjiningsih, D.; Soeryantono, H.; Kusratmoko, E.

2018-01-01

The water availability (WA) of a region is one of important consideration in both the formulation of spatial plans and the evaluation of the effectiveness of actual land use in providing sustainable water resources. Information on land-water needs vis-a-vis their availability in a region determines the state of the surplus or deficit to inform effective land use utilization. How to calculate water availability have been described in the Guideline in Determining the Carrying Capacity of the Environment in Regional Spatial Planning. However, the method of determining the supply and demand of water on these guidelines is debatable since the determination of WA in this guideline used a rational method. The rational method is developed the basis for storm drain design practice and it is essentially a peak discharge method peak discharge calculation method. This paper review the literature in methods of water availability estimation which is described descriptively, and present arguments to claim that water balance method is a more fundamental and appropriate tool in water availability estimation. A better water availability estimation method would serve to improve the practice in preparing formulations of Regional Spatial Plan (RSP) as well as evaluating land use capacity in providing sustainable water resources.

Development of sustainable water treatment technology using scientifically based calculated indexes of source water quality indicators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

А. С. Трякина

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The article describes selection process of sustainable technological process flow chart for water treatment procedure developed on scientifically based calculated indexes of quality indicators for water supplied to water treatment facilities. In accordance with the previously calculated values of the indicators of the source water quality, the main purification facilities are selected. A more sustainable flow chart for the modern water quality of the Seversky Donets-Donbass channel is a two-stage filtering with contact prefilters and high-rate filters. The article proposes a set of measures to reduce such an indicator of water quality as permanganate oxidation. The most suitable for these purposes is sorption purification using granular activated carbon for water filtering. The increased water hardness is also quite topical. The method of ion exchange on sodium cation filters was chosen to reduce the water hardness. We also evaluated the reagents for decontamination of water. As a result, sodium hypochlorite is selected for treatment of water, which has several advantages over chlorine and retains the necessary aftereffect, unlike ozone. A technological flow chart with two-stage purification on contact prefilters and two-layer high-rate filters (granular activated carbon - quartz sand with disinfection of sodium hypochlorite and softening of a part of water on sodium-cation exchangers filters is proposed. This technological flow chart of purification with any fluctuations in the quality of the source water is able to provide purified water that meets the requirements of the current sanitary-hygienic standards. In accordance with the developed flow chart, guidelines and activities for the reconstruction of the existing Makeevka Filtering Station were identified. The recommended flow chart uses more compact and less costly facilities, as well as additional measures to reduce those water quality indicators, the values of which previously were in

Data on water quality index for the groundwater in rural area Neyshabur County, Razavi province, Iran

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Mahmood Yousefi

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Public health is at risk from physical and chemical contaminants in the drinking water which may have immediate health consequences. The data from the current study was evaluated for groundwater quality in the rural villages of Neyshabur County in Iran. For determination of the essential physicochemical parameters, water samples were collected from 30 randomly-selected water wells during 2013 and 2014. The samples were tested in situ to measure physical parameters of pH and electrical conductivity and chemical parameters of total dissolved solids, total hardness and levels of calcium, magnesium, carbonates, bicarbonates, sodium, potassium, chloride and sulfates. The APHA method was applied to determine the physicochemical parameters of the water samples. Keywords: Ground water quality index, Rural area, Neyshabur, Iran

Application of the Benthic Ecosystem Quality Index 2 to benthos in Dutch transitional and coastal waters

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van Loon, W.M.G.M.; Boon, A.R.; Gittenberger, A.; Walvoort, D.J.J.; Lavaleye, M.S.S.; Duineveld, G.C.A.; Verschoor, A.J.

2015-01-01

The Benthic Ecosystem Quality Index 2 (BEQI2) is the Dutch multi-metric index (MMI) for assessing the status and trend of benthic invertebrates in transitional and coastal waters for the Water Framework Directive (WFD). It contains the same indicators, i.e. species richness, Shannon index and AMBI,

Application of the Benthic Ecosystem Quality Index 2 to benthos in Dutch transitional and coastal waters

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Loon, van W.M.G.M.; Boon, A.R.; Gittenberger, A.; Walvoort, D.J.J.; Lavaleye, M.; Duineveld, G.C.A.; Verschoor, A.J.

2015-01-01

The Benthic Ecosystem Quality Index 2 (BEQI2) is the Dutch multi-metric index (MMI) for assessing the status and trend of benthic invertebrates in transitional and coastal waters for the Water Framework Directive (WFD). It contains the same indicators, i.e. species richness, Shannon index and

Developing an operational rangeland water requirement satisfaction index

Science.gov (United States)

Senay, Gabriel B.; Verdin, James P.; Rowland, James

2011-01-01

Developing an operational water requirement satisfaction index (WRSI) for rangeland monitoring is an important goal of the famine early warning systems network. An operational WRSI has been developed for crop monitoring, but until recently a comparable WRSI for rangeland was not successful because of the extremely poor performance of the index when based on published crop coefficients (K c) for rangelands. To improve the rangeland WRSI, we developed a simple calibration technique that adjusts the K c values for rangeland monitoring using long-term rainfall distribution and reference evapotranspiration data. The premise for adjusting the K c values is based on the assumption that a viable rangeland should exhibit above-average WRSI (values >80%) during a normal year. The normal year was represented by a median dekadal rainfall distribution (satellite rainfall estimate from 1996 to 2006). Similarly, a long-term average for potential evapotranspiration was used as input to the famine early warning systems network WRSI model in combination with soil-water-holding capacity data. A dekadal rangeland WRSI has been operational for east and west Africa since 2005. User feedback has been encouraging, especially with regard to the end-of-season WRSI anomaly products that compare the index's performance to ‘normal’ years. Currently, rangeland WRSI products are generated on a dekadal basis and posted for free distribution on the US Geological Survey early warning website at http://earlywarning.usgs.gov/adds/

Water use benefit index as a tool for community-based monitoring of water related trends in the Great Barrier Reef region

Science.gov (United States)

Smajgl, A.; Larson, S.; Hug, B.; De Freitas, D. M.

2010-12-01

SummaryThis paper presents a tool for documenting and monitoring water use benefits in the Great Barrier Reef catchments that allows temporal and spatial comparison along the region. Water, water use benefits and water allocations are currently receiving much attention from Australian policy makers and conservation practitioners. Because of the inherent complexity and variability in water quality, it is essential that scientific information is presented in a meaningful way to policy makers, managers and ultimately, to the general public who have to live with the consequences of the decisions. We developed an inexpensively populated and easily understandable water use benefit index as a tool for community-based monitoring of water related trends in the Great Barrier Reef region. The index is developed based on a comparative list of selected water-related indices integrating attributes across physico-chemical, economic, social, and ecological domains currently used in the assessment of water quality, water quantity and water use benefits in Australia. Our findings indicate that the proposed index allows the identification of water performance indicators by temporal and spatial comparisons. Benefits for decision makers and conservation practitioners include a flexible way of prioritization towards the domain with highest concern. The broader community benefits from a comprehensive and user-friendly tool, communicating changes in water quality trends more effectively.

Preliminary analysis on the water quality index (WQI) of irradiated basic filter elements

Science.gov (United States)

Arif Abu Bakar, Asyraf; Muhamad Pauzi, Anas; Aziz Mohamed, Abdul; Syima Sharifuddin, Syazrin; Mohamad Idris, Faridah

2018-01-01

Simple water filtration system is needed in times of extreme floods. Clean water for sanitation at evacuation centres is essential and its production is possible by using the famous simple filtration system consisting of empty bottle and filter elements (sands, gravels, cotton/coffee filter). This research intends to study the effects of irradiated filter elements on the filtration effectiveness through experiments. The filter elements will be irradiated with gamma and neutron radiation using the facilities available at Malaysia Nuclear Agency. The filtration effectiveness is measured using the water quality index (WQI) that is developed in this study to reflect the quality of filtered water. The WQI of the filtered water using the system with irradiated filter elements is then compared with that of the system with non-irradiated filter elements. This preliminary analysis only focus on filtration element of silica sand. Results shows very nominal variation in in WQI after filtered by non-irradiated, gamma and neutron filter element (silica sand), where the hypothesis could not be affirmed.

Managing hydroclimatological risk to water supply with option contracts and reservoir index insurance

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Casey; Carriquiry, Miguel

2007-11-01

This paper explores the performance of a system of economic instruments designed to facilitate the reduction of hydroclimatologic variability-induced impacts on stakeholders of shared water supply. The system is composed of bulk water option contracts between urban water suppliers and agricultural users and insurance indexed on reservoir inflows. The insurance is designed to cover the financial needs of the water supplier in situations where the option is likely to be exercised. Insurance provides the irregularly needed funds for exercising the water options. The combined option contract - reservoir index insurance system creates risk sharing between sectors that is currently lacking in many shared water situations. Contracts are designed for a shared agriculture - urban water system in Metro Manila, Philippines, using optimization and Monte Carlo analysis. Observed reservoir inflows are used to simulate contract performance. Results indicate the option - insurance design effectively smooths water supply costs of hydrologic variability for both agriculture and urban water.

Compounding Impacts of Human-Induced Water Stress and Climate Change on Water Availability

Science.gov (United States)

Mehran, Ali; AghaKouchak, Amir; Nakhjiri, Navid; Stewardson, Michael J.; Peel, Murray C.; Phillips, Thomas J.; Wada, Yoshihide; Ravalico, Jakin K.

2017-01-01

The terrestrial phase of the water cycle can be seriously impacted by water management and human water use behavior (e.g., reservoir operation, and irrigation withdrawals). Here we outline a method for assessing water availability in a changing climate, while explicitly considering anthropogenic water demand scenarios and water supply infrastructure designed to cope with climatic extremes. The framework brings a top-down and bottom-up approach to provide localized water assessment based on local water supply infrastructure and projected water demands. When our framework is applied to southeastern Australia we find that, for some combinations of climatic change and water demand, the region could experience water stress similar or worse than the epic Millennium Drought. We show considering only the influence of future climate on water supply, and neglecting future changes in water demand and water storage augmentation might lead to opposing perspectives on future water availability. While human water use can significantly exacerbate climate change impacts on water availability, if managed well, it allows societies to react and adapt to a changing climate. The methodology we present offers a unique avenue for linking climatic and hydrologic processes to water resource supply and demand management and other human interactions.

Frameworks for Assessing Human Influence on Water Availability

Science.gov (United States)

AghaKouchak, A.; Mehran, A.; Mazdiyasni, O.; Ashraf, B.

2016-12-01

The water cycle is tightly coupled with water management and human water use behavior. Human activities and water use behavior can intensify the effects of a meteorological drought (a notion referred to as Anthropogenic Drought). In this presentation, we provide a general definition of anthropogenic drought. We then briefly review two different methods for assessing human influence on water availability: (1) a data-driven multivariate approach that links the information on inflow and surface reservoir storage to water demand; (2) A model-based framework that brings a top-down and bottom-up approach to provide localized water assessment based on local available infrastructure and projected water demands. Finally, we will show how the proposed methods can be used for water management scenario analysis (e.g., local water availability based on different human water demands scenarios). This presentation is primarily based on Mehran et al (Mehran A., Mazdiyasni O., AghaKouchak A., 2015, A Hybrid Framework for Assessing Socioeconomic Drought: Linking Climate Variability, Local Resilience, and Demand, Journal of Geophysical Research, 120 (15), 7520-7533, doi: 10.1002/2015JD023147.) and AghaKouchak et al (AghaKouchak A., Feldman D., Hoerling M., Huxman T., Lund J., 2015, Recognize Anthropogenic Drought, Nature, 524 (7566), 409-4011, doi:10.1038/524409a).

Use of biological indexes of the common reed (Phragmites australis) seed progeny in the environmental safety of radioactive contaminated water bodies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yavnyuk, A. [National Aviation University, Kiev (Ukraine); Shevtsova, N.; Gudkov, D. [Institute of Hydrobiology of the National Academy of Sciences, Kiev (Ukraine)

2014-07-01

Environmental protection requires effective monitoring system of radionuclide contamination and radiobiological effects as well as development of their prevention and minimizing measures for humans and biota. There is a majority of conventional techniques for living organisms' habitat quality assessment. One of the most widespread, convenient and accessible ones, is the seed progeny analysis, for example of conifers, cereals and wild herbaceous plants. Availability of vitality, growth, mutability indexes and abnormalities of vascular plant germs for environment quality express assessment was discussed in numerous publications. However, this point is studied insufficiently concerning aquatic vascular plants, forming communities playing significant role in radionuclides distribution in contaminated water bodies. Common reed (Phragmites australis (Trin) Ex. Steud) is a widespread species mostly dominating in air-aquatic vascular plant communities of freshwater bodies; it is a first-order {sup 137}Cs and {sup 90}Sr accumulating species. To assess the common reed germs growth indexes availability, seeds were sampled in polygon water bodies of different radionuclide contamination levels and 0.7-22 mcGy h{sup -1} total absorbed dose range, within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. In water bodies with background level of radionuclide contamination, for comparison, total absorbed dose varied in range of 0.03-0.3 mcGy h{sup -1}. Series of seeds germination experiments was carried out in laboratory conditions. Complex of germs indexes was investigated, conditionally divided into three groups: (1) Vitality indexes. In course of experiment series, vitality was assessed via germinating energy, germinating ability indexes, germination period (first and last germ appearance) and survivability study; (2) Growth indexes. Root and leaf length, occurrence of plant groups with different vegetative organs length were determined for germs growth speed assessment; (3) Teratological

Urban water metabolism efficiency assessment: integrated analysis of available and virtual water.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Chu-Long; Vause, Jonathan; Ma, Hwong-Wen; Yu, Chang-Ping

2013-05-01

Resolving the complex environmental problems of water pollution and shortage which occur during urbanization requires the systematic assessment of urban water metabolism efficiency (WME). While previous research has tended to focus on either available or virtual water metabolism, here we argue that the systematic problems arising during urbanization require an integrated assessment of available and virtual WME, using an indicator system based on material flow analysis (MFA) results. Future research should focus on the following areas: 1) analysis of available and virtual water flow patterns and processes through urban districts in different urbanization phases in years with varying amounts of rainfall, and their environmental effects; 2) based on the optimization of social, economic and environmental benefits, establishment of an indicator system for urban WME assessment using MFA results; 3) integrated assessment of available and virtual WME in districts with different urbanization levels, to facilitate study of the interactions between the natural and social water cycles; 4) analysis of mechanisms driving differences in WME between districts with different urbanization levels, and the selection of dominant social and economic driving indicators, especially those impacting water resource consumption. Combinations of these driving indicators could then be used to design efficient water resource metabolism solutions, and integrated management policies for reduced water consumption. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ecohydrology of agroecosystems: probabilistic description of yield reduction risk under limited water availability

Science.gov (United States)

Vico, Giulia; Porporato, Amilcare

2013-04-01

Supplemental irrigation represents one of the main strategies to mitigate the effects of climate variability and stabilize yields. Irrigated agriculture currently provides 40% of food production and its relevance is expected to further increase in the near future, in face of the projected alterations of rainfall patterns and increase in food, fiber, and biofuel demand. Because of the significant investments and water requirements involved in irrigation, strategic choices are needed to preserve productivity and profitability, while maintaining a sustainable water management - a nontrivial task given the unpredictability of the rainfall forcing. To facilitate decision making under uncertainty, a widely applicable probabilistic framework is proposed. The occurrence of rainfall events and irrigation applications are linked probabilistically to crop development during the growing season and yields at harvest. Based on these linkages, the probability density function of yields and corresponding probability density function of required irrigation volumes, as well as the probability density function of yields under the most common case of limited water availability are obtained analytically, as a function of irrigation strategy, climate, soil and crop parameters. The full probabilistic description of the frequency of occurrence of yields and water requirements is a crucial tool for decision making under uncertainty, e.g., via expected utility analysis. Furthermore, the knowledge of the probability density function of yield allows us to quantify the yield reduction hydrologic risk. Two risk indices are defined and quantified: the long-term risk index, suitable for long-term irrigation strategy assessment and investment planning, and the real-time risk index, providing a rigorous probabilistic quantification of the emergence of drought conditions during a single growing season in an agricultural setting. Our approach employs relatively few parameters and is thus easily and

Water Bodies’ Mapping from Sentinel-2 Imagery with Modified Normalized Difference Water Index at 10-m Spatial Resolution Produced by Sharpening the SWIR Band

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yun Du

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Monitoring open water bodies accurately is an important and basic application in remote sensing. Various water body mapping approaches have been developed to extract water bodies from multispectral images. The method based on the spectral water index, especially the Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MDNWI calculated from the green and Shortwave-Infrared (SWIR bands, is one of the most popular methods. The recently launched Sentinel-2 satellite can provide fine spatial resolution multispectral images. This new dataset is potentially of important significance for regional water bodies’ mapping, due to its free access and frequent revisit capabilities. It is noted that the green and SWIR bands of Sentinel-2 have different spatial resolutions of 10 m and 20 m, respectively. Straightforwardly, MNDWI can be produced from Sentinel-2 at the spatial resolution of 20 m, by upscaling the 10-m green band to 20 m correspondingly. This scheme, however, wastes the detailed information available at the 10-m resolution. In this paper, to take full advantage of the 10-m information provided by Sentinel-2 images, a novel 10-m spatial resolution MNDWI is produced from Sentinel-2 images by downscaling the 20-m resolution SWIR band to 10 m based on pan-sharpening. Four popular pan-sharpening algorithms, including Principle Component Analysis (PCA, Intensity Hue Saturation (IHS, High Pass Filter (HPF and À Trous Wavelet Transform (ATWT, were applied in this study. The performance of the proposed method was assessed experimentally using a Sentinel-2 image located at the Venice coastland. In the experiment, six water indexes, including 10-m NDWI, 20-m MNDWI and 10-m MNDWI, produced by four pan-sharpening algorithms, were compared. Three levels of results, including the sharpened images, the produced MNDWI images and the finally mapped water bodies, were analysed quantitatively. The results showed that MNDWI can enhance water bodies and suppressbuilt

Topical and working papers on heavy water requirements and availability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The documents included in this report are: Heavy water requirements and availability; technological infrastructure for heavy water plants; heavy water plant siting; hydrogen and methane availability; economics of heavy water production; monothermal, water fed heavy water process based on the ammonia/hydrogen isotopic exchange; production strategies to meet demand projections; hydrogen availability; deuterium sources; the independent UHDE heavy water process

Estimating MCC System Dryness Index using the Vineyard Water Indicator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Conceição Marco Antônio Fonseca

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The Dryness Index (DI is one of the three Geoviticulture Multicriteria Climatic Classification System (MCC System indices and its calculation is based on a soil water balance approach. However, other climatic indices can be used for the same purpose. One of them is the Vineyard Water Indicator (VWI that represents the ratio between the total rainfall and the vineyard water requirement during the productive period of the culture. When compared to DI, the VWI presents a simpler calculation methodology. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to establish a model to estimate DI based on VWI values. Climate data of 80 winegrowing regions in 18 countries were used. Four regression models were evaluated: linear, quadratic, logarithmic and the Mitscherlich model. Real and simulated data were compared using the confidence coefficient (c that corresponds to the product of the correlation coefficient (r by the exactness coefficient (d. The best fit was obtained employing the quadratic model and DI can be calculated using the following equation: DI = −363.84 VWI2+ 834.47 VWI – 257.17 (R2 = 0.93, for VHI <0.905. For VHI values equal to or greater than 0.905, DI is constant and equal to 200.

Evaluation and Assessment of Fluoride in Drinking Water Wells Damavand Villages Zoning in GIS According to DMF Index

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Kave Kheirkhah Rahimabad

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Background:Fluoride is one the vital anions and the drinking water is the main source of preparing it for the human body. Nonetheless, the aim of this paper is to investigate the Fluoride rate in water supplying wells by using GIS environment according to decay, missing or filled (DMF index.  Methods: This research is an analytic and cross-sectional descriptive study with sampling approach of 12 water supplying wells of Damavand villages in summer and autumn the year 2013. The Fluoride concentration was measured by standard method SPADNS using MN-Nano color 400 Photometer in laboratory of Rural Water and Wastewater Company of Tehran. Then DMF was investigated for local students and finally the obtained data were modeled in GIS. Results: The average of Fluoride concentration was 0.094 to 0.212 mg/L in summer and 0.137 to 3.48 mg/L in autumn. The DMF index was estimated around 5.46 for all evaluated students that the mentioned index was 7.635 and 3.29 for male and female pupils respectively which are statistically significant difference. Conclusion: The amounts of fluorine in drinking water supplies in rural Damavand villages are lower than the international water standards. According to the results of experiments and lack of fluorine ion in the villages of this town, required fluorine should be done by drinkable water fluoridation and continuities of implementation plan for fluoride ion among the schools until reaching the fluoride concentration to the standard threshold, Supplying required fluorine of body by mouth-wash materials for people of this region

Responses of plant available water and forest productivity to variably layered coarse textured soils

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Mingbin; Barbour, Lee; Elshorbagy, Amin; Si, Bing; Zettl, Julie

2010-05-01

Reforestation is a primary end use for reconstructed soils following oil sands mining in northern Alberta, Canada. Limited soil water conditions strongly restrict plant growth. Previous research has shown that layering of sandy soils can produce enhanced water availability for plant growth; however, the effect of gradation on these enhancements is not well defined. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of soil texture (gradation and layering) on plant available water and consequently on forest productivity for reclaimed coarse textured soils. A previously validated system dynamics (SD) model of soil moisture dynamics was coupled with ecophysiological and biogeochemical processes model, Biome-BGC-SD, to simulate forest dynamics for different soil profiles. These profiles included contrasting 50 cm textural layers of finer sand overlying coarser sand in which the sand layers had either a well graded or uniform soil texture. These profiles were compared to uniform profiles of the same sands. Three tree species of jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.), white spruce (Picea glauce Voss.), and trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) were simulated using a 50 year climatic data base from northern Alberta. Available water holding capacity (AWHC) was used to identify soil moisture regime, and leaf area index (LAI) and net primary production (NPP) were used as indices of forest productivity. Published physiological parameters were used in the Biome-BGC-SD model. Relative productivity was assessed by comparing model predictions to the measured above-ground biomass dynamics for the three tree species, and was then used to study the responses of forest leaf area index and potential productivity to AWHC on different soil profiles. Simulated results indicated soil layering could significantly increase AWHC in the 1-m profile for coarse textured soils. This enhanced AWHC could result in an increase in forest LAI and NPP. The increased extent varied with soil

Development of a water quality index based on a European ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2006-08-24

Aug 24, 2006 ... The mathematical equations to transform the actual concentration values ... The application of the new index was demonstrated at a sampling station on ..... Descriptive statistics of reservoir water quality data set. Variable. Unit.

Availability of water affects renewal of tissues in migratory blackcaps during stopover.

Science.gov (United States)

Mizrahy, Ortal; Bauchinger, Ulf; Aamidor, Sarah E; McWilliams, Scott R; Pinshow, Berry

2011-09-01

Migrating blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) were used to test the predictions that (1) the rebuilding of the digestive tract, as reflected by mass-specific consumption of food on the first 2-3 days of a stopover, is faster in birds with access to drinking water than in birds without, and (2) that adipose tissue and pectoral muscles grow faster and to a greater extent in birds with unlimited access to water. We simulated migratory stopover in two experiments. In Experiment I, each of 31 birds was randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups for 6 days. Along with mealworms (∼64% water) ad libitum, Group 1 received drinking water ad libitum; Group 2 had 0.5 h/day access to water; and Group 3 had no access to water. In Experiment II, 30 birds were offered a mixed diet for insectivorous birds (∼33% water) ad libitum for 6 days, while randomly assigned to two groups: (1) Water ad libitum-control; and (2) 30 min access to water twice a day. We measured lean mass and fat mass using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, as well as body mass (m(b)), pectoral muscle index (PMI), and daily intake of food and water. Mean daily water intake was significantly different among the groups in both experiments. However, the availability of drinking water positively affected the rates of gain of lean and fat mass only in birds fed with the mixed, relatively dry diet. Furthermore, mass-specific daily food intake was affected by the availability of drinking water only in the mixed diet experiment, in which birds with unlimited access to drinking water reached an asymptote, 1 day earlier than birds in the water-restricted group. We suggest that in birds consuming diets with low water content, the lack of sufficient drinking water may result in slower rebuilding of the digestive tract, or may influence biochemical processes in the gut that result in slower growth of tissue. Although blackcaps obtained sufficient water from preformed and metabolic water to renew lost tissues when

A water stress index based on water balance modelling for discrimination of grapevine quality and yield

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rémi Gaudin

2014-01-01

Significance and impact of the study: This water stress index is a valuable tool for explaining the variations in grape yield and quality among various locations and years because it reflects the vineyard water stress history in relation to rainfall regime and soil conditions. Improvement would come from the simulation of FTSW during winter, notably for soils of high Total Transpirable Soil Water. One potential application is the quantification of water stress change brought by irrigation in Mediterranean vineyards, and its relation to grapevine production.

Predicting and mapping soil available water capacity in Korea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suk Young Hong

2013-04-01

Full Text Available The knowledge on the spatial distribution of soil available water capacity at a regional or national extent is essential, as soil water capacity is a component of the water and energy balances in the terrestrial ecosystem. It controls the evapotranspiration rate, and has a major impact on climate. This paper demonstrates a protocol for mapping soil available water capacity in South Korea at a fine scale using data available from surveys. The procedures combined digital soil mapping technology with the available soil map of 1:25,000. We used the modal profile data from the Taxonomical Classification of Korean Soils. The data consist of profile description along with physical and chemical analysis for the modal profiles of the 380 soil series. However not all soil samples have measured bulk density and water content at −10 and −1500 kPa. Thus they need to be predicted using pedotransfer functions. Furthermore, water content at −10 kPa was measured using ground samples. Thus a correction factor is derived to take into account the effect of bulk density. Results showed that Andisols has the highest mean water storage capacity, followed by Entisols and Inceptisols which have loamy texture. The lowest water retention is Entisols which are dominated by sandy materials. Profile available water capacity to a depth of 1 m was calculated and mapped for Korea. The western part of the country shows higher available water capacity than the eastern part which is mountainous and has shallower soils. The highest water storage capacity soils are the Ultisols and Alfisols (mean of 206 and 205 mm, respectively. Validation of the maps showed promising results. The map produced can be used as an indication of soil physical quality of Korean soils.

The crop water stress index (CWSI) for drip irrigated cotton in a semi ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The crop water stress index (CWSI) for drip irrigated cotton in a semi-arid region of Turkey. ... Four irrigation treatments designated as full (I100) with no water stress and slight (DI70), moderate (DI50) and strong water ... from 32 Countries:.

Overview of total beta activity index and beta rest in surface waters of the Spanish rivers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pujol, L.; Payeras, J.; Pablo, M. A. de

2013-01-01

This work aims to give an overview of the index of total beta activity and the activity index beta rest in surface waters of the main Spanish rivers. These indices are a parameter over water quality that CEDEX comes determined by order of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment, in water policy. (Author)

Design of negative refractive index metamaterial with water droplets using 3D-printing

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Zhaoyang; Yang, Helin; Huang, Xiaojun; Yu, Zetai

2017-11-01

We numerically and experimentally demonstrate a negative refractive index (NRI) behavior in combined water droplets and photosensitive resin materials operating in the microwave regime. The NRI is achieved over a very wide frequency range in 10.27-15 GHz with bandwidth of 4.63 GHz. The simulated results approximately agree with the experimental results. The negative index band can be controlled by water droplet radius. The proposed metamaterial production process is simple and may have potential applications in broadband tunable devices.

Predicting and mapping soil available water capacity in Korea.

Science.gov (United States)

Hong, Suk Young; Minasny, Budiman; Han, Kyung Hwa; Kim, Yihyun; Lee, Kyungdo

2013-01-01

The knowledge on the spatial distribution of soil available water capacity at a regional or national extent is essential, as soil water capacity is a component of the water and energy balances in the terrestrial ecosystem. It controls the evapotranspiration rate, and has a major impact on climate. This paper demonstrates a protocol for mapping soil available water capacity in South Korea at a fine scale using data available from surveys. The procedures combined digital soil mapping technology with the available soil map of 1:25,000. We used the modal profile data from the Taxonomical Classification of Korean Soils. The data consist of profile description along with physical and chemical analysis for the modal profiles of the 380 soil series. However not all soil samples have measured bulk density and water content at -10 and -1500 kPa. Thus they need to be predicted using pedotransfer functions. Furthermore, water content at -10 kPa was measured using ground samples. Thus a correction factor is derived to take into account the effect of bulk density. Results showed that Andisols has the highest mean water storage capacity, followed by Entisols and Inceptisols which have loamy texture. The lowest water retention is Entisols which are dominated by sandy materials. Profile available water capacity to a depth of 1 m was calculated and mapped for Korea. The western part of the country shows higher available water capacity than the eastern part which is mountainous and has shallower soils. The highest water storage capacity soils are the Ultisols and Alfisols (mean of 206 and 205 mm, respectively). Validation of the maps showed promising results. The map produced can be used as an indication of soil physical quality of Korean soils.

Water quality assessment by pollution-index method in the coastal waters of Hebei Province in western Bohai Sea, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Shuguang; Lou, Sha; Kuang, Cuiping; Huang, Wenrui; Chen, Wujun; Zhang, Jianle; Zhong, Guihui

2011-10-01

Sources of pollution discharges and water quality samples at 27 stations in 2006 in the coastal waters of Hebei Province, western Bohai Sea, have been analyzed in this study. Pollutant loads from industrial sewages have shown stronger impact on the water environment than those from the general sewages. Analysis indicates that pollution of COD is mainly resulted from land-based point pollutant sources. For phosphate concentration, non-point source pollution from coastal ocean (fishing and harbor areas) plays an important role. To assess the water quality conditions, Organic Pollution Index and Eutrophication Index have been used to quantify the level of water pollution and eutrophication conditions. Results show that pollution was much heavier in the dry season than flood season in 2006. Based on COD and phosphate concentrations, results show that waters near Shahe River, Douhe River, Yanghe River, and Luanhe River were heavily polluted. Water quality in the Qinhuangdao area was better than those in the Tangshan and Cangzhou areas. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Creating a spatially-explicit index: a method for assessing the global wildfire-water risk

Science.gov (United States)

Robinne, François-Nicolas; Parisien, Marc-André; Flannigan, Mike; Miller, Carol; Bladon, Kevin D.

2017-04-01

The wildfire-water risk (WWR) has been defined as the potential for wildfires to adversely affect water resources that are important for downstream ecosystems and human water needs for adequate water quantity and quality, therefore compromising the security of their water supply. While tools and methods are numerous for watershed-scale risk analysis, the development of a toolbox for the large-scale evaluation of the wildfire risk to water security has only started recently. In order to provide managers and policy-makers with an adequate tool, we implemented a method for the spatial analysis of the global WWR based on the Driving forces-Pressures-States-Impacts-Responses (DPSIR) framework. This framework relies on the cause-and-effect relationships existing between the five categories of the DPSIR chain. As this approach heavily relies on data, we gathered an extensive set of spatial indicators relevant to fire-induced hydrological hazards and water consumption patterns by human and natural communities. When appropriate, we applied a hydrological routing function to our indicators in order to simulate downstream accumulation of potentially harmful material. Each indicator was then assigned a DPSIR category. We collapsed the information in each category using a principal component analysis in order to extract the most relevant pixel-based information provided by each spatial indicator. Finally, we compiled our five categories using an additive indexation process to produce a spatially-explicit index of the WWR. A thorough sensitivity analysis has been performed in order to understand the relationship between the final risk values and the spatial pattern of each category used during the indexation. For comparison purposes, we aggregated index scores by global hydrological regions, or hydrobelts, to get a sense of regional DPSIR specificities. This rather simple method does not necessitate the use of complex physical models and provides a scalable and efficient tool

A robust Multi-Band Water Index (MBWI) for automated extraction of surface water from Landsat 8 OLI imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xiaobiao; Xie, Shunping; Zhang, Xueliang; Chen, Cheng; Guo, Hao; Du, Jinkang; Duan, Zheng

2018-06-01

Surface water is vital resources for terrestrial life, while the rapid development of urbanization results in diverse changes in sizes, amounts, and quality of surface water. To accurately extract surface water from remote sensing imagery is very important for water environment conservations and water resource management. In this study, a new Multi-Band Water Index (MBWI) for Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) images is proposed by maximizing the spectral difference between water and non-water surfaces using pure pixels. Based on the MBWI map, the K-means cluster method is applied to automatically extract surface water. The performance of MBWI is validated and compared with six widely used water indices in 29 sites of China. Results show that our proposed MBWI performs best with the highest accuracy in 26 out of the 29 test sites. Compared with other water indices, the MBWI results in lower mean water total errors by a range of 9.31%-25.99%, and higher mean overall accuracies and kappa coefficients by 0.87%-3.73% and 0.06-0.18, respectively. It is also demonstrated for MBWI in terms of robustly discriminating surface water from confused backgrounds that are usually sources of surface water extraction errors, e.g., mountainous shadows and dark built-up areas. In addition, the new index is validated to be able to mitigate the seasonal and daily influences resulting from the variations of the solar condition. MBWI holds the potential to be a useful surface water extraction technology for water resource studies and applications.

Effect of water stress on total biomass, tuber yield, harvest index and water use efficiency in Jerusalem artichoke

Science.gov (United States)

The objectives of this study were to determine the effect of drought on tuber yield, total biomass, harvest index, water use efficiency of tuber yield (WUEt) and water use efficiency of biomass (WUEb), and to evaluate the differential responses of Jerusalem artichoke (JA) varieties under drought str...

Water Quality Index in the Vicinity of Pelepah Kanan Mine, Kota Tinggi, Johor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wan Mohd Razi Idris; Sahibin Abdul Rahim; Mohd Talib Latif; Zulfahmi Ali Rahman; Tukimat Lihan; Chong, L.Y.; Azman Hashim; Shahrinizam Mohd Yusuf

2009-01-01

This study was carried out to determine the water quality index at the Pelepah Kanan River, Kota Tinggi, Johor. Six stations were chosen from different part of the river from upstream to downstream to represent the water quality index along this river. Three replicates of samples were taken from each station. Samples were collected in two different seasons namely dry season (July) and rainy season (December) 2007. In-situ physico-chemical measurements included temperature, ph, dissolved oxygen and conductivity. Physico-chemical parameters determined in the laboratory were turbidity, total suspended solid (TSS), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N). According to the Interim National Water Quality Standards (INWQS), results showed that all sampling stations along the Pelepah Kanan River in July fall in Class I-II for physical and chemical parameters except for dissolved oxygen and pH which was in Class I-II. The results obtained in December also showed that all sampling stations fall in Class I for physical and chemical parameters except for pH which was in Class III. Correlation test showed that some physico- chemical parameters have significant correlation with each other. Water Quality Index (WQI) analysis showed that the mean WQI value for the month of July is 96.88 (Class I) while for December, the WQI value deteriorated to 84.03 (Class II). According to the calculated values of WQI and comparison with INWQS, the index of water quality in Pelepah Kanan River is in the clean category and is not affected by pollution neither anthropogenic activities nor natural pollution. (author)

Calibration of System Input Volume and Non-Revenue Water Index in Edo North, Nigeria

OpenAIRE

Philipa O. Idogho; Olotu Yahaya

2013-01-01

Water scarcity is a serious problem in developing world. It could be physical scarcity or economic water shortage. The output of physicsbased study conducted in Edo North, Nigeria revealed that physical water losses in the water distribution network have compounded the accessibility and affordability of safe drinking water. Water supply and loss variables such as Water Supply (WS) Physical Water Loss (WLρ) Apparent Water Loss (WLE) Water Loss Reduction Index (WLRI) and Av...

Water and land availability for energy farming. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schooley, F.A.; Mara, S.J.; Mendel, D.A.; Meagher, P.C.; So, E.C.

1979-10-01

The physical and economic availability of land and water resources for energy farming were determined. Ten water subbasins possessing favorable land and water availabilities were ranked according to their overall potential for biomass production. The study results clearly identify the Southeast as a favorable area for biomass farming. The Northwest and North-Central United States should also be considered on the basis of their highly favorable environmental characteristics. Both high and low estimates of water availability for 1985 and 2000 in each of 99 subbasins were prepared. Subbasins in which surface water consumption was more than 50% of surface water supply were eliminated from the land availability analysis, leaving 71 subbasins to be examined. The amount of acreage potentially available for biomass production in these subbasins was determined through a comparison of estimated average annual net returns developed for conventional agriculture and forestry with net returns for several biomass production options. In addition to a computerized method of ranking subbasins according to their overall potential for biomass production, a methodology for evaluating future energy farm locations was developed. This methodology included a general area selection procedure as well as specific site analysis recommendations. Thirty-five general factors and a five-step site-specific analysis procedure are described.

Heavy water handbook. Evaluation of presently available thermophysical properties of heavy water (D2O) liquid and vapour

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bukovsky, J.; Haack, K.

