Water Footprint Assessment is a young research field that considers how freshwater use, scarcity, and pollution relate to consumption, production, and trade patterns. This book presents a wide range ...of studies within this new field. It is argued that collective and coordinated action—at different scale levels and along all stages of commodity supply chains—is necessary to bring about more sustainable, efficient, and equitable water use. The presented studies range from farm to catchment and country level, and show how different actors along the supply chain of final commodities can contribute to more sustainable water use in the chain.
This study was carried out to delineate the occurrence and spatial distribution of groundwater fluoride in a loess area of China and to determine the geochemical and anthropogenic factors that ...influence its concentration. Water quality was assessed for drinking purpose by comparing with the national and WHO drinking water guidelines, and the impacts of fluoride on human health were also quantified using the health risk assessment model recommended by the USEPA. The results demonstrate that groundwater in the study area is slightly alkaline in nature, and its quality is generally good except slightly excessive TDS, TH, Na
+
, F
−
, and nitrate at some local locations. High-fluoride groundwater is mainly distributed in the southeast part of the study area, which is in accordance with the groundwater flow direction in this area. Groundwater fluoride is mainly of natural origin and is dominantly controlled by natural factors such as pH, specific hydrochemical environment, ion exchange, and saturation state of minerals. Fluoride contributes the most to the total health risk in the present study. Children are at higher health risk than adults in this area. Establishing central water supply system and rainwater harvesting system are suggested to guarantee safe drinking water supply in this area.
The current study was carried out to delineate the seasonal hydrochemical characteristics and to quantify the suitability of groundwater for drinking and irrigation purposes in an alluvial plain ...adjacent to a paper wastewater irrigation zone, northwest China. Groundwater samples were collected from 14 groundwater monitoring wells in pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon seasons, respectively. Statistical analysis and Chadha diagram were used to delineate the groundwater hydrochemical characteristics. The matter element extension analysis (MEEA) model was proposed to quantify the overall groundwater quality. Irrigation water quality indicators were applied to assess the suitability of groundwater for irrigation purpose. The research results show that the hydrochemical facies for the majority of the groundwater samples is SO
4
·Cl–Na type with some minor hydrochemical facies of HCO
3
–Ca·Mg, HCO
3
–Na, and Cl·SO
4
–Ca·Mg types. The sequences of ions are Na
+
> Ca
2+
> Mg
2+
> K
+
for cations, and HCO
3
−
> Cl
−
> SO
4
2−
> CO
3
2−
for anions. The major ions and contaminants in the groundwater are controlled by multiple factors including hydrogeological conditions, rock weathering, water–rock interactions and human activities. The values of pH, TDS and TH show reduction in the monsoon season, indicating slight improvement of water quality during the monsoon season. Water quality assessment results based on MEEA show that the overall groundwater quality in the wastewater irrigation zone is generally fair to poor quality. Some groundwater samples are even classified as very poor quality, which is unsuitable for human consumption. They are also unsuitable for irrigation because of potential sodium hazard and salinity hazard. Groundwater from the Yellow River irrigation zone and the alluvial plain is generally suitable for domestic and irrigation uses. Some local water sampling locations may experience water quality improvement during the monsoon season, which, however, will generally not affect the final water quality classification for domestic and irrigation purposes. Interestingly, the study also finds that the variation trend of the correlation degree computed from MEEA can be useful in determining water quality improvement. This study may provide insights for people to make educated decisions in efficient groundwater quality protection and sustainable groundwater quality management.
Based on fieldwork among state officials, NGOs, politicians, and activists in Costa Rica and Brazil, A Future History of Water traces the unspectacular work necessary to make water access a human ...right and a human right something different from a commodity. Andrea Ballestero shows how these ephemeral distinctions are made through four technolegal devices—formula, index, list and pact. She argues that what is at stake in these devices is not the making of a distinct future but what counts as the future in the first place. A Future History of Water is an ethnographically rich and conceptually charged journey into ant-filled water meters, fantastical water taxonomies, promises captured on slips of paper, and statistical maneuvers that dissolve the human of human rights. Ultimately, Ballestero demonstrates what happens when instead of trying to fix its meaning, we make water’s changing form the precondition of our analyses.
