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•A new rainwater harvesting suitability model is introduced.•The model differs from other because it flexibilizes weights of suitability attributes.•The model brings novelty because ...it considers site and project specific attributes.•The model is tested with an irrigation project located in a contaminated watershed.•Nitrosamines in the food chain may be hindered by irrigation with harvested rainwater.
This study introduces an improved rainwater harvesting (RWH) suitability model to help the implementation of agro-forestry projects (irrigation, wildfire combat) in catchments. The model combines a planning workflow to define suitability of catchments based on physical, socio-economic and ecologic variables, with an allocation workflow to constrain suitable RWH sites as function of project specific features (e.g., distance from rainfall collection to application area). The planning workflow comprises a Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA) implemented on a Geographic Information System (GIS), whereas the allocation workflow is based on a multiple-parameter ranking analysis. When compared to other similar models, improvement comes with the flexible weights of MCA and the entire allocation workflow. The method is tested in a contaminated watershed (the Ave River basin) located in Portugal. The pilot project encompasses the irrigation of a 400ha crop land that consumes 2.69Mm3 of water per year. The application of harvested water in the irrigation replaces the use of stream water with excessive anthropogenic nutrients that may raise nitrosamines in the food and accumulation in the food chain, with severe consequences to human health (cancer). The selected rainfall collection catchment is capable to harvest 12Mm3·yr−1 (≈ 4.5×the requirement) and is roughly 3km far from the application area assuring crop irrigation by gravity flow with modest transport costs. The RWH system is an 8-meter high that can be built in earth with reduced costs.
Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is used to support small-scale agriculture and handle seasonal water availability, especially in regions where populations are scattered or the costs to develop surface or ...groundwater resources are high. However, questions may arise as whether this technique can support larger-scale irrigation projects and in complement help the struggle against wildfires in agro-forested watersheds. The issue is relevant because harvested rainwater in catchments is usually accumulated in small-capacity reservoirs created by small-height dams. In this study, a RWH site allocation method was improved from a previous model, by introducing the dam wall height as evaluation parameter. The studied watershed (Sabor River basin) is mostly located in the Northeast of Portugal. This is a rural watershed where agriculture and forestry uses are dominant and where ecologically relevant regions (e.g., Montezinho natural park) need to be protected from wildfires. The study aimed at ranking 384 rainfall collection sub-catchments as regards installation of RWH sites for crop irrigation and forest fire combat. The height parameter was set to 3m because this value is a reference to detention basins that hold sustainability values (e.g., landscape integration, environmental protection), but the irrigation capacity under these settings was smaller than 10ha in 50% of cases, while continuous arable lands in the Sabor basin cover on average 222ha. Besides, the number of sub-catchments capable to irrigate the average arable land was solely 7. When the dam wall height increased to 6 and 12m, the irrigation capacity increased to 46 and 124 sub-catchments, respectively, meaning that more engineered dams may not always ensure all sustainability values but warrant much better storage. The limiting parameter was the dam wall height because 217 sub-catchments were found to drain enough water for irrigation and capable to store it if proper dam wall heights were used.
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•Improved rainwater harvesting suitability model is presented.•The harvested rainwater is to be used in irrigation or wildfire combat.•The model differs from others because it uses dam wall height as evaluation parameter.•The use of small height dam walls can greatly limit irrigable area.•More engineered dams are more suited for larger-scale agro-forestry uses.
The Paiva River is considered one of the least polluted rivers in Europe and its watershed has a high conservation value. However, the Paiva River basin suffers pressures related with recurrent ...disturbances in land use, such as forest fires, agricultural activities, urbanization and pressures that affect the natural hydromorphological conditions and the continuity of watercourses. Blue and Green Infrastructures (BGINs) emerge to improve biodiversity, sustainability and the supply of ecosystem services while improving socioeconomic aspects.
