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Water Resources Systems Modeling and Management: Quantity and Quality

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Science and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 24062

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Bithin Datta

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Guest Editor

Discipline of Civil Engineering, College of Science & Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia
Interests: hydrology; groundwater contamination; water resources; artificial intelligence
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Mark H. Houck

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Guest Editor

Volgenau School of Engineering, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
Interests: water management and engineering; water and wastewater infrastructure security; environmental economics; mathematical modeling (optimization and simulation) of complex engineering systems; operations research; urban systems engineering

Special Issue Information

Realizing the sustainable beneficial use of water, as a renewable resource to meet demands while ensuring its quality, will be the most important and challenging issue confronting humans in most parts of the world. Efficient and economic management of surface and groundwater quality and quantity is essential to survival. The spatial and temporal availability of water in terms of space and time depends on the vagaries of nature as well as human interventions. The quality of water available is also dependent on natural processes as well as anthropogenic activities. In addition, the quality of water is affected by chemical and geochemical processes and interactions, sometimes too complex to model and predict.

Therefore, this Special Issue invites original contributions on all aspects of managing water resources in terms of quantity and quality, both at a regional and local scale. Topics may include but are not limited to the following: mathematical simulation and decision model development and validation, new experimental results improving the understanding and reliable prediction of complex chemical processes including reactive species, application of artificial intelligence tools in designing effective management strategies and monitoring networks, application of regional-scale management methodologies to polluted sites, e.g., complex mine sites, coastal aquifer management, unknown contaminant source characterization, management of water resources as an inventory, e.g., for a system of multipurpose reservoirs, incorporation and improvement of the prediction of meteorological droughts to improve long-term water management, water sensitive urban design, and case studies related to water and environmental management. However, applications emphasizing wide applicability and adaptability with generalized conclusions, rather than very limited and constrained applications are encouraged. All submitted manuscripts will go through a rigorous peer review process.

Dr. Bithin Datta
Prof. Mark H. Houck
Guest Editors

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. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 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 2500 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.

Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 3413 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Clogging and Water Quality Change Effects of Typical Metal Pollutants under Intermittent Managed Aquifer Recharge Using Urban Stormwater

by Siyao Ma, Yalin Song, Xueyan Ye, Xinqiang Du and Jingjia Ma

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(24), 13272; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182413272 - 16 Dec 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1477

Abstract

Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) using urban stormwater facilitates relieving water supply pressure, restoring the ecological environment, and developing sustainable water resources. However, compared to conventional water sources, such as river water and lake water, MAR using urban stormwater is a typically intermittent recharge mode. In order to study the clogging and water quality change effects of Fe, Zn, and Pb, the typical mental pollutants in urban stormwater, a series of intermittent MAR column experiments were performed. The results show that the type of pollutant, the particle size of the medium and the intermittent recharge mode have significant impacts on the pollutant retention and release, which has led to different clogging and water quality change effects. The metals that are easily retained in porous media have greater potential for clogging and less potential for groundwater pollution. The fine medium easily becomes clogged, but it is beneficial in preventing groundwater contamination. There is a higher risk of groundwater contamination for a shallow buried aquifer under intermittent MAR than continuous MAR, mainly because of the de-clogging effect of porous media during the intermittent period. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Resources Systems Modeling and Management: Quantity and Quality)

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23 pages, 5083 KiB

Open AccessArticle

GIS-Based Multi-Criteria Analysis Method for Assessment of Lake Ecosystems Degradation—Case Study in Romania

by Sorin Avram, Corina Cipu, Ana-Maria Corpade, Carmen Adriana Gheorghe, Nicolae Manta, Mihaita-Iulian Niculae, Ionuţ Silviu Pascu, Róbert Eugen Szép and Steliana Rodino

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(11), 5915; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18115915 - 31 May 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3020

Abstract

In general, the elaboration of the synthesis of water quality in Romania is based on the processing of a large volume of information coming from primary analytical data collected with a constant frequency by the organisms with a specific role in water quality monitoring. This study proposes a novel methodology for multi-criteria analysis aiming to evaluate the degradation state of lake ecosystems. The cornerstone of the newly presented methodology is a geographic information system (GIS) automated tool, involving the assessment of potential degradation sources affecting the watershed that supply the lakes with water. The methodology was tested by performing an analysis on 30 lakes in Romania. The lakes belong to different geographical areas, owing various natural specific conditions and were selected to fit to various types and specific local conditions. The calculation of the WRASTIC-HI (Wastewater–Recreation–Agriculture–Size–Transportation–Industry–Cover–Hazard Index) revealed that, out of 30 lake ecosystems selected as the case study, two lakes were fully degraded, 24 lakes were semi-degraded, and four were in a natural state. The four lakes characterised by a natural state are located in mountainous regions or in the Danube Delta. The results obtained on the selected lakes proved that the proposed index calculation corresponded in all case studies to the real field situation, highlighting thus the accuracy of the assessing process and increased advantages of the assessment’s automation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Resources Systems Modeling and Management: Quantity and Quality)

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42 pages, 4765 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Source Characterization of Multiple Reactive Species at an Abandoned Mine Site Using a Groundwater Numerical Simulation Model and Optimization Models

by Michael Saah Hayford and Bithin Datta

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(9), 4776; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18094776 - 29 Apr 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1853