1994-08-01

Many publication on the thermophysical properties of heavy water (D 2 O) have appeared since D 2 O became commercially available in the 1930's. Some for the data contradict one another and this has led to confusion when information is needed on D 2 O thermophysical data. Correct thermophysical data must be consistent, i.e. their mutual dependence must be consistent with fundamental thermophysical laws. The work behind this publication has focused on collecting all available D 2 O data and checking them against these fundamental thermophysical criteria. Depending on the various production methods for D 2 O, its oxygen content is enriched more or less by the heavier oxygen isotopes 17 O and 18 O. This, together with the amount of impurities and dissolved gases in the D 2 O samples of the various references, might - to some extent - explain the discrepancies found between the data. Only a few references contain information on these subjects. The D 2 O data sets found to be the most reliable are presented in Chapter 9, in tables as well as in diagrams, together with the corresponding H 2 O data for comparison. Comments on the reliability of the diagrams are given where necessary. Furthermore, short descriptions are given of heavy water sources, availability, production processes, economy, material and energy requirements for the production process. Finally a comprehensive list of references and an author index are included. (au)

Assessment of water quality of the Tisa River (Vojvodina, North Serbia for ten year period using Serbian water quality index (SWQI

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leščešen Igor

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The WQI method is most frequently used in expert and scientific research and basically it provides a mechanism for cumulative representation, numeric expression and defining a certain level of water quality. This paper aims to assess water quality of the Tisa River in Vojvodina (North Serbia for the 2003 - 2012 period. Serbian Water Quality Index (SWQI was used for assessment of the river water quality. WQI is expressed as a single value ranging from 0 to 100 (best quality derived from numerous physical, chemical, biological and microbiological parameters. The results of SWQI for the Tisa River were mainly rated as good. Also, in this study it is noticed a clear decrease in water quality during warmer period of the year. Also, this study shows that water quality along the Tisa River decreases slightly but steadily down- stream, from Martonoš to Titel station and all along the length of the river provides values that according to SWQI descriptive quality indicator has been defined as good (72-83. The main problem of SWQI used in this paper is that it does not involve parameters of heavy metals concentration.

The water quality and Cultivant enrichment potency of pond based on saprobic index at north coastal waters of Central Java, Indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Hidayat, Jafron W.

2018-05-01

Central Java is one of many areas which has long coastline, especially in the Northern Coast of Java Island. Intertidal activities occurred at this area may affect the transport of material and energy from surroundings. Cultivation activity supplies many inputs, i.e. feeds, chemicals (vitamin and mineral), including pollutants from feces and unconsumed feeds that affects the environment. One of water management is done through bioremediation by using vegetative agents (soft rehabilitation), such as seaweed and mangrove stands. The implementation of soft rehabilitation is highly depend on the existing environmental conditions of the ponds and surrounding waters. Therefore, it is very important to identify the condition of those waters first. The purpose of this study is to identify the quality of waters in the north coast of Central Java. Besides, it is also to analyze the potency of enriching cultivated commodity (cultivant), as well as a soft remediation mechanism using seaweed. The study was conducted in the coastal areas of Central Java, mainly to the locations commonly practicing cultivation in the pond waters; namely Brebes, Pemalang, Semarang, Demak, Pati and Jepara. Data were taken by sampling at least at 3 different sites as repetition, included ponds, public irrigations and coastline waters. The water sample was taken as much as 30 lt and filtered using plankton net no 25. Biodiversity of Shannon-Wiener Index (H'), evenness index (e) and Saprobic Index were used to analyze the plankton data. Result showed that plankton diversity in Central Java coasts were varied generally between 10 – 28 species. The most widely found species were Oscillatoria sp, Rhizosolenia styliformes, Surirella sp and Lyngbia conferoides. The diversity index varied from 1.83 to 2.9 with the stability status were between small to medium. The saprobic index showed a value between 0.33 up to 2.27; which indicated very small up to lightly contaminated status. The biggest stability

Definition of Availability Index of Deformed Building Constructions Using the Finite - Element Analysis Package

Science.gov (United States)

Shutova, M. N.; Skibin, G. M.; Evtushenko, S. I.

2017-11-01

The paper is devoted to the problem of definition of availability index of deforming building construction in atypical cases. The authors revealed a real applicability of the finite-elements analyses package, such as ANSYS, for engineering testing calculations of building constructions and determination of the sites of increased stresses. It was determined that stresses increased up to 7.75 times in the sites with mechanical defects (for steel crane girder); also, the authors revealed the convergence of the calculation results between the finite element method and a usual decision using the strength of materials (in the limits 2-14% for steel truss frame). The equivalent stresses don’t exceed the maximum permissible tension for this type of steel. The building constructions have a limited availability index.

SeaDataNet network services monitoring: Definition and Implementation of Service availability index

Science.gov (United States)

Lykiardopoulos, Angelos; Mpalopoulou, Stavroula; Vavilis, Panagiotis; Pantazi, Maria; Iona, Sissy

2014-05-01

SeaDataNet (SDN) is a standardized system for managing large and diverse data sets collected by the oceanographic fleets and the automatic observation systems. The SeaDataNet network is constituted of national oceanographic data centres of 35 countries, active in data collection. SeaDataNetII project's objective is to upgrade the present SeaDataNet infrastructure into an operationally robust and state-of-the-art infrastructure; therefore Network Monitoring is a step to this direction. The term Network Monitoring describes the use of system that constantly monitors a computer network for slow or failing components and that notifies the network administrator in case of outages. Network monitoring is crucial when implementing widely distributed systems over the Internet and in real-time systems as it detects malfunctions that may occur and notifies the system administrator who can immediately respond and correct the problem. In the framework of SeaDataNet II project a monitoring system was developed in order to monitor the SeaDataNet components. The core system is based on Nagios software. Some plug-ins were developed to support SeaDataNet modules. On the top of Nagios Engine a web portal was developed in order to give access to local administrators of SeaDataNet components, to view detailed logs of their own service(s). Currently the system monitors 35 SeaDataNet Download Managers, 9 SeaDataNet Services, 25 GeoSeas Download Managers and 23 UBSS Download Managers . Taking advantage of the continuous monitoring of SeaDataNet system components a total availability index will be implemented. The term availability can be defined as the ability of a functional unit to be in a state to perform a required function under given conditions at a given instant of time or over a given time interval, assuming that the required external resources are provided. Availability measures can be considered as a are very important benefit becauseT - The availability trends that can be

Effect of readily available water deficit in soil on maize yield and evapotranspiration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pejić Borivoj

2010-01-01

Full Text Available An investigation was carried out at Rimski Šančevi experiment field of Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, Novi Sad on calcareous chernozem soil on the loess terrace, in the period 2000-2007, and included irrigated variant (T1 and non-irrigated i.e. control variant (T0. NS-640, maize hybrid from the FAO maturity group 600, was analyzed. Readily available soil water deficit (RASWD in the layer of 60 cm in the course of growing season and actual evapotranspiration (ETa were calculated by the water balance method. Water consumption for potential evapotranspiration (ETm in individual months and the growing season were calculated by the bioclimatic procedure, using hydrophytothermic indexes. The correlation analysis revealed highly significant dependences of maize yield (Y on RASWD (r = -0.941 and the amount of precipitation (P in August (r = 0.931. Statistically significant dependence was also found between Y and RASWD (r = -0.765 and P (r = 0.768 in July and August. The obtained results indicate that maize production in Vojvodina under the rainfed conditions is unreliable, and that it is correlated with weather conditions, especially with the amount and distribution of precipitation. The statistically significant correlation obtained between Y and ETa (r = 0.755 confirms that water supply is the basic prerequisite which allows the other production factors to be realized. Significantly higher maize yields in the T1 variant (13.517 t ha-1 in relation to the T0 variant (11.210 t ha-1 indicate clearly that under the climatic conditions of Vojvodina high and stable yields of maize can be achieved only in irrigation. .

Calibration of System Input Volume and Non-Revenue Water Index in Edo North, Nigeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Philipa O. Idogho

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Water scarcity is a serious problem in developing world. It could be physical scarcity or economic water shortage. The output of physicsbased study conducted in Edo North, Nigeria revealed that physical water losses in the water distribution network have compounded the accessibility and affordability of safe drinking water. Water supply and loss variables such as Water Supply (WS Physical Water Loss (WLρ Apparent Water Loss (WLE Water Loss Reduction Index (WLRI and Available Water (AW were mathematically modeled to produce realistic and efficient water loss management and improve water revenue. The result of the modeling iterations show that the average physical and apparent losses of 4,000m 3 and 2,700m 3 of (WLρ and (WLE correspond to 13,200m 3 , 6,400m 3 and 0.5 of WS/SIV, AW and WLRI in 2007. Strong indication exists between the WLRI for both physical and apparent losses with the coefficient of determination R 2=0.83 and 0.99 respectively. This relationship shows that more water is being lost through real loss with average total of 59.2% and 40.8% of apparent losses. However, a reduction of Total Non-Revenue Water (TNRW from 50.7% to 10.6% was recorded between 2007 to 2011. This reduction led to a total increase of 4,400m 3 of Revenue Water, decrease in Non-Revenue Water reduction cost from 36% in 2007 to 7% in 2011 and saving of US$17,400 which could be used to provide health facility for malaria treatment for 14,500 people on daily basis. Water efficiency, and particularly drinking water loss, is a serious issue which has significant financial and economic depression; awareness in this respect is totally unrecognized by both individual and governmental sector. Generally, long-term strategies towards the reduction of water losses should continue to be sustained by Edo State government, donor agencies and some private sectors in the area of water supply in order to support the fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goals, control of

Development of a soil water dispersion index (SOWADIN) for testing the effectiveness of a soil-wetting agent

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sawada, Y.; Aylmore, L.A.G.; Hainsworth, J.M.

1989-01-01

Computer-assisted tomography (CAT) applied to gamma-ray attenuation measurement has been used to develop an index termed the soil water dispersion index (SOWADIN), which describes quantitatively the amount and distribution of water in soil columns. The index, which is determined by classifying pixels in a scanned slice into three categories according to their attenuation coefficients, contains two numerical values. The first value corresponds to the water content of the scanned slice and the second value is a measure of the dispersion of the water throughout the slice. Artificially wetted zones were created in soil columns to give one-third of the scanned layer wetted with various patterns of wetted-area distribution. The SOWADIN values obtained accurately reflected the differences in water distribution associated with the different patterns. Application of SOWADIN to columns of a water-repellent sand before and after treatment with a soil-wetting agent clearly illustrates both the increase in water content and improvement in water distribution in the soil column following treatment. 33 refs., 3 figs., 2 tabs

Assessment of water availability in Chindwinn catchment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Phyu Oo Khin; Ohn Gyaw

2001-01-01

A study of water balance over Chindwinn Catchment has been carried out by using three decades of available climatological and hydrological data (i.e. from 1967). The study was based on the monthly, annual and normal values. Actual evapotranspiration (AET) computed by as well as on the using Penman (1963) as well as Hargreaves (1985) methods. Some of the reliable data of evaporation at the stations were also used to estimate actual evaporation with the pancoefficient value 0.7. The values of actual evapotranspiration estimated by Hargreaves method was lower than the values estimated by Penman, but most followed the same significant trend. The soil moisture deficiency generally occurs during November and April. A few cases of soil moisture deficiency do occur in August, September and October. However, on the overall availability of water in the catchment is quite promising. The residual resulted from the water balance estimation may be assumed as soil moisture in the catchment by neglecting some losses from the catchment. (author)

78 FR 27233 - Clean Water Act: Availability of List Decisions

Science.gov (United States)

2013-05-09

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9811-4] Clean Water Act: Availability of List Decisions AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Notice of availability. SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of EPA's action identifying water quality limited segments and associated...

Determination of the refractive index of glucose-ethanol-water mixtures using spectroscopic refractometry near the critical angle.

Science.gov (United States)

Sobral, H; Peña-Gomar, M

2015-10-01

A spectroscopic refractometer was used to investigate the dispersion curves of ethanol and D-glucose solutions in water near the critical angle; here, the reflectivity was measured using a white source. Dispersion curves were obtained in the 320-1000 nm wavelength range with a resolution better than 10(-4) for the refractive index, n. The differential refractive index is measured as a function of wavelength, and a simple expression is proposed to obtain the refractive index of the glucose-ethanol-water ternary system. Using this expression, combined with the experimental differential refractive index values, the concentrations of individual components can be calculated.

An improved water budget for the El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico, as determined by the Water Supply Stress Index Model

Science.gov (United States)

Liangxia Zhang; Ge Sun; Erika Cohen; Steven McNulty; Peter Caldwell; Suzanne Krieger; Jason Christian; Decheng Zhou; Kai Duan; Keren J. Cepero-Pérez

2018-01-01

Quantifying the forest water budget is fundamental to making science-based forest management decisions. This study aimed at developing an improved water budget for the El Yunque National Forest (ENF) in Puerto Rico, one of the wettest forests in the United States. We modified an existing monthly scale water balance model, Water Supply Stress Index (WaSSI), to reflect...

Availability of Water in the Kabul Basin, Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Mack, Thomas J.; Chornack, Michael P.; Coplen, T.B.; Plummer, Niel; Rezai, M.T.; Verstraeten, Ingrid M.

2010-01-01

The availability of water resources is vital to the social and economic well being and rebuilding of Afghanistan. Kabul City currently (2010) has a population of nearly 4 million and is growing rapidly as a result of periods of relative security and the return of refugees. Population growth and recent droughts have placed new stresses on the city's limited water resources and have caused many wells to become contaminated, dry, or inoperable in recent years. The projected vulnerability of Central and West Asia to climate change (Cruz and others, 2007; Milly and others, 2005) and observations of diminishing glaciers in Afghanistan (Molnia, 2009) have heightened concerns for future water availability in the Kabul Basin of Afghanistan.

Plant-available soil water capacity: estimation methods and implications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bruno Montoani Silva

2014-04-01

Full Text Available The plant-available water capacity of the soil is defined as the water content between field capacity and wilting point, and has wide practical application in planning the land use. In a representative profile of the Cerrado Oxisol, methods for estimating the wilting point were studied and compared, using a WP4-T psychrometer and Richards chamber for undisturbed and disturbed samples. In addition, the field capacity was estimated by the water content at 6, 10, 33 kPa and by the inflection point of the water retention curve, calculated by the van Genuchten and cubic polynomial models. We found that the field capacity moisture determined at the inflection point was higher than by the other methods, and that even at the inflection point the estimates differed, according to the model used. By the WP4-T psychrometer, the water content was significantly lower found the estimate of the permanent wilting point. We concluded that the estimation of the available water holding capacity is markedly influenced by the estimation methods, which has to be taken into consideration because of the practical importance of this parameter.

Relationships demand-supply of water and the rate of water shortage as tools for evaluating water resources in Colombia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dominguez Calle, Efrain Antonio; Gonzalo Rivera, Hebert; Vanegas, Sarmiento Raquel; Moreno, Pedro

2008-01-01

This paper shows updated results about Colombian water resources and their requirements by the economic sectors. Water demand water availability relationship is used as a pressure index on water resources. This relationship is expressed through the water scarcity index, which applies constraints over water availability; due to the runoff temporal variability and to the low levels of water during the dry season each year and for each geographic region to characterize average and low runoff years. Different water availability scenarios were building. One for modal runoff values and another for 95 percents for 2025 also were prepared. To the results call our attention to problems caused by the concentration of high density settlements and the presence of economics sectors in regions with low water availability. The infrastructure lag for management of a scarce high variable and over pressured resources emerges as a key factor to avoid a looming crisis in the process of water management

Performance of biotic indices in comparison to chemical-based Water Quality Index (WQI) in evaluating the water quality of urban river.

Science.gov (United States)

Wan Abdul Ghani, Wan Mohd Hafezul; Abas Kutty, Ahmad; Mahazar, Mohd Akmal; Al-Shami, Salman Abdo; Ab Hamid, Suhaila

2018-04-19

In order to evaluate the water quality of one of the most polluted urban river in Malaysia, the Penchala River, performance of eight biotic indices, Biomonitoring Working Party (BMWP), BMWP Thai , BMWP Viet , Average Score Per Taxon (ASPT), ASPT Thai , BMWP Viet , Family Biotic Index (FBI), and Singapore Biotic Index (SingScore), was compared. The water quality categorization based on these biotic indices was then compared with the categorization of Malaysian Water Quality Index (WQI) derived from measurements of six water physicochemical parameters (pH, BOD, COD, NH 3 -N, DO, and TSS). The river was divided into four sections: upstream section (recreational area), middle stream 1 (residential area), middle stream 2 (commercial area), and downstream. Abundance and diversity of the macroinvertebrates were the highest in the upstream section (407 individual and H' = 1.56, respectively), followed by the middle stream 1 (356 individual and H' = 0.82). The least abundance was recorded in the downstream section (214 individual). Among all biotic indices, BMWP was the most reliable in evaluating the water quality of this urban river as their classifications were comparable to the WQI. BMWPs in this study have strong relationships with dissolved oxygen (DO) content. Our results demonstrated that the biotic indices were more sensitive towards organic pollution than the WQI. BMWP indices especially BMWP Viet were the most reliable and could be adopted along with the WQI for assessment of water quality in urban rivers.

Water availability and trachoma.

Science.gov (United States)

West, S; Lynch, M; Turner, V; Munoz, B; Rapoza, P; Mmbaga, B B; Taylor, H R

1989-01-01

As part of an epidemiological survey of risk factors for trachoma in 20 villages in the United Republic of Tanzania, we investigated the relationship of village water pumps, distance to water source, and quantity of household water to the risk of inflammatory trachoma. We also evaluated whether there was an association between the cleanliness of children's faces and these water variables. No association was found between the presence of a village water supply and the prevalence of trachoma. However, the risk of trachoma in the household increased with the distance to a water source--although there was no association with the estimated daily amount of water brought into the house. Likewise, children were more likely to have unclean faces if they lived more than 30 minutes from a water source, but whether they had clean faces was not associated with the daily quantity of water brought into the household. The effect of the distance to water supply on trachoma may well reflect the value placed on water within the family, and this determines the priority for its use for hygiene purposes. The results of the study suggest that changing the access to water per se may be insufficient to alter the prevalence of trachoma without also a concomitant effort to change the perception of how water should be utilized in the home.

An evaluation index system of water security in China based on macroeconomic data from 2000 to 2012

Science.gov (United States)

Li, X. S.; Peng, Z. Y.; Li, T. T.

2016-08-01

This paper establishes an evaluation index system of water security. The index system employs 5 subsystems (water circulation security, water environment security, water ecology security, water society security and water economy security) and has 39 indicators. Using the AHP method, each indicator is given a relative weight to integrate within the whole system. With macroeconomic data from 2000 to 2012, a model of water security evaluation is applied to assess the state of water security in China. The results show an improving trend in the overall state of China's water security. In particular, the cycle of water security is at a high and low fluctuation. Water environment security presents an upward trend on the whole; however, this trend is unsteady and has shown a descending tendency in some years. Yet, water ecology security, water society security, and water economy security are basically on the rise. However, the degree of coordination of China's water security system remains in need of consolidation.

Assessing the effects of adaptation measures on optimal water resources allocation under varied water availability conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Dedi; Guo, Shenglian; Shao, Quanxi; Liu, Pan; Xiong, Lihua; Wang, Le; Hong, Xingjun; Xu, Yao; Wang, Zhaoli

2018-01-01

Human activities and climate change have altered the spatial and temporal distribution of water availability which is a principal prerequisite for allocation of different water resources. In order to quantify the impacts of climate change and human activities on water availability and optimal allocation of water resources, hydrological models and optimal water resource allocation models should be integrated. Given that increasing human water demand and varying water availability conditions necessitate adaptation measures, we propose a framework to assess the effects of these measures on optimal allocation of water resources. The proposed model and framework were applied to a case study of the middle and lower reaches of the Hanjiang River Basin in China. Two representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenarios (RCP2.6 and RCP4.5) were employed to project future climate, and the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) hydrological model was used to simulate the variability of flows under historical (1956-2011) and future (2012-2099) conditions. The water availability determined by simulating flow with the VIC hydrological model was used to establish the optimal water resources allocation model. The allocation results were derived under an extremely dry year (with an annual average water flow frequency of 95%), a very dry year (with an annual average water flow frequency of 90%), a dry year (with an annual average water flow frequency of 75%), and a normal year (with an annual average water flow frequency of 50%) during historical and future periods. The results show that the total available water resources in the study area and the inflow of the Danjiangkou Reservoir will increase in the future. However, the uneven distribution of water availability will cause water shortage problems, especially in the boundary areas. The effects of adaptation measures, including water saving, and dynamic control of flood limiting water levels (FLWLs) for reservoir operation, were

Silicate fertilization of tropical soils: silicon availability and recovery index of sugarcane

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mônica Sartori de Camargo

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Sugarcane is considered a Si-accumulating plant, but in Brazil, where several soil types are used for cultivation, there is little information about silicon (Si fertilization. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the silicon availability, uptake and recovery index of Si from the applied silicate on tropical soils with and without silicate fertilization, in three crops. The experiments in pots (100 L were performed with specific Si rates (0, 185, 370 and 555 kg ha-1 Si, three soils (Quartzipsamment-Q, 6 % clay; Rhodic Hapludox-RH, 22 % clay; and Rhodic Acrudox-RA, 68 % clay, with four replications. The silicon source was Ca-Mg silicate. The same Ca and Mg quantities were applied to all pots, with lime and/or MgCl2, when necessary. Sugarcane was harvested in the plant cane and first- and second-ratoon crops. The silicon rates increased soil Si availability and Si uptake by sugarcane and had a strong residual effect. The contents of soluble Si were reduced by harvesting and increased with silicate application in the following decreasing order: Q>RH>RA. The silicate rates promoted an increase in soluble Si-acetic acid at harvest for all crops and in all soils, except RA. The amounts of Si-CaCl2 were not influenced by silicate in the ratoon crops. The plant Si uptake increased according to the Si rates and was highest in RA at all harvests. The recovery index of applied Si (RI of sugarcane increased over time, and was highest in RA.

Optimising the weighting of the water retention index using sensitivity analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Becker, William; Vandecasteele, Ine

2015-04-01

A robust composite indicator was developed to assess the capacity of the landscape to regulate and retain water passing through it at Pan-European scale. The "Water Retention Index" (WRI) takes into account the role of interception by vegetation, the water-holding capacity of the soil, and the relative capacity of the bedrock to allow percolation of water, as well as the influence of soil sealing and slope gradient. A delicate issue in composite indicators is however the relative weighting of each variable used in the indicator - strong correlations and skewness are known to cause unequal influence of the input variables, even though the weighting coefficients are equal (Paruolo et al, 2013). To understand the effects of the weightings in the WRI, penalised splines were used to calculate the first order sensitivity index of each variable used in the construction of the WRI, allowing the true influence of each input to be determined. Furthermore, the weighting coefficients were optimised using an iterative nonlinear algorithm to find the coefficients which resulted in the most equal influence of each input to the indicator. In principle, this approach can be used to improve the weighting of many different kinds of composite indicator, the results of which are often used as the basis for important policy decisions at the European level. Paruolo, Paolo, Michaela Saisana, and Andrea Saltelli. "Ratings and rankings: voodoo or science?." Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society) 176.3 (2013): 609-634.

An Overall Water Quality Index (WQI for a Man-Made Aquatic Reservoir in Mexico

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hector Rubio-Arias

2012-05-01

Full Text Available A Water Quality Index (WQI is a useful statistical tool for simplifying, reporting and interpreting complex information obtained from any body of water. A simple number given by any WQI model explains the level of water contamination. The objective was to develop a WQI for the water of the Luis L. Leon dam located in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. Monthly water samples were obtained in 2009; January 10, February 12, March 8, May 20, June 10, July 9, August 12, September 10, October 11, November 15 and December 13. Ten sampling sites were randomly selected after dividing the study area using a geographic package. In each site, two samples at the top depth of 0.20 m and 1.0 m were obtained to quantify physical-chemical parameters. The following 11 parameters were considered to calculate the WQI; pH, Electrical Conductivity (EC, Dissolved Oxygen (DO, color, turbidity, ammonia nitrogen, fluorides, chlorides, sulfates, Total Solids (TS and phosphorous (P. The data analysis involved two steps; a single analysis for each parameter and the WQI calculation. The resulted WQI value classified the water quality according to the following ranges: 2.8 excellent water. The results showed that the WQI values changed from low levels (WQI < 2.3 in some points during autumn time to high levels (WQI > 2.8 most of the year and the variation was due to time of sampling generally rainy season.

A Framework Predicting Water Availability in a Rapidly Growing, Semi-Arid Region under Future Climate Change

Science.gov (United States)

Han, B.; Benner, S. G.; Glenn, N. F.; Lindquist, E.; Dahal, K. R.; Bolte, J.; Vache, K. B.; Flores, A. N.

2014-12-01

Climate change can lead to dramatic variations in hydrologic regime, affecting both surface water and groundwater supply. This effect is most significant in populated semi-arid regions where water availability are highly sensitive to climate-induced outcomes. However, predicting water availability at regional scales, while resolving some of the key internal variability and structure in semi-arid regions is difficult due to the highly non-linearity relationship between rainfall and runoff. In this study, we describe the development of a modeling framework to evaluate future water availability that captures elements of the coupled response of the biophysical system to climate change and human systems. The framework is built under the Envision multi-agent simulation tool, characterizing the spatial patterns of water demand in the semi-arid Treasure Valley area of Southwest Idaho - a rapidly developing socio-ecological system where urban growth is displacing agricultural production. The semi-conceptual HBV model, a population growth and allocation model (Target), a vegetation state and transition model (SSTM), and a statistically based fire disturbance model (SpatialAllocator) are integrated to simulate hydrology, population and land use. Six alternative scenarios are composed by combining two climate change scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) with three population growth and allocation scenarios (Status Quo, Managed Growth, and Unconstrained Growth). Five-year calibration and validation performances are assessed with Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency. Irrigation activities are simulated using local water rights. Results show that in all scenarios, annual mean stream flow decreases as the projected rainfall increases because the projected warmer climate also enhances water losses to evapotranspiration. Seasonal maximum stream flow tends to occur earlier than in current conditions due to the earlier peak of snow melting. The aridity index and water deficit generally increase in the

Water availability and trachoma.

OpenAIRE

West, S.; Lynch, M.; Turner, V.; Munoz, B.; Rapoza, P.; Mmbaga, B. B.; Taylor, H. R.

1989-01-01

As part of an epidemiological survey of risk factors for trachoma in 20 villages in the United Republic of Tanzania, we investigated the relationship of village water pumps, distance to water source, and quantity of household water to the risk of inflammatory trachoma. We also evaluated whether there was an association between the cleanliness of children's faces and these water variables. No association was found between the presence of a village water supply and the prevalence of trachoma. H...

Assessing water availability over peninsular Malaysia using public domain satellite data products

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ali, M I; Hashim, M; Zin, H S M

2014-01-01

Water availability monitoring is an essential task for water resource sustainability and security. In this paper, the assessment of satellite remote sensing technique for determining water availability is reported. The water-balance analysis is used to compute the spatio-temporal water availability with main inputs; the precipitation and actual evapotranspiration rate (AET), both fully derived from public-domain satellite products of Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) and MODIS, respectively. Both these satellite products were first subjected to calibration to suit corresponding selected local precipitation and AET samples. Multi-temporal data sets acquired 2000-2010 were used in this study. The results of study, indicated strong agreement of monthly water availability with the basin flow rate (r 2 = 0.5, p < 0.001). Similar agreements were also noted between the estimated annual average water availability with the in-situ measurement. It is therefore concluded that the method devised in this study provide a new alternative for water availability mapping over large area, hence offers the only timely and cost-effective method apart from providing comprehensive spatio-temporal patterns, crucial in water resource planning to ensure water security

Water Availability of São Francisco River Basin Based on a Space-Borne Geodetic Sensor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tengke Sun

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Brazil has recently experienced one of its worst droughts in the last 80 years, with wide-ranging consequences for water supply restrictions, energy rationing, and agricultural losses. Northeast and Southeast Brazil, which share the São Francisco River basin (SFRB, have experienced serious precipitation reduction since 2011. We used terrestrial water-storage (TWS fields, inverted from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE mission measurements, to assess and quantify the ongoing drought over the SFRB. We found a water loss rate of 3.30 km3/year over the time-span of April 2002 to March 2015. In addition, the TWS drought index (TWSDI showed the extension of the recent drought that has jeopardized the SFRB since January 2012, and which reached its maximum in July 2015 (the end of TWS time series. In this sense there seems to be a linkage between the TWSDI (wetness/dryness and the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO, in terms of the wavelet coherence, at the semi-annual and biennial bands, suggesting a relationship between the two. While acknowledging that further investigation is needed, we believe that our findings should contribute to the water management policies by quantifying the impact of this drought event over the SFRB.

Large Scale Evapotranspiration Estimates: An Important Component in Regional Water Balances to Assess Water Availability

Science.gov (United States)

Garatuza-Payan, J.; Yepez, E. A.; Watts, C.; Rodriguez, J. C.; Valdez-Torres, L. C.; Robles-Morua, A.

2013-05-01

Water security, can be defined as the reliable supply in quantity and quality of water to help sustain future populations and maintaining ecosystem health and productivity. Water security is rapidly declining in many parts of the world due to population growth, drought, climate change, salinity, pollution, land use change, over-allocation and over-utilization, among other issues. Governmental offices (such as the Comision Nacional del Agua in Mexico, CONAGUA) require and conduct studies to estimate reliable water balances at regional or continental scales in order to provide reasonable assessments of the amount of water that can be provided (from surface or ground water sources) to supply all the human needs while maintaining natural vegetation, on an operational basis and, more important, under disturbances, such as droughts. Large scale estimates of evapotranspiration (ET), a critical component of the water cycle, are needed for a better comprehension of the hydrological cycle at large scales, which, in most water balances is left as the residual. For operational purposes, such water balance estimates can not rely on ET measurements since they do not exist, should be simple and require the least ground information possible, information that is often scarce or does not exist at all. Given this limitation, the use of remotely sensed data to estimate ET could supplement the lack of ground information, particularly in remote regions In this study, a simple method, based on the Makkink equation is used to estimate ET for large areas at high spatial resolutions (1 km). The Makkink model used here is forced using three remotely sensed datasets. First, the model uses solar radiation estimates obtained from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES); Second, the model uses an Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) obtained from the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) normalized to get an estimate for vegetation amount and land use which was

Water-scarcity patterns : spatiotemporal interdependencies between water use and water availability in a semi-arid river basin

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Oel, P.R.

2009-01-01

This thesis addresses the interdependencies between water use and water availability and describes a model that has been developed to improve understanding of the processes that drive changes and variations in the spatial and temporal distribution of water resources in a semi-arid river basin. These

Modeling temporal and large-scale spatial variability of soil respiration from soil water availability, temperature and vegetation productivity indices

Science.gov (United States)

Reichstein, Markus; Rey, Ana; Freibauer, Annette; Tenhunen, John; Valentini, Riccardo; Banza, Joao; Casals, Pere; Cheng, Yufu; Grünzweig, Jose M.; Irvine, James; Joffre, Richard; Law, Beverly E.; Loustau, Denis; Miglietta, Franco; Oechel, Walter; Ourcival, Jean-Marc; Pereira, Joao S.; Peressotti, Alessandro; Ponti, Francesca; Qi, Ye; Rambal, Serge; Rayment, Mark; Romanya, Joan; Rossi, Federica; Tedeschi, Vanessa; Tirone, Giampiero; Xu, Ming; Yakir, Dan

2003-12-01

Field-chamber measurements of soil respiration from 17 different forest and shrubland sites in Europe and North America were summarized and analyzed with the goal to develop a model describing seasonal, interannual and spatial variability of soil respiration as affected by water availability, temperature, and site properties. The analysis was performed at a daily and at a monthly time step. With the daily time step, the relative soil water content in the upper soil layer expressed as a fraction of field capacity was a good predictor of soil respiration at all sites. Among the site variables tested, those related to site productivity (e.g., leaf area index) correlated significantly with soil respiration, while carbon pool variables like standing biomass or the litter and soil carbon stocks did not show a clear relationship with soil respiration. Furthermore, it was evidenced that the effect of precipitation on soil respiration stretched beyond its direct effect via soil moisture. A general statistical nonlinear regression model was developed to describe soil respiration as dependent on soil temperature, soil water content, and site-specific maximum leaf area index. The model explained nearly two thirds of the temporal and intersite variability of soil respiration with a mean absolute error of 0.82 μmol m-2 s-1. The parameterized model exhibits the following principal properties: (1) At a relative amount of upper-layer soil water of 16% of field capacity, half-maximal soil respiration rates are reached. (2) The apparent temperature sensitivity of soil respiration measured as Q10 varies between 1 and 5 depending on soil temperature and water content. (3) Soil respiration under reference moisture and temperature conditions is linearly related to maximum site leaf area index. At a monthly timescale, we employed the approach by [2002] that used monthly precipitation and air temperature to globally predict soil respiration (T&P model). While this model was able to

Modelling temporal and large-scale spatial variability of soil respiration from soil water availability, temperature and vegetation productivity indices

Science.gov (United States)

Reichstein, M.; Rey, A.; Freibauer, A.; Tenhunen, J.; Valentini, R.; Soil Respiration Synthesis Team

2003-04-01

Field-chamber measurements of soil respiration from 17 different forest and shrubland sites in Europe and North America were summarized and analyzed with the goal to develop a model describing seasonal, inter-annual and spatial variability of soil respiration as affected by water availability, temperature and site properties. The analysis was performed at a daily and at a monthly time step. With the daily time step, the relative soil water content in the upper soil layer expressed as a fraction of field capacity was a good predictor of soil respiration at all sites. Among the site variables tested, those related to site productivity (e.g. leaf area index) correlated significantly with soil respiration, while carbon pool variables like standing biomass or the litter and soil carbon stocks did not show a clear relationship with soil respiration. Furthermore, it was evidenced that the effect of precipitation on soil respiration stretched beyond its direct effect via soil moisture. A general statistical non-linear regression model was developed to describe soil respiration as dependent on soil temperature, soil water content and site-specific maximum leaf area index. The model explained nearly two thirds of the temporal and inter-site variability of soil respiration with a mean absolute error of 0.82 µmol m-2 s-1. The parameterised model exhibits the following principal properties: 1) At a relative amount of upper-layer soil water of 16% of field capacity half-maximal soil respiration rates are reached. 2) The apparent temperature sensitivity of soil respiration measured as Q10 varies between 1 and 5 depending on soil temperature and water content. 3) Soil respiration under reference moisture and temperature conditions is linearly related to maximum site leaf area index. At a monthly time-scale we employed the approach by Raich et al. (2002, Global Change Biol. 8, 800-812) that used monthly precipitation and air temperature to globally predict soil respiration (T

Mapping water availability, projected use and cost in the western United States

Science.gov (United States)

Tidwell, Vincent C.; Moreland, Barbara D.; Zemlick, Katie M.; Roberts, Barry L.; Passell, Howard D.; Jensen, Daniel; Forsgren, Christopher; Sehlke, Gerald; Cook, Margaret A.; King, Carey W.; Larsen, Sara

2014-05-01

New demands for water can be satisfied through a variety of source options. In some basins surface and/or groundwater may be available through permitting with the state water management agency (termed unappropriated water), alternatively water might be purchased and transferred out of its current use to another (termed appropriated water), or non-traditional water sources can be captured and treated (e.g., wastewater). The relative availability and cost of each source are key factors in the development decision. Unfortunately, these measures are location dependent with no consistent or comparable set of data available for evaluating competing water sources. With the help of western water managers, water availability was mapped for over 1200 watersheds throughout the western US. Five water sources were individually examined, including unappropriated surface water, unappropriated groundwater, appropriated water, municipal wastewater and brackish groundwater. Also mapped was projected change in consumptive water use from 2010 to 2030. Associated costs to acquire, convey and treat the water, as necessary, for each of the five sources were estimated. These metrics were developed to support regional water planning and policy analysis with initial application to electric transmission planning in the western US.

77 FR 54909 - Clean Water Act: Availability of List Decisions

Science.gov (United States)

2012-09-06

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9724-6] Clean Water Act: Availability of List Decisions... notice announces EPA's decision to identify certain water quality limited waters and the associated pollutant to be listed pursuant to the Clean Water Act Section 303(d)(2) on New York's list of impaired...