Thus, this article aims to identify priority areas in the basin, for intervention with these infrastructures. For that, a spatial multicriteria decision analysis (MDCA) was carried out according to several data related to the Paiva River Basin. As local politicians and responsible entities for the natural resources management are the main experts on the problems and their possible solutions at the local level, they were involved in this decision-making model. Therefore, these specialized stakeholders did the weighting assignment according to the most or least importance of the same for the work.
The map of priority locations to implement BGINs was obtained in the sequel. To the top 5 priority areas, stakeholders attributed the best solutions based on nature. The most recommended BGINs were recovery/maintenance of riparian vegetation and conservation and reforestation of the native forest, both presented in four of the five areas, and introduction of fuel management strips presented in three of the five areas. Thus, we concluded that it is extremely important to include the communities and the competent entities of nature and environment management in scientific projects related to conservation, forming a synergy that makes it possible to combine scientific knowledge with local experience acquired in the field. This project uses a very flexible methodology of local data and can be a great example to be implemented in other hydrographic basins anywhere in the world.
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•The implementation of blue and green infrastructure networks (BGINs) will improve ecosystem services.•Multicriteria decision analysis (GIS-MCDA) used to prioritize areas to implement the BGINs.•Considering stakeholder's active involvement encourages the selection of BGINs in the priority areas.•A participative approach is a powerful tool to improve ES and biodiversity conservation.
The longitudinal dimension of river connectivity has been significantly disrupted by barriers to compensate for water demand in the long periods of water scarcity in the Iberian Peninsula. The scale ...of this modification is widespread in the Portuguese part of Douro River network where, side to side with agriculture water demand, there is a constant increase in hydropower production. Thus, native species in Iberian freshwater systems, performing reproductive migrations along the rivers, are strongly affected by the amplification of fragmentation caused by the tremendous density of transversal obstacles in this river basin.
We aimed to prioritize dam removal in the Portuguese part of Douro River, mainly considering obsolete barriers (small dams, weirs) based on a spatial multicriteria decision analysis (GIS-MCDA) based on a prioritization procedure. A diversity of parameters were used to prioritize (rank) the dam's suitability for removal, considering the losses of connectivity and fish biodiversity, habitat degradation, negative effects on water quality and ecological conditions, and socio-economic factors. Different weights were assigned to the different attributes in each criterion according to their importance. The analysis also included a significant constraint: the potential spreading of exotic invasive fish species if connection was reestablished through dam removal.
This procedure started with the georeferencing of 1201 transversal obstacles that were further characterized for their relative permeability to fish migration. In conclusion the model used allowed to identify 158 priority barriers, as well as the 5 most fragmented tributaries, which means the most impacted by river regulation. In 8 cases the barriers were big dams (> 15 m), whereas in the remaining 150 were weirs. From a final rank of 20 most impacting structures, the MCDA results also identified two cases where potential removal could trigger the additional impact to native fish species related to the sprawl of alien populations.
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•Georeferencing of 1201 obstacles and their characterization for fish migration permeability•Multicriteria decision analysis (GIS-MCDA) used to prioritize the removal of barriers.•Potential of exotic fish species spreading through dam removal•The modeling allowed to identify 158 priority barriers, 8 big dams (>15 m) and 150 weirs.•In the final rank of 20 most impacting structures, two cases have the risk of alien fishes sprawl.
According to the Floods Directive (Directive 60/2007/EC), the management of floods represents an obligation of each EU member state to defend human lives as well as the economic well-being of ...societies, especially in areas defined as critical. The purpose of this study was to develop a flood attenuation model based on detention basins in the 23 critical flood risk zones of continental Portugal, capable to eliminate the high and very high flood risk areas instead of attempting to ensure full control of the flood in all potentially threatened areas. The model workflow comprised the sequential use of engineering formulae based on historical peak flows and a zoning algorithm embedded in a Geographic Information System. The formulas allowed to set up the volume of river water to retain in a detention basin during a flood, as well as the smallest catchment area (A) producing this volume. The results were divided into sustainable (h ≤ 8 m) or non-sustainable (h > 8 m) detention basins. Thus, these results indicated the possibility to install 27 sustainable and 75 non-sustainable detention basins in specific catchments within the critical zones contributing watersheds. The number of sustainable detention basins is reduced by about 30% when the full flood control model is used. Because the construction of non-sustainable (engineered) dams is extremely costly, the only possible way to mitigate flood risk in these critical zones would be to couple flood attenuation with hydroelectric use, or through the implementation of an extensive reforestation program in the catchment with the purpose to increase evapotranspiration and reduce runoff.
