The study of environmental effects of chemical fertilizers and domestic sewage on water quality of Taft region, Central Iran

One of the important indicators to show the quality of water for drinking and irrigation is nitrate values in water and soil. Nitrate enters surface water and groundwater through degradation and decomposition of human and animal wastes, industrial productions, and agricultural runoff. The present paper focuses on the concentration of nitrite (NO₂ ^?1) and nitrate (NO₃ ^?1) of the groundwater in Taft region, Central Iran. Sixty-one samples of the region’s aqueducts, wells, and springs were collected in September 2008 and May 2009 and analyzed by ICP-MS method. However, distribution maps of nitrate and nitrite and their frequency diagram in the pertinent samples have been generated. Then, they were compared to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and WHO international standards. The mean of nitrate content measured in the samples was 18.52 mg/l, maximum was 115 mg/l which is higher than the EPA standard (i.e., 10 mg/l), and the mean of nitrite content was about 0.06 mg/l. According to the distribution maps, concentration of these anions is high in the downstream of settlements and farmlands of Taft region. With respect to the penetration of agricultural wastes, flooding irrigation, thin layer of alluvium, sandy texture, and the amount of fertilizer consumed in the region, and also absence of any natural source for these anions and absence of the major industrial activities in the region to produce sewage, it seems that nitrate and nitrite originated from the agricultural sewage and human waste. As the content of nitrate in drinking water in the region is higher than WHO and EPA standards, so there is the risk of methemoglobinemia disease in infants. In addition, nitrate content within the stomach and lungs interacts with amine and nitrosamines are made up which are potentially the initial cause of all cancers in human.     

Semi‐distributed flood runoff model at the subcontinental scale for southwestern Iran

Rainfall–runoff modelling, as a surface hydrological process, on large‐scale data‐poor basins is currently a major topic of investigation that requires the model parameters be identified by using basin physical characteristics rather than calibration. This paper describes the application of the TOPMODEL framework accompanied by a kinematic wave model to the Karun River sub‐basins in southwestern Iran with just one conceptual parameter for calibration. ISLSCP1, HYDRO1K and Reynolds data sets are presented in a geographical information system and used as data sources for meteorological information, hydrological features and soil characteristics of the study area respectively. The results show that although the model developed can adequately predict flood runoff in the catchment with only one calibrated parameter, it is suggested that the effect of surface reservoirs be considered in the proposed model. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

High-Resolution Integrated Transport Model for Studying Surface Water–Groundwater Interaction

Transport processes that lead to exchange of mass between surface water and groundwater play a significant role for the ecological functioning of aquatic systems, for hydrological processes and for biogeochemical transformations. In this study, we present a novel integral modeling approach for flow and transport at the sediment–water interface. The model allows us to simultaneously simulate turbulent surface and subsurface flow and transport with the same conceptual approach. For this purpose, a conservative transport equation was implemented to an existing approach that uses an extended version of the Navier–Stokes equations. Based on previous flume studies which investigated the spreading of a dye tracer under neutral, losing and gaining flow conditions the new solver is validated. Tracer distributions of the experiments are in close agreement with the simulations. The simulated flow paths are significantly affected by in- and outflowing groundwater flow. The highest velocities within the sediment are found for losing condition, which leads to shorter residence times compared to neutral and gaining conditions. The largest extent of the hyporheic exchange flow is observed under neutral condition. The new solver can be used for further examinations of cases that are not suitable for the conventional coupled models, for example, if Reynolds numbers are larger than 10. Moreover, results gained with the integral solver provide high-resolution information on pressure and velocity distributions at the rippled streambed, which can be used to improve flow predictions. This includes the extent of hyporheic exchange under varying ambient groundwater flow conditions.     