The conservation of water resources in developed countries has become an increasing concern. In integrated water resource management, water quality indicators are critical. The low groundwater ...quality quantitates mainly attributed to the absence of protection systems for polluted streams that collect and recycle the untreated wastewater. Egypt has a limited river network; thus, the supply of water resources remains inadequate to satisfy domestic demand. In this regard, high-quality groundwater is one of the main strategies for saving water supplies with water shortage problems. This paper investigates the critical issues of groundwater protection and environmental management of polluted streams, leading to overcoming water demand-about 18 × 10
3
km of polluted open streams with a discharge of 9.70 billion Cubic Metter (BCM). We have proposed proposals and policies for the safe use of groundwater and reuse of wastewater recycling for agriculture and other purposes. This study was carried out using the numerical model MODFLOW and MT3DMS—(Mass Transport 3-Dimension Multi-Species) to assess the Wastewater Treated Plant's (WWTP) best location and the critical path for using different lining materials of polluted streams to avoid groundwater contamination. The three contaminants are BOD, COD, and TDS. Five scenarios were applied for mitigating the impact of polluted water: (1) abstraction forcing, (2) installing the WWTP at the outlet of the main basin drain with and without a lining of main and sub-basin streams (base case), (3) lining of main and sub-main streams, (4) installing WWTP at the outlet of the sub-basin streams, and (5) lining of the sub-basin and installing WWTP at the outlet of the sub-basin. The results showed that the best location of WWTP in polluted streams is developed at the outlets of sub-basin with the treatment of main basin water and the lining of sub-basins streams. The contamination was reduced by 76.07, 76.38, and 75.67% for BOD, COD, and TDS, respectively, using Cascade Aeration Biofilter or Trickling Filter, Enhancing Solar water Disinfection (CABFESD)/(CATFESD) and High-Density Polyethylene lining. This method is highly effective and safe for groundwater and surface water environmental protection. This study could be managing the water poverty for polluted streams and groundwater in the Global South and satisfy the environmental issues to improve water quality and reduce the treatment and health cost in these regions.
The time that water takes to travel through the terrestrial hydrological cycle and the critical zone is of great interest in Earth system sciences with broad implications for water quality and ...quantity. Most water age studies to date have focused on individual compartments (or subdisciplines) of the hydrological cycle such as the unsaturated or saturated zone, vegetation, atmosphere, or rivers. However, recent studies have shown that processes at the interfaces between the hydrological compartments (e.g., soil‐atmosphere or soil‐groundwater) govern the age distribution of the water fluxes between these compartments and thus can greatly affect water travel times. The broad variation from complete to nearly absent mixing of water at these interfaces affects the water ages in the compartments. This is especially the case for the highly heterogeneous critical zone between the top of the vegetation and the bottom of the groundwater storage. Here, we review a wide variety of studies about water ages in the critical zone and provide (1) an overview of new prospects and challenges in the use of hydrological tracers to study water ages, (2) a discussion of the limiting assumptions linked to our lack of process understanding and methodological transfer of water age estimations to individual disciplines or compartments, and (3) a vision for how to improve future interdisciplinary efforts to better understand the feedbacks between the atmosphere, vegetation, soil, groundwater, and surface water that control water ages in the critical zone.
Plain language Summary
Investigating how long it takes for a drop of rainwater until it is either evaporated back to the atmosphere, taken up by plants, or infiltrated into groundwater or discharged in streams provides new understanding of how water flows through the water cycle. Knowledge about the time water travels further helps assessing groundwater recharge, transport of contaminants, and weathering rates. Such water age studies typically focus either on water in individual compartments of the water cycle such as soils, groundwater, or stream runoff. But we argue that the interfaces between these compartments can have an influence on the water age. Here, we present methods how water ages can be estimated using tracers and hydrological models. We further discuss the “demographics of water” (water age distribution) in the critical zone that spans from the tree canopy to the bottom of the groundwater. Our review highlights how water flows and mixes between plants, soils, groundwater, and streams and how this interaction affects the water ages. This way, our work contributes toward a better understanding of vital resource water sustaining the life in the Earth's living skin.