Reduction of Turbidity of Water Using Locally Available Natural Coagulants

Science.gov (United States)

Asrafuzzaman, Md.; Fakhruddin, A. N. M.; Hossain, Md. Alamgir

2011-01-01

Turbidity imparts a great problem in water treatment. Moringa oleifera, Cicer arietinum, and Dolichos lablab were used as locally available natural coagulants in this study to reduce turbidity of synthetic water. The tests were carried out, using artificial turbid water with conventional jar test apparatus. Optimum mixing intensity and duration were determined. After dosing water-soluble extracts of Moringa oleifera, Cicer arietinum, and Dolichos lablab reduced turbidity to 5.9, 3.9, and 11.1 nephelometric turbidity unit (NTU), respectively, from 100 NTU and 5, 3.3, and 9.5, NTU, respectively, after dosing and filtration. Natural coagulants worked better with high, turbid, water compare to medium, or low, turbid, water. Highest turbidity reduction efficiency (95.89%) was found with Cicer arietinum. About 89 to 96% total coliform reduction were also found with natural coagulant treatment of turbid water. Using locally available natural coagulants, suitable, easier, and environment friendly options for water treatment were observed. PMID:23724307

Multilayer geospatial analysis of water availability for shale resources development in Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Galdeano, C.; Cook, M. A.; Webber, M. E.

2017-08-01

Mexico’s government enacted an energy reform in 2013 that aims to foster competitiveness and private investment throughout the energy sector value chain. As part of this reform, it is expected that extraction of oil and gas via hydraulic fracturing will increase in five shale basins (e.g. Burgos, Sabinas, Tampico, Tuxpan, and Veracruz). Because hydraulic fracturing is a water-intensive activity, it is relevant to assess the potential water availability for this activity in Mexico. This research aims to quantify the water availability for hydraulic fracturing in Mexico and identify its spatial distribution along the five shale basins. The methodology consisted of a multilayer geospatial analysis that overlays the water availability in the watersheds and aquifers with the different types of shale resources areas (e.g. oil and associated gas, wet gas and condensate, and dry gas) in the five shale basins. The aquifers and watersheds in Mexico are classified in four zones depending on average annual water availability. Three scenarios were examined based on different impact level on watersheds and aquifers from hydraulic fracturing. For the most conservative scenario analyzed, the results showed that the water available could be used to extract between 8.15 and 70.42 Quadrillion British thermal units (Quads) of energy in the typical 20-30 year lifetime of the hydraulic fracturing wells that could be supplied with the annual water availability overlaying the shale areas, with an average across estimates of around 18.05 Quads. However, geographic variation in water availability could represent a challenge for extracting the shale reserves. Most of the water available is located closer to the Gulf of Mexico, but the areas with the larger recoverable shale reserves coincide with less water availability in Northern Mexico. New water management techniques (such as recycling and re-use), more efficient fracturing methods, shifts in usage patterns, or other water sources need

77 FR 76303 - Notice of Availability of Producer Price Index (PPI) Data Users Survey

Science.gov (United States)

2012-12-27

...) Data Users Survey AGENCY: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Labor. ACTION: Notice of availability of survey... Index (PPI) data users. The survey is necessary to: Identify PPI data users, see how they use our data... conducted a survey of PPI data users in late 1976 through early 1977. Since that time, numerous new time...

A novel infrastructure modularity index for the segmentation of water distribution networks

Science.gov (United States)

Giustolisi, O.; Ridolfi, L.

2014-10-01

The search for suitable segmentations is a challenging and urgent issue for the analysis, planning and management of complex water distribution networks (WDNs). In fact, complex and large size hydraulic systems require the division into modules in order to simplify the analysis and the management tasks. In the complex network theory, modularity index has been proposed as a measure of the strength of the network division into modules and its maximization is used in order to identify community of nodes (i.e., modules) which are characterized by strong interconnections. Nevertheless, modularity index needs to be revised considering the specificity of the hydraulic systems as infrastructure systems. To this aim, the classic modularity index has been recently modified and tailored for WDNs. Nevertheless, the WDN-oriented modularity is affected by the resolution limit stemming from classic modularity index. Such a limit hampers the identification/design of small modules and this is a major drawback for technical tasks requiring a detailed resolution of the network segmentation. In order to get over this problem, we propose a novel infrastructure modularity index that is not affected by the resolution limit of the classic one. The rationale and good features of the proposed index are theoretically demonstrated and discussed using two real hydraulic networks.

Drought assessment in the Dongliao River basin: traditional approaches vs. generalized drought assessment index based on water resources systems

Science.gov (United States)

Weng, B. S.; Yan, D. H.; Wang, H.; Liu, J. H.; Yang, Z. Y.; Qin, T. L.; Yin, J.

2015-08-01

Drought is firstly a resource issue, and with its development it evolves into a disaster issue. Drought events usually occur in a determinate but a random manner. Drought has become one of the major factors to affect sustainable socioeconomic development. In this paper, we propose the generalized drought assessment index (GDAI) based on water resources systems for assessing drought events. The GDAI considers water supply and water demand using a distributed hydrological model. We demonstrate the use of the proposed index in the Dongliao River basin in northeastern China. The results simulated by the GDAI are compared to observed drought disaster records in the Dongliao River basin. In addition, the temporal distribution of drought events and the spatial distribution of drought frequency from the GDAI are compared with the traditional approaches in general (i.e., standard precipitation index, Palmer drought severity index and rate of water deficit index). Then, generalized drought times, generalized drought duration, and generalized drought severity were calculated by theory of runs. Application of said runs at various drought levels (i.e., mild drought, moderate drought, severe drought, and extreme drought) during the period 1960-2010 shows that the centers of gravity of them all distribute in the middle reaches of Dongliao River basin, and change with time. The proposed methodology may help water managers in water-stressed regions to quantify the impact of drought, and consequently, to make decisions for coping with drought.

Bioimpedance index for measurement of total body water in severely malnourished children

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Girma, Tsinuel; Kæstel, Pernille; Workeneh, Netsanet

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Restoration of body composition indicates successful management of severe acute malnutrition (SAM). Bioimpedance (BI) index (height(2)/resistance) is used to predict total body water (TBW) but its performance in SAM, especially with oedema, requires further investigation....... SUBJECTS/METHODS: Children with SAM (mid-arm circumference ...Hzs. Pre- and post-deuterium dose saliva samples were analysed using isotope-ratio mass spectrometry. TBW was regressed on H(2)/Z. Xc and R were height (H)-indexed, and Xc/H plotted against R/H. RESULTS: Thirty five children (16 non-oedematous and 19 oedematous) with median (interquartile range) age of 42...

Influence of free water availability on a desert carnivore and herbivore.

Science.gov (United States)

Kluever, Bryan M; Gese, Eric M; Dempsey, Steven J

2017-04-01

Anthropogenic manipulation of finite resources on the landscape to benefit individual species or communities is commonly employed by conservation and management agencies. One such action in arid regions is the construction and maintenance of water developments (i.e., wildlife guzzlers) adding free water on the landscape to buttress local populations, influence animal movements, or affect distributions of certain species of interest. Despite their prevalence, the utility of wildlife guzzlers remains largely untested. We employed a before-after control-impact (BACI) design over a 4-year period on the US Army Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, USA, to determine whether water availability at wildlife guzzlers influenced relative abundance of black-tailed jackrabbits Lepus californicus and relative use of areas near that resource by coyotes Canis latrans , and whether coyote visitations to guzzlers would decrease following elimination of water. Eliminating water availability at guzzlers did not influence jackrabbit relative abundance. Coyote relative use was impacted by water availability, with elimination of water reducing use in areas associated with our treatment, but not with areas associated with our control. Visitations of radio-collared coyotes to guzzlers declined nearly 3-fold following elimination of water. Our study provides the first evidence of a potential direct effect of water sources on a mammalian carnivore in an arid environment, but the ecological relevance of our finding is debatable. Future investigations aimed at determining water effects on terrestrial mammals could expand on our findings by incorporating manipulations of water availability, obtaining absolute estimates of population parameters and vital rates and incorporating fine-scale spatiotemporal data.

Availability and quality of water related to western energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hudson, H.H.

1981-01-01

Much of the nation's energy resources is contained in seven states of the western United States. Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota contain 40% of the nation's coal and 90% of its uranium and shale oil. Although rich in energy resources, these states are chronically deficient in water. Coal mining and subsequent land reclamation require relatively small amounts of water. Plans that require large quantities of water to transport and convert the coal to energy include the operation of coal-slurry pipelines, thermal-electric power generation, and coal gasification. Production of oil from shale by conventional mining techniques may require about three or four unit volumes of water for each unit volume of shale oil produced. Nearly half of this water would be needed to reestablish vegetation on waste material. In-situ extraction of oil would require substantially less water. Extracting and processing uranium require relatively small amounts of water. There may be problems of the quality of local groundwater where solution mining is practiced and where uranium ore is removed from water-saturated rocks that are then exposed to oxidation. Estimates of amounts of water required to support the development of western energy resources are highly variable and depend on the conversion technology, the level of anticipated development, and the quality of the water required by any given use or process. Conservative estimates exceed 2000 cu hm/year by the year 2000. Although water supplies in the amounts anticipated as being needed for energy development are available within the seven states, their availability locally may depend on satisfying environmental objections, modifying legal and institutional arrangements that presently control water distribution and use, and constructing additional reservoirs and distribution systems

Estimating the risk of cyanobacterial occurrence using an index integrating meteorological factors: application to drinking water production.

Science.gov (United States)

Ndong, Mouhamed; Bird, David; Nguyen-Quang, Tri; de Boutray, Marie-Laure; Zamyadi, Arash; Vinçon-Leite, Brigitte; Lemaire, Bruno J; Prévost, Michèle; Dorner, Sarah

2014-06-01

The sudden appearance of toxic cyanobacteria (CB) blooms is still largely unpredictable in waters worldwide. Many post-hoc explanations for CB bloom occurrence relating to physical and biochemical conditions in lakes have been developed. As potentially toxic CB can accumulate in drinking water treatment plants and disrupt water treatment, there is a need for water treatment operators to determine whether conditions are favourable for the proliferation and accumulation of CB in source waters in order to adjust drinking water treatment accordingly. Thus, a new methodology with locally adaptable variables is proposed in order to have a single index, f(p), related to various environmental factors such as temperature, wind speed and direction. The index is used in conjunction with real time monitoring data to determine the probability of CB occurrence in relation to meteorological factors, and was tested at a drinking water intake in Missisquoi Bay, a shallow transboundary bay in Lake Champlain, Québec, Canada. These environmental factors alone were able to explain a maximum probability of 68% that a CB bloom would occur at the drinking water treatment plant. Nutrient limitation also influences CB blooms and intense blooms only occurred when the dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) to total phosphorus (TP) mass ratio was below 3. Additional monitoring of DIN and TP could be considered for these source waters prone to cyanobacterial blooms to determine periods of favourable growth. Real time monitoring and the use of the index could permit an adequate and timely response to CB blooms in drinking water sources. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Global Water Availability and Requirements for Future Food Production

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gerten, D.; Heinke, J.; Hoff, H.; Biemans, H.; Fader, M.; Waha, K.

2011-01-01

This study compares, spatially explicitly and at global scale, per capita water availability and water requirements for food production presently (1971-2000) and in the future given climate and population change (2070-99). A vegetation and hydrology model Lund-Potsdam-Jena managed Land (LPJmL) was

78 FR 20912 - Clean Water Act: Availability of List Decisions

Science.gov (United States)

2013-04-08

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9798-8] Clean Water Act: Availability of List Decisions.... SUMMARY: The Clean Water Act requires that States periodically submit, and EPA approve or disapprove... are not stringent enough to attain or maintain State water quality standards and for which total...

Water stress index for alkaline fen habitat based on UAV and continuous tower measurements of canopy infrared temperature

Science.gov (United States)

Ciężkowski, Wojciech; Jóźwiak, Jacek; Chormański, Jarosław; Szporak-Wasilewska, Sylwia; Kleniewska, Małgorzata

2017-04-01

This study is focused on developing water stress index for alkaline fen, to evaluate water stress impact on habitat protected within Natura 2000 network: alkaline fens (habitat code:7230). It is calculated based on continuous measurements of air temperature, relative humidity and canopy temperature from meteorological tower and several UAV flights for canopy temperature registration. Measurements were taken during the growing season in 2016 in the Upper Biebrza Basin in north-east Poland. Firstly methodology of the crop water stress index (CWSI) determination was used to obtained non-water stress base line based on continuous measurements (NWSBtower). Parameters of NWSBtower were directly used to calculate spatial variability of CWSI for UAV thermal infrared (TIR) images. Then for each UAV flight day at least 3 acquisition were performed to define NWSBUAV. NWSBUAV was used to calculate canopy waters stress for whole image relative to the less stressed areas. The spatial distribution of developed index was verified using remotely sensed indices of vegetation health. Results showed that in analysed area covered by sedge-moss vegetation NWSB cannot be used directly. The proposed modification of CWSI allows identifying water stress in alkaline fen habitats and was called as Sedge-Moss Water Stress Index (SMWSI). The study shows possibility of usage remotely sensed canopy temperature data to detect areas exposed to the water stress on wetlands. This research has been carried out under the Biostrateg Programme of the Polish National Centre for Research and Development (NCBiR), project No.: DZP/BIOSTRATEG-II/390/2015: The innovative approach supporting monitoring of non-forest Natura 2000 habitats, using remote sensing methods (HabitARS).

Development of a coastal drought index using salinity data

Science.gov (United States)

Conrads, Paul; Darby, Lisa S.

2017-01-01

A critical aspect of the uniqueness of coastal drought is the effects on the salinity dynamics of creeks, rivers, and estuaries. The location of the freshwater–saltwater interface along the coast is an important factor in the ecological and socioeconomic dynamics of coastal communities. Salinity is a critical response variable that integrates hydrologic and coastal dynamics including sea level, tides, winds, precipitation, streamflow, and tropical storms. The position of the interface determines the composition of freshwater and saltwater aquatic communities as well as the freshwater availability for water intakes. Many definitions of drought have been proposed, with most describing a decline in precipitation having negative impacts on the water supply. Indices have been developed incorporating data such as rainfall, streamflow, soil moisture, and groundwater levels. These water-availability drought indices were developed for upland areas and may not be ideal for characterizing coastal drought. The availability of real-time and historical salinity datasets provides an opportunity for the development of a salinity-based coastal drought index. An approach similar to the standardized precipitation index (SPI) was modified and applied to salinity data obtained from sites in South Carolina and Georgia. Using the SPI approach, the index becomes a coastal salinity index (CSI) that characterizes coastal salinity conditions with respect to drought periods of higher-saline conditions and wet periods of higher-freshwater conditions. Evaluation of the CSI indicates that it provides additional coastal response information as compared to the SPI and the Palmer hydrologic drought index, and the CSI can be used for different estuary types and for comparison of conditions along coastlines.

Review and classification of indicators of green water availability and scarcity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schyns, Joseph Franciscus; Hoekstra, Arjen Ysbert; Booij, Martijn J.

2015-01-01

Research on water scarcity has mainly focussed on blue water (ground- and surface water), but green water (soil moisture returning to the atmosphere through evaporation) is also scarce, because its availability is limited and there are competing demands for green water. Crop production, grazing

Water Quality Index for measuring drinking water quality in rural Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study.

Science.gov (United States)

Akter, Tahera; Jhohura, Fatema Tuz; Akter, Fahmida; Chowdhury, Tridib Roy; Mistry, Sabuj Kanti; Dey, Digbijoy; Barua, Milan Kanti; Islam, Md Akramul; Rahman, Mahfuzar

2016-02-09

Public health is at risk due to chemical contaminants in drinking water which may have immediate health consequences. Drinking water sources are susceptible to pollutants depending on geological conditions and agricultural, industrial, and other man-made activities. Ensuring the safety of drinking water is, therefore, a growing problem. To assess drinking water quality, we measured multiple chemical parameters in drinking water samples from across Bangladesh with the aim of improving public health interventions. In this cross-sectional study conducted in 24 randomly selected upazilas, arsenic was measured in drinking water in the field using an arsenic testing kit and a sub-sample was validated in the laboratory. Water samples were collected to test water pH in the laboratory as well as a sub-sample of collected drinking water was tested for water pH using a portable pH meter. For laboratory testing of other chemical parameters, iron, manganese, and salinity, drinking water samples were collected from 12 out of 24 upazilas. Drinking water at sample sites was slightly alkaline (pH 7.4 ± 0.4) but within acceptable limits. Manganese concentrations varied from 0.1 to 5.5 mg/L with a median value of 0.2 mg/L. The median iron concentrations in water exceeded WHO standards (0.3 mg/L) at most of the sample sites and exceeded Bangladesh standards (1.0 mg/L) at a few sample sites. Salinity was relatively higher in coastal districts. After laboratory confirmation, arsenic concentrations were found higher in Shibchar (Madaripur) and Alfadanga (Faridpur) compared to other sample sites exceeding WHO standard (0.01 mg/L). Of the total sampling sites, 33 % had good-quality water for drinking based on the Water Quality Index (WQI). However, the majority of the households (67 %) used poor-quality drinking water. Higher values of iron, manganese, and arsenic reduced drinking water quality. Awareness raising on chemical contents in drinking water at household level is required to

Impacts of fresh and aged biochars on plant available water and water use efficiency

Science.gov (United States)

The ability of soils to hold sufficient plant available water (PAW) between rainfall events is critical to crop productivity. Most studies indicate that biochar amendments decrease soil bulk density and increase soil water retention. However, limited knowledge exists regarding biochars ability to in...

Can a canopy temperature-based stress index enhance water use efficiency in irrigated wine grape under arid conditions?

Science.gov (United States)

Enhancement of irrigation water use efficiency and water productivity in arid wine grape production regions is hindered by a lack of automated, real-time methods for monitoring and interpreting vine water status. A normalized, water stress index calculated from real-time vine canopy temperature meas...

Potential Impacts of Food Production on Freshwater Availability Considering Water Sources

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Shinjiro Yano

2016-04-01

Full Text Available We quantify the potential impacts of global food production on freshwater availability (water scarcity footprint; WSF by applying the water unavailability factor (fwua as a characterization factor and a global water resource model based on life cycle impact assessment (LCIA. Each water source, including rainfall, surface water, and groundwater, has a distinct fwua that is estimated based on the renewability rate of each geographical water cycle. The aggregated consumptive water use level for food production (water footprint inventory; WI was found to be 4344 km3/year, and the calculated global total WSF was 18,031 km3 H2Oeq/year, when considering the difference in water sources. According to the fwua concept, which is based on the land area required to obtain a unit volume of water from each source, the calculated annual impact can also be represented as 98.5 × 106 km2. This value implies that current agricultural activities requires a land area that is over six times larger than global total cropland. We also present the net import of the WI and WSF, highlighting the importance of quantitative assessments for utilizing global water resources to achieve sustainable water use globally.

RAINFALL AGGRESSIVENESS EVALUATION IN REGHIN HILLS USING FOURNIER INDEX

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J. SZILAGYI

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Aggressiveness erosive force of rainfall is the express of kinetic energy and potential energy of rain water runoff on slopes. In the absence of a database for the analysis of parameters that define the torrencial rainfall, the rainfall erosivity factor was calculated by Fournier Index, Modified Fournier Index based on the monthly and annual precipitation.

Climate change impacts on snow water availability in the Euphrates-Tigris basin

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M. Özdoğan

2011-09-01

Full Text Available This study investigates the effects of projected climate change on snow water availability in the Euphrates-Tigris basin using the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC macro scale hydrologic model and a set of regional climate-change outputs from 13 global circulation models (GCMs forced with two greenhouse gas emission scenarios for two time periods in the 21st century (2050 and 2090. The hydrologic model produces a reasonable simulation of seasonal and spatial variation in snow cover and associated snow water equivalent (SWE in the mountainous areas of the basin, although its performance is poorer at marginal snow cover sites. While there is great variation across GCM outputs influencing snow water availability, the majority of models and scenarios suggest a significant decline (between 10 and 60 percent in available snow water, particularly under the high-impact A2 climate change scenario and later in the 21st century. The changes in SWE are more stable when multi-model ensemble GCM outputs are used to minimize inter-model variability, suggesting a consistent and significant decrease in snow-covered areas and associated water availability in the headwaters of the Euphrates-Tigris basin. Detailed analysis of future climatic conditions point to the combined effects of reduced precipitation and increased temperatures as primary drivers of reduced snowpack. Results also indicate a more rapid decline in snow cover in the lower elevation zones than the higher areas in a changing climate but these findings also contain a larger uncertainty. The simulated changes in snow water availability have important implications for the future of water resources and associated hydropower generation and land-use management and planning in a region already ripe for interstate water conflict. While the changes in the frequency and intensity of snow-bearing circulation systems or the interannual variability related to climate were not considered, the simulated

Indices of quality surface water bodies in the planning of water resources

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Rodríguez-Miranda, Juan Pablo

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This paper considers a review of the literature major and significant methods of quality indices of water applied in surface water bodies, used and proposed for assessing the significance of parameters of water quality in the assessment of surface water currents and they are usually used in making decisions for intervention and strategic prevention measures for those responsible for the conservation and preservation of watersheds where these water bodies belong. An exploratory methodology was applied to realize the conceptualization of each water quality index. As a result, it is observed that there are several important methods for determining the water quality index applied in surface water bodies.

Hazard index for underground toxic material

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, C.F.; Cohen, J.J.; McKone, T.E.

1980-06-01

To adequately define the problem of waste management, quantitative measures of hazard must be used. This study reviews past work in the area of hazard indices and proposes a geotoxicity hazard index for use in characterizing the hazard of toxic material buried underground. Factors included in this index are: an intrinsic toxicity factor, formulated as the volume of water required for dilution to public drinking-water levels; a persistence factor to characterize the longevity of the material, ranging from unity for stable materials to smaller values for shorter-lived materials; an availability factor that relates the transport potential for the particular material to a reference value for its naturally occurring analog; and a correction factor to accommodate the buildup of decay progeny, resulting in increased toxicity

Hazard index for underground toxic material

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Smith, C.F.; Cohen, J.J.; McKone, T.E.

1980-06-01

To adequately define the problem of waste management, quantitative measures of hazard must be used. This study reviews past work in the area of hazard indices and proposes a geotoxicity hazard index for use in characterizing the hazard of toxic material buried underground. Factors included in this index are: an intrinsic toxicity factor, formulated as the volume of water required for dilution to public drinking-water levels; a persistence factor to characterize the longevity of the material, ranging from unity for stable materials to smaller values for shorter-lived materials; an availability factor that relates the transport potential for the particular material to a reference value for its naturally occurring analog; and a correction factor to accommodate the buildup of decay progeny, resulting in increased toxicity.

Health evaluation of drinking water regarding to scaling and corrosion potential using corrosion indexes in Noorabad city, Iran

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ghodratolah Shams Khorramabadi

2016-05-01

Conclusion: Result obtained from studied indexes showed that the drinking water in Noorabad is corrosive and so the water quality in water supply system should be monitored continuously. The best applicable practices for decreasing water corrosion in water supply system are including continuous control of pH, chlorination mechanism and the use of corrosion resistant pipelines and facilities.

Neonatal body water turnover: a putative index of perinatal morbidity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

MacLennan, A.H.; Millington, G.; Grieve, A.; McIntosh, J.E.; Seamark, R.F.; Cox, L.W.

1981-01-01

The water metabolism of 46 newborn babies was determined during a 10 day period by means of an isotope dilution technique, and correlations were sought with the clinical assessment of the babies by multiple obstetric and pediatric clinical criteria. The babies, 48 to 72 hours of age, were given a single oral dose (2 ml/kg) of deuterated water (D 2 O), a nonradioactive tracer, and the urinary excretion rate was followed by means of infrared spectrophotometry. After a period of equilibration of the D 2 O with body water (20 hours), the rate of D2O clearance was found to be a single exponential decay process, thus allowing the fraction of total body water lost each hour (the rate constant) to be calculated for each baby. The median values of the rate constants X 10(4)(h-1) for 14 growth-retarded babies ws 104 (98% confidence limits, 97.8 to 122) compared with 76.3 (67.0 to 80.2) for 16 normal mature babies and 82.1 (73.4 to 90.6) for 16 normal premature babies. These data indicate that, compared with normal mature or normal premature babies, growth-retarded infants have a significantly (P less than 0.05) faster turnover of water during the first 10 days of postnatal life. Since there was little overlap in results between the normally grown and the retarded infants, the measurement of water turnover may provide a useful index of perinatal morbidity

Open Source Tools for Assessment of Global Water Availability, Demands, and Scarcity

Science.gov (United States)

Li, X.; Vernon, C. R.; Hejazi, M. I.; Link, R. P.; Liu, Y.; Feng, L.; Huang, Z.; Liu, L.

2017-12-01

Water availability and water demands are essential factors for estimating water scarcity conditions. To reproduce historical observations and to quantify future changes in water availability and water demand, two open source tools have been developed by the JGCRI (Joint Global Change Research Institute): Xanthos and GCAM-STWD. Xanthos is a gridded global hydrologic model, designed to quantify and analyze water availability in 235 river basins. Xanthos uses a runoff generation and a river routing modules to simulate both historical and future estimates of total runoff and streamflows on a monthly time step at a spatial resolution of 0.5 degrees. GCAM-STWD is a spatiotemporal water disaggregation model used with the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM) to spatially downscale global water demands for six major enduse sectors (irrigation, domestic, electricity generation, mining, and manufacturing) from the region scale to the scale of 0.5 degrees. GCAM-STWD then temporally downscales the gridded annual global water demands to monthly results. These two tools, written in Python, can be integrated to assess global, regional or basin-scale water scarcity or water stress. Both of the tools are extensible to ensure flexibility and promote contribution from researchers that utilize GCAM and study global water use and supply.

Relevance of water quality index for groundwater quality evaluation: Thoothukudi District, Tamil Nadu, India

Science.gov (United States)

Singaraja, C.

2017-09-01

The present hydrogeochemical study was confined to the Thoothukudi District in Tamilnadu, India. A total of 100 representative water samples were collected during pre-monsoon and post-monsoon and analyzed for the major cations (sodium, calcium, magnesium and potassium) and anions (chloride, sulfate, bicarbonate, fluoride and nitrate) along with various physical and chemical parameters (pH, total dissolved salts and electrical conductivity). Water quality index rating was calculated to quantify the overall water quality for human consumption. The PRM samples exhibit poor quality in greater percentage when compared with POM due to dilution of ions and agricultural impact. The overlay of WQI with chloride and EC corresponds to the same locations indicating the poor quality of groundwater in the study area. Sodium (Na %), sodium absorption ratio (SAR), residual sodium carbonate (RSC), residual sodium bicarbonate, permeability index (PI), magnesium hazards (MH), Kelly's ratio (KR), potential salinity (PS) and Puri's salt index (PSI) and domestic quality parameters such as total hardness (TH), temporary, permanent hardness and corrosivity ratio (CR) were calculated. The majority of the samples were not suitable for drinking, irrigation and domestic purposes in the study area. In this study, the analysis of salinization/freshening processes was carried out through binary diagrams such as of mole ratios of {SO}_{ 4}^{ 2- } /Cl- and Cl-/EC that clearly classify the sources of seawater intrusion and saltpan contamination. Spatial diagram BEX was used to find whether the aquifer was in the salinization region or in the freshening encroachment region.

77 FR 15368 - Clean Water Act; Availability of List Decisions

Science.gov (United States)

2012-03-15

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9646-9] Clean Water Act; Availability of List Decisions AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Notice of Availability and Request for Public Comment. SUMMARY: This action announces the availability of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA...

Classifying Natural Waters with the Forel-Ule Colour Index System: Results, Applications, Correlations and Crowdsourcing

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Shungudzemwoyo P. Garaba

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Societal awareness of changes in the environment and climate has grown rapidly, and there is a need to engage citizens in gathering relevant scientific information to monitor environmental changes due to recognition that citizens are a potential source of critical information. The apparent colour of natural waters is one aspect of our aquatic environment that is easy to detect and an essential complementary optical water quality indicator. Here we present the results and explore the utility of the Forel-Ule colour index (FUI scale as a proxy for different properties of natural waters. A FUI scale is used to distinguish the apparent colours of different natural surface water masses. Correlation analysis was completed in an effort to determine the constituents of natural waters related to FUI. Strong correlations with turbidity, Secchi-disk depth, and coloured dissolved organic material suggest the FUI is a good indicator of changes related to other constituents of water. The increase in the number of tools capable of determining the FUI colours, (i ocean colour remote sensing products; (ii a handheld scale; and (iii a mobile device app, make it a versatile relative measure of water quality. It has the potential to provide higher spatial and temporal resolution of data for a modernized classification of optical water quality. This FUI colour system has been favoured by several scientists in the last century because it is affordable and easy to use and provides indicative information about the colour of water and the water constituents producing that colour. It is therefore within the scope of a growing interest in the application and usefulness of basic measurement methodologies with the potential to provide timely benchmark information about the environment to the public, scientists and policymakers.

78 FR 45925 - Clean Water Act: Availability of List Decisions

Science.gov (United States)

2013-07-30

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9840-5] Clean Water Act: Availability of List Decisions AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Notice of availability. SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of EPA's Responsiveness Summary Concerning EPA's May 9, 2013 Public Notice of...

Equivalences between refractive index and equilibrium water content of conventional and silicone hydrogel soft contact lenses from automated and manual refractometry.

Science.gov (United States)

González-Méijome, José M; López-Alemany, Antonio; Lira, Madalena; Almeida, José B; Oliveira, M Elisabete C D Real; Parafita, Manuel A

2007-01-01

The purpose of the present study was to develop mathematical relationships that allow obtaining equilibrium water content and refractive index of conventional and silicone hydrogel soft contact lenses from refractive index measures obtained with automated refractometry or equilibrium water content measures derived from manual refractometry, respectively. Twelve HEMA-based hydrogels of different hydration and four siloxane-based polymers were assayed. A manual refractometer and a digital refractometer were used. Polynomial models obtained from the sucrose curves of equilibrium water content against refractive index and vice-versa were used either considering the whole range of sucrose concentrations (16-100% equilibrium water content) or a range confined to the equilibrium water content of current soft contact lenses (approximately 20-80% equilibrium water content). Values of equilibrium water content measured with the Atago N-2E and those derived from the refractive index measurement with CLR 12-70 by the applications of sucrose-based models displayed a strong linear correlation (r2 = 0.978). The same correlations were obtained when the models are applied to obtain refractive index values from the Atago N-2E and compared with those (values) given by the CLR 12-70 (r2 = 0.978). No significantly different results are obtained between models derived from the whole range of the sucrose solution or the model limited to the normal range of soft contact lens hydration. Present results will have implications for future experimental and clinical research regarding normal hydration and dehydration experiments with hydrogel polymers, and particularly in the field of contact lenses. 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

An integrated approach to aquatic health assessment: water quality index and multibiomarker response

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sedeno-Diaz, J. E.; Lopez-Lopez, E.; Jimenez-Trujillo, P.; Tejeda-Vera, R.; Espainal Carrion, T.

2009-01-01

The pollution of water bodies reduces their quality and is stressful to their biota. In a river, water usually is of the high-est quality in its headwaters reaches, becoming dirtier along its length as it passes through different land uses. Therefore, the aquatic environment should be assessed using physicochemical and biological features in order to provide a full spectrum of aquatic ecosystem health. Water Quality Indexes can be used to aggregate data on water quality parameters and to translate this information into a single value. The use of bio markers as indicators of toxicity delineates the effects of xenobiotics before the appearance of diseases in aquatic organism. The use of a battery bio markers may be useful to evaluate the various response to mixtures of pollutants. (Author)

Application of the Benthic Ecosystem Quality Index 2 to benthos in Dutch transitional and coastal waters

Science.gov (United States)

van Loon, W. M. G. M.; Boon, A. R.; Gittenberger, A.; Walvoort, D. J. J.; Lavaleye, M.; Duineveld, G. C. A.; Verschoor, A. J.

2015-09-01

The Benthic Ecosystem Quality Index 2 (BEQI2) is the Dutch multi-metric index (MMI) for assessing the status and trend of benthic invertebrates in transitional and coastal waters for the Water Framework Directive (WFD). It contains the same indicators, i.e. species richness, Shannon index and AMBI, as in the multivariate m-AMBI. The latter MMI has been adopted by several European countries in the context of WFD implementation. In contrast to m-AMBI, the BEQI2 calculation procedure has been strongly simplified and consists of two steps, i.e. the separate indicator values are normalized using their long-term reference values resulting in three Ecological Quality Ratios (EQRs), which are subsequently averaged to give one BEQI2 value. Using this method only small numbers of samples need to be analysed by Dutch benthos laboratories annually, without the necessity to co-analyse a larger historical dataset. BEQI2 EQR values appeared to correlate quantitatively very well with m-AMBI EQR values. In addition, a data pooling procedure has been added to the BEQI2 tool which enables the pooling of small core samples (0.01-0.025 m2) into larger standardized data pools of 0.1 m2 in order to meet the data requirements of the AMBI indicator and to obtain comparable reference values. Furthermore, the BEQI2 tool automatically and efficiently converts species synonym names into standardized species names. The BEQI2 tool has been applied to all Dutch benthos data monitored by Rijkswaterstaat in the period of 1991-2010 in the transitional and coastal waters and salt lakes and these results are reported here for the first time. Reference values for species richness and Shannon index (99 percentile values) and AMBI reference values (1 percentile values) were estimated for all water body-ecotopes and are discussed. BEQI2 results for all these water bodies are discussed in view of natural and human pressures. The pressure sensitivity of the BEQI2 for sewage and dredging/dumping, via the

Water availability and demand in the development regions of South Africa

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A. B. de Villiers

1988-03-01

Full Text Available The availability of water data in the development regions is at present insufficient. This is due to the fact that water supply and demand is calculated for the physical drainage regions (watersheds, while the development regions do not correspond with the drainage regions. The necessary calculations can accordingly presently not be made. In this paper this problem is addressed.

Extravascular lung water and the pulmonary vascular permeability index may improve the definition of ARDS.

Science.gov (United States)

Perel, Azriel

2013-01-24

The recent Berlin definition has made some improvements in the older definition of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), although the concepts and components of the definition remained largely unchanged. In an effort to improve both predictive and face validity, the Berlin panel has examined a number of additional measures that may reflect increased pulmonary vascular permeability, including extravascular lung water. The panel concluded that although extravascular lung water has improved face validity and higher values are associated with mortality, it is infeasible to mandate on the basis of availability and the fact that it does not distinguish between hydrostatic and inflammatory pulmonary edema. However, the results of a multi-institutional study that appeared in the previous issue of Critical Care show that this latter reservation may not necessarily be true. By using extravascular lung water and the pulmonary vascular permeability index, both of which are derived from transpulmonary thermodilution, the authors could successfully differentiate between patients with ARDS and other patients in respiratory failure due to either cardiogenic edema or pleural effusion with atelectasis. This commentary discusses the merits and limitations of this study in view of the potential improvement that transpulmonary thermodilution may bring to the definition of ARDS.

Availability of water resources in the rio Bermudez micro-basin. Central Region of Costa Rica

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hernando Echevarria, L.; Orozco Montoya, R.

2015-01-01

The Rio Bermudez micro-basin makes up part of the principal hydrological resource area in the Central Region of Costa Rica. For this reason a study was done to determine the availability of hydrological resources in said micro-basin to identify areas with potential water availability problems. A monthly water balance was calculated using land use, geomorphology and climate parameters. From these water balance studies, the amount of available water was calculated and classified into four categories, however, in this micro-basin, only three categories were identified: high, medium and moderate water availability. No areas were identified with low water availability, indicating availability is sufficient; however, there is increasing demand on water resources because over half of the micro-basin area is classified as having moderate water availability. (Author)

Application of water quality index for the assessment of suitability of natural sources of water for drinking in rural areas of east Sikkim, India

OpenAIRE

Shubra Poonia; T Shantikumar Singh; Dechen C Tsering

2015-01-01

In Sikkim, especially in the rural areas where there is no supply of treated water for drinking and other domestic uses, natural surface water is the only source. The objective was to assess the water quality of natural sources of water in the rural areas of East Sikkim using a water quality index (WQI) for different seasons. A total of 225 samples, that is, 75 in winter, 75 in summer, and 75 in monsoon were collected from different sources for physicochemical analysis, and a WQI was calculat...

Infrared thermometry and the crop water stress index. I. History, theory, and baselines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gardner, B.R.; Nielsen, D.C.; Shock, C.C.