On weighted total least-squares with linear and quadratic constraints

A weighted total least-squares (WTLS) approach with linear and quadratic constraints is developed. This method is according to the traditional Lagrange approach to optimize the target function of this problem. The WTLS and constrained total least-squares (CTLS) approach had been distinctively investigated, however, these two problems have not been simultaneously considered yet; furthermore, among the contributions on the CTLS problem, only Schaffrin and Felus considered linear and quadratic constraints together; nevertheless, in many practical examples, some elements of the design/coefficient matrix are fixed and should not be modified and this approach cannot deal with these cases. The main necessity of this research appears after the desirable property of the WTLS approach in preserving the structure of the design matrix was proven by Mahboub. In other words, currently, the WTLS approach is one of the most efficient methods for solving the so-called errors-in-variables model and an attempt for equipping it with constraints seems necessary. Also it is demonstrated that the additional constraints have a ’regularization role’ for ill-conditioned problems and the unconstrained solution suffers from ill-conditioning effects which give it an added advantage over the unconstrained WTLS algorithm. Four geodetic applications indicate the significant of this problem in the presence of colored and white noise in the data.     

Intensity measures for the assessment of the seismic response of buried steel pipelines

To estimate the demand of structures, investigating the correlation between engineering demand parameters and intensity measures (IMs) is of prime importance in performance-based earthquake engineering. In the present paper, the efficiency and sufficiency of some IMs for evaluating the seismic response of buried steel pipelines are investigated. Six buried pipe models with different diameter to thickness and burial depth to diameter ratios, and different soil properties are subjected to an ensemble of 30 far-field earthquake ground motion records. The records are scaled to several intensity levels and a number of incremental dynamic analyses are performed. The approach used in the analyses is finite element modeling. Pipes are modeled using shell elements while equivalent springs and dashpots are used for modeling the soil. Several ground motion intensity measures are used to investigate their efficiency and sufficiency in assessing the seismic demand and capacity of the buried steel pipelines in terms of engineering demand parameter measured by the peak axial compressive strain at the critical section of the pipe. Using the regression analysis, efficient and sufficient IMs are proposed for two groups of buried pipelines separately. The first one is a group of pipes buried in soils with low stiffness and the second one is those buried in soils with higher stiffness. It is concluded that for the first group of pipes, \(\sqrt {{\text{VSI}}[\upomega_{1} ({\text{PGD}} + {\text{RMS}}_{\text{d}} )]}\) followed by root mean square of displacement (RMS_d) are the optimal IMs based on both efficiency and sufficiency; and for the second group, the only optimal IM is PGD²/RMS_d.     

Assessment of Relationship Between Grouted Values and Calculated Values in the Bazoft Dam Site

Seepage through foundation and abutments of a dam can potentially result in a waste of the water stored in dam reservoir, erosion of foundation materials, and development of uplift pressure in dam foundation which, consequently, threatens the long-term stability of the dam. In this study, the grout volume is estimated based on parameters such as joint aperture, the maximum penetration length of the grout, and calculated grout take in Bazoft dam site. Bazoft Dam is a hydroelectric supply and double-curvature arch dam with a height of 211 m located in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province of Iran. The bedrock of Bazoft dam site consists of Asemari Formation (limy marl and marly lime), in the middle and upper parts of left abutment, and Jahrom Formation (limestone and dolomite) in the right abutment, river bed, and lower part of left abutment. The joint apertures were calculated based on the permeability and the joint spacing. Next, the maximum penetration length of the grout and grout volume were calculated. Using a statistical analysis, the relationship of the joint aperture, maximum penetration length, and the calculated grout volume with real grout take was also investigated. The results show that the grout take can be predicted with appropriate accuracy based on the calculated grout volume.     

Aquifer vulnerability assessment using GIS and fuzzy system: a case study in Tehran–Karaj aquifer,Iran

Aquifer vulnerability assessment techniques have been developed to predict which areas are more likely than others to become contaminated as a result of activities at or near the land surface. This research focuses on the evaluation of groundwater vulnerability to pollution in an urban area. Among several assessment methods, DRASTIC has been selected for this study. ArcGIS has been used to overlay and calculate different layers and obtain the vulnerability map. In order to show the importance of fuzzy algorithms in classification, both Boolean and fuzzy algorithms were used and compared. The fuzzy algorithm could recognize the areas with low and negligible vulnerability potentials whereas the Boolean model classified them as moderate. Two sensitivity tests, the map removal sensitivity analyses and single-parameter sensitivity analysis, were performed to show the importance of each parameter in the index calculation.