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•A detention basin allocation model is proposed to attenuate flood risk at the high and very high risk zones.•The model was successfully applied to 15 critical flood zones in mainland Portugal.•Flood risk in most zones can be attenuated using sustainable flood detention basins.•Non-structural measures might complement flood risk attenuation in some zones.•The proposed approach is more efficient than conventional total flood control models.
Water management decisions are complex ever since they are dependent on adopted politics, social objectives, environmental impacts, and economic determinants. To adequately address hydric resources ...issues, it is crucial to rely on scientific data and models guiding decision-makers. The present study brings a new methodology, consisting of a combined GIS-MCDA, to prioritize catchments that require environmental interventions to improve surface water quality. A Portuguese catchment, Ave River Basin, was selected to test this methodology due to the low water quality. First, it was calculated the contamination risk of each catchment, based on a GIS-MCDA using point source pressures, landscape metrics, and diffuse emissions as criteria. This analysis was compared to local data of ecological and chemical status through ANOVA and the Tukey test. The results showed the efficiency of the method since the contamination risk was lower for catchments under a good status and higher in catchments with a lower classification. In a second task, it was calculated the intervention complexity using a different GIS-MCDA. For this approach, it was chosen five criteria that condition environmental interventions, population density, slope, percentage of burned areas, Strahler order, and the number of effluent discharge sites. Both multicriteria methods were combined in a graphical analysis to rank the catchments intervention priority, subdividing the prioritization into four categories from 1st to 4th, giving a higher preference for catchments with high contamination risk and low intervention complexity. As a result, catchments with a good status were dominantly placed under low intervention priority, and catchments with a lower ecological status were classified as a high priority, 1st and 2nd. In total, 248 catchments were spatially ranked, which is an essential finding for decision-makers, that are willing to safeguard the catchment water quality.
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•The majority of Ave river basin surface waters are under low quality.•Contamination risk and intervention complexity were accessed by GIS-MCDA.•A “cost-benefit” decision analyses allowed ranking catchments for intervention.•The prioritization spanned 248 catchments.•Catchments under a good status were mostly ranked under low intervention priority.
Two experiments were conducted to study effects of dietary nitrate on enteric methane production, blood methemoglobin concentration, and growth rate in cattle. In Exp. 1, 36 Holstein steers (288 ± 25 ...kg BW) were fed increasing levels of dietary nitrate (6 levels; 0 to 3.0% of feed DM) in corn silage-based total mixed rations. Nitrate was introduced gradually in a 25-d adaptation period before methane production was determined in environmentally controlled rooms. In the rooms, feed intake was restricted and similar among all treatments. Methane production (g/d) decreased linearly as dietary nitrate concentration increased (P < 0.01). The apparent efficiency (measured methane reduction divided by potential methane reduction) with which enteric methane was mitigated was 49%. Blood methemoglobin levels increased with increasing nitrate dose. In Exp. 2, 300 Nelore bulls (392 ± 28 kg) were fed increasing levels of nitrate (6 levels; 0 to 2.4% of feed DM) in high-concentrate total mixed rations offered ad libitum. Feed intake decreased linearly with increasing level of dietary nitrate (P < 0.01). However, ADG was not affected by nitrate dose (P = 0.54), resulting in a linear improvement in G:F (P = 0.03) as dietary nitrate level increased. Carcass dressing percentage showed a quadratic response to incremental dietary nitrate, reaching the highest value at 0.96% of NO3/kg DM (P = 0.04).
