In many parts of the world, groundwater is considered to be a key source of fresh water for both the domestic and non-domestic sectors. Where groundwater extraction is implemented, systems to monitor ...water quality must ensure a safe and sustainable supply. Over the years, Iraq has suffered from surface water quality and supply problems, necessitating groundwater extraction in many regions. This study investigates groundwater quality in a region of central Iraq around Babylon city, covering an area of 5119 km
2
. The data gathered for this study included maps, well locations and water quality data and was sourced from the relevant governmental departments. A base map of the focussed region was initially prepared following data collection. The analysed water quality parameters were used as an attribute database to produce thematic maps using a geographical information system (GIS) environment. In this paper, the water quality index (WQI) and the irrigation water quality index (IWQI) were calculated for different groundwater samples using various parameters including the Electrical Conductivity (EC), Cl
−
, HCO3
−
, Na
+
and pH. Moreover, the groundwater suitability for irrigation purposes has been assessed using indices such as Kelly’s ratio (KR), sodium absorption ratio (SAR), residual sodium carbonate (RSC), soluble sodium percentage (SSP) and permeability index (PI). Water quality index maps have been developed using the GIS environment. The obtained results reveal that the groundwater in the study location requires specific treatments to be usable.
The deterioration of water quality has become a primary environmental concern worldwide. Understanding the status of water quality and identifying the influencing factors are important for water ...resources management. However, reported analyses have mostly been conducted in small and focused areas. It is still unclear if factors driving spatial variation in water quality would be different in extended spatial scales. In this paper, we analyzed spatial pattern of inland surface water quality in China using a dataset with four water quality parameters (i.e., pH, DO, NH4+-N and CODMn) and the water quality level. We tested the effects of anthropogenic (i.e., land use and socio-economic) and natural (i.e., climatic and topographic) factors on spatial variation in water quality. The study concluded that the overall inland surface water quality in China was at level III (fair). Water quality level was strongly correlated with CODMn and NH4+-N concentration. In contrast to reported studies that suggested land use patterns were the determinants of inland surface water quality, this study revealed that both anthropogenic and natural factors played important roles in explaining spatial variation of inland surface water quality in China. Among the tested explanatory variables, mean elevation within watershed appeared as the best predictor for pH, while annual precipitation and mean air temperature were the most important explanatory variables for CODMn and DO, respectively. NH4+-N concentration and water quality level were most strongly correlated with the percent of forest cover in watershed. Compared to studies at smaller spatial scales, this study found different influencing factors of surface water quality, suggesting that factors may play different roles at different spatial scales of consideration. Therefore management policies and measures in water quality control must be established and implemented accordingly. Since currently adopted parameters for monitoring of inland surface water quality in China are largely influenced by natural variables, additional physicochemical and biological indicators are needed for a robust assessment of human impacts on water quality.
Elevated nitrate concentration in groundwater is a worldwide problem. Continuous exposure to high levels of nitrate in groundwater may cause adverse health effects among residents who use groundwater ...for consumption. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify the nitrate distribution and its potential health risk assessment from semi-arid region of Peddavagu in Central Telangana (PCT), South India. Groundwater samples were collected from thirty five locations and analyzed for nitrate and other water quality parameters. Nitrate (NO
3
-
) in groundwater was observed to vary from 17 to 120 mg/L, with a mean of 58.74 mg/L. About 57% of samples exceeded the maximum acceptable limit of Indian drinking water standard. About, 40% of groundwater samples drinking water quality index (DWQI) is good, while 60% of groundwater falls in poor quality for drinking purposes. Health risk maps were created based on hazard quotient to quantify the potential health risk of the residents using US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) health risk assessment model. Health risk assessment revealed that mean total hazard index (HI
total
) for men, women, and children were found as 1.42E + 00, 1.67E + 00, and 1.95E + 00, respectively. Results exhibited that children are at high health risk than men and women in the PCT. Further, the human exposure to the NO
3
-
contaminated water was above the critical limit of non-carcinogenic risk.