1992-01-01

Development of portable infrared thermometers and the definition of the Crop Water Stress Index (CWSI) have led to widespread interest in infrared thermometry to monitor water stress and schedule irrigations. But the CWSI concept is still new and poorly understood by many. The purpose of this paper is to review the definition of CWSI, and the determination and interpretation of the non-water-stressed baselines used to compute CWSI. The non-water-stressed baseline equation normalizes the canopy minus air temperature differential for variations in vapor pressure deficit. Non-water-stressed baselines can be determined empirically from measurements of canopy and air temperatures and vapor pressure deficit, made diurnally on a single day, or at a single time of day over many days, on well-watered plants. The value of the maximum canopy minus air temperature differential under maximum water stress should also be determined empirically. Causes for CWSI values falling outside of the defined 0 to 10 unit range are reviewed. Non-water-stressed baselines may shift with plant growth stage. Effective use of CWSI is dependent on understanding the definition of CWSI, and the proper determination and use of non-water-stressed baselines. (author)

Detection of Ground Water Availability at Buhias Island, Sitaro Regency

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Zetly E Tamod

2016-08-01

Full Text Available The study aims to detect ground water availability at Buhias Island, Siau Timur Selatan District, Sitaro Regency. The research method used the survey method by geoelectrical instrument based on subsurface rock resistivity as a geophysical exploration results with geoelectrical method of Wenner-Schlumberger configuration. Resistivity geoelectrical method is done by injecting a flow into the earth surface, then it is measured the potential difference. This study consists of 4 tracks in which each track is made the stretch model of soil layer on subsurface of ground.  Then, the exploration results were processed using software RES2DINV to look at the data of soil layer based on the value of resistivity (2D. Interpretation result of the track 1 to 4 concluded that there is a layer of ground water. State of dominant ground water contains the saline (brackish. Location of trajectory in the basin to the lowland areas is mostly mangrove swamp vegetation. That location is the junction between the results of the runoff of rainfall water that falls down from the hills with sea water. Bedrock as a constituent of rock layer formed from marine sediments that carry minerals salts.

75 FR 52735 - Clean Water Act Section 303(d): Availability of List Decisions

Science.gov (United States)

2010-08-27

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9189-7] Clean Water Act Section 303(d): Availability of List...: This notice announces the availability of EPA's decision identifying 12 water quality limited waterbodies and associated pollutants in South Dakota to be listed pursuant to the Clean Water Act Section 303...

76 FR 20664 - Clean Water Act Section 303(d): Availability of List Decisions

Science.gov (United States)

2011-04-13

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9294-5] Clean Water Act Section 303(d): Availability of List... notice announces the availability of EPA's action identifying water quality limited segments and associated pollutants in Louisiana to be listed pursuant to Clean Water Act Section 303(d), and request for...

Use of the landfill water pollution index (LWPI) for groundwater quality assessment near the landfill sites.

Science.gov (United States)

Talalaj, Izabela A; Biedka, Pawel

2016-12-01

The purpose of the paper is to assess the groundwater quality near the landfill sites using landfill water pollution index (LWPI). In order to investigate the scale of groundwater contamination, three landfills (E, H and S) in different stages of their operation were taken into analysis. Samples of groundwater in the vicinity of studied landfills were collected four times each year in the period from 2004 to 2014. A total of over 300 groundwater samples were analysed for pH, EC, PAH, TOC, Cr, Hg, Zn, Pb, Cd, Cu, as required by the UE legal acts for landfill monitoring system. The calculated values of the LWPI allowed the quantification of the overall water quality near the landfill sites. The obtained results indicated that the most negative impact on groundwater quality is observed near the old Landfill H. Improper location of piezometer at the Landfill S favoured infiltration of run-off from road pavement into the soil-water environment. Deep deposition of the groundwater level at Landfill S area reduced the landfill impact on the water quality. Conducted analyses revealed that the LWPI can be used for evaluation of water pollution near a landfill, for assessment of the variability of water pollution with time and for comparison of water quality from different piezometers, landfills or time periods. The applied WQI (Water Quality Index) can also be an important information tool for landfill policy makers and the public about the groundwater pollution threat from landfill.

76 FR 74057 - Clean Water Act Section 303(d): Availability of List Decisions

Science.gov (United States)

2011-11-30

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9498-4] Clean Water Act Section 303(d): Availability of List Decisions AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Notice of availability. SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of EPA's action identifying water quality limited segments and...

75 FR 68783 - Clean Water Act Section 303(d): Availability of List Decisions

Science.gov (United States)

2010-11-09

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9223-5] Clean Water Act Section 303(d): Availability of List Decisions AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Notice of availability. SUMMARY: This action announces the availability of EPA decisions identifying water quality limited segments and...

The role of reservoir storage in large-scale surface water availability analysis for Europe

Science.gov (United States)

Garrote, L. M.; Granados, A.; Martin-Carrasco, F.; Iglesias, A.

2017-12-01

A regional assessment of current and future water availability in Europe is presented in this study. The assessment was made using the Water Availability and Adaptation Policy Analysis (WAAPA) model. The model was built on the river network derived from the Hydro1K digital elevation maps, including all major river basins of Europe. Reservoir storage volume was taken from the World Register of Dams of ICOLD, including all dams with storage capacity over 5 hm3. Potential Water Availability is defined as the maximum amount of water that could be supplied at a certain point of the river network to satisfy a regular demand under pre-specified reliability requirements. Water availability is the combined result of hydrological processes, which determine streamflow in natural conditions, and human intervention, which determines the available hydraulic infrastructure to manage water and establishes water supply conditions through operating rules. The WAAPA algorithm estimates the maximum demand that can be supplied at every node of the river network accounting for the regulation capacity of reservoirs under different management scenarios. The model was run for a set of hydrologic scenarios taken from the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP), where the PCRGLOBWB hydrological model was forced with results from five global climate models. Model results allow the estimation of potential water stress by comparing water availability to projections of water abstractions along the river network under different management alternatives. The set of sensitivity analyses performed showed the effect of policy alternatives on water availability and highlighted the large uncertainties linked to hydrological and anthropological processes.

Natural radioactivity in bottled mineral water available in Australia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cooper, M.B.; Ralph, B.J.; Wilks, M.J.

1981-08-01

The levels of naturally-occurring radioactive elements in bottled mineral water, commercially available in Australia, have been assessed. The survey concentrated upon 226 Ra, 228 Ra and 210 Pb, radionuclides which have a high toxicity in drinking water. Detectable levels of 226 Ra were found to range from 0.02Bq/1 to 0.32Bq/1 in locally-bottled water and from 0.02Bq/1 to 0.44Bq/1 in imported brands. 210 Pb levels were found to be generally very low ( 228 Ra content of bottled water will have a similar distribution to that of 226 Ra. Concentrations of 228 Ra in excess of 0.7Bq/1 were measured in a number of samples. The radiological health implications of the consumption of bottled mineral water are discussed with reference to existing drinking water standards and also in terms of radiation exposure and the increased risk to health. It was concluded that, although some brands of water contain radioactivity in excess of the drinking-water limits recommended by Australian and overseas authorities, the annual radiation dose to an individual will be below the dose-equivalent limits recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection for life-long exposure. The increased risk of radiation-induced fatal disease due to the consumption of bottled mineral water is estimated to be less than 10 -5 and is therefore negligible

Groundwater Quality Assessment Based on Improved Water Quality Index in Pengyang County, Ningxia, Northwest China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Pei-Yue

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this work is to assess the groundwater quality in Pengyang County based on an improved water quality index. An information entropy method was introduced to assign weight to each parameter. For calculating WQI and assess the groundwater quality, total 74 groundwater samples were collected and all these samples subjected to comprehensive physicochemical analysis. Each of the groundwater samples was analyzed for 26 parameters and for computing WQI 14 parameters were chosen including chloride, sulphate, pH, chemical oxygen demand (COD, total dissolved solid (TDS, total hardness (TH, nitrate, ammonia nitrogen, fluoride, total iron (Tfe, arsenic, iodine, aluminum, nitrite, metasilicic acid and free carbon dioxide. At last a zoning map of different water quality was drawn. Information entropy weight makes WQI perfect and makes the assessment results more reasonable. The WQI for 74 samples ranges from 12.40 to 205.24 and over 90% of the samples are below 100. The excellent quality water area covers nearly 90% of the whole region. The high value of WQI has been found to be closely related with the high values of TDS, fluoride, sulphate, nitrite and TH. In the medium quality water area and poor quality water area, groundwater needs some degree of pretreated before consumption. From the groundwater conservation view of point, the groundwater still need protection and long term monitoring in case of future rapid industrial development. At the same time, preventive actions on the agricultural non point pollution sources in the plain area are also need to be in consideration.

INDEXING AND INDEX FUNDS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

HAKAN SARITAŞ

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Proponents of the efficient market hypothesis believe that active portfolio management is largely wasted effort and unlikely to justify the expenses incurred. Therefore, they advocate a passive investment strategy that makes no attempt to outsmart the market. One common strategy for passive management is indexing where a fund is designed to replicate the performance of a broad-based index of stocks and bonds. Traditionally, indexing was used by institutional investors, but today, the use of index funds proliferated among individual investors. Over the years, both international and domestic index funds have disproportionately outperformed the market more than the actively managed funds have.

Development of a Coastal Drought Index Using Salinity Data

Science.gov (United States)

Conrads, P. A.; Darby, L. S.

2014-12-01

The freshwater-saltwater interface in surface-water bodies along the coast is an important factor in the ecological and socio-economic dynamics of coastal communities. It influences community composition in freshwater and saltwater ecosystems, determines fisheries spawning habitat, and controls freshwater availability for municipal and industrial water intakes. These dynamics may be affected by coastal drought through changes in Vibrio bacteria impacts on shellfish harvesting and occurrence of wound infection, fish kills, harmful algal blooms, hypoxia, and beach closures. There are many definitions of drought, with most describing a decline in precipitation having negative impacts on water supply and agriculture. Four general types of drought are recognized: hydrological, agricultural, meteorological, and socio-economic. Indices have been developed for these drought types incorporating data such as rainfall, streamflow, soil moisture, groundwater levels, and snow pack. These indices were developed for upland areas and may not be appropriate for characterizing drought in coastal areas. Because of the uniqueness of drought impacts on coastal ecosystems, a need exists to develop a coastal drought index. The availability of real-time and historical salinity datasets provides an opportunity to develop a salinity-based coastal drought index. The challenge of characterizing salinity dynamics in response to drought is excluding responses attributable to occasional saltwater intrusion events. Our approach to develop a coastal drought index modified the Standardized Precipitation Index and applied it to sites in South Carolina and Georgia, USA. Coastal drought indices characterizing 1-, 3-, 6-, 9-, and12-month drought conditions were developed. Evaluation of the coastal drought index indicates that it can be used for different estuary types, for comparison between estuaries, and as an index for wet conditions (high freshwater inflow) in addition to drought conditions.

Human Use Index

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — Human land uses may have major impacts on ecosystems, affecting biodiversity, habitat, air and water quality. The human use index (also known as U-index) is the...

Prediction of Ryznar Stability Index for Treated Water of WTPs Located on Al-Karakh Side of Baghdad City using Artificial Neural Network (ANN Technique

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Awatif Soaded Alsaqqar

2016-06-01

Full Text Available In this research an Artificial Neural Network (ANN technique was applied for the prediction of Ryznar Index (RI of the flowing water from WTPs in Al-Karakh side (left side in Baghdad city for year 2013. Three models (ANN1, ANN2 and ANN3 have been developed and tested using data from Baghdad Mayoralty (Amanat Baghdad including drinking water quality for the period 2004 to 2013. The results indicate that it is quite possible to use an artificial neural networks in predicting the stability index (RI with a good degree of accuracy. Where ANN 2 model could be used to predict RI for the effluents from Al-Karakh, Al-Qadisiya and Al-Karama WTPs as the highest correlation coefficient were obtained 92.4, 82.9 and 79.1% respectively. For Al-Dora WTP, ANN 3 model could be used as R was 92.8%.

Hydrologic modeling for monitoring water availability in Eastern and Southern Africa

Science.gov (United States)

McNally, A.; Harrison, L.; Shukla, S.; Pricope, N. G.; Peters-Lidard, C. D.

2017-12-01

Severe droughts in 2015, 2016 and 2017 in Ethiopia, Southern Africa, and Somalia have negatively impacted agriculture and municipal water supplies resulting in food and water insecurity. Information from remotely sensed data and field reports indicated that the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) Land Data Assimilation (FLDAS) accurately tracked both the anomalously low soil moisture, evapotranspiration and runoff conditions. This work presents efforts to more precisely monitor how the water balance responds to water availability deficits (i.e. drought) as estimated by the FLDAS with CHIRPS precipitation, MERRA-2 meteorological forcing and the Noah33 land surface model.Preliminary results indicate that FLDAS streamflow estimates are well correlated with observed streamflow where irrigation and other channel modifications are not present; FLDAS evapotranspiration (ET) is well correlated with ET from the Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance model (SSEBop) in Eastern and Southern Africa. We then use these results to monitor availability, and explore trends in water supply and demand.

What is the Optimal Water Productivity Index for Irrigated Grapevines? Case of 'Godello' and 'Albariño' cultivars

Science.gov (United States)

Fandiño, María; Martínez, Emma M.; Rey, Benjamín J.; Cancela, Javier J.

2015-04-01

Different studies have tackled the conceptual and terminological study of crop water use indicators, mainly water use efficiency (WUE) and water productivity (WP) (Pereira et al., 2012; Scheierling et al., 2014). The high number of stakeholders, working about agricultural water use (hydrology and hydrogeology, civil and irrigation engineering, agronomy and crop physiology, economics), has hindered the real improvement thereof, from a multidisciplinary perspective. For example, Flexas et al. (2010) reviewed the future improvements in water use efficiency in grapevines, from a physiological approach. In this study, two grapevine cultivars, priority in Galicia (Spain): 'Godello' (DO Valdeorras) and 'Albariño' (DO Rías Baixas, two locations), was assessed in relation to four water productivity index, focus on irrigation systems, agronomy and crop physiology aspects, during a wet year (2012). All WP index was referred to farm yield level (kg ha-1); where the denominator applied to WPTWU, include all components of soil water balance; to WPTWUfarm, introduced rainfall and irrigation depth; to WPIrrig, only irrigation depth applied; and to WPT, crop transpiration was used. In the last index, SIMDualKc model was used to partitioning crop evapotranspiration and cover crop transpiration. Different ranges of values was obtained for both cultivars, WPTWUfarm was higher in cv 'Godello' than in cv 'Albariño', 3.8 and 0.9 kg m-3 respectively. Average value to WPIrrig has showed: 17.6 kg m-3 for cv 'Albariño' and 15.5 kg m-3 for cv 'Godello', due to a reduction of 60% of irrigation depth in DO Rías Baixas. However, for both locations, higher WPIrrig was obtained to drip irrigation system versus subsurface drip irrigation. WPT showed a different tendency, rain-fed 'Godello' and surface drip irrigation 'Albariño' treatments obtained higher values (6.8 and 3.6 kg m-3), with higher WPT to cv 'Godello' for all treatments versus 'Albariño'. Results had showed that water

Climate Change Impacts on Water Availability and Use in the Limpopo River Basin

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Tingju Zhu

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper analyzes the effects of climate change on water availability and use in the Limpopo River Basin of Southern Africa, using a linked modeling system consisting of a semi-distributed global hydrological model and the Water Simulation Module (WSM of the International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPACT. Although the WSM simulates all major water use sectors, the focus of this study is to evaluate the implications of climate change on irrigation water supply in the catchments of the Limpopo River Basin within the four riparian countries: Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. The analysis found that water resources of the Limpopo River Basin are already stressed under today’s climate conditions. Projected water infrastructure and management interventions are expected to improve the situation by 2050 if current climate conditions continue into the future. However, under the climate change scenarios studied here, water supply availability is expected to worsen considerably by 2050. Assessing hydrological impacts of climate change is crucial given that expansion of irrigated areas has been postulated as a key adaptation strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa. Such expansion will need to take into account future changes in water availability in African river basins.

Estimation of water retention and availability in soils of Rio Grande do Sul

OpenAIRE

Reichert,José Miguel; Albuquerque,Jackson Adriano; Kaiser,Douglas Rodrigo; Reinert,Dalvan José; Urach,Felipe Lavarda; Carlesso,Reimar

2009-01-01

Dispersed information on water retention and availability in soils may be compiled in databases to generate pedotransfer functions. The objectives of this study were: to generate pedotransfer functions to estimate soil water retention based on easily measurable soil properties; to evaluate the efficiency of existing pedotransfer functions for different geographical regions for the estimation of water retention in soils of Rio Grande do Sul (RS); and to estimate plant-available water capacity ...

Methods for Quantifying Shallow-Water Habitat Availability in the Missouri River

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hanrahan, Timothy P.; Larson, Kyle B.

2012-04-09

As part of regulatory requirements for shallow-water habitat (SWH) restoration, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) completes periodic estimates of the quantity of SWH available throughout the lower 752 mi of the Missouri River. To date, these estimates have been made by various methods that consider only the water depth criterion for SWH. The USACE has completed estimates of SWH availability based on both depth and velocity criteria at four river bends (hereafter called reference bends), encompassing approximately 8 river miles within the lower 752 mi of the Missouri River. These estimates were made from the results of hydraulic modeling of water depth and velocity throughout each bend. Hydraulic modeling of additional river bends is not expected to be completed for deriving estimates of available SWH. Instead, future estimates of SWH will be based on the water depth criterion. The objective of this project, conducted by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for the USACE Omaha District, was to develop geographic information system methods for estimating the quantity of available SWH based on water depth only. Knowing that only a limited amount of water depth and channel geometry data would be available for all the remaining bends within the lower 752 mi of the Missouri River, the intent was to determine what information, if any, from the four reference bends could be used to develop methods for estimating SWH at the remaining bends. Specifically, we examined the relationship between cross-section channel morphology and relative differences between SWH estimates based on combined depth and velocity criteria and the depth-only criterion to determine if a correction factor could be applied to estimates of SWH based on the depth-only criterion. In developing these methods, we also explored the applicability of two commonly used geographic information system interpolation methods (TIN and ANUDEM) for estimating SWH using four different elevation data

Managing water utility financial risks through third-party index insurance contracts

Science.gov (United States)

Zeff, Harrison B.; Characklis, Gregory W.

2013-08-01

As developing new supply capacity has become increasingly expensive and difficult to permit (i.e., regulatory approval), utilities have become more reliant on temporary demand management programs, such as outdoor water use restrictions, for ensuring reliability during drought. However, a significant fraction of water utility income is often derived from the volumetric sale of water, and such restrictions can lead to substantial revenue losses. Given that many utilities set prices at levels commensurate with recovering costs, these revenue losses can leave them financially vulnerable to budgetary shortfalls. This work explores approaches for mitigating drought-related revenue losses through the use of third-party financial insurance contracts based on streamflow indices. Two different types of contracts are developed, and their efficacy is compared against two more traditional forms of financial hedging used by water utilities: Drought surcharges and contingency funds (i.e., self-insurance). Strategies involving each of these approaches, as well as their use in combination, are applied under conditions facing the water utility serving Durham, North Carolina. A multireservoir model provides information on the scale and timing of droughts, and the financial effects of these events are simulated using detailed data derived from utility billing records. Results suggest that third-party index insurance contracts, either independently or in combination with more traditional hedging tools, can provide an effective means of reducing a utility's financial vulnerability to drought.

Infrared thermometry and the crop water stress index. II. Sampling procedures and interpretation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gardner, B.R.; Nielsen, D.C.; Shock, C.C.

1992-01-01

Infrared thermometry can be a valuable research and production tool for detecting and quantifying water stress in plants, as shown by a large volume of published research. Users of infrared thermometers (IRT) should be aware of the many equipment, environmental, and plant factors influencing canopy temperature measured by an IRT. The purpose of this paper is to describe factors influencing measured plant temperature, outline sampling procedures that will produce reliable Crop Water Stress Index (CWSI) values, and offer interpretations of CWSI and plant temperatures relative to crop production and other water stress parameters by reviewing previously conducted research. Factors that are considered are IRT condition, configuration, and position; psychrometer location; wind speed; solar radiation; time of day; leaf area and orientation; and appropriate non-water-stressed baseline equation. Standard sampling and CWSI calculation procedures are proposed. Use of CWSI with crops varying in type of response to water stress is described. Previously conducted research on plant temperatures or CWSI is tabulated by crop and water stress parameters measured. The paper provides valuable information to assist interested users of IRTs in making reliable water stress measurements. (author)

Infrared thermometry and the crop water stress index. II. Sampling procedures and interpretation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gardner, B. R. [BP Research, Cleveland, OH (United States); Nielsen, D. C.; Shock, C. C.

1992-10-15

Infrared thermometry can be a valuable research and production tool for detecting and quantifying water stress in plants, as shown by a large volume of published research. Users of infrared thermometers (IRT) should be aware of the many equipment, environmental, and plant factors influencing canopy temperature measured by an IRT. The purpose of this paper is to describe factors influencing measured plant temperature, outline sampling procedures that will produce reliable Crop Water Stress Index (CWSI) values, and offer interpretations of CWSI and plant temperatures relative to crop production and other water stress parameters by reviewing previously conducted research. Factors that are considered are IRT condition, configuration, and position; psychrometer location; wind speed; solar radiation; time of day; leaf area and orientation; and appropriate non-water-stressed baseline equation. Standard sampling and CWSI calculation procedures are proposed. Use of CWSI with crops varying in type of response to water stress is described. Previously conducted research on plant temperatures or CWSI is tabulated by crop and water stress parameters measured. The paper provides valuable information to assist interested users of IRTs in making reliable water stress measurements. (author)

Perceptions about availability and adequacy of drinking water in a large California school district.

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Anisha I; Bogart, Laura M; Uyeda, Kimberly E; Rabin, Alexa; Schuster, Mark A

2010-03-01

Concerns about the influence of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption on obesity have led experts to recommend that water be freely available in schools. We explored perceptions about the adequacy of drinking water provision in a large California school district to develop policies and programs to encourage student water consumption. From March to September 2007, we used semistructured interviews to ask 26 California key stakeholders - including school administrators and staff, health and nutrition agency representatives, and families - about school drinking water accessibility; attitudes about, facilitators of, and barriers to drinking water provision; and ideas for increasing water consumption. Interviews were analyzed to determine common themes. Although stakeholders said that water was available from school drinking fountains, they expressed concerns about the appeal, taste, appearance, and safety of fountain water and worried about the affordability and environmental effect of bottled water sold in schools. Stakeholders supported efforts to improve free drinking water availability in schools, but perceived barriers (eg, cost) and mistaken beliefs that regulations and beverage contracts prohibit serving free water may prevent schools from doing so. Some schools provide water through cold-filtered water dispensers and self-serve water coolers. This is the first study to explore stakeholder perceptions about the adequacy of drinking water in US schools. Although limited in scope, our study suggests that water available in at least some schools may be inadequate. Collaborative efforts among schools, communities, and policy makers are needed to improve school drinking water provision.

The potential impacts of biomass feedstock production on water resource availability.

Science.gov (United States)

Stone, K C; Hunt, P G; Cantrell, K B; Ro, K S

2010-03-01

Biofuels are a major topic of global interest and technology development. Whereas bioenergy crop production is highly dependent on water, bioenergy development requires effective allocation and management of water. The objectives of this investigation were to assess the bioenergy production relative to the impacts on water resource related factors: (1) climate and weather impact on water supplies for biomass production; (2) water use for major bioenergy crop production; and (3) potential alternatives to improve water supplies for bioenergy. Shifts to alternative bioenergy crops with greater water demand may produce unintended consequences for both water resources and energy feedstocks. Sugarcane and corn require 458 and 2036 m(3) water/m(3) ethanol produced, respectively. The water requirements for corn grain production to meet the US-DOE Billion-Ton Vision may increase approximately 6-fold from 8.6 to 50.1 km(3). Furthermore, climate change is impacting water resources throughout the world. In the western US, runoff from snowmelt is occurring earlier altering the timing of water availability. Weather extremes, both drought and flooding, have occurred more frequently over the last 30 years than the previous 100 years. All of these weather events impact bioenergy crop production. These events may be partially mitigated by alternative water management systems that offer potential for more effective water use and conservation. A few potential alternatives include controlled drainage and new next-generation livestock waste treatment systems. Controlled drainage can increase water available to plants and simultaneously improve water quality. New livestock waste treatments systems offer the potential to utilize treated wastewater to produce bioenergy crops. New technologies for cellulosic biomass conversion via thermochemical conversion offer the potential for using more diverse feedstocks with dramatically reduced water requirements. The development of bioenergy

EPA Office of Water (OW): Fish Consumption Advisories and Fish Tissue Sampling Stations NHDPlus Indexed Datasets

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — The Fish Consumption Advisories dataset contains information on Fish Advisory events that have been indexed to the EPA Office of Water NHDPlus v2.1 hydrology and...

Assessing the usefulness of the water poverty index by applying it to a special case: Can one be water poor with high levels of access?

Science.gov (United States)

Komnenic, V.; Ahlers, R.; Zaag, P. van der

Using indices and indicators in assessment of progress of a developing country has two sides. Such indicators offer an easy-to-understand shorthand/synopsis of issues vital for a country’s development. The other side of the coin, however, is that this synopsis may be distorted due to incorrect data or inapplicability of an index or an indicator to a specific case. This paper assesses the applicability of Water Poverty Index for the countries riparian to the Sava sub-basin, a tributary to the Danube river basin and presents the results of its application. At the same time, the paper discusses the concept of water poverty and the appropriateness of its use in the case of Sava River Basin countries by differentiating the economic poverty in some of those countries from sufficient access to and use of water resources in all of them.

Assessment of Water Quality Index and Heavy Metal Contamination in Active and Abandoned Iron Ore Mining Sites in Pahang, Malaysia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Madzin Zafira

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The composition of heavy metals in water and surface soils of iron ore mining sites were investigated to evaluate on the potential occurrence of heavy metal contamination. Physico-chemical characteristics of the waters were also investigated to determine the current status of water quality index (WQI of the sites. Samples of water and surface soils of active mine (Kuala Lipis and abandoned mine (Bukit Ibam in Pahang were collected at four locations, respectively. The physico-chemical parameters measured for WQI were pH, dissolved oxygen, biological oxygen demand (BOD, chemical oxygen demand (COD, suspended solids (SS, and ammoniacal nitrogen (AN. The water quality parameters were classified according to the Department of Environment (DOE water quality classification. The study revealed that most of the sites in Bukit Ibam and Kuala Lipis were categorized as clean to slightly polluted. On the other hand, heavy metal analysis in water showed that aluminium and manganese level in both sites have exceeded the allowable limits for raw and treated water standards by the Ministry of Health. For heavy metal compositions in soils showed most of the heavy metal concentrations were below the recommended guideline values except for lead, arsenic, zinc and copper.

Drought Forecasting by SPI Index and ANFIS Model Using Fuzzy C-mean Clustering

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mehdi Komasi

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Drought is the interaction between environment and water cycle in the world and affects natural environment of an area when it persists for a longer period. So, developing a suitable index to forecast the spatial and temporal distribution of drought plays an important role in the planning and management of natural resources and water resource systems. In this article, firstly, the drought concept and drought indexes were introduced and then the fuzzy neural networks and fuzzy C-mean clustering were applied to forecast drought via standardized precipitation index (SPI. The results of this research indicate that the SPI index is more capable than the other indexes such as PDSI (Palmer Drought Severity Index, PAI (Palfai Aridity Index and etc. in drought forecasting process. Moreover, application of adaptive nero-fuzzy network accomplished by C-mean clustering has high efficiency in the drought forecasting.

The role of water availability in controlling coupled vegetation-atmosphere dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Scanlon, Todd Michael

This work examines how water availability affects vegetation structure and vegetation-atmosphere exchange of water, carbon, and energy for a savanna ecosystem. The study site is the Kalahari Transect (KT), in southern Africa, which follows a north-south decline in mean annual rainfall from ˜1600 mm/yr to ˜250 mm/yr between the latitudes 12°--26°S. Eddy covariance (EC) flux measurements taken over a time frame of 1--9 days at four sites along the transect during the wet (growing) season revealed that the ecosystem water use efficiency for the sites, defined as the ratio of net carbon flux to evapotranspiration, decreased with increasing mean annual rainfall. EC data were used to parameterize a large eddy simulation model, which was applied over a heterogeneous remotely-sensed surface. Water availability for the vegetation was found to affect the relative controls (structural vs. meteorological) on the spatial distribution of vegetation fluxes. When the spatial distribution of vapor pressure deficit, D, was most predictable (i.e. non water-limiting conditions) it was unimportant in shaping the distribution of the vegetation fluxes, while at times when D was least predictable (i.e. water-limiting conditions) it was most important. This observation is explained by the relative degree of vegetation-atmosphere coupling and the complexity of the non-local effects on D , both of which are dependent upon water availability. Based upon the differing ways in which trees and grass respond to interannual variability in rainfall, a new method was developed to estimate fractional tree, grass, and bare soil cover from a synthesis of satellite and ground-based data. This method was applied to the KT where it was found that tree fractional cover declines with mean annual rainfall, while grass fractional cover peaks near the middle of the gradient. A soil moisture model applied to this data indicated a shift from nutrient- to water-limitation from the mesic to arid portions of

A saprobic index for biological assessment of river water quality in Brazil (Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro states).

Science.gov (United States)

Junqueira, Marilia Vilela; Friedrich, Günther; Pereira de Araujo, Paulo Roberto

2010-04-01

Based upon several years of experience in investigations with macrozoobenthos in rivers in the states of Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, a biological assessment system has been developed to indicate pollution levels caused by easily degradable organic substances from sewers. The biotic index presented here is aimed at determining water's saprobic levels and was, therefore, named the "Saprobic Index for Brazilian Rivers in Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro states" (ISMR). For this purpose, saprobic valences and weights have been established for 122 taxa of tropical macrozoobenthos. Investigations were carried out in little, medium sized and big rivers in mountains and plains. Through ISMR, a classification of water quality and the respective cartographic representation can be obtained. Data collection and treatment methods, as well as the limitations of the biotic index, are thoroughly described. ISMR can also be used as an element to establish complex multimetric indexes intended for an ecological integrity assessment, where it is essential to indicate organic pollution.

Effect of drought stress on leaf soluble sugar content, leaf rolling index and relative water content of proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L. genotypes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

mohamad javad seghatol eslami

2009-06-01

Full Text Available With respect to water shortage in arid and semi- arid regions, the study about drought stress effects on crop plants and selection of resistance cultivars, are among the most important goals in the agricultural researches. In order to examine drought stress effects on millet, an experiment was conducted in Birjand and Sarbisheh, simultaneously. In this experiment, five irrigation treatments (well-watered, drought stress in vegetative stage, in ear emergence stage, in seed filling stage and in vegetative and seed filling stage and five proso millet genotypes (Native, K-C-M.2, K-C-M.4, K-C-M.6 and K-C-M.9 were compared in a split plot design along with three replications. Drought stress increased grain protein content, leaf rolling index and soluble sugars concentration and decreased seed germination and leaf RWC. Although seed protein content and germination percentage of genotypes were not significantly different, there were some differences among leaf rolling index, RWC and soluble sugar content of these genotypes. The results of this study indicated that leaf sugar content, RWC and leaf rolling index can not be considered as the only parameters for selection of high yield genotypes. Therefore, it is recommended that some other factors should also be used apart from the above mentioned ones.

Experimental study on immiscible jet breakup using refractive index matched oil-water pair

Science.gov (United States)

Xue, Xinzhi; Katz, Joseph

2016-11-01

A subsea oil well blowout creates an immiscible crude oil jet. This jet fragments shortly after injection, resulting in generation of a droplet cloud. Detailed understanding of the processes involved is crucial for modeling the fragmentation and for predicting the droplet size distribution. High density of opaque droplets near nozzle limits our ability to visualize and quantify the breakup process. To overcome this challenge, two immiscible fluids: silicone oil and sugar water with the same index of refraction (1.4015) are used as surrogates for crude oil and seawater, respectively. Their ratios of kinematic viscosity (5.64), density (0.83) and interfacial tension are closely matched with those of crude oil and seawater. Distribution of the oil phase is visualized by fluorescent tagging. Both phases are also seeded with particles for simultaneous PIV measurements. The measurements are performed within atomization range of Ohnesorge and Reynolds numbers. Index matching facilitates undistorted view of the phase distribution in illuminated section. Ongoing tests show that the jet surface initially rolls up into Kelvin-Helmholtz rings, followed by development of dispersed phase ligaments further downstream, which then break into droplets. Some of these droplets are re-entrained into the high momentum core, resulting in secondary breakup. As the oil layer and ligaments evolve, they often entrain water, resulting in generation of multiple secondary water droplets encapsulated within the oil droplets. This research is made possible by a Grant from Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative.

Analysis and assessment of water treatment plant reliability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Szpak Dawid

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The subject of the publication is the analysis and assessment of the reliability of the surface water treatment plant (WTP. In the study the one parameter method of reliability assessment was used. Based on the flow sheet derived from the water company the reliability scheme of the analysed WTP was prepared. On the basis of the daily WTP work report the availability index Kg for the individual elements included in the WTP, was determined. Then, based on the developed reliability scheme showing the interrelationships between elements, the availability index Kg for the whole WTP was determined. The obtained value of the availability index Kg was compared with the criteria values.

A FRAMEWORK OF CHANGE DETECTION BASED ON COMBINED MORPHOLOGICA FEATURES AND MULTI-INDEX CLASSIFICATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Li

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Remote sensing images are particularly well suited for analysis of land cover change. In this paper, we present a new framework for detection of changing land cover using satellite imagery. Morphological features and a multi-index are used to extract typical objects from the imagery, including vegetation, water, bare land, buildings, and roads. Our method, based on connected domains, is different from traditional methods; it uses image segmentation to extract morphological features, while the enhanced vegetation index (EVI, the differential water index (NDWI are used to extract vegetation and water, and a fragmentation index is used to the correct extraction results of water. HSV transformation and threshold segmentation extract and remove the effects of shadows on extraction results. Change detection is performed on these results. One of the advantages of the proposed framework is that semantic information is extracted automatically using low-level morphological features and indexes. Another advantage is that the proposed method detects specific types of change without any training samples. A test on ZY-3 images demonstrates that our framework has a promising capability to detect change.

Ground water security and drought in Africa: linking availability, access, and demand.

Science.gov (United States)

Calow, Roger C; Macdonald, Alan M; Nicol, Alan L; Robins, Nick S

2010-01-01

Drought in Africa has been extensively researched, particularly from meteorological, agricultural, and food security perspectives. However, the impact of drought on water security, particularly ground water dependent rural water supplies, has received much less attention. Policy responses have concentrated on food needs, and it has often been difficult to mobilize resources for water interventions, despite evidence that access to safe water is a serious and interrelated concern. Studies carried out in Ghana, Malawi, South Africa, and Ethiopia highlight how rural livelihoods are affected by seasonal stress and longer-term drought. Declining access to food and water is a common and interrelated problem. Although ground water plays a vital role in buffering the effects of rainfall variability, water shortages and difficulties in accessing water that is available can affect domestic and productive water uses, with knock-on effects on food consumption and production. Total depletion of available ground water resources is rarely the main concern. A more common scenario is a spiral of water insecurity as shallow water sources fail, additional demands are put on remaining sources, and mechanical failures increase. These problems can be planned for within normal development programs. Water security mapping can help identify vulnerable areas, and changes to monitoring systems can ensure early detection of problems. Above all, increasing the coverage of ground water-based rural water supplies, and ensuring that the design and siting of water points is informed by an understanding of hydrogeological conditions and user demand, can significantly increase the resilience of rural communities to climate variability.

Growth is required for perception of water availability to pattern root branches in plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Robbins, Neil E; Dinneny, José R

2018-01-23

Water availability is a potent regulator of plant development and induces root branching through a process termed hydropatterning. Hydropatterning enables roots to position lateral branches toward regions of high water availability, such as wet soil or agar media, while preventing their emergence where water is less available, such as in air. The mechanism by which roots perceive the spatial distribution of water during hydropatterning is unknown. Using primary roots of Zea mays (maize) we reveal that developmental competence for hydropatterning is limited to the growth zone of the root tip. Past work has shown that growth generates gradients in water potential across an organ when asymmetries exist in the distribution of available water. Using mathematical modeling, we predict that substantial growth-sustained water potential gradients are also generated in the hydropatterning competent zone and that such biophysical cues inform the patterning of lateral roots. Using diverse chemical and environmental treatments we experimentally demonstrate that growth is necessary for normal hydropatterning of lateral roots. Transcriptomic characterization of the local response of tissues to a moist surface or air revealed extensive regulation of signaling and physiological pathways, some of which we show are growth-dependent. Our work supports a "sense-by-growth" mechanism governing hydropatterning, by which water availability cues are rendered interpretable through growth-sustained water movement. Copyright © 2018 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.

Water availability change in central Belgium for the late 21st century

Science.gov (United States)

Tabari, Hossein; Taye, Meron Teferi; Willems, Patrick

2015-08-01

We investigate the potential impact of climate change on water availability in central Belgium. Two water balance components being precipitation and potential evapotranspiration are initially projected for the late 21st century (2071-2100) based on 30 Coupled Models Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) models relative to a baseline period of 1961-1990, assuming forcing by four representative concentration pathway emission scenarios (RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP6.0, RCP8.5). The future available water is then estimated as the difference between precipitation and potential evapotranspiration projections. The number of wet days and mean monthly precipitation for summer season is projected to decrease in most of the scenarios, while the projections show an increase in those variables for the winter months. Potential evapotranspiration is expected to increase during both winter and summer seasons. The results show a decrease in water availability for summer and an increase for winter, suggesting drier summers and wetter winters for the late 21st century in central Belgium.

