Tectonic influences on ground water quality: insight from complementary methods

A study using multiple techniques provided insight into tectonic influences on ground water systems; the results can help to understand ground water systems in the tectonically active western United States and other parts of the world. Ground water in the San Bernardino Valley (Arizona, United States and Sonora, Mexico) is the main source of water for domestic use, cattle ranching (the primary industry), and the preservation of threatened and endangered species. To improve the understanding of ground water occurrence, movement, and sustainability, an investigation was conducted using a number of complementary methods, including major ion geochemistry, isotope hydrology, analysis of gases dissolved in ground water, aquifer testing, geophysics, and an examination of surface and subsurface geology. By combining information from multiple lines of investigation, a more complete picture of the basin hydrogeology was assembled than would have been possible using fewer methods. The results show that the hydrogeology of the San Bernardino Valley is markedly different than that of its four neighboring basins in the United States. The differences include water quality, chemical evolution, storage, and residence time. The differences result from the locally unique geology of the San Bernardino Valley, which is due to the presence of a magmatically active accommodation zone (a zone separating two regions of normal faults with opposite dips). The geological differences and the resultant hydrological differences between the San Bernardino Valley and its neighboring basins may serve as a model for the distinctive nature of chemical evolution of ground water in other basins with locally distinct tectonic histories.     

输水对于桥水库水质时空变化的影响

研究输水对水库水质时空变化的影响有助于科学预测水体富营养化及防控水华暴发.本文以于桥水库为例,基于2011-2015年实测资料分析入库水质——水温、总氮（TN）、总磷（TP）与流量的相关关系;并以2012年为典型年,运用平面二维"水动力-水质"数学模型模拟库区水质变化随入库流量的响应关系.研究表明：（1）11月-次年4月水库水温受气温控制,入库与库区水温差异不明显;5-10月,非输水期库区上游水温最高,输水期入库温差随流量增大呈线性升高趋势,库区上游水温明显降低且出现谷值;（2）营养物（TN、TP）浓度变化规律全年基本一致,非输水期入库TN浓度高、TP浓度低,营养物在果河段汇集,库区营养物衰减浓度降低且浓度梯度平缓;输水期入库TN浓度随流量增大呈幂函数降低趋势、TP浓度呈线性升高趋势,营养物被输移至库区上游导致库区TN、TP浓度升高且浓度梯度增大;（3）库区水温谷值及TN、TP浓度峰值均滞后于果河流量变化,且库区南岸比北岸更易受果河来流影响污染更严重.     

二维水质模型在武汉东湖引水工程中的应用

以"大东湖生态水网"工程的实施为契机,应用MIKE21软件对武汉东湖引水工程进行数值模拟.利用东湖2008年6月和7月实测的水深、TN和TP数据率定了模型参数(床底摩擦力和涡粘系数),并利用2010年7月实测数据建立水动力学模型和对流扩散模型,模拟了四种引水工况下模型运行35 d之后东湖水体中TN、TP浓度分布情况,并比较四种工况的模拟结果.结果表明:在设置两个引水口以及考虑风速影响的情况下,东湖水体中TN、TP浓度分布最均匀.对"大东湖生态水网"工程的实施具有一定的指导意义.     

Internet-based applications for interrogating 50 years of data from the South African national water quality monitoring network

ABSTRACT

National and regional water quality monitoring networks have been operated in South Africa since the early 1970s. These originally had text-based inventories that were convenient for specialists who were familiar with the national networks and knew the locations of their sites of interest. However, within two decades the networks had expanded in geographical extent and variables monitored to such an extent that users needed spatial context in order to locate sites that fitted their information requirements. Mapping applications running on the Internet, such as Google Earth and Leaflet, form the foundation of a system for providing online inventories and summaries of the data available on the water quality database. The interfaces were constructed using available software, mainly ArcInfo and R. A recent concern is a decrease in the collection of water quality data, which is reducing the value of data summaries for water resource management.     

The ECOMAN project: A novel approach to defining sustainable ecosystem function

The ECOMAN was initiated in 2001 by the University of Plymouth, UK, Plymouth Marine Laboratory and the Department of the Environment, Fisheries and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to address the need for more pragmatic assessment techniques linking environmental degradation with its causes. The primary aim of the project was to develop an evidence-based approach in which suites of easy-to-use, cost-effective and environmentally valid biological responses (biomarkers) could be used together to assess the health of coastal systems through the general condition of individuals. A range of sub-lethal endpoints, chosen to reflect successive levels of biological organisation (molecular, cellular, physiological), was evaluated in common coastal organisms showing different feeding types (filter feeding, grazing, predation) and habitat requirements (estuary, rocky shore). Initially, the suite of biomarkers was used in laboratory studies to determine the relative sensitivities of key species within different functional groups to common contaminants. These results were then validated in field studies performed in a range of ecosystems exhibiting different degrees/signatures of contamination. Here, an example is provided of a field study in the Humber Estuary, UK, which illustrates how multivariate statistical analysis can be used to identify patterns of response to discriminate between contaminated and clean sites. The use of a holistic, integrated approach of this kind is advocated as a practical means of assessing the impact of chemical contamination on organismal health and of ranking the status of marine ecosystems.     