Key Points
New tracer techniques now allow tracking water at high spatiotemporal resolution across the vastly varying water ages in the water cycle
Exchanges of water between hydrological compartments at key interfaces influence the water age distribution more than previously assumed
Variation from complete to nearly absent mixing of water at the interfaces in the critical zone affects the water ages in compartments
In semi-arid areas, many ecosystems and activities depend essentially on water availability. In Morocco, the increase of water demands combined to climate change induced decrease of precipitation put ...a lot of pressure on groundwater. This paper reports the results of updating and evaluation of groundwater datasets with regards to climate scenarios and institutional choices. The continuous imbalance between groundwater extraction and recharge caused a dramatic decline in groundwater levels (20 to 65 m in the past 30 years). Additionally, Morocco suffers from the degradation in groundwater quality due to seawater intrusion, nitrate pollution and natural salinity changes. Climate data analysis and scenarios predict that temperatures will increase by 2 to 4 °C and precipitation will decrease by 53% in all catchments over this century. Consequently, surface water availability will drastically decrease, which will lead to more extensive use of groundwater. Without appropriate measures, this situation will jeopardize water security in Morocco. In this paper, we zoom on the case the Souss-Massa basin, where management plans (artificial recharge, seawater desalination, and wastewater reuse) have been adopted to restore groundwater imbalance or, at least, mitigate the recorded deficits. These plans may save water for future generations and sustain crop production.
Water plays a critical role in securing the mine production and domestic consumption in mining areas. This research was carried out to assess the water quality status and to identify the ...hydrochemical processes contributing to the dissolved constituents of the water in the Guohua phosphorite mine, Guizhou Province, China. Multivariate statistical techniques and correlation analysis were employed to gain a better understanding of the hydrogeochemical processes, and water quality for domestic and irrigation purposes was also assessed. The results indicate that groundwater and surface water quality in the phosphorite mine area is currently excellent with low concentrations of major ions, salinity, and trace metals. Whereas,
E. coli
is excessive in groundwater and surface water, and treatment is required before the water is used for drinking purpose. Groundwater and surface water are, however, suitable for agricultural purposes. The major ions are Ca
2+
, Mg
2+
, and HCO
3
−
, and all water samples are predominantly of the HCO
3
–Ca·Mg type. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) indicates that the water chemistry in the mining area is regulated by natural processes that are controlled by the different geological formations and different hydrogeological settings. Carbonate dissolution/precipitation is the key factor controlling the concentrations of Ca
2+
, Mg
2+
, and HCO
3
–
. Pyrite oxidation is an important factor influencing the concentration of SO
4
2–
, whereas evaporation is a minor factor regulating the water chemistry in the mining area. The study results are beneficial for sustainable water quality management in the mining area, and they will also interest mine hydrogeologists and practitioners of the world as a reference for relevant studies in other regions.
This research was conducted to understand the seasonal characteristics of water quality for domestic purpose in Hancheng City of the Guanzhong plain, China. The health risks were also assessed using ...the water quality monitoring data collected from the Hancheng Center for Disease Control and Prevention. For this study, 48 samples were collected from the drinking water distribution system (chlorinated water and terminal tap water) in the dry and wet seasons, and were analyzed for pH, total hardness (TH), total dissolved solids (TDS), Cl
−
, SO
4
2−
, F
−
, NH
4
-N, NO
3
-N, Cr
6+
, As, Hg and Mn. The water quality was assessed using the entropy water quality index (EWQI) and the results show that above 80% of the water samples are of good quality which is suitable for drinking and other domestic purposes. The potential non-carcinogenic risks of Cr
6+
, As, F
−
, and NO
3
-N and carcinogenic risks of Cr
6+
and As to consumers were assessed by the model recommended by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). The non-carcinogenic health risks in the dry season are higher than the risks in the wet season for both adults and children. Water quality indicators considered in the risk assessment contribute with different degrees to the total non-carcinogenic risk during the dry and wet seasons. The order of the average non-carcinogenic risk values of the chlorinated water and terminal tap water in the dry season was F
−
> As > NO
3
-N > Cr
6+
, while that in the wet season was F
−
> NO
3
-N > Cr
6+
> As. People face higher carcinogenic risk in the wet season in terms of terminal tap water consumption, while they face higher carcinogenic risk in the dry season in terms of the chlorinated water. Children face almost twice higher the carcinogenic risks than the adults.
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