A water quality index model using stepwise regression and neural networks models for the Piabanha River basin in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Science.gov (United States)

Villas Boas, M. D.; Olivera, F.; Azevedo, J. S.

2013-12-01

The evaluation of water quality through 'indexes' is widely used in environmental sciences. There are a number of methods available for calculating water quality indexes (WQI), usually based on site-specific parameters. In Brazil, WQI were initially used in the 1970s and were adapted from the methodology developed in association with the National Science Foundation (Brown et al, 1970). Specifically, the WQI 'IQA/SCQA', developed by the Institute of Water Management of Minas Gerais (IGAM), is estimated based on nine parameters: Temperature Range, Biochemical Oxygen Demand, Fecal Coliforms, Nitrate, Phosphate, Turbidity, Dissolved Oxygen, pH and Electrical Conductivity. The goal of this study was to develop a model for calculating the IQA/SCQA, for the Piabanha River basin in the State of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), using only the parameters measurable by a Multiparameter Water Quality Sonde (MWQS) available in the study area. These parameters are: Dissolved Oxygen, pH and Electrical Conductivity. The use of this model will allow to further the water quality monitoring network in the basin, without requiring significant increases of resources. The water quality measurement with MWQS is less expensive than the laboratory analysis required for the other parameters. The water quality data used in the study were obtained by the Geological Survey of Brazil in partnership with other public institutions (i.e. universities and environmental institutes) as part of the project "Integrated Studies in Experimental and Representative Watersheds". Two models were developed to correlate the values of the three measured parameters and the IQA/SCQA values calculated based on all nine parameters. The results were evaluated according to the following validation statistics: coefficient of determination (R2), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Akaike information criterion (AIC) and Final Prediction Error (FPE). The first model was a linear stepwise regression between three independent variables

Estimation of available water capacity components of two-layered soils using crop model inversion: Effect of crop type and water regime

Science.gov (United States)

Sreelash, K.; Buis, Samuel; Sekhar, M.; Ruiz, Laurent; Kumar Tomer, Sat; Guérif, Martine

2017-03-01

Characterization of the soil water reservoir is critical for understanding the interactions between crops and their environment and the impacts of land use and environmental changes on the hydrology of agricultural catchments especially in tropical context. Recent studies have shown that inversion of crop models is a powerful tool for retrieving information on root zone properties. Increasing availability of remotely sensed soil and vegetation observations makes it well suited for large scale applications. The potential of this methodology has however never been properly evaluated on extensive experimental datasets and previous studies suggested that the quality of estimation of soil hydraulic properties may vary depending on agro-environmental situations. The objective of this study was to evaluate this approach on an extensive field experiment. The dataset covered four crops (sunflower, sorghum, turmeric, maize) grown on different soils and several years in South India. The components of AWC (available water capacity) namely soil water content at field capacity and wilting point, and soil depth of two-layered soils were estimated by inversion of the crop model STICS with the GLUE (generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation) approach using observations of surface soil moisture (SSM; typically from 0 to 10 cm deep) and leaf area index (LAI), which are attainable from radar remote sensing in tropical regions with frequent cloudy conditions. The results showed that the quality of parameter estimation largely depends on the hydric regime and its interaction with crop type. A mean relative absolute error of 5% for field capacity of surface layer, 10% for field capacity of root zone, 15% for wilting point of surface layer and root zone, and 20% for soil depth can be obtained in favorable conditions. A few observations of SSM (during wet and dry soil moisture periods) and LAI (within water stress periods) were sufficient to significantly improve the estimation of AWC

Groundwater Quality Assessment Based on Geographical Information System and Groundwater Quality Index

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Zahra Derakhshan

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Iran is located in an arid and semi-arid part of the world. Accordingly, the management of the water resources in the country is a priority. In this regard, determining the quality and pollution of surface water and groundwater is very important, especially in areas where groundwater resources are used for drinking. Groundwater quality index (GQI checks the components of the available water with various quality levels. To assess the quality of drinking groundwater of Yazd-Ardakan plain according to GQI in geographical information system (GIS environment, the electrical conductivity, sodium, calcium, magnesium, chlorine, pH, sodium adsorption ratio, bicarbonate, sulfate, potassium, water hardness, and all substances dissolved in the waters of 80 wells were determined. The samples were obtained from Yazd Regional Water Organization from 2005 to 2014. Using this data, the map components were plotted by Kriging geostatistical method. Then, the map of GQI was prepared after normalizing each map component, switching to a rating map, and extracting the weight of each component from the rating map. Based on the GQI index map, the index point which was 87 in 2005 has increased to 81 in 2014. These maps show a decline in groundwater quality from west to the east region. This decline in groundwater quality is due to the existence of Neogene Organizations in the east and geomorphologic unit of the bare epandage pediment in the west. The map removal and single-parameter sensitivity analysis showed that GQI index in Yazd-Ardakan plain is more sensitive to the components of electrical conductivity (EC, total dissolved solids (TDS, and total hardness (TH. Therefore, these components should be monitored more carefully and repeatedly.

Applying a water quality index model to assess the water quality of the major rivers in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal.

Science.gov (United States)

Regmi, Ram Krishna; Mishra, Binaya Kumar; Masago, Yoshifumi; Luo, Pingping; Toyozumi-Kojima, Asako; Jalilov, Shokhrukh-Mirzo

2017-08-01

Human activities during recent decades have led to increased degradation of the river water environment in South Asia. This degradation has led to concerns for the populations of the major cities of Nepal, including those of the Kathmandu Valley. The deterioration of the rivers in the valley is directly linked to the prevalence of poor sanitary conditions, as well as the presence of industries that discharge their effluents into the river. This study aims to investigate the water quality aspect for the aquatic ecosystems and recreation of the major rivers in the Kathmandu Valley using the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment water quality index (CCME WQI). Ten physicochemical parameters were used to determine the CCME WQI at 20 different sampling locations. Analysis of the data indicated that the water quality in rural areas ranges from excellent to good, whereas in denser settlements and core urban areas, the water quality is poor. The study results are expected to provide policy-makers with valuable information related to the use of river water by local people in the study area.

Saprobiological analysis of water of the river Krivaja

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M. Cikotić

2005-08-01

Full Text Available During one-year research of zoobenthos macroinvertebrates of the river Krivaja 133 taxons were found with total number of 12,766 entities. Sampling was conducted using kick sampling method that corresponded to the type of running waters such as the river Krivaja. For the purpose of water quality evaluation biotic and saprobity indexes were applied in accordance with taxon of collected organisms. The measured values of saprobity index indicated mild to medium water pollution, i.e. oligo-beta mezosaprobity water. The measured values of Shannon-Weaver diversity index indicated high diversity of organisms, thus good conditions of life in water of the Krivaja and its clean water flow.Applied saprobity and biotic indexes in this research should be aguideline for a future research of our water flows in standardization of waterbio-monitoring legislation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Global monthly water scarcity: blue water footprints versus blue water availability.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoekstra, Arjen Y; Mekonnen, Mesfin M; Chapagain, Ashok K; Mathews, Ruth E; Richter, Brian D

2012-01-01

Freshwater scarcity is a growing concern, placing considerable importance on the accuracy of indicators used to characterize and map water scarcity worldwide. We improve upon past efforts by using estimates of blue water footprints (consumptive use of ground- and surface water flows) rather than water withdrawals, accounting for the flows needed to sustain critical ecological functions and by considering monthly rather than annual values. We analyzed 405 river basins for the period 1996-2005. In 201 basins with 2.67 billion inhabitants there was severe water scarcity during at least one month of the year. The ecological and economic consequences of increasing degrees of water scarcity--as evidenced by the Rio Grande (Rio Bravo), Indus, and Murray-Darling River Basins--can include complete desiccation during dry seasons, decimation of aquatic biodiversity, and substantial economic disruption.

Availability of drinking water in US public school cafeterias.

Science.gov (United States)

Hood, Nancy E; Turner, Lindsey; Colabianchi, Natalie; Chaloupka, Frank J; Johnston, Lloyd D

2014-09-01

This study examined the availability of free drinking water during lunchtime in US public schools, as required by federal legislation beginning in the 2011-2012 school year. Data were collected by mail-back surveys in nationally representative samples of US public elementary, middle, and high schools from 2009-2010 to 2011-2012. Overall, 86.4%, 87.4%, and 89.4% of students attended elementary, middle, and high schools, respectively, that met the drinking water requirement. Most students attended schools with existing cafeteria drinking fountains and about one fourth attended schools with water dispensers. In middle and high schools, respondents were asked to indicate whether drinking fountains were clean, and whether they were aware of any water-quality problems at the school. The vast majority of middle and high school students (92.6% and 90.4%, respectively) attended schools where the respondent perceived drinking fountains to be clean or very clean. Approximately one in four middle and high school students attended a school where the survey respondent indicated that there were water-quality issues affecting drinking fountains. Although most schools have implemented the requirement to provide free drinking water at lunchtime, additional work is needed to promote implementation at all schools. School nutrition staff at the district and school levels can play an important role in ensuring that schools implement the drinking water requirement, as well as promote education and behavior-change strategies to increase student consumption of water at school. Copyright © 2014 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Dealing with variability in water availability: the case of the Verde Grande River basin, Brazil

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B. Collischonn

2014-09-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a water resources management strategy developed by the Brazilian National Water Agency (ANA to cope with the conflicts between water users in the Verde Grande River basin, located at the southern border of the Brazilian semi-arid region. The basin is dominated by water-demanding fruit irrigation agriculture, which has grown significantly and without adequate water use control, over the last 30 years. The current water demand for irrigation exceeds water availability (understood as a 95 % percentile of the flow duration curve in a ratio of three to one, meaning that downstream water users are experiencing more frequent water shortages than upstream ones. The management strategy implemented in 2008 has the objective of equalizing risk for all water users and consists of a set of rules designed to restrict water withdrawals according to current river water level (indicative of water availability and water demand. Under that rule, larger farmers have proportionally larger reductions in water use, preserving small subsistence irrigators. Moreover, dry season streamflow is forecasted at strategic points by the end of every rainy season, providing evaluation of shortage risk. Thus, water users are informed about the forecasts and corresponding restrictions well in advance, allowing for anticipated planning of irrigated areas and practices. In order to enforce restriction rules, water meters were installed in all larger water users and inefficient farmers were obligated to improve their irrigation systems’ performance. Finally, increases in irrigated area are only allowed in the case of annual crops and during months of higher water availability (November to June. The strategy differs from convectional approached based only on water use priority and has been successful in dealing with natural variability of water availability, allowing more water to be used in wet years and managing risk in an isonomic manner during dry years.

An index for drought induced financial risk in the mining industry

Science.gov (United States)

Bonnafous, L.; Lall, U.; Siegel, J.

2017-02-01

Water scarcity has emerged as a potential risk for mining operations. High capital spending for desalination and water conflicts leading to asset stranding have recently occurred. Investors in mining companies are interested in the exposure to such risks across portfolios of mining assets (whether the practical at-site consequences are foregone production, higher OPEX and CAPEX and ensuing lost revenues, or asset-stranding). In this paper, an index of the potential financial exposure of a portfolio is developed and its application is illustrated. Since the likely loss at each mine is hard to estimate a priori, one needs a proxy for potential loss. The index considers drought duration, severity and frequency (defined by a return-level in years) at each mining asset, and provides a measure of financial exposure through weighing of production or Net Asset Value. Changes in human needs are not considered, but are relevant, and could be incorporated if global data on mine and other water use were available at the appropriate resolution. Potential for contemporaneous drought incidence across sites in a portfolio is considered specifically. Through an appropriate choice of drought thresholds, an analyst can customize a scenario to assess potential losses in production value or profits, or whether conflicts could emerge that would lead to stranded assets or capital expenditure to secure alternate water supplies. Global climate data sets that allow a customized development of such an index are identified, and selected mining company portfolios are scored as to the risk associated with one publicly available drought index.

Effects of soil water and nitrogen availability on photosynthesis and water use efficiency of Robinia pseudoacacia seedlings.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Xiping; Fan, Yangyang; Long, Junxia; Wei, Ruifeng; Kjelgren, Roger; Gong, Chunmei; Zhao, Jun

2013-03-01

The efficient use of water and nitrogen (N) to promote growth and increase yield of fruit trees and crops is well studied. However, little is known about their effects on woody plants growing in arid and semiarid areas with limited water and N availability. To examine the effects of water and N supply on early growth and water use efficiency (WUE) of trees on dry soils, one-year-old seedlings of Robinia pseudoacacia were exposed to three soil water contents (non-limiting, medium drought, and severe drought) as well as to low and high N levels, for four months. Photosynthetic parameters, leaf instantaneous WUE (WUEi) and whole tree WUE (WUEb) were determined. Results showed that, independent of N levels, increasing soil water content enhanced the tree transpiration rate (Tr), stomatal conductance (Gs), intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci), maximum net assimilation rate (Amax), apparent quantum yield (AQY), the range of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) due to both reduced light compensation point and enhanced light saturation point, and dark respiration rate (Rd), resulting in a higher net photosynthetic rate (Pn) and a significantly increased whole tree biomass. Consequently, WUEi and WUEb were reduced at low N, whereas WUEi was enhanced at high N levels. Irrespective of soil water availability, N supply enhanced Pn in association with an increase of Gs and Ci and a decrease of the stomatal limitation value (Ls), while Tr remained unchanged. Biomass and WUEi increased under non-limiting water conditions and medium drought, as well as WUEb under all water conditions; but under severe drought, WUEi and biomass were not affected by N application. In conclusion, increasing soil water availability improves photosynthetic capacity and biomass accumulation under low and high N levels, but its effects on WUE vary with soil N levels. N supply increased Pn and WUE, but under severe drought, N supply did not enhance WUEi and biomass.

Assessment of Suitable Areas for Home Gardens for Irrigation Potential, Water Availability, and Water-Lifting Technologies

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Tewodros Assefa

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The study was conducted in Lake Tana Basin of Ethiopia to assess potentially irrigable areas for home gardens, water availability, and feasibility of water-lifting technologies. A GIS-based Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE technique was applied to access the potential of surface and groundwater sources for irrigation. The factors affecting irrigation practice were identified and feasibility of water-lifting technologies was evaluated. Pairwise method and expert’s opinion were used to assign weights for each factor. The result showed that about 345,000 ha and 135,000 ha of land were found suitable for irrigation from the surface and groundwater sources, respectively. The rivers could address about 1–1.2% of the irrigable land during dry season without water storage structure whereas groundwater could address about 2.2–2.4% of the irrigable land, both using conventional irrigation techniques. If the seven major dams within the basin were considered, surface water potential would be increased and satisfy about 21% of the irrigable land. If rainwater harvesting techniques were used, about 76% of the basin would be suitable for irrigation. The potential of surface and groundwater was evaluated with respect to water requirements of dominant crops in the region. On the other hand, rope pump and deep well piston hand pump were found with relatively the most (26% and the least (9% applicable low-cost water-lifting technologies in the basin.

Water-food-energy nexus index: analysis of water-energy-food nexus of crop's production system applying the indicators approach

Science.gov (United States)

El-Gafy, Inas

2017-10-01

Analysis the water-food-energy nexus is the first step to assess the decision maker in developing and evaluating national strategies that take into account the nexus. The main objective of the current research is providing a method for the decision makers to analysis the water-food-energy nexus of the crop production system at the national level and carrying out a quantitative assessment of it. Through the proposed method, indicators considering the water and energy consumption, mass productivity, and economic productivity were suggested. Based on these indicators a water-food-energy nexus index (WFENI) was performed. The study showed that the calculated WFENI of the Egyptian summer crops have scores that range from 0.21 to 0.79. Comparing to onion (the highest scoring WFENI,i.e., the best score), rice has the lowest WFENI among the summer food crops. Analysis of the water-food-energy nexus of forty-two Egyptian crops in year 2010 was caried out (energy consumed for irrigation represent 7.4% of the total energy footprint). WFENI can be applied to developed strategies for the optimal cropping pattern that minimizing the water and energy consumption and maximizing their productivity. It can be applied as a holistic tool to evaluate the progress in the water and agricultural national strategies. Moreover, WFENI could be applied yearly to evaluate the performance of the water-food-energy nexus managmant.

Global monthly water scarcity: Blue water footprints versus blue water availability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoekstra, Arjen Ysbert; Mekonnen, Mesfin; Chapagain, Ashok; Mathews, R.E.; Richter, B.D.

2012-01-01

Freshwater scarcity is a growing concern, placing considerable importance on the accuracy of indicators used to characterize and map water scarcity worldwide. We improve upon past efforts by using estimates of blue water footprints (consumptive use of ground- and surface water flows) rather than

Stover removal effects on seasonal soil water availability under full and deficit irrigation

Science.gov (United States)

Removing corn (Zea mays L.) stover for livestock feed or bioenergy feedstock may impact water availability in the soil profile to support crop growth. The role of stover in affecting soil profile water availability will depend on annual rainfall inputs as well as irrigation level. To assess how res...

Refractive Index Measurement within a Photonic Crystal Fibre Based on Short Wavelength Diffraction

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Nathaniel Groothoff

2007-10-01

Full Text Available A new class of refractive index sensors using solid core photonic crystal fibres isdemonstrated. Coherent scattering at the cladding lattice is used to optically characterizematerials inserted into the fibre holes. The liquid to solid phase transition of water uponfreezing to ice 1h is characterized by determining the refractive index.

Biological indices for classification of water quality around Mae Moh power plant, Thailand

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Pongsarun Junshum and Siripen Traichaiyaporn

2007-12-01

Full Text Available The algal communities and water quality were monitored at eight sampling sites around Mae Moh power plant during January-December 2003. Three biological indices, viz. algal genus pollution index, saprobic index, and Shannon-Weaver index, were adopted to classify the water quality around the power plant in comparison with the measured physico-chemical water quality. The result shows that the Shannon-Weaver diversity index appears to be much more applicable and interpretable for the classification of water quality around the Mae Moh power plant than the algal genus pollution index and the saprobic index.

Objectives and Indexes for Implementation of Sponge Cities—A Case Study of Changzhou City, China

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Zhengzhao Li

2018-05-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a framework of objectives and indexes for sponge cities implementation in China. The proposed objectives and indexes aims to reflect whether the city is in accord with the sponge city. Different cities have different objectives and indexes as each city has its own geologic and hydrogeological conditions. Therefore, the main problems (e.g., water security and flood risks in the central urban area of Changzhou city, China were evaluated scientifically. According to the local conditions, four objectives and eleven indexes have been made as a standard to estimate the sponge city and set a goal for the city development to reach the goal of sustainable urban development. The strategy of process control was implemented to improve the standard of urban drainage and flood control facilities, regulate total runoff and reduce storm peak flow, and the ecological monitoring of the function of the rivers and lakes. The objectives of sponge cities include water security, water quality improvement, healthy water ecosystems, and water utilization efficiency. Urban flood prevention capacity, river and lake water quality compliance, and annual runoff control are the key objectives to encourage the use of non-conventional water resources.

Changing water availability during the African maize-growing season, 1979–2010

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Estes, Lyndon D; Chaney, Nathaniel W; Herrera-Estrada, Julio; Sheffield, Justin; Caylor, Kelly K; Wood, Eric F

2014-01-01

Understanding how global change is impacting African agriculture requires a full physical accounting of water supply and demand, but accurate, gridded data on key drivers (e.g., humidity) are generally unavailable. We used a new bias-corrected meteorological dataset to analyze changes in precipitation (supply), potential evapotranspiration (E p , demand), and water availability (expressed as the ratio P/E p ) in 20 countries (focusing on their maize-growing regions and seasons), between 1979 and 2010, and the factors driving changes in E p . Maize-growing areas in Southern Africa, particularly South Africa, benefitted from increased water availability due in large part to demand declines driven primarily by declining net radiation, increasing vapor pressure, and falling temperatures (with no effect from changing windspeed), with smaller increases in supply. Sahelian zone countries in West Africa, as well as Ethiopia in East Africa, had strong increases in availability driven primarily by rainfall rebounding from the long-term Sahelian droughts, with little change or small reductions in demand. However, intra-seasonal supply variability generally increased in West and East Africa. Across all three regions, declining net radiation contributed downwards pressure on demand, generally over-riding upwards pressure caused by increasing temperatures, the regional effects of which were largest in East Africa. A small number of countries, mostly in or near East Africa (Tanzania and Malawi) experienced declines in water availability primarily due to decreased rainfall, but exacerbated by increasing demand. Much of the reduced water availability in East Africa occurred during the more sensitive middle part of the maize-growing season, suggesting negative consequences for maize production. (paper)

Human Use Index (Future)

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — Human land uses may have major impacts on ecosystems, affecting biodiversity, habitat, air and water quality. The human use index (also known as U-index) is the...

75 FR 71431 - Clean Water Act Section 303(d): Availability of List Decisions Correction

Science.gov (United States)

2010-11-23

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9230-1] Clean Water Act Section 303(d): Availability of List... Availability. SUMMARY: This action corrects a Federal Register notice that published on November 9, 2010 at 75 FR 68783 announcing the availability of EPA decisions identifying water quality limited segments and...

CSIR Technologies and Interventions to maximise the availability of water for Scenarios of Industrial Growth

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Harrison, Pienaar

2017-10-01

Full Text Available disasters (WEF, 2017). 6 (UN Water Report, 2016 - McKinsey Global Institute). 7 Power source: hydro, wave cooling Carrier: steam turbines Hydraulic tool: fracking Growth requirement: biofuels New treatment: desalination Waste water... treatment Raw water treatment Distribution Abstraction WATER ENERGY At the same time, climate change is likely to result in reduction of surface water availability, shifts in the seasonality of rainfall and runoff, growing water use demands...

The Coupling of Ecosystem Productivity and Water Availability in Dryland Regions

Science.gov (United States)

Scott, R. L.; Biederman, J. A.; Barron-Gafford, G.

2014-12-01

Land cover and climatic change will alter biosphere-atmosphere exchanges of water vapor and carbon dioxide depending, in part, on feedbacks between biotic activity and water availability. Eddy covariance observations allow us to estimate ecosystem-scale productivity and respiration, and these datasets are now becoming sufficiently mature to advance understanding of these ecohydrological interactions. Here we use a network of sites in semiarid western North America representing gradients of water availability and functional plant type. We examine how precipitation (P) controls evapotranspiration (ET), net ecosystem production (NEP), and its component fluxes of ecosystem respiration (Reco) and gross ecosystem production (GEP). Despite the high variability in seasonal and annual precipitation timing and amounts that we expect to influence ecosystem function, we find persistent overall relationships between P or ET and the fluxes of NEP, Reco and GEP across the network, indicating a commonality and resilience in ecosystem soil and plant response to water availability. But we also observe several important site differences such as prior seasonal legacy effects on subsequent fluxes which vary depending on dominant plant functional type. For example, multiyear droughts, episodic cool-season droughts, and hard winter freezes seem to affect the herbaceous species differently than the woody ones. Nevertheless, the overall, strong coupling between hydrologic and ecologic processes at these sites bolsters our ability to predict the response of dryland ecosystems to future precipitation change.

Optimizing Regional Food and Energy Production under Limited Water Availability through Integrated Modeling

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Junlian Gao

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Across the world, human activity is approaching planetary boundaries. In northwest China, in particular, the coal industry and agriculture are competing for key limited inputs of land and water. In this situation, the traditional approach to planning the development of each sector independently fails to deliver sustainable solutions, as solutions made in sectorial ‘silos’ are often suboptimal for the entire economy. We propose a spatially detailed cost-minimizing model for coal and agricultural production in a region under constraints on land and water availability. We apply the model to the case study of Shanxi province, China. We show how such an integrated optimization, which takes maximum advantage of the spatial heterogeneity in resource abundance, could help resolve the conflicts around the water–food–energy (WFE nexus and assist in its management. We quantify the production-possibility frontiers under different water-availability scenarios and demonstrate that in water-scarce regions, like Shanxi, the production capacity and corresponding production solutions are highly sensitive to water constraints. The shadow prices estimated in the model could be the basis for intelligent differentiated water pricing, not only to enable the water-resource transfer between agriculture and the coal industry, and across regions, but also to achieve cost-effective WFE management.

Application of water quality index to evaluate groundwater quality (temporal and spatial variation) of an intensively exploited aquifer (Puebla valley, Mexico).

Science.gov (United States)

Salcedo-Sánchez, Edith R; Garrido Hoyos, Sofía E; Esteller Alberich, Ma Vicenta; Martínez Morales, Manuel

2016-10-01

The spatial and temporal variation of water quality in the urban area of the Puebla Valley aquifer was evaluated using historical and present data obtained during this investigation. The current study assessed water quality based on the Water Quality Index developed by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME-WQI), which provides a mathematical framework to evaluate the quality of water in combination with a set of conditions representing quality criteria, or limits. This index is flexible regarding the type and number of variables used by the evaluation given that the variables of interest are selected according to the characteristics and objectives of development, conservation and compliance with regulations. The CCME-WQI was calculated using several variables that assess the main use of the wells in the urban area that is public supply, according to criteria for human use and consumption established by Mexican law and international standards proposed by the World Health Organization. The assessment of the index shows a gradual deterioration in the quality of the aquifer over time, as the amount of wells with excellent quality have decreased and those with lower index values (poor quality) have increased throughout the urban area of the Puebla Valley aquifer. The parameters affecting groundwater quality are: total dissolved solids, sulfate, calcium, magnesium and total hardness.

Increasing the regional availability of the Standardized Precipitation Index: an operational approach

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Monica Cristina Meschiatti

Full Text Available ABSTRACT The need to use a length of rainfall records of at least 30 years to calculate the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI limits its application in several Drought Early Warning Systems of developing countries. Therefore, in order to increase the number of weather stations in which the SPI may be applied, this study quantified the difference among SPI values derived from calibration periods (CP smaller than 30 years in respect to those computed from the 30-year period of 1985 – 2014 in the State of São Paulo, Brazil (time scales ranging from 1 to 12 months were considered. The correlation, agreement and consistency of SPI values derived from CP ranging from the last 30 to 21 years have been evaluated. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov/Lilliefors test indicated, for all CP, that the 2-parameter gamma distribution may be used to calculate the SPI in the State of São Paulo. The normality test indicated that, even for the period of 1985 – 2014, the normally assumption of the SPI series is not always met. However, it was observed no remarkable difference in the rejection rates of the normality assumption obtained from the different CP. Finally, both absolute mean error and the modified index of agreement indicated a high consistence among SPI values derived from the calibration period of 1991 – 2014 (24 years in respect to those derived from the 30-year period. Accordingly, it is possible to use weather stations with rainfall records starting in 1991 (or earlier to calculate, in operational mode, the SPI in the State of São Paulo.

Water availability and vulnerability of 225 large cities in the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Padowski, Julie C.; Jawitz, James W.

2012-12-01

This study presents a quantitative national assessment of urban water availability and vulnerability for 225 U.S. cities with population greater than 100,000. Here, the urban assessments account for not only renewable water flows, but also the extracted, imported, and stored water that urban systems access through constructed infrastructure. These sources represent important hydraulic components of the urban water supply, yet are typically excluded from water scarcity assessments. Results from this hydraulic-based assessment were compared to those obtained using a more conventional method that estimates scarcity solely based on local renewable flows. The inclusion of hydraulic components increased the mean availability to cities, leading to a significantly lower portion of the total U.S. population considered "at risk" for water scarcity (17%) than that obtained from the runoff method (47%). Water vulnerability was determined based on low-flow conditions, and smaller differences were found for this metric between at-risk populations using the runoff (66%) and hydraulic-based (54%) methods. The large increase in the susceptible population between the scarcity measures evaluated using the hydraulic method may better reconcile the seeming contradiction in the United States between perceptions of natural water abundance and widespread water scarcity. Additionally, urban vulnerability measures developed here were validated using a media text analysis. Vulnerability assessments that included hydraulic components were found to correlate with the frequency of urban water scarcity reports in the popular press while runoff-based measures showed no significant correlation, suggesting that hydraulic-based assessments provide better context for understanding the nature and severity of urban water scarcity issues.

Long term growth responses of loblolly pine to optimal nutrient and water resource availability

Science.gov (United States)

Timothy J. Albaugh; H. Lee Allen; Phillip M. Dougherty; Kurt H. Johnsen

2004-01-01

A factorial combination of four treatments (control (CW), optimal growing season water availability (IW), optimum nutrient availability (FW), and combined optimum water and nutrient availability (FIW)) in four replications were initiated in an 8-year- old Pinus taeda stand growing on a droughty, nutrient-poor, sandy site in Scotland County, NC and...

Physiological responses of Theobroma cacao L. to water soil available in nursery stage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jairo Garcia Lozano

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In the locality of El Espinal, Tolima, the effect of water stress on leaf water potential and gas exchange of plants three clones of cacao (Theobroma cacao L was evaluated. The experiment was established in a split plot design in randomized block arrangement. The main plot was four levels of available soil water, subplot grafted seedlings to three months of three clones with five repetitions. The results showed highly significant differences (P <0.01 in content of soil water, but no differences between the materials evaluated. The loss of water in the soil decreases leaf water potential (Ψf and causes stomatal closure altering gas exchange and vapor pressure deficit (DPV accentuates mainly at noon with increasing evapotranspiration. The magnitude of impact of water deficit depends on climatic variations throughout the day. The climatic variables that affect plant development, are temperature and relative humidity in the form of DPV. Net photosynthesis and growth of cocoa seedlings are physiological variables very sensitive to excess and especially to water deficit.

Metabolomic response of Calotropis procera growing in the desert to changes in water availability.

Science.gov (United States)

Ramadan, Ahmed; Sabir, Jamal S M; Alakilli, Saleha Y M; Shokry, Ahmed M; Gadalla, Nour O; Edris, Sherif; Al-Kordy, Magdy A; Al-Zahrani, Hassan S; El-Domyati, Fotouh M; Bahieldin, Ahmed; Baker, Neil R; Willmitzer, Lothar; Irgang, Susann

2014-01-01

Water availability is a major limitation for agricultural productivity. Plants growing in severe arid climates such as deserts provide tools for studying plant growth and performance under extreme drought conditions. The perennial species Calotropis procera used in this study is a shrub growing in many arid areas which has an exceptional ability to adapt and be productive in severe arid conditions. We describe the results of studying the metabolomic response of wild C procera plants growing in the desert to a one time water supply. Leaves of C. procera plants were taken at three time points before and 1 hour, 6 hours and 12 hours after watering and subjected to a metabolomics and lipidomics analysis. Analysis of the data reveals that within one hour after watering C. procera has already responded on the metabolic level to the sudden water availability as evidenced by major changes such as increased levels of most amino acids, a decrease in sucrose, raffinose and maltitol, a decrease in storage lipids (triacylglycerols) and an increase in membrane lipids including photosynthetic membranes. These changes still prevail at the 6 hour time point after watering however 12 hours after watering the metabolomics data are essentially indistinguishable from the prewatering state thus demonstrating not only a rapid response to water availability but also a rapid response to loss of water. Taken together these data suggest that the ability of C. procera to survive under the very harsh drought conditions prevailing in the desert might be associated with its rapid adjustments to water availability and losses.

Sustainability of small reservoirs and large scale water availability under current conditions and climate change

OpenAIRE

Krol, Martinus S.; de Vries, Marjella J.; van Oel, P.R.; Carlos de Araújo, José

2011-01-01

Semi-arid river basins often rely on reservoirs for water supply. Small reservoirs may impact on large-scale water availability both by enhancing availability in a distributed sense and by subtracting water for large downstream user communities, e.g. served by large reservoirs. Both of these impacts of small reservoirs are subject to climate change. Using a case-study on North-East Brazil, this paper shows that climate change impacts on water availability may be severe, and impacts on distrib...

Future Water Availability from Hindukush-Karakoram-Himalaya upper Indus Basin under Conflicting Climate Change Scenarios

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Shabeh ul Hasson

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Future of the crucial Himalayan water supplies has generally been assessed under the anthropogenic warming, typically consistent amid observations and climate model projections. However, conflicting mid-to-late melt-season cooling within the upper Indus basin (UIB suggests that the future of its melt-dominated hydrological regime and the subsequent water availability under changing climate has yet been understood only indistinctly. Here, the future water availability from the UIB is presented under both observed and projected—though likely but contrasting—climate change scenarios. Continuation of prevailing climatic changes suggests decreased and delayed glacier melt but increased and early snowmelt, leading to reduction in the overall water availability and profound changes in the overall seasonality of the hydrological regime. Hence, initial increases in the water availability due to enhanced glacier melt under typically projected warmer climates, and then abrupt decrease upon vanishing of the glaciers, as reported earlier, is only true given the UIB starts following uniformly the global warming signal. Such discordant future water availability findings caution the impact assessment communities to consider the relevance of likely (near-future climate change scenarios—consistent to prevalent climatic change patterns—in order to adequately support the water resource planning in Pakistan.

Water availability and genetic effects on wood properties of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda)

Science.gov (United States)

C. A. Gonzalez-Benecke; T. A. Martin; Alexander Clark; G. F. Peter

2010-01-01

We studied the effect of water availability on basal area growth and wood properties of 11-year-old loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) trees from contrasting Florida (FL) (a mix of half-sib families) and South Carolina coastal plain (SC) (a single, half-sib family) genetic material. Increasing soil water availability via irrigation increased average wholecore specific...

Easy prediction of the refractive index for binary mixtures of ionic liquids with water or ethanol

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rilo, E.; Domínguez-Pérez, M.; Vila, J.; Segade, L.; García, M.; Varela, L.M.; Cabeza, O.

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► We measure refractive index, n, in seven systems formed by IL + water or ethanol. ► Independently, theoretical estimations of the refractive index values were performed. ► To do that we use Gladstone–Dale and Newton models, relating n and density. ► We calculate density of each system from the value of the pure components. ► The agreement between experimental and calculated n values is about 99.8%. - Abstract: In this paper, we demonstrate that it is possible to know the refractive index, n D , of every given mixture of 1-alkyl-3methyl imidazolium tetrafluoroborate with water and ethanol just from the knowledge of the refractive index and density of pure components. To do that, we measured n D for seven different mixtures in all range of existing concentrations and, independently, we deduce n D theoretically. Both sets of values differ less than a 0.2% on average. The theoretical deduction takes into account that these mixtures are quasi-ideal from the molar volume point of view, as recently published, and so density for any composition of the mixture can be obtained with a precision better than 0.5% from the pure compounds value. Now we simply apply Newton or Gladstone–Dale models, which relate the refractive index of a binary mixture with its density from the value of both pure components, without any fitting parameter. Both models are very similar in form and in the values they deduce (less than a 0.2% of difference), but while that of Newton performs slightly better for ethanol mixtures, the model of Gladstone–Dale gives some better results for aqueous mixtures. We think that these results can be extended to the majority of ionic liquid plus solvent systems.

Indexes of the common reed's seed vitality from water-bodies of the Chernobyl exclusive zone

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yavnuk, A.A.; Shevtsova, N.L.; Gudkov, D.I.; Levchenko, Ya.I.

2010-01-01

Investigation of the common reed's seed vitality (vegetation of 2009) from flood-plain water-bodies with different level of radionuclide contamination was carried out. Decrease in indexes of seed's vitality and abnormalities in seed dynamic sprouting was noticed. Dose-response relationship of germination, germinating force, survival rate of seeds of plants was determined. (authors)

Monitoring 2015 drought in West Java using Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI)

Science.gov (United States)

Febrina Amalo, Luisa; Ma’rufah, Ummu; Ayu Permatasari, Prita

2018-05-01

Drought is a slow developing phenomenon that accumulates over period and affecting various sectors. It is one of natural hazards that occurs each year, particularly in Indonesia over Australian Monsoon period. During drought event, vegetation’s cover can be affected by water stress. Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) is a method for water resource assessment and known to be strongly related to the plant water content. NDWI is produced from MODIS bands Near-infrared (NIR) and Short Wave Infrared (SWIR). This research aims to monitor drought using NDWI in West Java during El Niño 2015 and its impact on rainfall variability. The result showed rainfall was decreased significantly starting from May-June, then increased in November. According to NDWI, it also showed that mostly West Java Region affected by drought during May-November. Very strong drought occurred on September-November. On December, areal extent of drought was decreasing significantly because rainfall had increased during November. Generally, areal extent of drought in West Java was dominated by strong and moderate drought. It implied that El Niño 2015, give great impact on increasing drought and decreasing rainfall in West Java. NDWI can be detected drought occurrence as it have good correlation with rainfall spatially.

A Preliminary Study of Water Quality Index in Terengganu River Basin, Malaysia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suratman, S.; Mohd, S.M.I.; Hee, Y.Y.; Bedurus, E.A.; Latif, M.T.