Addressing ecologists, legislators, lawyers, and industrialists alike, Ruth Patrick asks what has been accomplished with the millions of dollars spent on upgrading our surface waters. Has the water ...improved in spite of the fact that the crayfish, snails, and algae are not those that one would expect to find in natural rivers and estuaries? To evaluate the success of environmental laws over the past two decades, the author examines the aquatic life of river systems in the Delaware Valley, Texas, and Georgia--the only areas in the United States where she found enough biological data to determine trends over time. Although tracing the impact of environmental laws is difficult, Patrick found that for these three water systems the results were generally positive. However, if society as a whole wants effective environmental legislation, organizations must take on a more systematic and orderly approach to data gathering. Patrick argues that in monitoring the waters, one must study protozoa, algae, and worms as well as fish, oysters, and shrimp; one must track amounts of metal as well as low concentrations of oxygen. In proposing options for the future, the author predicts that the cost of such monitoring will be higher than present expenditures, but the cost of lax control will be even greater.
Originally published in 1992.
ThePrinceton Legacy Libraryuses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
This study was aimed at assessing the spatial and temporal distribution of surface water quality variables of the Xin'anjiang River (Huangshan). For this purpose, 960 water samples were collected ...monthly along the Xin'anjiang River from 2008 to 2017. Twenty-four water quality indicators, according to the environmental quality standards for surface water (GB 3838-2002), were detected to evaluate the water quality of the Xin'anjiang River over the past 10 years. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to comprehensively evaluate the water quality across eight monitoring stations and analyze the sources of water pollution. The results showed that all samples could be analyzed by three main components, which accounted for 87.24% of the total variance. PCA technology identified important water quality parameters and revealed that nutrient pollution and organic pollution are major latent factors which influence the water quality of Xin'anjiang River. It also showed that agricultural activities, erosion, domestic, and industrial discharges are fundamental causes of water pollution in the study area. It is of great significance for water quality safety management and pollution control of the Xin'anjiang River. Meanwhile, the inverse distance weighted (IDW) method was used to interpolate the PCA comprehensive score. Based on this, the temporal and spatial structure and changing characteristics of water quality in the Xin'anjiang River were analyzed. We found that the overall water quality of Xin'anjiang River (Huangshan) was stable from 2008 to 2017, but the pollution of the Pukou sampling point was of great concern. The results of IDW helped us to identify key areas requiring control in the Xin'anjiang River, which pointed the way for further delicacy management of the river. This study proved that the combination of PCA and IDW interpolation is an effective tool for determining surface water quality. It was of great significance for the control of water pollution in Xin'anjiang River and the reduction of eutrophication pressure in Thousand Island Lake.
Surface water is heavily exposed to contamination as this is the ubiquitous source for most of the water needs. This situation is exaggerated by the excessive population, heavy industrialization, ...rapid urbanization, and improper sanitation. Comprehensive measurement and knowledge extraction of surface water quality is therefore pivotal for ensuring safe and hygienic water use. Consequently, surface water quality profiling has received remarkable academic attention in recent decades that produces an ample amount of research results. This study, therefore, conducts a comprehensive systematic literature review to summarize and structure the existing literature and to identify current research trends and hotspots. Reported results suggest that the terrain of fresh surface water includes 13 distinct water sources that are predominantly used in 5 sectors. These sectors often cause the water pollution in the form of industrial effluents, agricultural runoffs, and domestic sewage. For profiling the water quality, around 23 Water Quality Index (WQI) models, and 10 Pollution Index (PI) models are used in research. These models often use several water quality parameters. This study reports an exhaustive taxonomy of 69 prominent quality parameters in three categories which will support their adoption for these models. Finally, the limitations of the current manual water quality measurement approaches are summarized to propose a set of seven requirements for the tech-intensive water quality profiling research and system development.
•Surface water is heavily exposed to contamination and pollution.•Comprehensive measurement and monitoring surface water quality are pivotal for ensuring safe and hygienic water use.•A review is needed to draw a holistic landscape of surface water, its usage pattern and source of pollution.
Nowadays, water pollution has become a global issue affecting most countries in the world. Water quality should be monitored to alert authorities on water pollution, so that action can be taken ...quickly. The objective of the review is to study various conventional and modern methods of monitoring water quality to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the methods. The methods include the Internet of Things (IoT), virtual sensing, cyber-physical system (CPS), and optical techniques. In this review, water quality monitoring systems and process control in several countries, such as New Zealand, China, Serbia, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and India, are discussed. Conventional and modern methods are compared in terms of parameters, complexity, and reliability. Recent methods of water quality monitoring techniques are also reviewed to study any loopholes in modern methods. We found that CPS is suitable for monitoring water quality due to a good combination of physical and computational algorithms. Its embedded sensors, processors, and actuators can be designed to detect and interact with environments. We believe that conventional methods are costly and complex, whereas modern methods are also expensive but simpler with real-time detection. Traditional approaches are more time-consuming and expensive due to the high maintenance of laboratory facilities, involve chemical materials, and are inefficient for on-site monitoring applications. Apart from that, previous monitoring methods have issues in achieving a reliable measurement of water quality parameters in real time. There are still limitations in instruments for detecting pollutants and producing valuable information on water quality. Thus, the review is important in order to compare previous methods and to improve current water quality assessments in terms of reliability and cost-effectiveness.