Writing the history of water services

This paper analyses the experiences acquired through several research projects on the history of water and sanitation services by two multidisciplinary teams. Challenges have been faced in identifying feasible objectives, realistic resources, time allocations and unexpected external factors. Water history can preserve cultural heritage, promote reputation management, record vanishing knowledge, and discover new facts.     

南水北调中线水源区水质生态监测(2005年)

在生态调查基础上从微生物学、理化及叶绿素a指标等对南水北调中线水源区进行了生态监测．结果表明,水源区为寡污型水体,水体基本处于贫-中营养状态,水源区指标除TN为Ⅲ类水质外,其它监测指标均符合Ⅰ类水质标准．是理想的水源地．本研究为建立中线水源区长期生态研究数据信息库及库区生态环境保护政策制定提供科学依据．     

水库环保疏浚及板框脱水工程中余水水质及变化规律

湖泊、水库、河流污染后实施底泥环保疏浚工程的实例很多,但如何处理疏浚余水以及处理尾水排放应该执行什么样的控制标准,是一个没有解决的问题.针对这一问题,本文以溧阳市沙河水库环保疏浚以及配套的泥浆板框压滤脱水工程为例,研究了余水发生后的水质以及在各处理环节中的变化规律,基于这一规律探讨了疏浚尾水的排放标准.结果 表明疏浚余...     

Rainwater and reclaimed wastewater for sustainable urban water use

Concern about the sustainability of urban water use is the strong motivation to understand the potential of rainwater use and water recycling in urbanized cities. The history of water supply in Tokyo and its experience may provide useful information to develop sustainable urban water use and find future possible tasks in rapidly growing cities. Besides, various innovative strategies to meet the current and future water demand in Tokyo may help us to consider new approaches adjusting to the developing mega cities in Asia. In this paper, the past and current practices on utilization of latent water resources such as rainwater and reclaimed wastewater in Tokyo are summarized from the viewpoint of sustainable water use.The storage of rainwater is a useful measure for water demand in emergency cases. In addition, the rainwater use can work as a kind of environmental education to make citizens aware of sustainable urban water use. There are 850 facilities for rainwater use in Tokyo. Since reclaimed wastewater use has several benefits, a huge water volume has been utilized for various purposes such as washing, water-cooling, toilet flushing, waterway restoration and creation of recreational waterfront. From the viewpoint of human health risk, new micropollutants such as estrogens, endocrine disrupters and surfactants should be considered as quality guideline parameter besides the conventional ones. Importance of infiltration facilities should be also highlighted to secure the sound water cycle. Groundwater recharge through the infiltration facilities provide a potential storage of water resource which can be withdrawn in the future if necessary.     

Environmental flows in India: towards sustainable water management

Abstract

The strong wet and dry seasons of tropical monsoon hydrology in India necessitate development of storage and flow diversion schemes for utilization of water to meet various social and economic needs. However, the river valley schemes may cause adverse flow-related impacts due to storage, flow diversion, tunnelling and spoil disposal. There may be critical reaches in which altered flows are not able to sustain the river channel ecology and riparian environment that existed prior to implementation of the storage and diversion schemes. In the past, environmental flows in India have usually been understood as the minimum flow to be released downstream from a dam as compensation for riparian rights, without considering the impacts on the river ecosystem. Rivers in India have been significantly influenced by anthropogenic activities over the past 60 years and have great social and religious significance to the vast population. This paper explores various aspects of past, present and future environmental flow assessment (EFA) in India highlighted by case studies from rivers across the nation. It demonstrates that multidisciplinary studies requiring expertise from a range of fields are needed for EFA, and that environmental flows are necessary for aquatic ecosystems to remain in a healthy state and for the sustainable use of water resources. The major focus areas for the development of EFA research in India are the creation of a shareable database for hydrological, ecological and socioeconomic data, developing hydrology–ecology relationships, evaluation of ecosystem services, addressing pollution due to anthropogenic activities and promotion of research on EFA. At the same time, efforts will be needed to develop new methods or refine existing methods for India.

Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Guest editor M. Acreman

Citation Jain, S.K. and Kumar, P., 2014. Environmental flows in India: towards sustainable water management. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 59 (3–4), 751–769.     

