Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
3.6
3.6
Journals
Agriculture
Special Issues
Agricultural Watershed Hydrology, Water Quality Modeling and Water Management
share announcement

Agricultural Watershed Hydrology, Water Quality Modeling and Water Management

A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Agricultural Water Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 August 2023) | Viewed by 2457

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Soni M. Pradhanang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geosciences, University of Rhode Island, 315 Woodward Hall, 9 E. Alumni Avenue, Kingston, RI 02881, USA
Interests: hydrology; water quality; modeling; GIS; drones
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Effective mitigation of nonpoint and point source pollution is difficult because of the spatial and temporal variability of sources, pollutant fate, and transport pathways. Transport of nutrients and sediments from agricultural watersheds depends to a large extent upon the coincidence of sources such as soil type, crop, irrigation, management, and operation and transport factors such as runoff, erosion, and proximity to the water courses. The cost associated with preventing and/or mitigating the impacts of human activities on water bodies is ever-increasing. Large water authorities now use multiple barrier approaches to reduce and remove contaminants in upstream watersheds, reservoirs, and groundwater systems. Sound watershed management planning is based on quantitative estimates of the environmental impacts where changes in land use and climate are accounted for. The water quantity and quality in agricultural watersheds are essential environmental indicators that are sensitive to management, operation, and land-climate changes. In the past two decades, significant advances in computational modeling, tools, and technology have improved our understanding of hydrological processes and water quality transport at various scales. This resulted in better management of natural resources and targeted implementation of conservation practices through informed decision-making. 

This Special Issue calls for contributions from researchers working in different agricultural watershed hydrology, management, and modeling to (i) analyze the availability of methods and tools providing a better comprehension of agricultural watershed management (monitoring and modeling tools) and (ii) propose novel methods for the sustainable management of agricultural watershed resources. Papers focusing on critical issues (such as comprehensive reviews and discussions), as well as research and applied projects, are welcome.

Dr. Soni M. Pradhanang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agriculture is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • agricultural watershed management
  • watershed hydrology
  • watershed modeling
  • best management practices
  • irrigation

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

20 pages, 8697 KiB  
Article
Assessment of Climate Change Effects of Drought Conditions Using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool
by Christian Tulungen and Soni M. Pradhanang
Agriculture 2024, 14(2), 233; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture14020233 - 31 Jan 2024
Viewed by 827
Abstract
A combination of annual peak water demand due to seasonal population spikes along with small and shallow aquifers has prompted an assessment of the region’s watersheds as operating at a net water deficit. This study uses the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) [...] Read more.
A combination of annual peak water demand due to seasonal population spikes along with small and shallow aquifers has prompted an assessment of the region’s watersheds as operating at a net water deficit. This study uses the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to simulate historical drought conditions in the Chipuxet watershed in Rhode Island, USA. The calibrated and validated model uses the Soil Moisture Deficit Index (SMDI) and Evapotranspiration Deficit Index (ETDI) as well as an Indicators of Hydrological Alteration (IHA) calculation to determine the frequency and severity of historical droughts and to simulate climate change conditions developed through a downscaled climate model selection. The output data for the historical and climate change scenarios were analyzed for drought frequency and severity. Results indicate that water stress will increase in both low-emission (RCP4.5) and high-emission (RCP8.5) scenarios. Additionally, the SMDI and ETDI show that RCP8.5 climate scenarios will have more severe deficits. Finally, IHA data indicate that zero-flow days and low-flow durations increase under all climate scenarios. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agricultural Watershed Hydrology, Water Quality Modeling and Water Management)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 4978 KiB  
Article
Assessment of Intrinsic Vulnerability Using DRASTIC vs. Actual Nitrate Pollution: The Case of a Detrital Aquifer Impacted by Intensive Agriculture in Cádiz (Southern Spain)
by Sérgio Mateus Chilaule, Mercedes Vélez-Nicolás, Verónica Ruiz-Ortiz, Ángel Sánchez-Bellón and Santiago García-López
Agriculture 2023, 13(5), 1082; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13051082 - 18 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1080
Abstract
The degradation of groundwater quality due to nitrate is a widespread issue in heavily agricultural areas and a major concern for public health. Improving knowledge of the intrinsic vulnerability of aquifers with respect to the actual contamination is crucial for adequate water management [...] Read more.
The degradation of groundwater quality due to nitrate is a widespread issue in heavily agricultural areas and a major concern for public health. Improving knowledge of the intrinsic vulnerability of aquifers with respect to the actual contamination is crucial for adequate water management and for complying with the European directives aimed at protecting this valuable resource. In this study, we applied the well-established DRASTIC method to assess the intrinsic vulnerability of the Benalup aquifer, a detrital aquifer located in the southern Iberian Peninsula that supports important agricultural activity. The model was compared with in situ measurements of this ion, evidencing a lack of agreement between the most vulnerable zones and those that display higher nitrate concentrations. This fact should not be interpreted as an inadequacy in the vulnerability model, but as a result of several factors such as (i) the marked heterogeneity in land uses and the spatial variability in contaminant sources, (ii) the construction and exploitation characteristics of the water boreholes, (iii) the sampling procedure and depth to the water table, and (iv) transport and degradation processes within the porous medium. All these aspects can lead to discrepancies between the actual distribution of contamination and vulnerability models such as DRASTIC. All these factors should be carefully considered in the design of a sampling network in order to achieve a representative picture indicating the extent of contamination and the overall chemical quality of the system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agricultural Watershed Hydrology, Water Quality Modeling and Water Management)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-2
Back to TopTop