Two experiments were conducted to study effects of dietary nitrate on enteric methane production, blood methemoglobin concentration, and growth rate in cattle. In Exp. 1, 36 Holstein steers (288 ± 25 ...kg BW) were fed increasing levels of dietary nitrate (6 levels; 0 to 3.0% of feed DM) in corn silage-based total mixed rations. Nitrate was introduced gradually in a 25-d adaptation period before methane production was determined in environmentally controlled rooms. In the rooms, feed intake was restricted and similar among all treatments. Methane production (g/d) decreased linearly as dietary nitrate concentration increased (P < 0.01). The apparent efficiency (measured methane reduction divided by potential methane reduction) with which enteric methane was mitigated was 49%. Blood methemoglobin levels increased with increasing nitrate dose. In Exp. 2, 300 Nelore bulls (392 ± 28 kg) were fed increasing levels of nitrate (6 levels; 0 to 2.4% of feed DM) in highconcentrate total mixed rations offered ad libitum. Feed intake decreased linearly with increasing level of dietary nitrate (P < 0.01). However, ADG was not affected by nitrate dose (P = 0.54), resulting in a linear improvement in G:F (P = 0.03) as dietary nitrate level increased. Carcass dressing percentage showed a quadratic response to incremental dietary nitrate, reaching the highest value at 0.96% of NOsub3/kg DM (P = 0.04).
The incidence of variable congenital malformation (CM) among 399 municipalities in the state of Paraná, southern Brazil, suggests the etiological role of environmental factors. This study examined a) ...environmental concentrations of chlorine anions (Cl−) associated with organochlorines (OCs) and b) associations between these chemicals and agricultural output with CMs using a geographical information system. In one of the three years during the sampling period (2008, 2009 or 2010) Cl−, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (p,p′-DDT), dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (p,p′-DDE), dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane (p,p′-DDD), and endosulfan levels were measured in 465 (465/736, 63%) catchment basins. Agricultural outputs for crops during 2006–2010 were also evaluated (t/km2). Further, CM kernel density for the 399 municipalities in Paraná during 2007–2014 was investigated. Cl− levels increased significantly in one of the three years (2008, 2009 or 2010) in western catchment basins, compared to 1996 (p < 0.0001). The municipalities were divided according to the obtained Cl− levels, where sub-region C2 (central–southern) < 1.8 mg/L ≤ sub-regions C1 (northern–western) and C3 (eastern–southern). We identified 8756 cases of CMs among 1,221,287 newborns (NB) in all sub-regions. C1 had higher DDT-DDE-DDD (p,p′-DDT + p,p′-DDE + p,p′-DDD) concentrations, agricultural output, and CM kernel density. C2 and C3 had minor agricultural outputs (per square kilometer) and CM densities. A 2.96 mg/L increase in Cl− between sub-regions C1 and C2 was co-localized with a 45% increase in CM density (spatial relative risk = 1.45, CI 95%: 1.36–1.55). C1 had the highest log likelihood ratios (p = 0.001) identified via SaTScan clustering analyses. Organochlorines and other toxic chlorinated chemicals may contribute to CMs in humans, and these chemicals are ultimately transformed and release Cl− in rivers. Higher Cl− levels were correlated significantly with higher agricultural productivity, DDT-DDE-DDD levels, and CMs in some parts of the northern and western sub-regions (C1).
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•Chemical pollution in rivers was demonstrated based on DDT and chloride (Cl−) levels.•Cl− correlated with DDT and crop productivity (CP) in a sub-region with intense CP•Cl− and agriculture were spatially autocorrelated with congenital malformations (CM).•A 2.96 mg/L increase in Cl− was associated with a 45% increase in CM kernel density.•Cl− levels may fit as a long-term marker of degraded Cl−-containing chemicals.
A two-photon fluorescent probe based on a ruthenium(II) vinyl complex is capable of selectively detecting carbon monoxide in cells and ex vivo using mice with a subcutaneous air pouch as a model for ...inflammation. This probe combines highly selective and sensitive ex vivo detection of endogenous CO in a realistic model with facile, inexpensive synthesis, and displays many advantages over the widely used palladium-based systems.
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