Sustainability of Water Quality and Ecology最新文献

Large amounts of radioactive cesium (Cs^A) have been introduced into the underground environments, through a natural process, as a result of nuclear power plant accidents. It is known that the active Cs sorption onto colloidal-size clay minerals in groundwater is observed and the active Cs can be transported with the colloidal fraction of groundwater by water flows. However, the longtime behavior of radioactive Cs, contained in the flowing groundwater in the aquifers of groundwater source areas, is unknown in terms of the natural water cycle. Herein, we investigate the Cs concentration in natural spring drinking water with the residence time in a groundwater source area of a mountainside composed of volcanic rock, compared with those of other trace elements. This investigation demonstrates that the observed Cs concentration in natural spring drinking water exponentially decreases slowly with the groundwater residence time (∼45 yr), while several trace elements, namely, P, V, Ga, and Ge, increase in concentration with the groundwater residence time through chemical weathering. The findings suggest that Cs^A, contained in flowing groundwater in mountain water source areas, may decrease exponentially at the rate of one-tenth in twenty-two years, by sorption onto the aquifer through rock–water interaction excluding radioactive decay. For the sustainable management of water sources and ecosystems, the long-term (∼50 yr) monitoring of the active Cs in groundwater is needed in mountain water source areas where radioactive cesium has been dispersed at times of nuclear power plant accidents.

This work proposes to consider the quality of roof-collected rainwater as the sum of three main stages. In the first one, rainfall washes out the urban atmosphere and scavenges contaminants from aerosols, gases and thin volatile particles. The second stage refers to the catchment, in which occurs contamination due to the wash-off of particles settled on the roof’s surface as well as the scavenging of roofing materials. The third stage refers to the first-flush, storage and plumbing system. In each stage, different processes take place and add specific contaminants to the initial precipitation. Only in the third stage, after the discard of the high-polluted initial rainwater, some physical processes (sedimentation and pH increase) can also improve the quality of the rainwater harvest. With this approach, it is offered a clear view of the overall contamination processes that take place in a rainwater harvesting system.

The most common microbiological and physicochemical contaminants that can be found in rainwater harvesting system were regarded, together with the eventual presence of waterborne pathogens and emerging chemical contaminants, according to an extensive review of 172 previous scientific and technical works.

This paper depicts opinions that condense the thinking of different sectors (i.e., academia, government, private sector, etc.) dealing in certain degree with the management of Ecuadorian water resources. Particularly, the manuscript echoes the main conclusions of a national Workshop that was held in Quito by mid 2014, about the sustainable use of water resources in Ecuador, with the purpose of proposing a research agenda adapted to the priority needs of governmental agencies. The paper discusses several key issues for the management of Ecuadorian water resources such as the urgent need for an active involvement of the national academy into the problem analysis/solving process for water management purposes, in a view of sustainable development, and as a way of warranting the effectiveness of the national policy for development oriented research that the current government is promoting. Herein, there is a need for complementing this policy by promoting a national system that foster communication between the water governmental institutions and the scientific community in terms of opportunities (financial and logistical) for scientific research in water resources and stakeholders engagement. Further, the paper stresses the urgent need of gathering and structuring all relevant knowledge/information/data into a unique repository for decision support that relies on auxiliary tools such as Geographical Information Systems (GIS), numerical modelling and associated uncertainty analyses, etc.; this in conjunction with the establishment and maintenance of a national monitoring network of water resources related environmental variables.

This paper briefly reviews challenges and shortcomings in implementation of the ecosystem service (ES) approach in water management and indicates possibilities to overcome these. This was the subject of a European workshop held in November 2014 in Oslo, Norway. Biophysical modeling of ES including trade-offs and off-site effects, consideration of different scales, quantification and valuation as well as involvements of stakeholders and communication with them were the main challenges identified. Recommendations included (1) the development of practical, usable guidance documents, (2) sharing of knowledge in ES assessment databases, (3) identification of means by which the “dominance” of monetary valuation can be overcome, (4) collection of evidence on if and how ES assessment results are used in decision making, and (5) a stronger involvement of stakeholders.

Water is of particular importance for cities. Many fast growing megacities are facing serious water-related problems including pollution, eutrophication, missing wastewater treatment and, perhaps most importantly, a severe scarcity of clean water. In the entire urban world, water resources are used in an inefficient way. But there is great potential: this opinion paper discusses ecosystem services provided by waters—hereafter referred to as blue urban ecosystem services—and respective links to green infrastructure and the services they provide for human wellbeing. The messages given illustrate avenues for future research that might help to develop nature-based solutions for water-related challenges in urban regions.

Although uncertainty exists in the specifics of climate change, sufficient consensus has emerged regarding the scale and direction of changes that it is important for managers to consider the implications of these changes for essential ecosystem services such as denitrification. For the northeastern United States, it is expected that by the end of the 21st century, annual precipitation will increase by 10% and annual temperatures by 3 °C. Because denitrification rates are highly influenced by soil moisture and soil temperature, we expect the projected changes in temperature and precipitation to alter the rates and patterns of denitrification. We developed three future weather scenarios based on the B1, A2, and A1F1 emission scenarios and utilized them as inputs to a coupled hydrologic-denitrification model to analyze the effects of changing temperature and soil moisture on denitrification rates, assuming nitrate availability remains unchanged. Our results suggest denitrification rates will increase by 5.1–11.8 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ across the watershed. The greatest projected increases are in the areas and seasons with the highest baseline rates, with smaller increases in those with lower baseline rates. We found that changing temperature is likely to be a much stronger driver of change to denitrification rates (7.7 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) than changing precipitation (1.4 kg N ha⁻ yr⁻¹). This study utilizes scenario modeling and a field validated model to quantify the future benefits of the ecosystem service denitrification, addressing a lack of ecosystem service quantification studies and providing a model for quantification studies.

Fertile river plains, like the study area of the river Drava alluvial plain in Slovenia, have ideal conditions for agricultural production. At the same time the question arises of how farming practices (food provisioning) on shallow alluvial soils affect the quality status of water bodies and clean fresh water provisioning. In the presented study, we used extensive monitoring and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to investigate the influence of different combinations of soil types and crop management on environmental processes (nitrogen (N) leaching and plant growth) at three study sites (Ptuj, Maribor and Dobrovce). The results show that 2/3 of leached N load from the Ptuj, Maribor and Dobrovce study sites can be expected in intervals of 51.3 ± 43.4 kg N ha⁻¹, 59.9 ± 27.5 kg N ha⁻¹ and 97.5 ± 51.8 kg N ha⁻¹ year⁻¹, respectively. The average maximum leached N load from the Ptuj, Maribor and Dobrovce fields can reach 109.1 kg TN ha⁻¹, 103.9 kg N ha⁻¹ and 194.4 kg N ha⁻¹ year⁻¹, respectively. The results indicate that it would be, for the purpose of balancing the effects of current practices on ecosystem services, necessary to arrange and design water protection zones (WPZ) according to individual soil type properties, and assign appropriate agricultural production technologies to them to minimise N leaching.

Environmental modelling combined with scenarios provides insights into drivers of change, potential implications of different trajectories, and options for action. So far, there has been no endeavor to assess the breadth of assumptions concerning drivers of ecosystem change on a global and European level as used in various scenario approaches. Our paper fills this gap by reviewing drivers of 27 global and European scenarios to provide an overview of extreme assumptions. Additionally, results can support quantification efforts of storylines to test environmental and ES models and to facilitate participatory scenario development to improve the usefulness of modelling approaches for stakeholders.