2015-01-01

The Malaysian Department of Environment-Water Quality Index (DOE-WQI) was determined for the Terengganu River basin which is located at the coastal water of the southern South China Sea between July and October 2008. Monthly samplings were carried out at ten sampling stations within the basin. Six parameters listed in DOE-WQI were measured based on standard methods: pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS) and ammonical nitrogen (AN). The results indicated the impact of various anthropogenic activities which contribute to high values of BOD, COD, TSS and AN at middle and downstream stations, as compared with the upstream of the basin. The reverses were true for the pH and DO values. The DOE-WQI ranged from 71.5-94.6 % (mean 86.9 %), which corresponded to a classification status range from slightly polluted to clean. With respect to the Malaysia National Water Quality Standards (NWQS), the level of most of the parameters measured remained at Class I which is suitable for the sustainable conservation of the natural environment, for water supply without treatment and as well as for very sensitive aquatic species. It is suggested that monitoring should be carried out continuously for proper management of this river basin. (author)

Development and optimization of water treatment reactors using TiO2-modified polymer beads with a refractive index identical to that of water

Science.gov (United States)

Myoga, Arata; Iwashita, Ryutaro; Unno, Noriyuki; Satake, Shin-ichi; Taniguchi, Jun; Yuki, Kazuhisa; Seki, Yohji

2018-06-01

Various water purification reactors were constructed using beads of TiO2-coated MEXFLON, which is a fluoropolymer exhibiting a refractive index identical to that of water. The performance of these reactors was evaluated in a recirculation experiment utilizing an aqueous solution of methylene blue. Reactor pipes (length = 150 mm, internal diameter = 10 mm) were made of a fluorinated ethylene polymer with a refractive index of 1.338 and contained 206-bead clusters. A UV lamp was used to irradiate eight reactor pipes surrounding it. The above-mentioned eight bead-packed pipes were connected both in series and in parallel, and the performances of these two reactor types were compared. A pseudo-first-order rate constant of 0.70 h- 1 was obtained for the series connection, whereas the corresponding value for the parallel connection was 1.5 times smaller, confirming the effectiveness of increasing the reaction surface by employing a larger number of beads.

Development and optimization of water treatment reactors using TiO2-modified polymer beads with a refractive index identical to that of water

Science.gov (United States)

Myoga, Arata; Iwashita, Ryutaro; Unno, Noriyuki; Satake, Shin-ichi; Taniguchi, Jun; Yuki, Kazuhisa; Seki, Yohji

2018-03-01

Various water purification reactors were constructed using beads of TiO2-coated MEXFLON, which is a fluoropolymer exhibiting a refractive index identical to that of water. The performance of these reactors was evaluated in a recirculation experiment utilizing an aqueous solution of methylene blue. Reactor pipes (length = 150 mm, internal diameter = 10 mm) were made of a fluorinated ethylene polymer with a refractive index of 1.338 and contained 206-bead clusters. A UV lamp was used to irradiate eight reactor pipes surrounding it. The above-mentioned eight bead-packed pipes were connected both in series and in parallel, and the performances of these two reactor types were compared. A pseudo-first-order rate constant of 0.70 h- 1 was obtained for the series connection, whereas the corresponding value for the parallel connection was 1.5 times smaller, confirming the effectiveness of increasing the reaction surface by employing a larger number of beads.

Polder Effects on Sediment-to-Soil Conversion: Water Table, Residual Available Water Capacity, and Salt Stress Interdependence

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Raymond Tojo Radimy

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The French Atlantic marshlands, reclaimed since the Middle Age, have been successively used for extensive grazing and more recently for cereal cultivation from 1970. The soils have acquired specific properties which have been induced by the successive reclaiming and drainage works and by the response of the clay dominant primary sediments, that is, structure, moisture, and salinity profiles. Based on the whole survey of the Marais Poitevin and Marais de Rochefort and in order to explain the mechanisms of marsh soil behavior, the work focuses on two typical spots: an undrained grassland since at least 1964 and a drained cereal cultivated field. The structure-hydromechanical profiles relationships have been established thanks to the clay matrix shrinkage curve. They are confronted to the hydraulic functioning including the fresh-to-salt water transfers and to the recording of tensiometer profiles. The CE1/5 profiles supply the water geochemical and geophysical data by their better accuracy. Associated to the available water capacity calculation they allow the representation of the parallel evolution of the residual available water capacity profiles and salinity profiles according to the plant growing and rooting from the mesophile systems of grassland to the hygrophile systems of drained fields.

Water Availability and Use Pilot-A multiscale assessment in the U.S. Great Lakes Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Reeves, Howard W.

2011-01-01

Beginning in 2005, water availability and use were assessed for the U.S. part of the Great Lakes Basin through the Great Lakes Basin Pilot of a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) national assessment of water availability and use. The goals of a national assessment of water availability and use are to clarify our understanding of water-availability status and trends and improve our ability to forecast the balance between water supply and demand for future economic and environmental uses. This report outlines possible approaches for full-scale implementation of such an assessment. As such, the focus of this study was on collecting, compiling, and analyzing a wide variety of data to define the storage and dynamics of water resources and quantify the human demands on water in the Great Lakes region. The study focused on multiple spatial and temporal scales to highlight not only the abundant regional availability of water but also the potential for local shortages or conflicts over water. Regional studies provided a framework for understanding water resources in the basin. Subregional studies directed attention to varied aspects of the water-resources system that would have been difficult to assess for the whole region because of either data limitations or time limitations for the project. The study of local issues and concerns was motivated by regional discussions that led to recent legislative action between the Great Lakes States and regional cooperation with the Canadian Great Lakes Provinces. The multiscale nature of the study findings challenges water-resource managers and the public to think about regional water resources in an integrated way and to understand how future changes to the system-driven by human uses, climate variability, or land-use change-may be accommodated by informed water-resources management.

Influences of climate change on water resources availability in Jinjiang Basin, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Wenchao; Wang, Jie; Li, Zhanjie; Yao, Xiaolei; Yu, Jingshan

2014-01-01

The influences of climate change on water resources availability in Jinjiang Basin, China, were assessed using the Block-wise use of the TOPmodel with the Muskingum-Cunge routing method (BTOPMC) distributed hydrological model. The ensemble average of downscaled output from sixteen GCMs (General Circulation Models) for A1B emission scenario (medium CO2 emission) in the 2050s was adopted to build regional climate change scenario. The projected precipitation and temperature data were used to drive BTOPMC for predicting hydrological changes in the 2050s. Results show that evapotranspiration will increase in most time of a year. Runoff in summer to early autumn exhibits an increasing trend, while in the rest period of a year it shows a decreasing trend, especially in spring season. From the viewpoint of water resource availability, it is indicated that it has the possibility that water resources may not be sufficient to fulfill irrigation water demand in the spring season and one possible solution is to store more water in the reservoir in previous summer.

Shifting species interactions in terrestrial dryland ecosystems under altered water availability and climate change

Science.gov (United States)

McCluney, Kevin E.; Belnap, Jayne; Collins, Scott L.; González, Angélica L.; Hagen, Elizabeth M.; Holland, J. Nathaniel; Kotler, Burt P.; Maestre, Fernando T.; Smith, Stanley D.; Wolf, Blair O.

2012-01-01

Species interactions play key roles in linking the responses of populations, communities, and ecosystems to environmental change. For instance, species interactions are an important determinant of the complexity of changes in trophic biomass with variation in resources. Water resources are a major driver of terrestrial ecology and climate change is expected to greatly alter the distribution of this critical resource. While previous studies have documented strong effects of global environmental change on species interactions in general, responses can vary from region to region. Dryland ecosystems occupy more than one-third of the Earth's land mass, are greatly affected by changes in water availability, and are predicted to be hotspots of climate change. Thus, it is imperative to understand the effects of environmental change on these globally significant ecosystems. Here, we review studies of the responses of population-level plant-plant, plant-herbivore, and predator-prey interactions to changes in water availability in dryland environments in order to develop new hypotheses and predictions to guide future research. To help explain patterns of interaction outcomes, we developed a conceptual model that views interaction outcomes as shifting between (1) competition and facilitation (plant-plant), (2) herbivory, neutralism, or mutualism (plant-herbivore), or (3) neutralism and predation (predator-prey), as water availability crosses physiological, behavioural, or population-density thresholds. We link our conceptual model to hypothetical scenarios of current and future water availability to make testable predictions about the influence of changes in water availability on species interactions. We also examine potential implications of our conceptual model for the relative importance of top-down effects and the linearity of patterns of change in trophic biomass with changes in water availability. Finally, we highlight key research needs and some possible broader impacts

Shifting species interactions in terrestrial dryland ecosystems under altered water availability and climate change.

Science.gov (United States)

McCluney, Kevin E; Belnap, Jayne; Collins, Scott L; González, Angélica L; Hagen, Elizabeth M; Nathaniel Holland, J; Kotler, Burt P; Maestre, Fernando T; Smith, Stanley D; Wolf, Blair O

2012-08-01

Species interactions play key roles in linking the responses of populations, communities, and ecosystems to environmental change. For instance, species interactions are an important determinant of the complexity of changes in trophic biomass with variation in resources. Water resources are a major driver of terrestrial ecology and climate change is expected to greatly alter the distribution of this critical resource. While previous studies have documented strong effects of global environmental change on species interactions in general, responses can vary from region to region. Dryland ecosystems occupy more than one-third of the Earth's land mass, are greatly affected by changes in water availability, and are predicted to be hotspots of climate change. Thus, it is imperative to understand the effects of environmental change on these globally significant ecosystems. Here, we review studies of the responses of population-level plant-plant, plant-herbivore, and predator-prey interactions to changes in water availability in dryland environments in order to develop new hypotheses and predictions to guide future research. To help explain patterns of interaction outcomes, we developed a conceptual model that views interaction outcomes as shifting between (1) competition and facilitation (plant-plant), (2) herbivory, neutralism, or mutualism (plant-herbivore), or (3) neutralism and predation (predator-prey), as water availability crosses physiological, behavioural, or population-density thresholds. We link our conceptual model to hypothetical scenarios of current and future water availability to make testable predictions about the influence of changes in water availability on species interactions. We also examine potential implications of our conceptual model for the relative importance of top-down effects and the linearity of patterns of change in trophic biomass with changes in water availability. Finally, we highlight key research needs and some possible broader impacts

Reassessment of Ground-Water Recharge and Simulated Ground-Water Availability for the Hawi Area of North Kohala, Hawaii

Science.gov (United States)

Oki, Delwyn S.

2002-01-01

An estimate of ground-water availability in the Hawi area of north Kohala, Hawaii, is needed to determine whether ground-water resources are adequate to meet future demand within the area and other areas to the south. For the Hawi area, estimated average annual recharge from infiltration of rainfall, fog drip, and irrigation is 37.5 million gallons per day from a daily water budget. Low and high annual recharge estimates for the Hawi area that incorporate estimated uncertainty are 19.9 and 55.4 million gallons per day, respectively. The recharge estimates from this study are lower than the recharge of 68.4 million gallons per day previously estimated from a monthly water budget. Three ground-water models, using the low, intermediate, and high recharge estimates (19.9, 37.5, and 55.4 million gallons per day, respectively), were developed for the Hawi area to simulate ground-water levels and discharges for the 1990?s. To assess potential ground-water availability, the numerical ground-water flow models were used to simulate the response of the freshwater-lens system to withdrawals at rates in excess of the average 1990?s withdrawal rates. Because of uncertainty in the recharge estimate, estimates of ground-water availability also are uncertain. Results from numerical simulations indicate that for appropriate well sites, depths, and withdrawal rates (1) for the low recharge estimate (19.9 million gallons per day) it may be possible to develop an additional 10 million gallons per day of fresh ground water from the Hawi area and maintain a freshwater-lens thickness of 160 feet near the withdrawal sites, (2) for the intermediate recharge estimate (37.5 million gallons per day) it may be possible to develop an additional 15 million gallons per day of fresh ground water from the Hawi area and maintain a freshwater-lens thickness of 190 feet near the withdrawal sites, and (3) for the high recharge estimate (55.4 million gallons per day) it may be possible to develop at

The development of a non-linear autoregressive model with exogenous input (NARX) to model climate-water clarity relationships: reconstructing a historical water clarity index for the coastal waters of the southeastern USA

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Cameron C.; Sheridan, Scott C.; Barnes, Brian B.; Hu, Chuanmin; Pirhalla, Douglas E.; Ransibrahmanakul, Varis; Shein, Karsten

2017-10-01

The coastal waters of the southeastern USA contain important protected habitats and natural resources that are vulnerable to climate variability and singular weather events. Water clarity, strongly affected by atmospheric events, is linked to substantial environmental impacts throughout the region. To assess this relationship over the long-term, this study uses an artificial neural network-based time series modeling technique known as non-linear autoregressive models with exogenous input (NARX models) to explore the relationship between climate and a water clarity index (KDI) in this area and to reconstruct this index over a 66-year period. Results show that synoptic-scale circulation patterns, weather types, and precipitation all play roles in impacting water clarity to varying degrees in each region of the larger domain. In particular, turbid water is associated with transitional weather and cyclonic circulation in much of the study region. Overall, NARX model performance also varies—regionally, seasonally and interannually—with wintertime estimates of KDI along the West Florida Shelf correlating to the actual KDI at r > 0.70. Periods of extreme (high) KDI in this area coincide with notable El Niño events. An upward trend in extreme KDI events from 1948 to 2013 is also present across much of the Florida Gulf coast.

Classification of Eucalyptus urograndis hybrids under different water availability based on biometric traits

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Claudia D. Silva

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Aim of study: The eucalyptus grows rapidly and is well suitable to edaphic and bioclimatic conditions in several regions of of the world. The aim of this study was to assess the performance of Eucalyptus urograndis hybrids grown under different water availability conditions.Area of study: The study was performed in south-eastern of BrazilMaterial and Methods: We evaluated five commercial hybrids cultivated in pots with the substrate maintained at 65, 50, 35 and 20% maximum water retention capacity. The evaluation was based on the following characteristics: total height (cm, diameter (mm, number of leaves, leaf area (dm2, and dry weight (g plant-1 of leaf, stem + branches,   root, shoot and total and root/shoot ratio.Main results: All the characteristics evaluated were adversely affected by reduced availability of water in the substrate. The hybrids assessed performed differently in terms of biometric characteristics, irrespective of water availability. Water deficit resulted in a greater reduction in the dry weight production compared to number of leaves, diameter and height. Hybrids H2 and H5 have favorable traits for tolerating drought. The hybrid H2 shows a stronger slowdown in growth as soil moisture levels drop, although its growth rate is low, and H5 increases the root/shoot ratio but maintains growth in terms of height, even under drought conditions.Research highlights: The results obtained in our experiment show that productive hybrids sensitive to drought could also perform better under water deficit conditions, maintaining satisfactory growth despite significant drops in these characteristics.Keywords: Eucalyptus urograndis; water deficit; drought tolerance. 

Antecedent precipitation index evaluation at chosen climatological stations

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Silvie Kozlovská

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The water retention capacity of a landscape, usually measured for a catchment basin, is a very important and decisive characteristic to identify the runoff amount from the catchment area and, in consequence, for antierosion and flood protection measures. Besides, creating water reserves in the landscape and keeping the water in them is also rather important.Soil humidity contributes to the calculation of potential water retention through modelling the runoff amount and peak discharge from the catchment basin within an area not larger than 5–10 km2. This method is based on curve number values (CN, which are tabulated according to hydrological characteristics of soils, land use, vegetation cover, tillage, antierosion measures and soil humidity, estimated as a 5-day sum of preceding precipitation values. This estimation is known as the antecedent precipitation index and it is divided into 3 degrees – I, II, III. Degree I indicates dry soil but still moist enough to till, whereas degree III means that the soil is oversaturated by water from preceding rainfall. Degree II is commonly used in this context as the antecedent precipitation index. The aim of this paper is to obtain real antecedent precipitation index values in given climatological stations (Brno, Dačice, Holešov, Náměšť nad Oslavou, Strážnice, Telč – Kostelní Myslová, Velké Meziříčí, Znojmo – Kuchařovice for the period of years 1961 – 2009. Daily precipitation sums higher than 30 mm were considered to be the best candidate for such precipitation value since this occurs approximately once a year in studied areas. The occurence of these sums was also analysed for each month within the growing season (April to October. The analysed data was tabulated by climatological stations in order to check the real occurence of all antecedent precipitation index degrees within the studied period.Finally, the effects of different antecedent precipitation index values on the

77 FR 27770 - Clean Water Act Section 303(d): Availability of List Decisions

Science.gov (United States)

2012-05-11

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9670-5] Clean Water Act Section 303(d): Availability of List...: This notice announces EPA's decision identifying certain water quality limited waterbodies, and the associated pollutant, in Utah to be listed pursuant to the Clean Water Act Section 303(d)(2), and requests...

Superficial Water Resource at Tempisque River Watershed, Costa Rica: Availability and Requirement Perspective

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Isabel Guzmán-Arias

2014-03-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the status of water resources availability and demand in the upper and middle Tempisque watershed projected up to 2030 and the proposed actions to start a planning process. The resource availability scenarios incorporate the modifications inwater flows due to land use and cli­mate changes; these combined effects increases the problems of water shortages during the dry season. The resource demand scenarios include projections provided by the major users in the watershed, of which very few can envision growth expectations in terms of water consumption. The proposed resource planning process integrates the analysis conducted in this thesis and tries to identify the basic steps to be followed for the pro­per management of the resource in the future.

Is the available cropland and water enough for food demand? A global perspective of the Land-Water-Food nexus

Science.gov (United States)

Ibarrola-Rivas, M. J.; Granados-Ramírez, R.; Nonhebel, S.

2017-12-01

Land and water are essential local resources for food production but are limited. The main drivers of increasing food demand are population growth and dietary changes, which depend on the socioeconomic situation of the population. These two factors affect the availability of local resources: population growth reduces the land and water per person; and adoption of affluent diets increases the demand for land and water per person. This study shows potentials of global food supply by linking food demand drivers with national land and water availability. Whether the available land and water is enough to meet national food demand was calculated for 187 countries. The calculations were performed for the past situation (1960 and 2010) and to assess four future scenarios (2050) to discuss different paths of diets, population numbers and agricultural expansion. Inclusion of the demand perspective in the analysis has shown stronger challenges for future global food supply than have other studies. The results show that with the "business as usual" scenario, 40% of the global population in 2050 will live in countries with not enough land nor water to meet the demands of their population. Restriction to basic diets will be the most effective in lowering both land and water constraints. Our results identify both food production and food demand factors, and the regions that may experience the strongest challenges in 2050.

Climate change impacts on water availability in the Red River Basin and critical areas for future water conservation

Science.gov (United States)

Zamani Sabzi, H.; Moreno, H. A.; Neeson, T. M.; Rosendahl, D. H.; Bertrand, D.; Xue, X.; Hong, Y.; Kellog, W.; Mcpherson, R. A.; Hudson, C.; Austin, B. N.

2017-12-01

Previous periods of severe drought followed by exceptional flooding in the Red River Basin (RRB) have significantly affected industry, agriculture, and the environment in the region. Therefore, projecting how climate may change in the future and being prepared for potential impacts on the RRB is crucially important. In this study, we investigated the impacts of climate change on water availability across the RRB. We used three down-scaled global climate models and three potential greenhouse gas emission scenarios to assess precipitation, temperature, streamflow and lake levels throughout the RRB from 1961 to 2099 at a spatial resolution of 1/10°. Unit-area runoff and streamflow were obtained using the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model applied across the entire basin. We found that most models predict less precipitation in the western side of the basin and more in the eastern side. In terms of temperature, the models predict that average temperature could increase as much as 6°C. Most models project slightly more precipitation and streamflow values in the future, specifically in the eastern side of the basin. Finally, we analyzed the projected meteorological and hydrologic parameters alongside regional water demand for different sectors to identify the areas on the RRB that will need water-environmental conservation actions in the future. These hotspots of future low water availability are locations where regional environmental managers, water policy makers, and the agricultural and industrial sectors must proactively prepare to deal with declining water availability over the coming decades.

Combined multivariate statistical techniques, Water Pollution Index (WPI and Daniel Trend Test methods to evaluate temporal and spatial variations and trends of water quality at Shanchong River in the Northwest Basin of Lake Fuxian, China.

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Quan Wang

Full Text Available Understanding spatial and temporal variations in river water quality and quantitatively evaluating the trend of changes are important in order to study and efficiently manage water resources. In this study, an analysis of Water Pollution Index (WPI, Daniel Trend Test, Cluster Analysis and Discriminant Analysis are applied as an integrated approach to quantitatively explore the spatial and temporal variations and the latent sources of water pollution in the Shanchong River basin, Northwest Basin of Lake Fuxian, China. We group all field surveys into 2 clusters (dry season and rainy season. Moreover, 14 sampling sites have been grouped into 3 clusters for the rainy season (highly polluted, moderately polluted and less polluted sites and 2 clusters for the dry season (highly polluted and less polluted sites based on their similarities and the level of pollution during the two seasons. The results show that the main trend of pollution was aggravated during the transition from the dry to the rainy season. The Water Pollution Index of Total Nitrogen is the highest of all pollution parameters, whereas the Chemical Oxygen Demand (Chromium is the lowest. Our results also show that the main sources of pollution are farming activities alongside the Shanchong River, soil erosion and fish culture at Shanchong River reservoir area and domestic sewage from scattered rural residential area. Our results suggest that strategies to prevent water pollutionat the Shanchong River basin need to focus on non-point pollution control by employing appropriate fertilizer formulas in farming, and take the measures of soil and water conservation at Shanchong reservoir area, and purifying sewage from scattered villages.

Dynamic modelling of water demand, water availability and adaptation strategies for power plants to global change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koch, Hagen; Voegele, Stefan

2009-01-01

According to the latest IPCC reports, the frequency of hot and dry periods will increase in many regions of the world in the future. For power plant operators, the increasing possibility of water shortages is an important challenge that they have to face. Shortages of electricity due to water shortages could have an influence on industries as well as on private households. Climate change impact analyses must analyse the climate effects on power plants and possible adaptation strategies for the power generation sector. Power plants have lifetimes of several decades. Their water demand changes with climate parameters in the short- and medium-term. In the long-term, the water demand will change as old units are phased out and new generating units appear in their place. In this paper, we describe the integration of functions for the calculation of the water demand of power plants into a water resources management model. Also included are both short-term reactive and long-term planned adaptation. This integration allows us to simulate the interconnection between the water demand of power plants and water resources management, i.e. water availability. Economic evaluation functions for water shortages are also integrated into the water resources management model. This coupled model enables us to analyse scenarios of socio-economic and climate change, as well as the effects of water management actions. (author)

Water Availability Indices – A Literature Review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xu, Hui [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Wu, May M. [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

2017-02-01

Fresh water is a critical resource for humanity and the ecosystem. In general, water resources can be partitioned into two major categories: blue water and green water (Falkenmark and Rockström 2006). Precipitation that runs off or percolates into the deep aquifer is defined as blue water, and precipitation that filtrates into soil, which eventually returns to the atmosphere as evaporation, is called green water (Hoekstra et al. 2011). For human purposes, green water is almost exclusively used for agricultural production, but blue water can be used for multiple competing sectors, such as irrigation and municipal water.

Sustainability of small reservoirs and large scale water availability under current conditions and climate change

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Krol, Martinus S.; de Vries, Marjella J.; van Oel, Pieter R.; Carlos de Araújo, José

2011-01-01

Semi-arid river basins often rely on reservoirs for water supply. Small reservoirs may impact on large-scale water availability both by enhancing availability in a distributed sense and by subtracting water for large downstream user communities, e.g. served by large reservoirs. Both of these impacts

Appraisal of long term groundwater quality of peninsular India using water quality index and fractal dimension

Science.gov (United States)

Rawat, Kishan Singh; Singh, Sudhir Kumar; Jacintha, T. German Amali; Nemčić-Jurec, Jasna; Tripathi, Vinod Kumar

2017-12-01

A review has been made to understand the hydrogeochemical behaviour of groundwater through statistical analysis of long term water quality data (year 2005-2013). Water Quality Index ( WQI), descriptive statistics, Hurst exponent, fractal dimension and predictability index were estimated for each water parameter. WQI results showed that majority of samples fall in moderate category during 2005-2013, but monitoring site four falls under severe category (water unfit for domestic use). Brownian time series behaviour (a true random walk nature) exists between calcium (Ca^{2+}) and electric conductivity (EC); magnesium (Mg^{2+}) with EC; sodium (Na+) with EC; sulphate (SO4^{2-}) with EC; total dissolved solids (TDS) with chloride (Cl-) during pre- (2005-2013) and post- (2006-2013) monsoon season. These parameters have a closer value of Hurst exponent ( H) with Brownian time series behaviour condition (H=0.5). The result of times series analysis of water quality data shows a persistent behaviour (a positive autocorrelation) that has played a role between Cl- and Mg^{2+}, Cl- and Ca^{2+}, TDS and Na+, TDS and SO4^{2-}, TDS and Ca^{2+} in pre- and post-monsoon time series because of the higher value of H (>1). Whereas an anti-persistent behaviour (or negative autocorrelation) was found between Cl- and EC, TDS and EC during pre- and post-monsoon due to low value of H. The work outline shows that the groundwater of few areas needs treatment before direct consumption, and it also needs to be protected from contamination.

Availability of ground water in the lower Pawcatuck River basin, Rhode Island

Science.gov (United States)

Gonthier, Joseph B.; Johnston, Herbert E.; Malmberg, Glenn T.

1974-01-01

The lower Pawcatuck River basin in southwestern Rhode Island is an area of about 169 square miles underlain by crystalline bedrock over which lies a relatively thin mantle of glacial till and stratified drift. Stratified drift, consisting dominantly of sand and gravel, occurs in irregularly shaped linear deposits that are generally less than a mile wide and less than 125 feet thick; these deposits are found along the Pawcatuck River, its tributaries, and abandoned preglacial channels. Deposits of stratified sand and gravel constitute the principal aquifer in the lower Pawcatuck basin and the only one capable of sustaining yields of 100 gallons per minute or more to individual wells. Water available for development in this aquifer consists of water in storage--potential ground-water runoff to streams--plus infiltration that can be induced from streams. Minimum annual ground-water runoff from the sand and gravel aquifer is calculated to be at least 1.17 cubic feet per second per square mile, or 0.76 million gallons per day per square mile. Potential recharge by induced infiltration is estimated to range from about 250 to 600 gallons per day per linear foot of streambed for the principal streams. In most areas, induced infiltration from streams constitutes the major source of water potentially available for development by wells. Because subsurface hydraulic connection in the sand and gravel aquifer is poor in several places, the deposits are conveniently divisible into several ground-water reservoirs. The potential yield from five of the most promising ground-water reservoirs is evaluated by means of mathematical models. Results indicate that continuous withdrawals ranging from 1.3 to 10.3 million gallons per day, and totaling 31 million gallons per day, are obtainable from these reservoirs. Larger yields may be recovered by different well placement, spacing, construction and development, pumping practice, and so forth. Withdrawals at the rates indicated will reduce

Distribution and Availability of State and Areawide Water Quality Reports in Oklahoma Libraries.

Science.gov (United States)

McClure, Charles R.; Million, Anne

This report examines the distribution and availability of water quality reports in the state of Oklahoma. Based on legislation from the Clean Water Act and regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency's "Public Participation Handbook for Water Quality Management," depository libraries must be established to provide citizen access to…

Evaluation and Assessment of Fluoride in Drinking Water Wells Damavand Villages Zoning in GIS According to DMF Index

OpenAIRE

Kave Kheirkhah Rahimabad; Amir Hessam Hasani; Reza Saeedi; Mir Masoud Kheirkhah Zarkesh; Mojtaba Sayadi

2016-01-01

Background:Fluoride is one the vital anions and the drinking water is the main source of preparing it for the human body. Nonetheless, the aim of this paper is to investigate the Fluoride rate in water supplying wells by using GIS environment according to decay, missing or filled (DMF) index.  Methods: This research is an analytic and cross-sectional descriptive study with sampling approach of 12 water supplying wells of Damavand villages in summer and autumn the year 2013. The Fluor...

[HYGIENIC JUSTIFICATION OF OPTIMIZATION OF THE INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT OF DRINKING WATER ACCORDING TO THE WATER QUALITY INDEX].

Science.gov (United States)

Krasovskiy, G N; Rakhmanin, Yu; Egorova, N

2015-01-01

The present study is devoted to theoretical questions of optimization of integrated assessment of the composition and properties of drinking water with the use of the Water Quality Index (WQI) and considering in it all 4 criteria for its hygienic quality-sanitary-toxicological, microbiological, radiation and organoleptic. There is presented a sequence of the analysis of benchmark data of the laboratory study of drinking water, including the selection of priority indices, their distribution into 4 groups according to hygienic criteria, calculations the ratios of real values (C) of indices to their hygiene MPC and the final calculation of the WQI. There is emphasized the importance of classes of hazard of substances, and the need for the special attention to the substances-carcinogens in the integrated assessment of water quality. To overcome the non-equivalence of contributions to the assessment of water quality factors, measured in different units, often disparated in their effect on human health, there are used the principles of combined action at levels below the MCL:C/MPC indices of performance of the unidirectional action are summed (e.g. carcinogenic substances), from indices of the independent action there are selected the most significant ones with the highest values of C/MPC, besides that there are also used counterbalancing factors K determined accordingly to Delphi method, with a maximum values of 5 for carcinogens and the minimum value of 1 for the substances affecting the organoleptic properties ofwater. There is presented the scheme of the final calculation of the value of WQI.

Modeling of Soil Water Availability for Agricultural Planning at Pelaga Village, Badung Regency, Bali, Indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Suyarto, R.; Sunarta, I. N.; Wiyanti; Padmayani, N. K. H.

2017-12-01

Pelaga Village is located in Badung regency which has the advantage in agriculture with the cultivation of coffee plants, oranges, carrots, cabbage, and chili. The physical condition of Pelaga Village which has high rainfall, bumpy areas, and sandy-sandy ground texture causes air to air to be available for plants. Based on these questions then conducted a study to determine the comparison between the available water and water requirement for agriculture. Available water was difference field capacity and permanent wilting point method and crop water requirement was using Blaney-Criddle method. The results from this research was deficit between available air and crop water requirements. Available water was 12,12% and crop water requirement in initial stage, dev. Stage, mid-season stage, and late season stage respectively, coffee 11.28%, 24.19%, 35.49%, 29.04%; cabbage 19.58%, 19.58%, 33.10%, 27.74%: carrot 14.82%, 28.61%, 28.61%, 27.95%: Orange 14.82%, 28.61%, 28.61%, 27.23%; chili, 17.37%,17.37%, 34.80%, 30.46%. Soil management that must be done is by short-term land management by sprinkling long-term soil management by means of organic material valuation, irrigation making, and terracing making.

75 FR 78231 - Management of Energy and Water Efficiency in Federal Buildings: Availability of Guidance

Science.gov (United States)

2010-12-15

... Water Efficiency in Federal Buildings: Availability of Guidance AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of Energy. ACTION: Notice of availability. SUMMARY: This notice of availability... regarding Federal agency implementation of energy and water efficiency requirements. The draft Guidance for...

Ozone risk assessment in three oak species as affected by soil water availability.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoshika, Yasutomo; Moura, Barbara; Paoletti, Elena

2018-03-01

To derive ozone (O 3 ) dose-response relationships for three European oak species (Quercus ilex, Quercus pubescens, and Quercus robur) under a range of soil water availability, an experiment was carried out with 2-year-old potted seedlings exposed to three levels of water availability in the soil and three levels of O 3 pollution for one growing season in an ozone free-air controlled exposure (FACE) facility. Total biomass losses were estimated relative to a hypothetical clean air at the pre-industrial age, i.e., at 10 ppb as daily average (M24). A stomatal conductance model was parameterized with inputs from the three species for calculating the stomatal O 3 flux. Exposure-based (M24, W126, and AOT40) and flux-based (phytotoxic O 3 dose (POD) 0-3 ) dose-response relationships were estimated and critical levels (CL) were calculated for a 5% decline of total biomass. Results show that water availability can significantly affect O 3 risk assessment. In fact, dose-response relationships calculated per individual species at each water availability level resulted in very different CLs and best metrics. In a simplified approach where species were aggregated on the basis of their O 3 sensitivity, the best metric was POD 0.5 , with a CL of 6.8 mmol m -2 for the less O 3 -sensitive species Q. ilex and Q. pubescens and of 3.5 mmol m -2 for the more O 3 -sensitive species Q. robur. The performance of POD 0 , however, was very similar to that of POD 0.5 , and thus a CL of 6.9 mmol m -2 POD 0 and 3.6 mmol m -2 POD 0 for the less and more O 3 -sensitive oak species may be also recommended. These CLs can be applied to oak ecosystems at variable water availability in the soil. We conclude that POD y is able to reconcile the effects of O 3 and soil water availability on species-specific oak productivity.

Water quality audits can improve availability and reduce costs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dvorin, R.S.; Schlesinger, H.A.

1984-01-01

The Water Quality Audit (WQA) is an independent, detailed review and thorough analysis of an operating plant's water technology control systems and operator education (as distinguished from operator training). The need for such an audit and its role in improving the reliability and availability of both nuclear and fossil-fueled power plants is discussed. Instances of how the failure of either system hardware or operational control has caused injection of seawater, acid, caustic, or ion exchange resin into the condensate-feedwater system and steam generator are revealed. The systems to be audited are described, and the stage-wise nature of the audit explained. The potential savings of an audit are outlined and the timing and range of costs of a WQA are given

The arctic water resource vulnerability index: An integrated assessment tool for community resilience and vulnerability with respect to freshwater

Science.gov (United States)

Alessa, L.; Kliskey, A.; Lammers, R.; Arp, C.; White, D.; Hinzman, L.; Busey, R.

2008-01-01

People in the Arctic face uncertainty in their daily lives as they contend with environmental changes at a range of scales from local to global. Freshwater is a critical resource to people, and although water resource indicators have been developed that operate from regional to global scales and for midlatitude to equatorial environments, no appropriate index exists for assessing the vulnerability of Arctic communities to changing water resources at the local scale. The Arctic Water Resource Vulnerability Index (AWRVI) is proposed as a tool that Arctic communities can use to assess their relative vulnerability-resilience to changes in their water resources from a variety of biophysical and socioeconomic processes. The AWRVI is based on a social-ecological systems perspective that includes physical and social indicators of change and is demonstrated in three case study communities/watersheds in Alaska. These results highlight the value of communities engaging in the process of using the AWRVI and the diagnostic capability of examining the suite of constituent physical and social scores rather than the total AWRVI score alone. ?? 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Aggregating available soil water holding capacity data for crop yield models

Science.gov (United States)

Seubert, C. E.; Daughtry, C. S. T.; Holt, D. A.; Baumgardner, M. F.

1984-01-01

The total amount of water available to plants that is held against gravity in a soil is usually estimated as the amount present at -0.03 MPa average water potential minus the amount present at -1.5 MPa water potential. This value, designated available water-holding capacity (AWHC), is a very important soil characteristic that is strongly and positively correlated to the inherent productivity of soils. In various applications, including assessing soil moisture status over large areas, it is necessary to group soil types or series as to their productivity. Current methods to classify AWHC of soils consider only total capacity of soil profiles and thus may group together soils which differ greatly in AWHC as a function of depth in the profile. A general approach for evaluating quantitatively the multidimensional nature of AWHC in soils is described. Data for 902 soil profiles, representing 184 soil series, in Indiana were obtained from the Soil Characterization Laboratory at Purdue University. The AWHC for each of ten 150-mm layers in each soil was established, based on soil texture and parent material. A multivariate clustering procedure was used to classify each soil profile into one of 4, 8, or 12 classes based upon ten-dimensional AWHC values. The optimum number of classes depends on the range of AWHC in the population of oil profiles analyzed and on the sensitivity of a crop to differences in distribution of water within the soil profile.

A calculation method of available soil water content : application to viticultural terroirs mapping of the Loire valley

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Etienne Goulet

2004-12-01

Full Text Available Vine water supply is one of the most important elements in the determination of grape composition and wine quality. Water supply conditions are in relation with available soil water content, therefore this one has to be determined when vineyard terroir mapping is undertaken. The available soil water content depends on soil factors like water content at field capacity, water content at the permanent wilting point, apparent density and rooting depth. The aim of this study is to seek the relationship between these factors and a simple soil characteristic such as texture which could be easily measurable in routine cartography. Study area is located in the Loire valley, in two different geological regions. First results indicate that it is possible to determine available soil water content from clay percentage, then from soil texture. These results also show that available soil water content algorithms differ with geological properties. This calculation can be used at each auger boring and results can be spatialised within a Geographical Information System that allows the production of available water content maps.

Water erosion in surface soil conditions: runoff velocity, concentration and D50 index of sediments in runoff

OpenAIRE

Ramos,Júlio César; Bertol,Ildegardis; Barbosa,Fabrício Tondello; Bertól,Camilo; Mafra,Álvaro Luiz; Miquelluti,David José; Mecabô Júnior,José

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Water erosion and contamination of water resources are influenced by concentration and diameter of sediments in runoff. This study aimed to quantify runoff velocity and concentration and the D50 index of sediments in runoff under different soil surface managements, in the following treatments: i) cropped systems: no-tilled soil covered by ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) residue, with high soil cover and minimal roughness (HCR); no tilled soil covered by vetch (Vicia sativa L.) res...