杭州西溪湿地首期工程区浮游植物群落结构及与水质关系

2007年1-12月,调查了西溪湿地(Ⅰ-Ⅳ站)浮游植物的属类组成、密度和生物多样性指数,并将水质理化参数与藻类的群落指标进行相关性分析.4个采样站中共发现8门56个属藻类,其中绿藻门和硅藻门占73.21%.Ⅰ-Ⅳ站藻类年均密度分别为2.88×10~8、0.37×10~8、0.47×10~8和0.71×10~8cells/L,其中绿藻门和隐藻门占总浮游植物密度的93.76%,优势属为小球藻属(Chlorella)、隐藻属(Cryptomonas)和衣藻属(Chamydomonas).Ⅰ-Ⅳ站藻类Margle属多样性指数分别为1.17、1.10、1.08和1.06.根据藻类各项指标值,西溪湿地已遭受污染,水体为富营养型.相关分析结果表明:Ⅰ站和Ⅲ站的浮游植物密度对数与COD_Mn指数呈极显著的正相关关系(P<0.01),Ⅰ-Ⅳ站浮游植物密度对数与水质电导率之间均有显著或极显著的正相关关系.     

Implications of climate change for sustainable water resources management in India

This paper presents an overview of the current water resources scenario in India, and recent work carried out in India to assess the climate change impact on hydrology and water resources. Issues that need to be addressed with respect to climate change/variability in sustainable water resources planning and management are discussed.     

Degradates provide insight to spatial and temporal trends of herbicides in ground water

Since 1995, a network of municipal wells in Iowa, representing all major aquifer types (alluvial, bedrock/karst region, glacial drift, bedrock/nonkarst region), has been repeatedly sampled for a broad suite of herbicide compounds yielding one of the most comprehensive statewide databases of such compounds currently available in the United States. This dataset is ideal for documenting the insight that herbicide degradates provide to the spatial and temporal distribution of herbicides in ground water. During 2001, 86 municipal wells in Iowa were sampled and analyzed for 21 herbicide parent compounds and 24 herbicide degradates. The frequency of detection increased from 17% when only herbicide parent compounds were considered to 53% when both herbicide parents and degradates were considered. Thus, the transport of herbicide compounds to ground water is substantially underestimated when herbicide degradates are not considered. A significant difference in the results among the major aquifer types was apparent only when both herbicide parent compounds and their degradates were considered. In addition, including herbicide degradates greatly improved the statistical relation to the age of the water being sampled. When herbicide parent compounds are considered, only 40% of the wells lacking a herbicide detection could be explained by the age of the water predating herbicide use. However, when herbicide degradates were also considered, 80% of the ground water samples lacking a detection could be explained by the age of the water predating herbicide use. Finally, a temporal pattern in alachlor concentrations in ground water could only be identified when alachlor degradates were considered.     

Water quality assessment for sustainable agriculture in the Wet Tropics--a community-assisted approach

A number of studies in north Queensland over the past two decades have concluded that large amounts of nutrients and sediments are exported from agricultural watersheds, particularly during wet season rainfall events. With the co-operation of a number of growers, runoff from Queensland Wet Tropics banana and cane farm paddocks in two distinct tropical river catchments was examined to provide an estimate of nutrient and sediment concentrations and export, with comparison to water quality of flow through a small urban lakes system. Median total nitrogen concentrations in cane drainage runoff (3110 microg N/L) were higher than for banana paddock drainage (2580 microg N/L), although the maximum concentration was recorded from a banana paddock (20,900 microg N/L). Nitrogen losses during post-event drainage flow were supplemented by high proportions of NO(X) (nitrate + nitrite) sourced from groundwater inputs. Banana paddocks had the highest maximum and median total phosphorus and TSS concentrations (5120 and 286 microg P/L, and 7250 and 75 mg/L respectively) compared to the cane farms (1430 and 50 microg P/L, and 1840 and 14 mg/L respectively). The higher phosphorus and TSS concentrations in the banana runoff were attributed to higher paddock slopes and a greater proportion of exposed ground surface during the wet season. Highest nutrient and TSS concentrations corresponded with samples collected near the peak discharge periods; however, the rising stage of the drainage flows, where the highest nutrient and TSS concentrations are often reported, were difficult to target because of the manual sampling strategy used. This study shows that high concentrations of nutrients and TSS occur in the runoff from cane and banana paddocks. Median total nitrogen, total phosphorus and TSS concentrations in flow through the urban lakes were 369 microg N/L, 16 microg P/L and 11 mg/L, respectively. Flux estimates of 9.2 kg N, 0.8 kg P and 126 kg TSS/ha were determined for drainage runoff from a banana paddock during a single intensive storm event.