The relative response of seven different Water Quality Indices (WQIs) was comparatively tested in an artificial Mediterranean lake, with the ultimate goal of the study to function as a first step in ...investigating the applicability of the examined WQIs in Mediterranean lacustrine water bodies. The following WQIs were examined: Prati's Index of Pollution, Bhargava's Index, Oregon WQI, Dinius' Second Index, Weighted Arithmetic Index, Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) WQI and National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) WQI, using physicochemical parameters measured in an artificial lake on a monthly basis from June 2004 to May 2005. The results showed that, on the basis of their comparative response, the examined indices are grouped in three categories. Specifically, NSF and Bhargava indices classified the examined water body in higher quality classes, Prati's and Dinius in medium, whereas CCME and Oregon categorized it in lower quality classes. WQIs were proved to be extremely useful in water quality evaluation. Most of them were found to be adequate to represent water quality conditions and trends in a lacustrine water body in the Mediterranean and, therefore, they present high potential to be adopted at European Union level and assist in Water Framework Directive (WFD) implementation.
Traditional urban drainage degrades receiving waters. Alternative approaches have potential to protect downstream waters, but widespread adoption requires robust demonstration of their feasibility ...and effectiveness. We conducted a catchment‐scale experiment over 19 years to assess the effect of dispersed stormwater control measures (SCMs), measured as a reduction in effective imperviousness (EI) on stream water quality in six sites on two streams. We compared changes in those sites over 7 years as EI decreased, to changes in the 12 preceding years, and in three reference and two control streams. SCMs reduced phosphorus concentrations and summer temperature to reference levels in dry weather where EI was sufficiently reduced, but effects were smaller with increased antecedent rain. SCMs also reduced nitrogen concentrations which were influenced by septic tank seepage in all sites. SCMs had no effect on suspended solids concentrations, which were lower in urban than in reference streams. SCMs increased electrical conductivity: along with reduced temperature this is evidence of increased contribution of groundwater to baseflows. This experiment strengthens inference that urban stormwater drainage increases contaminant concentrations in streams, and demonstrates that such impacts are reversible and likely preventable. Variation in degree of water quality improvement among experimental sites suggests that achieving reference water quality would require SCMs with large retention capacity intercepting runoff from nearly all impervious surfaces, thus requiring more downslope space and water demand. EI is a useful metric for predicting stream water quality responses to SCMs, allowing better catchment prioritization and SCM design standards for stream protection.
Plain Language Summary
The way we drain our cities and towns pollutes and erodes our streams and rivers. Water running off, and heated by, roofs and roads carries damaging particles and chemicals. The stormwater drains and pipes that we build transport the polluted runoff, quickly and untreated, to downstream waters. To test if creek water quality downstream of stormwater drainage can be restored, we conducted an experiment. 100s of rain‐gardens that allow water to soak into surrounding soils and be taken up by plants, and rainwater tanks for harvesting, were installed in two suburban catchments. We compared before and after conditions in creeks downstream of the treatments, with conditions in other degraded urban streams, and in undegraded forested streams. Filtering and harvesting stormwater reduced summer temperatures and reduced concentrations of phosphorus and nitrogen, critical contaminants for healthy streams. The reductions were greatest in dry weather, and after small amounts of rain. To achieve water quality similar to forested streams, we need rain‐gardens and harvesting systems that catch runoff from nearly every roof and road upstream. Achieving that will require reserving space near pipe outlets to streams for final treatment systems, and finding ways to use the excess water generated by roofs and roads.
Key Points
A long‐term catchment‐scale experiment strengthens inference that urban stormwater drainage increases stream contaminant concentrations
Extensive use of dispersed stormwater control measures can reverse stormwater‐induced degradation of stream water quality
Achieving reference stream water quality requires retention, treatment and loss of runoff from nearly all catchment impervious surfaces, with high performance standards
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