Development of Forest Drought Index and Forest Water Use Prediction in Gyeonggi Province, Korea Using High-Resolution Weather Research and Forecast Data and Localized JULES Land Surface Model

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, H.; Park, J.; Cho, S.; Lee, S. J.; Kim, H. S.

2017-12-01

Forest determines the amount of water available to low land ecosystems, which use the rest of water after evapotranspiration by forests. Substantial increase of drought, especially for seasonal drought, has occurred in Korea due to climate change, recently. To cope with this increasing crisis, it is necessary to predict the water use of forest. In our study, forest water use in the Gyeonggi Province in Korea was estimated using high-resolution (spatial and temporal) meteorological forecast data and localized Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) which is one of the widely used land surface models. The modeled estimation was used for developing forest drought index. The localization of the model was conducted by 1) refining the existing two tree plant functional types (coniferous and deciduous trees) into five (Quercus spp., other deciduous tree spp., Pinus spp., Larix spp., and other coniferous spp.), 2) correcting moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) leaf area index (LAI) through data assimilation with in situ measured LAI, and 3) optimizing the unmeasured plant physiological parameters (e.g. leaf nitrogen contents, nitrogen distribution within canopy, light use efficiency) based on sensitivity analysis of model output values. The high-resolution (hourly and 810 × 810 m) National Center for AgroMeteorology-Land-Atmosphere Modeling Package (NCAM-LAMP) data were employed as meteorological input data in JULES. The plant functional types and soil texture of each grid cell in the same resolution with that of NCAM-LAMP was also used. The performance of the localized model in estimating forest water use was verified by comparison with the multi-year sapflow measurements and Eddy covariance data of Taehwa Mountain site. Our result can be used as referential information to estimate the forest water use change by the climate change. Moreover, the drought index can be used to foresee the drought condition and prepare to it.

Index of sustainability of the water resource for the definition of technological sustainable and competitives strategies in the Microbasin la Centella

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martha Constanza Daza; Aldemar Reyes Trujillo; Wilmar Loaiza Ceron; Martha Patricia Fajardo Vasquez

2012-01-01

The Index of Sustainable Water Resource Management in Agriculture (ISRHA) implemented in the watershed Centella (Dagua, Cauca Valley) assesses the sustainability of water resource management in agriculture, using pressure gauges, for State and Response factor analysis: biophysical, technological, socioeconomic and political-institutional. Each factor is composed of indicators which are evaluated based on parameters established by of ISRHA. The results of applying sustainability index shows a half the three study areas (watersheds La Virgen, Centella and Aguas Calientes), which were rated average to good in the proposed scale (1 to 5), identifying weaknesses and strengths in relation to the factors considered, which allows us to suggest some strategies for sustainability of and competitive for water resources in agricultural production systems in the watershed.

An Overall Water Quality Index (WQI) for a Man-Made Aquatic Reservoir in Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Rubio-Arias, Hector; Contreras-Caraveo, Manuel; Quintana, Rey Manuel; Saucedo-Teran, Ruben Alfonso; Pinales-Munguia, Adan

2012-01-01

A Water Quality Index (WQI) is a useful statistical tool for simplifying, reporting and interpreting complex information obtained from any body of water. A simple number given by any WQI model explains the level of water contamination. The objective was to develop a WQI for the water of the Luis L. Leon dam located in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. Monthly water samples were obtained in 2009; January 10, February 12, March 8, May 20, June 10, July 9, August 12, September 10, October 11, November 15 and December 13. Ten sampling sites were randomly selected after dividing the study area using a geographic package. In each site, two samples at the top depth of 0.20 m and 1.0 m were obtained to quantify physical-chemical parameters. The following 11 parameters were considered to calculate the WQI; pH, Electrical Conductivity (EC), Dissolved Oxygen (DO), color, turbidity, ammonia nitrogen, fluorides, chlorides, sulfates, Total Solids (TS) and phosphorous (P). The data analysis involved two steps; a single analysis for each parameter and the WQI calculation. The resulted WQI value classified the water quality according to the following ranges: water; from 2.3 to 2.8 good water; and >2.8 excellent water. The results showed that the WQI values changed from low levels (WQI 2.8) most of the year and the variation was due to time of sampling generally rainy season. PMID:22754466

Cointegration analysis of vulnerability index and standardised precipitation index in Mafeteng district, Lesotho

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bernard M. Hlalele

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Given the high poverty levels in Africa, with most countries’ economy and populations’ livelihood dependent on rain-fed agriculture, land degradation among other environmental hazards has proven to be a major threat to economic growth and food insecurity, respectively. Drought, which is on the increase at the global level and said to create over 78% of other hazards, has aggravated land degradation. Dry conditions lessen soil particles cohesion force, thereby increasing susceptibility of such soils to be lost by wind and water. The current study aimed at estimating land degradation from drought hazard index, standardised precipitation index (SPI over the drought declared district of Mafeteng Lesotho. Data were provided by Lesotho Meteorological Services for a period of 30 years (1984–2014. All missing values that existed in the collected precipitation data were filled with average values of the months with data. The computation of SPI was performed by using DrinC software in SPI-3 and SPI-Annual time step. The results revealed a constant condition of land degradation vulnerability over a 30-year period, implying a continuous loss of soil fertility, agricultural gross domestic product (GDP, water and bio-energy, malnutrition and increased poverty levels.

The effect of water availability on stand-level productivity, transpiration, water use efficiency and radiation use efficiency of field-grown willow clones

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Linderson, Maj-Lena; Iritz, Z.; Lindroth, A.

2007-01-01

The effect of water availability on stand-level productivity, transpiration, water use efficiency (WUE) and radiation use efficiency (RUE) is evaluated for different willow clones at stand level. The measurements were made during the growing season 2000 in a 3-year-old plantation in Scania......, southernmost Sweden. Six willow clones were included in the study: L78183, SW Rapp, SW Jorunn, SW Jorr, SW Tora and SW Loden. All clones were exposed to two water treatments: rain-fed, non-irrigated treatment and reduced water availability by reduced soil water recharge. Field measurements of stem sap...... low compared to other results. Generally, all clones, except for Jorunn, seem to be better off concerning biomass production, WUE and RUE than the reference clone. Jorr, Jorunn and Loden also seem to be able to cope with the reduced water availability with increase in the water use efficiency. Tora...

Plant roots use a patterning mechanism to position lateral root branches toward available water.

Science.gov (United States)

Bao, Yun; Aggarwal, Pooja; Robbins, Neil E; Sturrock, Craig J; Thompson, Mark C; Tan, Han Qi; Tham, Cliff; Duan, Lina; Rodriguez, Pedro L; Vernoux, Teva; Mooney, Sacha J; Bennett, Malcolm J; Dinneny, José R

2014-06-24

The architecture of the branched root system of plants is a major determinant of vigor. Water availability is known to impact root physiology and growth; however, the spatial scale at which this stimulus influences root architecture is poorly understood. Here we reveal that differences in the availability of water across the circumferential axis of the root create spatial cues that determine the position of lateral root branches. We show that roots of several plant species can distinguish between a wet surface and air environments and that this also impacts the patterning of root hairs, anthocyanins, and aerenchyma in a phenomenon we describe as hydropatterning. This environmental response is distinct from a touch response and requires available water to induce lateral roots along a contacted surface. X-ray microscale computed tomography and 3D reconstruction of soil-grown root systems demonstrate that such responses also occur under physiologically relevant conditions. Using early-stage lateral root markers, we show that hydropatterning acts before the initiation stage and likely determines the circumferential position at which lateral root founder cells are specified. Hydropatterning is independent of endogenous abscisic acid signaling, distinguishing it from a classic water-stress response. Higher water availability induces the biosynthesis and transport of the lateral root-inductive signal auxin through local regulation of tryptophan aminotransferase of Arabidopsis 1 and PIN-formed 3, both of which are necessary for normal hydropatterning. Our work suggests that water availability is sensed and interpreted at the suborgan level and locally patterns a wide variety of developmental processes in the root.

Water level affects availability of optimal feeding habitats for threatened migratory waterbirds

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aharon-Rotman, Yaara; McEvoy, John; Zheng Zhaoju

2017-01-01

within the lake. Changing the natural hydrological system will affect waterbirds dependent on water level changes for food availability and accessibility. We tracked two goose species with different feeding behaviors (greater white-fronted geese Anser albifrons [grazing species] and swan geese Anser......Extensive ephemeral wetlands at Poyang Lake, created by dramatic seasonal changes in water level, constitute the main wintering site for migratory Anatidae in China. Reductions in wetland area during the last 15years have led to proposals to build a Poyang Dam to retain high winter water levels...... cygnoides [tuber-feeding species]) during two winters with contrasting water levels (continuous recession in 2015; sustained high water in 2016, similar to those predicted post-Poyang Dam), investigating the effects of water level change on their habitat selection based on vegetation and elevation. In 2015...

Assessment of the environmental status in Hellenic coastal waters (Eastern Mediterranean: from the Water Framework Directive to the Marine Strategy Water Framework Directive.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. SIMBOURA

2014-11-01

Full Text Available A  methodology is presented to assess the environmental status sensu the Marine Strategy Water Framework Directive (MSFD based on data obtained from the monitoring of water quality in the Hellenic coastal waters within the Water Framework Directive (WFD.   An adapted decision tree used for integrating the results of the WFD in the Basque country was applied. Modifications lie to the evaluation of the physicochemical status based on a eutrophication index developed for Eastern Mediterranean waters. Results on hydromorphological, physicochemical and biological elements are presented. The chemical status was evaluated based on measurements of heavy metals in water. The evaluation of the biological quality was based on the use of metrics developed for phytoplankton biomass, benthic macroinvertebrates and macroalgae updated to accommodate MSFD needs. Results on the integrative status of the water bodies were validated by correlating classification results with a pressure index and environmental indicators in water column and sediment. Following this decision tree the majority of stations expected to be at risk of achieving the good status were found in moderate status. Benthos was found to be the element with the closest agreement with the integrated final status having an increased weighting in the decision tree. The quality of benthos and in some  limited cases  the eutrophication index determined largely the final status. The highest disagreement with the integrative classification was produced by macroalgae. All indicators used correlated with water and sediment parameters but benthos correlated better with sediment factors while phytoplankton and eutrophication index with water column parameters.

An overall Water Quality Index (WQI) for a man-made aquatic reservoir in Mexico.

Science.gov (United States)

Rubio-Arias, Hector; Contreras-Caraveo, Manuel; Quintana, Rey Manuel; Saucedo-Teran, Ruben Alfonso; Pinales-Munguia, Adan

2012-05-01

A Water Quality Index (WQI) is a useful statistical tool for simplifying, reporting and interpreting complex information obtained from any body of water. A simple number given by any WQI model explains the level of water contamination. The objective was to develop a WQI for the water of the Luis L. Leon dam located in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. Monthly water samples were obtained in 2009; January 10, February 12, March 8, May 20, June 10, July 9, August 12, September 10, October 11, November 15 and December 13. Ten sampling sites were randomly selected after dividing the study area using a geographic package. In each site, two samples at the top depth of 0.20 m and 1.0 m were obtained to quantify physical-chemical parameters. The following 11 parameters were considered to calculate the WQI; pH, Electrical Conductivity (EC), Dissolved Oxygen (DO), color, turbidity, ammonia nitrogen, fluorides, chlorides, sulfates, Total Solids (TS) and phosphorous (P). The data analysis involved two steps; a single analysis for each parameter and the WQI calculation. The resulted WQI value classified the water quality according to the following ranges: 2.8 excellent water. The results showed that the WQI values changed from low levels (WQI 2.8) most of the year and the variation was due to time of sampling generally rainy season.

Polder effects on sediment-to-soil conversion: water table, residual available water capacity, and salt stress interdependence.

Science.gov (United States)

Radimy, Raymond Tojo; Dudoignon, Patrick; Hillaireau, Jean Michel; Deboute, Elise

2013-01-01

The French Atlantic marshlands, reclaimed since the Middle Age, have been successively used for extensive grazing and more recently for cereal cultivation from 1970. The soils have acquired specific properties which have been induced by the successive reclaiming and drainage works and by the response of the clay dominant primary sediments, that is, structure, moisture, and salinity profiles. Based on the whole survey of the Marais Poitevin and Marais de Rochefort and in order to explain the mechanisms of marsh soil behavior, the work focuses on two typical spots: an undrained grassland since at least 1964 and a drained cereal cultivated field. The structure-hydromechanical profiles relationships have been established thanks to the clay matrix shrinkage curve. They are confronted to the hydraulic functioning including the fresh-to-salt water transfers and to the recording of tensiometer profiles. The CE1/5 profiles supply the water geochemical and geophysical data by their better accuracy. Associated to the available water capacity calculation they allow the representation of the parallel evolution of the residual available water capacity profiles and salinity profiles according to the plant growing and rooting from the mesophile systems of grassland to the hygrophile systems of drained fields.

Root-zone temperature and water availability affect early root growth of planted longleaf pine

Science.gov (United States)

M.A. Sword

1995-01-01

Longleaf pine seedlings from three seed sources were exposed to three root-zone temperatures and three levels of water availability for 28 days. Root growth declined as temperature and water availability decreased. Root growth differed by seed source. Results suggest that subtle changes in the regeneration environment may influence early root growth of longleaf pine...

The environmental vegetation index: A tool potentially useful for arid land management. [Texas and Mexico, plant growth stress due to water deficits

Science.gov (United States)

Gray, T. I., Jr.; Mccrary, D. G. (Principal Investigator)

1981-01-01

The NOAA-6 AVHRR data sets acquired over South Texas and Mexico during the spring of 1980 and after Hurricane Allen passed inland are analyzed. These data were processed to produce the Gray-McCrary Index (GMI's) for each pixel location over the selected area, which area contained rangeland and cropland, both irrigated and nonirrigated. The variations in the GMI's appear to reflect well the availability of water for vegetation. The GMI area maps are shown to delineate and to aid in defining the duration of drought; suggesting the possibility that time changes over a selected area could be useful for irrigation management.

Water satisfaction analysis for dryland maize production in Frankfort

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Moeletsi, ME

2010-09-01

Full Text Available and the atmospheric demand. To assess crop performance based on water available to the crop during the growing season the water requirement satisfaction index (WRSI) was developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as documented in the FAO Plant...

Superficial Water Resource at Tempisque River Watershed, Costa Rica: Availability and Requirement Perspective

OpenAIRE

Guzmán-Arias, Isabel

2014-01-01

This paper describes the status of water resources availability and demand in the upper and middle Tempisque watershed projected up to 2030 and the proposed actions to start a planning process. The resource availability scenarios incorporate the modifications inwater flows due to land use and cli­mate changes; these combined effects increases the problems of water shortages during the dry season. The resource demand scenarios include projections provided by the major users in the watershed, o...

Superficial Water Resource at Tempisque River Watershed, Costa Rica: Availability and Requirement Perspective

OpenAIRE

Isabel Guzmán-Arias

2014-01-01

This paper describes the status of water resources availability and demand in the upper and middle Tempisque watershed projected up to 2030 and the proposed actions to start a planning process. The resource availability scenarios incorporate the modifications inwater flows due to land use and cli­mate changes; these combined effects increases the problems of water shortages during the dry season. The resource demand scenarios include projections provided by the major users in the watershe...

The Impact of Water Quality on the Use of Solar Water Heaters in Remote Islands of Taiwan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kai-Chun Fan

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The use of solar water heaters (SWHs in Taiwan’s remote islands has been subjected to scaling and, in particular, corrosion problems due to sources of water. In this study, four different water quality indices including the Langelier Saturation Index (LSI, the Ryznar Stability Index (RSI, the Puckorius Scaling Index (PSI, and the Larson-Skold Corrosive Index (LSCI were employed to assess the scaling and corrosion tendencies in SWHs caused by tap water and ground water in the Penghu, Kinmen, and Lienchiang counties, each of which is constituted of several remote islands. In general, the LSI, the RSI, and the PSI results show a slight scaling tendency in Penghu, but a corrosion tendency in Kinmen and Lienchiang. Nevertheless, all LSCI results show a serious steel corrosion tendency in these three counties. In addition, the chloride ion (Cl− concentrations are higher than 45 mg/L in either tap water (except for the Lieyu township in Kinmen or ground water. This fact resulted in serious corrosion problems, as found in the currently installed SWHs, which were mainly made from 304 stainless steel. The metals with higher corrosion resistance to chloride ions are required in the manufacture of SWHs to be installed on these three remote-island counties.

77 FR 20020 - Clean Water Act Section 303(d): Availability of List Decisions

Science.gov (United States)

2012-04-03

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9655-2] Clean Water Act Section 303(d): Availability of List Decisions AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency. ACTION: Notice of availability. SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of EPA's Responsiveness Summary Concerning EPA's November 30, 2011, Public Notice...

Relation between Raman backscattering from droplets and bulk water: Effect of refractive index dispersion

Science.gov (United States)

Plakhotnik, Taras; Reichardt, Jens

2018-03-01

A theoretical framework is presented that permits investigations of the relation between inelastic backscattering from microparticles and bulk samples of Raman-active materials. It is based on the Lorentz reciprocity theorem and no fundamental restrictions concerning the microparticle shape apply. The approach provides a simple and intuitive explanation for the enhancement of the differential backscattering cross-section in particles in comparison to bulk. The enhancement factor for scattering of water droplets in the diameter range from 0 to 60 μm (vitally important for the a priori measurement of liquid water content of warm clouds with spectroscopic Raman lidars) is about a factor of 1.2-1.6 larger (depending on the size of the sphere) than an earlier study has shown. The numerical calculations are extended to 1000 μm and demonstrate that dispersion of the refractive index of water becomes an important factor for spheres larger than 100 μm. The physics of the oscillatory phenomena predicted by the simulations is explained.

Evaluating variations of physiology-based hyperspectral features along a soil water gradient in Eucalyptus grandis plantation

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Cho, Moses A

2010-04-01

Full Text Available a raised platform. Foliar macronutrient concentrations for N, P, K, S, Ca, Mg and Na and their corresponding spectral features were also evaluated. The spectral signals for leaf water-normalized difference water index (NDWI), water band index (WBI...

Bulk density, cone index and water content relations for some Ghanian soils

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Agodzo, S.K.; Adama, I.

2004-01-01

Correlations were established between water content θ, bulk density ρ and cone index Δ for 4 Ghanaian soils, namely, Kumasi, Akroso, Nta and Offin series. The relationship between Δ and θ is in the form Δ = a θ 2 + b θ + c, where the correlation coefficients r 2 for the various soils were found to be very high. Similarly, Δ - ρ relationships were linear but the correlations got weaker with increasing sand content of the soil, as expected. Soil sample sizes and compaction procedures did not conform to standard procedures, yet the results did not deviate from what pertains when standard procedures are used. (author)

Prediction of Floor Water Inrush: The Application of GIS-Based AHP Vulnerable Index Method to Donghuantuo Coal Mine, China

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Qiang; Liu, Yuanzhang; Liu, Donghai; Zhou, Wanfang

2011-09-01

Floor water inrush represents a geohazard that can pose significant threat to safe operations for instance in coal mines in China and elsewhere. Its occurrence is controlled by many factors, and the processes are often not amenable to mathematical expressions. To evaluate the water inrush risk, the paper proposes the vulnerability index approach by coupling the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and geographic information system (GIS). The detailed procedures of using this innovative approach are shown in a case study in China (Donghuantuo Coal Mine). The powerful spatial data analysis functions of GIS was used to establish the thematic layer of each of the six factors that control the water inrush, and the contribution weights of each factor was determined with the AHP method. The established AHP evaluation model was used to determine the threshold value for each risk level with a histogram of the water inrush vulnerability index. As a result, the mine area was divided into five regions with different vulnerability levels which served as general guidelines for the mine operations. The prediction results were further corroborated with the actual mining data, and the evaluation result is satisfactory.

Wine grape cultivar influence on the performance of models that predict the lower threshold canopy temperature of a water stress index

Science.gov (United States)

The calculation of a thermal based Crop Water Stress Index (CWSI) requires an estimate of canopy temperature under non-water stressed conditions. The objective of this study was to assess the influence of different wine grape cultivars on the performance of models that predict canopy temperature non...

Relative controls of natural and socio-economic drivers on water availability over India: an exploratory modelling analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Deshmukh, A.; Singh, R.; Kumar, R.

2017-12-01

India, a water stressed nation with an estimated per capita water availability of 1500m3/year/person, is projected to surpass China in population to become the most populous country by 2022. This increasing population will further exacerbate the water stress, which will also vary due to climate and land use change. Here, we quantify the relative controls on per capita water availability from climatic, non-climatic and socio-economic factors. We achieve this by using several definitions of per capita water availability and accounting for virtual water trade transfer. Our exploratory analysis employs the recently developed probabilistic Budyko framework modified to account for inter-regional virtual water trade. We find that the Indo-Gangetic plains and Southeastern parts of India emerge as vulnerable regions where a growing population will lead to a drastic reduction in per capita water availability. The proposed framework can serve as a prototype for understanding the relative importance of socio-economic interventions versus water infrastructure or demand reduction investments.

Remote detection of water stress conditions via a diurnal photochemical reflectance index (PRI) improves yield prediction in rainfed wheat

Science.gov (United States)

Magney, T. S.; Vierling, L. A.; Eitel, J.

2014-12-01

Employing remotely sensed techniques to quantify the existence and magnitude of midday photosynthetic downregulation using the photochemical reflectance index (PRI) may reveal new information about plant responses to abiotic stressors in space and time. However, the interpretation and application of the PRI can be confounded because of its sensitivity to several variables changing at the diurnal (e.g., irradiation, shadow fraction) and seasonal (e.g., leaf area, chlorophyll and carotene pigment concentrations, irradiation) time scales. We explored different techniques to correct the PRI for variations in canopy structure and relative chlorophyll content (ChlR) using highly temporally resolved (frequency = five minutes) in-situ radiometric measurements of PRI and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) over eight soft white spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)field plots under varying nitrogen and soil water conditions over two seasons. Our results suggest that the influence of seasonal variation in canopy ChlR and LAI on the diurnally measured PRI (PRIdiurnal) can be minimized using simple correction techniques, therefore improving the strength of PRI as a tool to quantify abiotic stressors such as daily changes in soil volumetric water content (SVWC), and vapor pressure deficit (VPD). PRIdiurnal responded strongly to available nitrogen, and linearly tracked seasonal changes in SVWC, VPD, and stomatal conductance (gc). Utilizing the PRI as an indicator of stress, yield predictions significantly over greenness indices such as the NDVI. This study provides insight towards the future interpretation and scaling of PRI to quantify rapid changes in photosynthesis, and as an indicator of plant stress.

Virtual water and water self-sufficiency in agricultural and livestock products in Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

da Silva, Vicente de Paulo R; de Oliveira, Sonaly D; Braga, Célia C; Brito, José Ivaldo B; de Sousa, Francisco de Assis S; de Holanda, Romildo M; Campos, João Hugo B C; de Souza, Enio P; Braga, Armando César R; Rodrigues Almeida, Rafaela S; de Araújo, Lincoln E

2016-12-15

Virtual water trade is often considered a solution for restricted water availability in many regions of the world. Brazil is the world leader in the production and export of various agricultural and livestock products. The country is either a strong net importer or a strong net exporter of these products. The objective of this study is to determine the volume of virtual water contained in agricultural and livestock products imported/exported by Brazil from 1997 to 2012, and to define the water self-sufficiency index of agricultural and livestock products in Brazil. The indexes of water scarcity (WSI), water dependency (WDI) and water self-sufficiency (WSSI) were calculated for each Brazilian state. These indexes and the virtual water balance were calculated following the methodology developed by Chapagain and Hoekstra (2008) and Hoekstra and Hung (2005). The total water exports and imports embedded in agricultural and livestock products were 5.28 × 10 10 and 1.22 × 10 10  Gm 3  yr -1 , respectively, which results in positive virtual water balance of 4.05 × 10 10  Gm 3  yr -1 . Brazil is either a strong net importer or a strong net exporter of agricultural and livestock products among the Mercosur countries. Brazil has a positive virtual water balance of 1.85 × 10 10  Gm 3  yr -1 . The indexes used in this study reveal that Brazil is self-sufficient in food production, except for a few products such as wheat and rice. Horticultural products (tomato, onion, potato, cassava and garlic) make up a unique product group with negative virtual water balance in Brazil. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An index for estimating the potential impact on the environment of the pollutant content in aquatic populations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oscar RAVERA

2008-02-01

Full Text Available The so-called "Concentration factor" (C.F. should express a direct positive relationship between the concentration of a pollutant (e.g. metals, radioisotopes in an organism and the concentration of the same pollutant in the water. While this index is very useful in some cases, it cannot give any information on the influence of the biota on its environment, an important topic in research on biogeochemical cycles. A new index (the Influence index has consequently been developed to quantify the potential influence of the pollutant content in the population biomass on the habitat in which the population lives. The value of this index is calculated as the ratio between the pollutant content in the population biomass per sediment surface unit (e.g. m2 and the concentration of the same pollutant in the water, and is expressed as water volume with the same pollutant concentration as in the water of the population habitat. The value increases with the increase of the pollutant content in the population biomass and the decrease of the pollutant concentration in the water. As an example, some applications of the index to heavy metal contaminations of a freshwater mussel (Unio pictorum mancus population are described.

Selection of metrics based on the seagrass Cymodocea nodosa and development of a biotic index (CYMOX) for assessing ecological status of coastal and transitional waters

Science.gov (United States)

Oliva, Silvia; Mascaró, Oriol; Llagostera, Izaskun; Pérez, Marta; Romero, Javier

2012-12-01

Bioindicators, based on a large variety of organisms, have been increasingly used in the assessment of the status of aquatic systems. In marine coastal waters, seagrasses have shown a great potential as bioindicator organisms, probably due to both their environmental sensitivity and the large amount of knowledge available. However, and as far as we are aware, only little attention has been paid to euryhaline species suitable for biomonitoring both transitional and marine waters. With the aim to contribute to this expanding field, and provide new and useful tools for managers, we develop here a multi-bioindicator index based on the seagrass Cymodocea nodosa. We first compiled from the literature a suite of 54 candidate metrics, i. e. measurable attribute of the concerned organism or community that adequately reflects properties of the environment, obtained from C. nodosa and its associated ecosystem, putatively responding to environmental deterioration. We then evaluated them empirically, obtaining a complete dataset on these metrics along a gradient of anthropogenic disturbance. Using this dataset, we selected the metrics to construct the index, using, successively: (i) ANOVA, to assess their capacity to discriminate among sites of different environmental conditions; (ii) PCA, to check the existence of a common pattern among the metrics reflecting the environmental gradient; and (iii) feasibility and cost-effectiveness criteria. Finally, 10 metrics (out of the 54 tested) encompassing from the physiological (δ15N, δ34S, % N, % P content of rhizomes), through the individual (shoot size) and the population (root weight ratio), to the community (epiphytes load) organisation levels, and some metallic pollution descriptors (Cd, Cu and Zn content of rhizomes) were retained and integrated into a single index (CYMOX) using the scores of the sites on the first axis of a PCA. These scores were reduced to a 0-1 (Ecological Quality Ratio) scale by referring the values to the

Water poverty and rural development: Evidence from South Africa

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Matshe, I

2013-08-01

Full Text Available link between household water and economic poverty of rural households, with households’ total monthly income used as an indicator of economic poverty. An adaptation of a comprehensive water poverty index, which considers water access, quality, use...

Using the IRWQIGT Index to Determine Toxicity Levels in Groundwater Resources: A Case Study of Semnan Province

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Allahbakhsh Javid

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The objective of the present descriptive-analytic study was to estimate the toxicity level of the groundwater resources in the Province of Semnan using the IRWQIGT index and its zoning via GIS. The experiments were conducted over the period from October 2013 to October 2014during which time monthly samples were taken from the 41 wells that supply drinking water to the cities and towns in the Province. All the samples were subjected to lab analyses at Semnan Water and Wastewater Laboratory where such chemical parameters as Arsenic, Phenol, Mercury, Detergents, Cadmium, Lead, Chromium, Cyanide, Iron, Magnesium, and TPH were determined according to the procedures of Standard Methods (2008. The measuerments were subsequently used to calculate the groundwater toxicity level index (IRWQIGT. Finally, a zoning map of the IRWQIGT index for Semnan Province was prepared using GIS. Results showed that the IRWQIGT index in Semnan Province ranged between 96.54 and 98.2, indicating an excellent water quality. The lowest (96.585 and highest (98.076 values of IRWQIGT were recorded in the cities of Sorkheh and Mahdishahr, respectively, and that the values for all the parameters were in the standard range. These results indicate that water of excellent quality is available in all the cities in the province so that no toxicity treatment is required.

Global pattern of trends in streamflow and water availability in a changing climate.

Science.gov (United States)

Milly, P C D; Dunne, K A; Vecchia, A V

2005-11-17

Water availability on the continents is important for human health, economic activity, ecosystem function and geophysical processes. Because the saturation vapour pressure of water in air is highly sensitive to temperature, perturbations in the global water cycle are expected to accompany climate warming. Regional patterns of warming-induced changes in surface hydroclimate are complex and less certain than those in temperature, however, with both regional increases and decreases expected in precipitation and runoff. Here we show that an ensemble of 12 climate models exhibits qualitative and statistically significant skill in simulating observed regional patterns of twentieth-century multidecadal changes in streamflow. These models project 10-40% increases in runoff in eastern equatorial Africa, the La Plata basin and high-latitude North America and Eurasia, and 10-30% decreases in runoff in southern Africa, southern Europe, the Middle East and mid-latitude western North America by the year 2050. Such changes in sustainable water availability would have considerable regional-scale consequences for economies as well as ecosystems.

Asynchronous Amazon forest canopy phenology indicates adaptation to both water and light availability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, Matthew O; Kimball, John S; Nemani, Ramakrishna R

2014-01-01

Amazon forests represent nearly half of all tropical vegetation biomass and, through photosynthesis and respiration, annually process more than twice the amount of estimated carbon (CO 2 ) from fossil fuel emissions. Yet the seasonality of Amazon canopy cover, and the extent to which seasonal fluctuations in water availability and photosynthetically available radiation influence these processes, is still poorly understood. Implementing six remotely sensed data sets spanning nine years (2003–2011), with reported field and flux tower data, we show that southern equatorial Amazon forests exhibit a distinctive seasonal signal. Seasonal timing of water availability, canopy biomass growth and net leaf flush are asynchronous in regions with short dry seasons and become more synchronous across a west-to-east longitudinal moisture gradient of increasing dry season. Forest cover is responsive to seasonal disparities in both water and solar radiation availability, temporally adjusting net leaf flush to maximize use of these generally abundant resources, while reducing drought susceptibility. An accurate characterization of this asynchronous behavior allows for improved understanding of canopy phenology across contiguous tropical forests and their sensitivity to climate variability and drought. (letter)

Quality index of the surface water of Amazonian rivers in industrial areas in Pará, Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Medeiros, Adaelson Campelo; Faial, Kleber Raimundo Freitas; do Carmo Freitas Faial, Kelson; da Silva Lopes, Iris Danielly; de Oliveira Lima, Marcelo; Guimarães, Raphael Mendonça; Mendonça, Neyson Martins

2017-10-15

In this study was to evaluate the waters quality of the Murucupi River, located in urban agglomerate area and intense industrial activity in Barcarena City, Pará State. The Arapiranga River in Abaetetuba City was used as control area (Background), next to Barcarena. Was used the Water Quality Index (WQI) based on nine variables analized. Waters quality of the Arapiranga and Murucupi rivers were regular to good and bad to good, respectively. Anthropogenic influence on the Murucupi River was higher, mainly by the disposal of domestic effluents from the urban agglomerate and of the industrial waste tailing basins upstream of this river. Due to its less inhabited environment and further away from the area urban and industrial, the Arapiranga River was more preserved. Waters pollution of around these area is increasingly intense, and restricted its uses for various purposes. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

An interdisciplinary scenario analysis to assess the water availability and water consumption in the Upper Ouémé catchment in Benin

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Giertz

2006-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an interdisciplinary scenario analysis to assess the influence of global and regional change on future water availability and water consumption in the Upper Ouémé catchment in central Benin. For the region three development scenarios were evolved. These scenarios are combined with climate change scenarios based on the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In the mo-delling approach the quantification of the land use/land cover change is performed by the cellular automata model CLUE-S. The future climate scenarios are computed with the regional climate model REMO driven by the global ECHAM model. Using this data different land use and climate change scenarios can be calculated with the conceptual hydrological model UHP-HRU to assess the effects of global changes on the future water availability in Benin. To analyse the future water availability also the water consumption has to be taken into account. Due to high population growth an increase in water need in the future is expected for the region. To calculate the future household water consumption data from a regional survey and demographic projections are used. Development of the water need for animal husbandry is also considered. The first test run of the modelling approach was performed for the development scenario 'business as usual' combined with the IPCC scenario B2 for the year 2025. This test demonstrates the applicability of the approach for an interdisciplinary scenario analysis. A continuous run from 2000–2025 will be simulated for different scenarios as soon as the input data concerning land use/land cover and climate are available.

Evaluation of Surface Water Quality by Using GIS and a Heavy Metal Pollution Index (HPI) Model in a Coal Mining Area, India.

Science.gov (United States)

Tiwari, Ashwani Kumar; De Maio, Marina; Singh, Prasoon Kumar; Mahato, Mukesh Kumar

2015-09-01

Twenty eight surface water samples were collected from fourteen sites of the West Bokaro coalfield, India. The concentration of Mn, Cu, Zn, Ni, As, Se, Al, Cr, Ba, and Fe were analyzed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) for determination of seasonal fluctuations and a heavy metal pollution index (HPI). The HPI values were below the critical pollution index value of 100. Metal concentrations were higher in the pre-monsoon season as compared to the post-monsoon season. The Zn, Ni, Mn, As, Se, Al, Ba, Cu, and Cr concentrations did not exceed the desirable limits for drinking water in either season. However, at many sites, concentrations of Fe were above the desirable limit of the WHO (2006) and Indian drinking water standard (BIS 2003) in both seasons. The water that contained higher concentrations of Fe would require treatment before domestic use.

Cell and tissue dynamics of olive endocarp sclerification vary according to water availability.

Science.gov (United States)

Hammami, Sofiene B M; Costagli, Giacomo; Rapoport, Hava F

2013-12-01

Endocarp developmental timing in drupe-type fruits, involving tissue expansion and sclerification processes, is increasingly used as marker for biological studies and crop management. In spite of its wide application, however, little is known regarding how these morphogenetic processes unfold or the factors that modify it. This study evaluates endocarp expansion and sclerification of olive (Olea europaea) fruits, used as an example of drupe-type fruits, from trees growing under different water regimes: full irrigated, deficit irrigated (moderate reduction of water availability) and rainfed (severe reduction of water availability). Fruits were sampled weekly until pit hardening, and fruit and endocarp areas were evaluated in histological preparations. An image analysis process was tested and adjusted to quantify sclerified area and distribution within the endocarp. Individual stone cells differentiated independently but distribution and timing indicated the overall coordination of endocarp tissue sclerification. Increase in sclerified area was initially gradual, accelerated abruptly the week prior to the end of endocarp expansion and then continued at an intermediate rate. These results suggest that the end of the expansion period is driven by sclerification and the morphogenetic signals involved act first on sclerification rather than endocarp size. Intensification of sclerification and the end of expansive growth occurred first with lowest water supply. Moderate and severe reductions in water availability proportionately decreased endocarp expansion and prolonged the sclerification, delaying the date of physically perceived hardening but not affecting the final degree of endocarp sclerification. © 2013 Scandinavian Plant Physiology Society.

The use of GRACE data to monitor natural and anthropogenic induced variations in water availability across Africa

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ahmed, Mohamed; Sultan, Mohamed; Wahr, John; Yan, Eugene

2014-05-27

Inter-annual trends in terrestrial water storage (TWS) were extracted from monthly (01/2003–09/2012) Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data acquired over Africa and correlated (in a geographic information system [GIS] environment) with relevant temporal remote sensing, geologic, and hydrologic datasets. Findings include the following: (1) large sectors of Africa are undergoing statistically significant TWS variations (+ 44 mm/yr to -15 mm/yr) due to natural and anthropogenic causes; (2) warming of the tropical Atlantic Ocean apparently intensified Atlantic monsoons and increased precipitation and TWS over western and central Africa; (3) warming in the central Indian Ocean decreased precipitation and TWS over eastern Africa; (4) the high frequency of flooding events increased TWS over the Zambezi and Okavango basins; (5) extraction of fossil groundwater decreased TWS over the Saharan aquifers; (6) deforestation decreased TWS in three subbasins (Ubangi, Congo, and Sangha) of the Congo River Basin; and (7) the construction of dams increased TWS in the Blue Nile and Atbara subbasins. Given the 10 years of monthly GRACE data acquired on the subbasin scale across the globe, as well as the plans underway for deployment of a GRACE-FO and GRACE-II, using GRACE-derived TWS data should be considered an alternative, viable index for measuring temporal and spatial variations in water availability.

Diagnosis of GLDAS LSM based aridity index and dryland identification for socioeconomic aspect of water resources management

Science.gov (United States)

Ghazanfari, S.; Pande, S.; Hashemy, M.; Naseri M., M.

2012-04-01

Water resources scarcity plays an important role in socioeconomic aspect of livelihood pattern in dryland areas. Hydrological perspective of aridity is required for social and economic coping Strategies. Identification of dryland areas is crucial to guide policy aimed at intervening in water stressed areas and addressing its perennial livelihood or food insecurity. Yet, prevailing aridity indices are beset with methodological limitations that restrict their use in delineating drylands and, might be insuffient for decision making frameworks. Palmer's Drought Severity index (PDSI) reports relative soil moisture deviations from long term means, which does not allow cross comparisons, while UNEP's aridity index, the ratio of annual evaporative demand to rainfall supply, ignores site specific soil and vegetation characteristics that are needed for appropriate water balance assessment. We propose to refine UNEP's aridity index by accounting for site specific soil and vegetation to partition precipitation into competing demands of evaporation and runoff. We create three aridity indices at a 1 x 1 degree spatial resolution based on 3 decades of soil moisture time series from three GLDAS Land Surface Models (LSM's): VIC, MOSAIC and NOAH. We compare each LSM model aridity map with the UNEP aridity map which was created based on LSM data forcing. Our approach is to extract the first Eigen function from Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis that represents the dominant spatial template of soil moisture conditions of the three LSM's. Frequency of non-exceedence of this dominant soil moisture mode for a location by all other locations is used as our proposed aridity index. The EOF analysis reveals that the first Eigen function explains, respectively, 33%, 43% and 47% of the VIC, NOAH and MOSAIC models. The temporal coefficients associated with the first OF (Orthogonal Function) for all three LSMS clearly show seasonality with a discrete jump in trend around the year 1999

Browse Title Index

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Vol 9, No 2S (2017): Special Issue, Water quality assessment of the rivers in bauxite mining area at Kuantan Pahang, Abstract PDF. N Yaakub, M.N.A. Raoff, M.N. Haris, A.A.A. Halim, M.K.A. Kamarudin. Vol 9, No 2S (2017): Special Issue, Water quality index assesment around industrial area in Kuantan, Pahang, Abstract ...

Two-Region Model for Soil Water Repellency as a Function of Matric Potential and Water Content

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Karunarathna, Anurudda Kumara; Møldrup, Per; Kawamoto, Ken

2010-01-01

by the so-called Dexter index) is useful for predicting if soils are likely to exhibit WR. Expression of soil water repellency depends on soil water content; however, only a limited amount of predictive description is available to date. In this study, based on experimental data, a simple two-region model...

Climate Change Impacts on Water Availability and Use in the Limpopo River Basin

OpenAIRE

Tingju Zhu; Claudia Ringler

2012-01-01

This paper analyzes the effects of climate change on water availability and use in the Limpopo River Basin of Southern Africa, using a linked modeling system consisting of a semi-distributed global hydrological model and the Water Simulation Module (WSM) of the International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPACT). Although the WSM simulates all major water use sectors, the focus of this study is to evaluate the implications of climate change on irrigation wat...

Water Availability in the Tigris-Euphrates River Basin and the Middle East from GRACE

Science.gov (United States)

Voss, K.; Famiglietti, J. S.; Lo, M.; de Linage, C.; Swenson, S. C.; Rodell, M.

2010-12-01

As water security becomes more tenuous, conflicts and disputes over the appropriate management and allocation of transboundary water resources are sure to arise. In particular, the Middle East faces extreme scarcity as a result of both natural climate variations and the impacts of water management decisions and policies. A recent drought, which began in 2007, caused regional hardships as precious water resources dwindled and collaboration between nations failed to accommodate shared needs. In this work, the area surrounding the Tigris and Euphrates River Basin was selected as a case study to evaluate trends in fresh water availability. Because few complete datasets exist for precipitation, streamflow, evapotranspiration, groundwater or surface water in the area, remote sensing techniques, including GRACE and altimetry, as well as land-surface models were utilized to develop an understanding of the regional hydrology. These observations and model results were used to estimate trends in total water storage and its individual components - soil moisture, snow water equivalent, surface water and groundwater. GRACE data show a clear decrease in total water storage in the Middle East from January 2003 to December 2009, and indicate that the selected region experienced a total volume loss of 143 km3 of water. Supporting datasets suggest that approximately two-thirds of this was a loss of groundwater. These results highlight the impacts of drought conditions on groundwater consumption and of agricultural expansion on available water resources in the region. Furthermore, they raise important political issues regarding water use in transboundary river basins and aquifers, while amplifying the need for increased monitoring and datasets for the core components of the water budget.

User manuals for the Delaware River Basin Water Availability Tool for Environmental Resources (DRB–WATER) and associated WATER application utilities

Science.gov (United States)

Williamson, Tanja N.; Lant, Jeremiah G.

2015-11-18

The Water Availability Tool for Environmental Resources (WATER) is a decision support system (DSS) for the nontidal part of the Delaware River Basin (DRB) that provides a consistent and objective method of simulating streamflow under historical, forecasted, and managed conditions. WATER integrates geospatial sampling of landscape characteristics, including topographic and soil properties, with a regionally calibrated hillslope-hydrology model, an impervious-surface model, and hydroclimatic models that have been parameterized using three hydrologic response units—forested, agricultural, and developed land cover. It is this integration that enables the regional hydrologic-modeling approach used in WATER without requiring site-specific optimization or those stationary conditions inferred when using a statistical model. The DSS provides a “historical” database, ideal for simulating streamflow for 2001–11, in addition to land-cover forecasts that focus on 2030 and 2060. The WATER Application Utilities are provided with the DSS and apply change factors for precipitation, temperature, and potential evapotranspiration to a 1981–2011 climatic record provided with the DSS. These change factors were derived from a suite of general circulation models (GCMs) and representative concentration pathway (RCP) emission scenarios. These change factors are based on 25-year monthly averages (normals) that are centere on 2030 and 2060. The WATER Application Utilities also can be used to apply a 2010 snapshot of water use for the DRB; a factorial approach enables scenario testing of increased or decreased water use for each simulation. Finally, the WATER Application Utilities can be used to reformat streamflow time series for input to statistical or reservoir management software. 

Mapping water availability, cost and projected consumptive use in the eastern United States with comparisons to the west

Science.gov (United States)

Tidwell, Vincent C.; Moreland, Barbie D.; Shaneyfelt, Calvin R.; Kobos, Peter

2018-01-01

The availability of freshwater supplies to meet future demand is a growing concern. Water availability metrics are needed to inform future water development decisions. With the help of water managers, water availability was mapped for over 1300 watersheds throughout the 31 contiguous states in the eastern US complimenting a prior study of the west. The compiled set of water availability data is unique in that it considers multiple sources of water (fresh surface and groundwater, wastewater and brackish groundwater); accommodates institutional controls placed on water use; is accompanied by cost estimates to access, treat and convey each unique source of water; and is compared to projected future growth in consumptive water use to 2030. Although few administrative limits have been set on water availability in the east, water managers have identified 315 fresh surface water and 398 fresh groundwater basins (with 151 overlapping basins) as areas of concern (AOCs) where water supply challenges exist due to drought related concerns, environmental flows, groundwater overdraft, or salt water intrusion. This highlights a difference in management where AOCs are identified in the east which simply require additional permitting, while in the west strict administrative limits are established. Although the east is generally considered ‘water rich’ roughly a quarter of the basins were identified as AOCs; however, this is still in strong contrast to the west where 78% of the surface water basins are operating at or near their administrative limit. Little effort was noted on the part of eastern or western water managers to quantify non-fresh water resources.

Soil water availability and rooting depth as determinants of hydraulic architecture of Patagonian woody species

Science.gov (United States)

Sandra J. Bucci; Fabian G. Scholz; Guillermo Goldstein; Frederick C. Meinzer; Maria E. Arce

2009-01-01

We studied the water economy of nine woody species differing in rooting depth in a Patagonian shrub steppe from southern Argentina to understand how soil water availability and rooting depth determine their hydraulic architecture. Soil water content and potentials, leaf water potentials (Leaf) hydraulic conductivity, wood density (Pw), rooting depth, and specific leaf...

Competing effects of groundwater withdrawals and climate change on water availability in semi-arid India

Science.gov (United States)

Sishodia, R. P.; Shukla, S.

2017-12-01

India, a global leader in groundwater use (250 km3/yr), is experiencing groundwater depletion. There has been a 130-fold increase in number of irrigation wells since 1960. Anticipated future increase in groundwater demand is likely to exacerbate the water availability in the semi-arid regions of India. Depending on the direction of change, future climate change may either worsen or enhance the water availability. This study uses an integrated hydrologic modeling approach (MIKE SHE MIKE 11) to compare and combine the effects of future (2040-2069) increased groundwater withdrawals and climate change on surface and groundwater flows and availability for an agricultural watershed in semi-arid south India. Modeling results showed that increased groundwater withdrawals in the future resulted in reduced surface flows (25%) and increased frequency and duration (90 days/yr) of well drying. In contrast, projected future increase in rainfall (7-43%) under the changed climate showed increased groundwater recharge (15-67%) and surface flows (9-155%). Modeling results suggest that the positive effects of climate change may enhance the water availability in this semi-arid region of India. However, in combination with increased withdrawals, climate change was shown to increase the well drying and reduce the water availability especially during dry years. A combination of management options such as flood to drip conversion, energy subsidy reductions and water storage can support increased groundwater irrigated area in the future while mitigating the well drying. A cost-benefit analysis showed that dispersed water storage and flood to drip conversion can be highly cost-effective in this semi-arid region. The study results suggest that the government and management policies need to be focused towards an integrated management of demand and supply to create a sustainable food-water-energy nexus in the region.

7 CFR 798.3 - Index.

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2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 7 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Index. 798.3 Section 798.3 Agriculture Regulations of... RECORDS AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION TO THE PUBLIC § 798.3 Index. 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(2) requires that each agency publish or otherwise make available a current index of all materials required to be made available...

Global pattern of trends in streamflow and water availability in a changing climate

Science.gov (United States)

Milly, P.C.D.; Dunne, K.A.; Vecchia, A.V.

2005-01-01

Water availability on the continents is important for human health, economic activity, ecosystem function and geophysical processes. Because the saturation vapour pressure of water in air is highly sensitive to temperature, perturbations in the global water cycle are expected to accompany climate warming. Regional patterns of warming-induced changes in surface hydroclimate are complex and less certain than those in temperature, however, with both regional increases and decreases expected in precipitation and runoff. Here we show that an ensemble of 12 climate models exhibits qualitative and statistically significant skill in simulating observed regional patterns of twentieth-century multidecadal changes in streamflow. These models project 10–40% increases in runoff in eastern equatorial Africa, the La Plata basin and high-latitude North America and Eurasia, and 10–30% decreases in runoff in southern Africa, southern Europe, the Middle East and mid-latitude western North America by the year 2050. Such changes in sustainable water availability would have considerable regional-scale consequences for economies as well as ecosystems.

Water on Mars: Volatile history and resource availability

Science.gov (United States)

Jakosky, Bruce M.

1991-01-01

The existence of water on Mars is undisputed today. Measurements of atmospheric water vapor have shown that the abundance varies with location and season in a systematic way which depends on processes of exchange with the polar caps, regolith, and atmosphere. Channels, which give the appearance of having been carved by water or of having had water involved in their formation, appear in various locations on the surface; some were formed by catastrophic outflow of water from beneath the surface, while others form valley networks which give the appearance of having formed over long periods of time primarily early in the planet's history. The north polar residual cap consists of water ice, possibly containing an amount of water equivalent to a global layer several tens of meters thick. Finally, water is observed within the regolith, as adsorbed water or as water of hydration.

Influence of landscape heterogeneity on water available to tropical forests in an Amazonian catchment and implications for modeling drought response: Water Available to Tropical Forest

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fang, Yilin; Leung, Lai-Yung; Duan, Zhuoran; Wigmosta, Mark S.; Maxwell, Reed M.; Chambers, Jeffrey Q.; Tomasella, Javier

2017-08-18

The Amazon basin experienced periodic droughts in the past, and climate models projected more intense and frequent droughts in the future. How tropical forests respond to drought may depend on water availability, which is modulated by landscape heterogeneity. Using the one-dimensional ACME Land Model (ALM) and the three-dimensional ParFlow variably saturated flow model, a series of numerical experiments were performed for the Asu catchment in central Amazon to elucidate processes that influence water available for plant use and provide insights for improving Earth system models. Results from ParFlow show that topography has a dominant influence on groundwater table and runoff through lateral flow. Without any representations of lateral processes, ALM simulates very different seasonal variations in groundwater table and runoff compared to ParFlow even if it is able to reproduce the long-term spatial average groundwater table of ParFlow through simple parameter calibration. In the ParFlow simulations, the groundwater table is evidently deeper and the soil saturation is lower in the plateau compared to the valley. However, even in the plateau during the dry season in the drought year of 2005, plant transpiration is not water stressed in the ParFlow simulations as the soil saturation is still sufficient to maintain a soil matric potential for the stomata to be fully open. This finding is insensitive to uncertainty in atmospheric forcing and soil parameters, but the empirical wilting formulation used in the models is an important factor that should be addressed using observations and modeling of coupled plant hydraulics-soil hydrology processes in future studies.

Water Resources Vulnerability Assessment Accounting for Human Influence

Science.gov (United States)

Mehran, A.; AghaKouchak, A.

2014-12-01

Reservoirs are one of the main infrastructures that provide resilience against extremes (e.g., floods and droughts) and they play a key role in water resources management. Based on International Commission of Large Dams (ICOLD 2003) records, the total volume of reservoirs is over 6200 km3, which is twice larger than the global annual water use estimated as 3000 km3. Just a simple comparison of the two numbers indicates the importance of reservoirs and their role in providing resilience for water security. On the other hand, man-made reservoirs change the water distribution throughout the year. Most climate change impact studies ignore the role of reservoirs in water availability studies. However, water availability cannot be properly assessed without a thorough assessment of reservoir conditions. By combining classical methods for climate variability assessment (top-down approach) and influence assessment (bottom-up approach), this study offers a hybrid framework that integrates different drivers of water storage vulnerability. Final index is termed as the Multivariate Standardized Reliability and Resilience Index (MSRRI). This index investigates the adaptive capacity of the reservoir and exposure of the system to variable conditions. MSRRI has been investigated over several major reservoirs in Australia and California, United States. This presentation reviews recent findings and discusses reservoir conditions in Australia and California using MSRRI under different climatic change scenarios.

Construction of an evaluation index system of water resources bearing capacity: An empirical study in Xi’an, China

Science.gov (United States)

Qu, X. E.; Zhang, L. L.

2017-08-01

In this paper, a comprehensive evaluation of the water resources bearing capacity of Xi’an is performed. By constructing a comprehensive evaluation index system of the water resources bearing capacity that included water resources, economy, society, and ecological environment, we empirically studied the dynamic change and regional differences of the water resources bearing capacities of Xi’an districts through the TOPSIS method (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution). Results show that the water resources bearing capacity of Xi’an significantly increased over time, and the contributions of the subsystems from high to low are as follows: water resources subsystem, social subsystem, ecological subsystem, and economic subsystem. Furthermore, there are large differences between the water resources bearing capacities of the different districts in Xi’an. The water resources bearing capacities from high to low are urban areas, Huxian, Zhouzhi, Gaoling, and Lantian. Overall, the water resources bearing capacity of Xi’an is still at a the lower level, which is highly related to the scarcity of water resources, population pressure, insufficient water saving consciousness, irrational industrial structure, low water-use efficiency, and so on.

The effect of water availability on stand-level productivity, transpiration, water use efficiency and radiation use efficiency of field-grown willow clones

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Linderson, Maj-Lena; Iritz, Zinaida; Lindroth, Anders

2007-01-01

The effect of water availability on stand-level productivity, transpiration, water use efficiency (WUE) and radiation use efficiency (RUE) is evaluated for different willow clones at stand level. The measurements were made during the growing season 2000 in a 3-year-old plantation in Scania, southernmost Sweden. Six willow clones were included in the study: L78183, SW Rapp, SW Jorunn, SW Jorr, SW Tora and SW Loden. All clones were exposed to two water treatments: rain-fed, non-irrigated treatment and reduced water availability by reduced soil water recharge. Field measurements of stem sap-flow and biometry are up-scaled to stand transpiration and stand dry substance production and used to assess WUE. RUE is estimated from the ratio between the stand dry substance production and the accumulated absorbed photosynthetic active radiation over the growing season. The total stand transpiration rate for the 5 months lies between 100 and 325 mm, which is fairly low compared to the Penman-Monteith transpiration for willow, reaching 400-450 mm for the same period. Mean WUE of all clones and treatments is 5.3 g/kg, which is high compared to earlier studies, while average RUE is 0.31 g/mol, which is slightly low compared to other results. Generally, all clones, except for Jorunn, seem to be better off concerning biomass production, WUE and RUE than the reference clone. Jorr, Jorunn and Loden also seem to be able to cope with the reduced water availability with increase in the water use efficiency. Tora performs significantly better than the other clones concerning both growth and efficiency in light and water use, but the effect of the dry treatment on stem growth shows sensitivity to water availability. The reduced stem growth could be due to a change in allocation patterns

The Effect of Land Use on Availability of Japanese Freshwater Resources and Its Significance for Water Footprinting

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Masaharu Motoshita

2016-01-01

Full Text Available All relevant effects on water must be assessed in water footprinting for identifying hotspots and managing the impacts of products, processes, and services throughout the life cycle. Although several studies have focused on physical water scarcity and degradation of water quality, the relevance of land use in water footprinting has not been widely addressed. Here, we aimed to verify the extent of land-use effect in the context of water footprinting. Intensity factors of land use regarding the loss of freshwater availability are modeled by calculating water balance at grid scale in Japan. A water footprint inventory and impacts related to land use are assessed by applying the developed intensity factors and comparing them with those related to water consumption and degradation. Artificial land use such as urban area results in the loss of many parts of available freshwater input by precipitation. When considering water footprint inventory, the dominance of land use is less than that of water consumption. However, the effect of land use is relevant to the assessment of water footprint impact by differentiating stress on water resources. The exclusion of land use effect underestimates the water footprint of goods produced in Japan by an average of around 37%.

Probabilistic Water Availability Prediction in the Rio Grande Basin using Large-scale Circulation Indices as Precursor

Science.gov (United States)

Khedun, C. P.; Mishra, A. K.; Giardino, J. R.; Singh, V. P.

2011-12-01

Hydrometeorological conditions, and therefore water availability, is affected by large-scale circulation indices. In the Rio Grande, which is a transboundary basin shared between the United States and Mexico, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) influence local hydrological conditions. Different sub-regions of the basin exhibit varying degrees of correlation, but in general, an increase (decrease) in runoff during El Niños (La Niñas) is noted. Positive PDO enhances the effect of El Niño and dampens the negative effect of La Niña, and when it is in its neutral/transition phase, La Niña dominates climatic conditions and reduces water availability. Further, lags of up to 3 months have been found between ENSO and precipitation in the basin. We hypothesize that (1) a trivariate statistical relationship can be established between the two climate indices and water availability, and (2) the relationship can be used to predict water availability based on projected PDO and ENSO conditions. We use copula to establish the dependence between climate indices and water availability. Water availability is generated from Noah land surface model (LSM), forced with the North American Land Data Assimilation System Phase 2 (NLDAS-2). The model is run within NASA GSFC's Land Information System. LSM generated runoff gives a more realistic picture of available surface water as it is not affected by anthropogenic changes, such as the construction of dams, diversions, and other land use land cover changes, which may obscure climatic influences. Marginals from climate indices and runoff are from different distribution families, thus conventional functional forms of multivariate frequency distributions cannot be employed. Copulas offer a viable alternative as marginals from different families can be combined into a joint distribution. Uncertainties in the statistical relationship can be determined and the statistical model can be used for

Do Karst Rivers “deserve” their own biotic index? A ten years study on macrozoobenthos in Croatia

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Rađa Biljana

2010-07-01

Full Text Available In this study we present the results of a ten year survey of the aquatic macroinvertebrate fauna along four karst rivers: Jadro, Žrnovnica, Grab and Ruda, all of them situated in the Middle Dalmatia region of Croatia, in an attempt to construct the Iliric Biotic Index, which will be more applicable for the water quality analysis than the most frequently applied biotic index in Croatia, the Italian Modification of Extended Biotic Index. The rivers geologically belong to the Dinaric karst, unique geological phenomena in Europe. Benthic macroinvertebrates were collected along each river at 15 sites by standard methods of sampling along with several physicochemical parameters, including: temperature, dissolved oxygen, carbon dioxide, alkalinity, hardness and pH. Univariate and multivariate techniques revealed differences in the macroinvertebrate community structure as well as in physicochemical parameters between the Karst rivers and continental rivers. Based on those differences, the Iliric Biotic Index was proposed as the standard of karst river water quality in Croatia in accordance with the EU Water Framework Directive. Differences between the Iliric Biotic Index and the most commonly used biotic indices in the European Community and the USA (The Biological Monitoring Working Party (B.M.W.P. scores, i.e. Extended Biotic Index, Indice Biotique, Family Biotic Index suggest that karst rivers need a new biotic index.

Modification of Low Refractive Index Polycarbonate for High Refractive Index Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gunjan Suri

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Polycarbonates and polythiourethanes are the most popular materials in use today, for optical applications. Polycarbonates are of two types which fall in the category of low refractive index and medium refractive index. The present paper describes the conversion of low refractive index polycarbonates into high refractive index material by the use of a high refractive index monomer, polythiol, as an additive. Novel polycarbonates, where the properties of refractive index and Abbe number can be tailor made, have been obtained. Thermal studies and refractive index determination indicate the formation of a new polymer with improved properties and suitable for optical applications.

Fusion of multisource and multiscale remote sensing data for water availability assessment in a metropolitan region

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, N. B.; Yang, Y. J.; Daranpob, A.

2009-09-01

Recent extreme hydroclimatic events in the United States alone include, but are not limited to, the droughts in Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay area in 2001 through September 2002; Lake Mead in Las Vegas in 2000 through 2004; the Peace River and Lake Okeechobee in South Florida in 2006; and Lake Lanier in Atlanta, Georgia in 2007 that affected the water resources distribution in three states - Alabama, Florida and Georgia. This paper provides evidence from previous work and elaborates on the future perspectives that will collectively employ remote sensing and in-situ observations to support the implementation of the water availability assessment in a metropolitan region. Within the hydrological cycle, precipitation, soil moisture, and evapotranspiration can be monitored by using WSR-88D/NEXRAD data, RADARSAT-1 images, and GEOS images collectively to address the spatiotemporal variations of quantitative availability of waters whereas the MODIS images may be used to track down the qualitative availability of waters in terms of turbidity, Chlorophyll-a and other constitutes of concern. Tampa Bay in Florida was selected as a study site in this analysis, where the water supply infrastructure covers groundwater, desalination plant, and surface water at the same time. Research findings show that through the proper fusion of multi-source and multi-scale remote sensing data for water availability assessment in metropolitan region, a new insight of water infrastructure assessment can be gained to support sustainable planning region wide.

WATER QUALITY ANALYSIS OF LOTIC ECOSYSTEMS FROM UPPER MUREŞ RIVER CATCHMENT AREA USING DIFFERENT BIOTIC INDICES

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Milca PETROVICI

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Present paper approach the issue of assessing the water quality of tributaries located in the upper basin of the river Mureş, taking into account changes in the value of biotic indices. In this sense, have been selected the next five biotic indices: Ephemeroptera Plecoptera Trichoptera index (EPT, Total Invertebrates index (T, Chironomidae index (Ch, EPT / Total invertebrates index (EPT / T, EPT / Chironomidae index (EPT / Ch and % Chironomidae index (% Chironomidae. Considering all these indices, it was found existence of a medium to best quality water in Mureş tributaries from Harghita Mountains and a good quality water which comes from the Maramureş Mountains and Transylvania Plateau.

Development of a benthic multimetric index for biomonitoring of a neotropical watershed

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WR. Ferreira

Full Text Available Biotic indices are important tools for evaluating water quality in Biomonitoring Programmes of river basins. The objective of this study was to develop a Benthic Multimetric Index (BMI to evaluate the water quality in a neotropical catchment in southeastern Brazil. Thirty metrics were evaluated and six were selected to calculate the BMI: family richness, % Oligochaeta, % Chironomidae + Oligochaeta (% CHOL, % EPT (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera, % Collector-gatherers, and BMWP-CETEC biotic index. Sampling was carried in triplicate at 21 sampling sites (8 in the river channel and 13 in the tributaries during 4 annual collecting trips from June 2004 to November 2007, making a total of 945 samples. Scores (5, 3 or 1 were attributed to each chosen metric and were added up to establish the water quality criteria (a score of 6-12 - poor; 13-18 - intermediate; 19-24 - good; and 25-30 - very good water quality. Our results indicated that 48% of the sampling sites analysed in the catchment basin presented very good water quality, 14% good quality, 19% regular, and 19% poor water quality. This methodology proved to be an efficient tool for evaluating water quality in the Biomonitoring Programme of the Velhas River basin, and that it may serve to evaluate water quality in other river basins in South America.

Water availability forecasting for Naryn River using ground-based and satellite snow cover data

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O. Y. Kalashnikova

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The main source of river nourishment in arid regions of Central Asia is the melting of seasonal snow accu‑ mulated in mountains during the cold period. In this study, we analyzed data on seasonal snow cover by ground‑based observations from Kyrgyzhydromet network, as well as from MODIS satellite imagery for the period of 2000–2015. This information was used to compile the forecast methods of water availability of snow‑ice and ice‑snow fed rivers for the vegetation period. The Naryn river basin was chosen as a study area which is the main tributary of Syrdarya River and belongs to the Aral Sea basin. The representative mete‑ orological stations with ground‑based observations of snow cover were identified and regression analysis between mean discharge for the vegetation period and number of snow covered days, maximum snow depth based on in‑situ data as well as snow cover area based on MODIS images was conducted. Based on this infor‑ mation, equations are derived for seasonal water availability forecasting using multiple linear regression anal‑ ysis. Proposed equations have high correlation coefficients (R = 0.89÷0.92 and  and fore‑ casting accuracy. The methodology was implemented in Kyrgyzhydromet and is used for forecasting of water availability in Naryn basin and water inflow into Toktogul Reservoir.

33 CFR 52.81 - Reading room and index.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Reading room and index. 52.81 Section 52.81 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY PERSONNEL BOARD... and index. After deleting only so much personal information as is necessary to prevent an unwarranted...

75 FR 8697 - Notice of Availability of Class Deviation; Disputes Resolution Procedures Related to Clean Water...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-02-25

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9115-1] Notice of Availability of Class Deviation; Disputes Resolution Procedures Related to Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF and DWSRF...: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Notice of availability. SUMMARY: This document provides notice of...

A water risk index for portfolio exposure to climatic extremes: conceptualization and an application to the mining industry

Science.gov (United States)

Bonnafous, Luc; Lall, Upmanu; Siegel, Jason

2017-04-01

Corporations, industries and non-governmental organizations have become increasingly concerned with growing water risks in many parts of the world. Most of the focus has been on water scarcity and competition for the resource between agriculture, urban users, ecology and industry. However, water risks are multi-dimensional. Water-related hazards include flooding due to extreme rainfall, persistent drought and pollution, either due to industrial operations themselves, or to the failure of infrastructure. Most companies have risk management plans at each operational location to address these risks to a certain design level. The residual risk may or may not be managed, and is typically not quantified at a portfolio scale, i.e. across many sites. Given that climate is the driver of many of these extreme events, and there is evidence of quasi-periodic climate regimes at inter-annual and decadal timescales, it is possible that a portfolio is subject to persistent, multi-year exceedances of the design level. In other words, for a multi-national corporation, it is possible that there is correlation in the climate-induced portfolio water risk across its operational sites as multiple sites may experience a hazard beyond the design level in a given year. Therefore, from an investor's perspective, a need exists for a water risk index that allows for an exploration of the possible space and/or time clustering in exposure across many sites contained in a portfolio. This paper represents a first attempt to develop an index for financial exposure of a geographically diversified, global portfolio to the time-varying risk of climatic extremes using long daily global rainfall datasets derived from climate re-analysis models. Focusing on extreme daily rainfall amounts and using examples from major mining companies, we illustrate how the index can be developed. We discuss how companies can use it to explore their corporate exposure, and what they may need to disclose to investors and

Geospatial distribution modeling and determining suitability of groundwater quality for irrigation purpose using geospatial methods and water quality index (WQI) in Northern Ethiopia

Science.gov (United States)

Gidey, Amanuel

2018-06-01

Determining suitability and vulnerability of groundwater quality for irrigation use is a key alarm and first aid for careful management of groundwater resources to diminish the impacts on irrigation. This study was conducted to determine the overall suitability of groundwater quality for irrigation use and to generate their spatial distribution maps in Elala catchment, Northern Ethiopia. Thirty-nine groundwater samples were collected to analyze and map the water quality variables. Atomic absorption spectrophotometer, ultraviolet spectrophotometer, titration and calculation methods were used for laboratory groundwater quality analysis. Arc GIS, geospatial analysis tools, semivariogram model types and interpolation methods were used to generate geospatial distribution maps. Twelve and eight water quality variables were used to produce weighted overlay and irrigation water quality index models, respectively. Root-mean-square error, mean square error, absolute square error, mean error, root-mean-square standardized error, measured values versus predicted values were used for cross-validation. The overall weighted overlay model result showed that 146 km2 areas are highly suitable, 135 km2 moderately suitable and 60 km2 area unsuitable for irrigation use. The result of irrigation water quality index confirms 10.26% with no restriction, 23.08% with low restriction, 20.51% with moderate restriction, 15.38% with high restriction and 30.76% with the severe restriction for irrigation use. GIS and irrigation water quality index are better methods for irrigation water resources management to achieve a full yield irrigation production to improve food security and to sustain it for a long period, to avoid the possibility of increasing environmental problems for the future generation.

High-resolution projections of surface water availability for Tasmania, Australia

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J. C. Bennett

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Changes to streamflows caused by climate change may have major impacts on the management of water for hydro-electricity generation and agriculture in Tasmania, Australia. We describe changes to Tasmanian surface water availability from 1961–1990 to 2070–2099 using high-resolution simulations. Six fine-scale (∼10 km² simulations of daily rainfall and potential evapotranspiration are generated with the CSIRO Conformal Cubic Atmospheric Model (CCAM, a variable-resolution regional climate model (RCM. These variables are bias-corrected with quantile mapping and used as direct inputs to the hydrological models AWBM, IHACRES, Sacramento, SIMHYD and SMAR-G to project streamflows.

The performance of the hydrological models is assessed against 86 streamflow gauges across Tasmania. The SIMHYD model is the least biased (median bias = −3% while IHACRES has the largest bias (median bias = −22%. We find the hydrological models that best simulate observed streamflows produce similar streamflow projections.

There is much greater variation in projections between RCM simulations than between hydrological models. Marked decreases of up to 30% are projected for annual runoff in central Tasmania, while runoff is generally projected to increase in the east. Daily streamflow variability is projected to increase for most of Tasmania, consistent with increases in rainfall intensity. Inter-annual variability of streamflows is projected to increase across most of Tasmania.

This is the first major Australian study to use high-resolution bias-corrected rainfall and potential evapotranspiration projections as direct inputs to hydrological models. Our study shows that these simulations are capable of producing realistic streamflows, allowing for increased confidence in assessing future changes to surface water variability.

THE CONDITION INDEX OF MUSSELS (Mytilus galloprovincialis IN BUDAVA AND RAŠA BAY

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Nives Marušić

2009-07-01

Full Text Available Condition index is a factor that can show of some area for shellfish cultivation. Analysis of the condition index from various sites may show importance of these sites for cultivation and shellfish during the year. By monitoring the condition index it is possible to determine dynamic of meat amount change in time. Condition index depends on mussel spawning period, presence of food and changes of environmental factors (temperature, salinity, concentration of dissolved oxygen. The research of condition index was monitored in Budava and Ra{a Bay at depth of 0.5 and 2.5 m. In summer months (July and August when the sea water temperature and salinity were in optimum, the mussel condition index had maximum value. Value of the condition index is proportional with sea temperature and salinity. The condition index of mussels significantly changed over the year period, at different sites (Budava and Raška Bay and at different depth (0.5 and 2.5 m.

Water Feature Extraction and Change Detection Using Multitemporal Landsat Imagery

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Komeil Rokni

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Lake Urmia is the 20th largest lake and the second largest hyper saline lake (before September 2010 in the world. It is also the largest inland body of salt water in the Middle East. Nevertheless, the lake has been in a critical situation in recent years due to decreasing surface water and increasing salinity. This study modeled the spatiotemporal changes of Lake Urmia in the period 2000–2013 using the multi-temporal Landsat 5-TM, 7-ETM+ and 8-OLI images. In doing so, the applicability of different satellite-derived indexes including Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI, Modified NDWI (MNDWI, Normalized Difference Moisture Index (NDMI, Water Ratio Index (WRI, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI, and Automated Water Extraction Index (AWEI were investigated for the extraction of surface water from Landsat data. Overall, the NDWI was found superior to other indexes and hence it was used to model the spatiotemporal changes of the lake. In addition, a new approach based on Principal Components of multi-temporal NDWI (NDWI-PCs was proposed and evaluated for surface water change detection. The results indicate an intense decreasing trend in Lake Urmia surface area in the period 2000–2013, especially between 2010 and 2013 when the lake lost about one third of its surface area compared to the year 2000. The results illustrate the effectiveness of the NDWI-PCs approach for surface water change detection, especially in detecting the changes between two and three different times, simultaneously.

Availability of ground water in the middle Merrimack River basin, central and southern New Hampshire

Science.gov (United States)

Cotton, J.E.

1976-01-01

Sufficient amounts of water to supply single family homes are available from the bedrock aquifer nearly everywhere in the middle Merrimack River basin in central and southern New Hampshire. Relatively this and narrow, unconsolidated aquifers of sand or sand and gravel commonly capable of yielding more than 200 gallons per minute to properly located and constructed wells are found only in major stream valleys. The map provides a preliminary assessment of the availability of ground water in the basin, as determined by estimating the capability of the aquifers to store and transmit water. On the map, aquifers are rated as having high, medium, or low potential to yield water. Ground water in the middle Merrimack River basin is generally of good chemical quality. Most of it is clear and colorless, contains no suspended matter and practically no bacteria, water may be affected by land-use practices. Degradation of water quality may occur in unsewered residential and village areas, near solid-waste-disposal sites, agricultural land, and major highways. (Woodard-USGS)

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African Journals Online (AJOL)

Items 401 - 450 of 985 ... Vol 17 (2010), Flood Frequency Analysis of Ikpoba River ... and the corresponding Refractive Index in Uniaxial Crystals, Abstract ... Vol 8 (2004), Further on stokes expansions for the finite amplitude water waves, Abstract.

Water quality relationships and evaluation using a new water quality index

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Said, A.; Stevens, D.; Sehlke, G.

2002-01-01

Water quality is dependent on a variety of measures, including dissolved oxygen, microbial contamination, turbidity, nutrients, temperature, pH, and other constituents. Determining relationships between water quality parameters can improve water quality assessment, and watershed management. In addition, these relationships can be very valuable in case of evaluating water quality in watersheds that have few water quality data. (author)

Giving sustainable agriculture really good odds through innovative rainfall index insurance

Science.gov (United States)

Muneepeerakul, C. P.; Muneepeerakul, R.

2017-12-01

Population growth, increasing demands for food, and increasingly uncertain and limited water availability amidst competing demands for water by other users and the environment call for a novel approach to manage water in food production systems to be developed now. Tapping into broad popularity of crop insurance as a risk management intervention, we propose an innovative rainfall index insurance program as a novel systems approach that addresses water conservation in food production systems by exploiting two common currencies that tie the food production systems and others together, namely water and money. Our novel methodology allows for optimizing diverse farm and financial strategies together, revealing strategy portfolios that result in greater water use efficiency and higher incomes at a lower level of water use. Furthermore, it allows targeted interventions to achieve reduction in irrigation water, while providing financial protection to farmers against the increasing uncertainty in water availability. Not only would such a tool result in efficiently less use of water, it would also encourage diversification in farm practices, which reduces the farm's vulnerability against crop price volatility and pest or disease outbreaks and contributes to more sustainable agriculture.