Abstract

The most important first step in the management and remediation of contaminated groundwater aquifers is unknown contaminant source characterization. Often, the hydrogeological field data available for accurate source characterization are very sparse. In addition, hydrogeological and geochemical parameter estimates and field measurements are uncertain. Particularly in complex contaminated sites such as abandoned mine sites, the geochemical processes are very complex and identifying the sources of contamination in terms of location, magnitude, and duration, and determination of the pathways of pollution become very difficult. The reactive nature of the contaminant species makes the geochemical transport process very difficult to model and predict. Additionally, the source identification inverse problem is often non-unique and ill posed. This study is about developing and demonstrating a source characterization methodology for a complex contaminated aquifer with multiple reactive species. This study presents linked simulation optimization-based methodologies for characterization of unknown groundwater pollution source characteristics, i.e., location, magnitude and duration or timing. Optimization models are solved using an adaptive simulated annealing (ASA) optimization algorithm. The performance of the developed methodology is evaluated for different complex scenarios of groundwater pollution such as distributed mine waste dumps with reactive chemical species. The method is also applied to a real-life contaminated aquifer to demonstrate the potential applicability and optimal characterization results. The illustrative example site is a mine site in Northern Australia that is no longer active. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Resources Systems Modeling and Management: Quantity and Quality)

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19 pages, 3889 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Impact of Collaboration Network on Water Resource Governance Performance: Evidence from China’s Yangtze River Delta Region

by Hongtao Yi, Yan Yang and Chao Zhou

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(5), 2557; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18052557 - 04 Mar 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3021

Abstract

Existing studies rarely examine the relationship between network structure and network performance. To fill this research gap, this article collects inter-local collaboration network data from 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta region of China from 2009 to 2015. Based on the institutional collective action framework and social capital theory, we propose bridging and bonding hypotheses regarding the impact of network structures on governance performance. We employ social network analysis and panel data regression models to test the hypotheses. The results show that the coefficients for closeness centrality and clustering coefficient are statistically significant in this analysis, Wuxi played a central role in the collaboration network and the region had formed a close partner network, confirming the positive effect of bridging and bonding network social capital structures on network performance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Resources Systems Modeling and Management: Quantity and Quality)

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19 pages, 4336 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Allocation of Water Resources in the Midstream of Heihe River for the “97 Water Diversion Scheme” and the “Three Red Lines”

by Wenjie Geng, Xiaohui Jiang, Yuxin Lei, Jinyan Zhang and Huan Zhao

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(4), 1887; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041887 - 16 Feb 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1886

Abstract

Rapid economic and societal development increases resource consumption. Understanding how to balance the discrepancy between economic and social water use and ecological water use is an urgent problem to be solved, especially in arid areas. The Heihe River is the second-largest inland river in China, and this problem is notable. To ensure the downstream ecological water use, the “Water Distribution Plan for the Mainstream of the Heihe River” (97 Water Diversion Scheme) controls the discharge of Yingluo Gorge and Zhengyi Gorge, while the “Opinions of applying the strictest water resources control system” (Three Red Lines) restricts the water use. With the development of the economy and agriculture in the midstream, Zhengyi Gorge’s discharge cannot reach the Heihe River’s ecological water downstream. This paper is under the constraints of the “97 Water Diversion Scheme” of Heihe River and the “Three Red Lines” of the total water use control index for Zhangye County. We constructed a water resource allocation model for the midstream of Heihe River to reasonably allocate water resources in the Heihe River’s midstream and downstream. This model is divided into three parts: Establish the mathematical equation, simulate the water consumption under the different inflow conditions, and ensure each water user’s demand. The result showed that if we fail to confine total water consumption in the midstream, through the reasonable allocation of water resources, the real water use and water consumption of the middle Heihe River will be greater than the “97 Water Diversion Scheme” and the “Three Red Lines.” If we confine water consumption, they will be within the “97 Water Diversion Scheme” and the “Three Red Lines,” at the same time, they can reach the downstream of the Heihe River’s ecological water. Besides, under the premise of satisfying the economic water and ecological water downstream of the Heihe River, returning farmland to wasteland and strengthening water-saving measures will improve water efficiency and be more conducive to allocating water resources. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Resources Systems Modeling and Management: Quantity and Quality)

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18 pages, 2563 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Multi-Objective Optimal Allocation of Water Resources Based on the NSGA-2 Algorithm While Considering Intergenerational Equity: A Case Study of the Middle and Upper Reaches of Huaihe River Basin, China

by Jitao Zhang, Zengchuan Dong and Tian Chen

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(24), 9289; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17249289 - 11 Dec 2020

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 2386

Abstract

With the rapid development of society and the economy, the demand for water resources is increasing. This, combined with the increasing competition for water resources between current and future generations, hinders the sustainable development of society. To alleviate prominent water resources problems, achieve sustainable utilization of water resources and the sustainable development of society and economy, a multi-objective optimal water resources allocation model is proposed, in which different water sources and different water departments are considered to achieve the maximum social and economic benefits of the study area on the premise of water resources sustainability. To meet the needs of future generations, the discount value is introduced to measure intergenerational equity. A case study from seven cities in the upper and middle reaches of the Huaihe River Basin is given to verify the practicality and viability of the model. The non-dominated sorting Genetic Algorithms-2(NSGA-2) was used to find optimal water resources allocation schemes in 2020 and 2050 under the condition of a hydrological drought year (inflow guarantee rate p = 75%). Compared with previous models, the intergenerational equity model considers the sustainability of water resources, has higher social and economic benefits, and ensures the fair distribution of water resources among generations. According to the results, under balanced weight, the water shortage ratio of the seven cities will decrease from 5.24% in 2050 to 1.58% in 2020, and the economic benefit will increase from 79.46(10¹⁰CNY) to 168.3(10¹⁰CNY), respectively. In addition, the discount value of economic benefit in 2050 is 80.23(10¹⁰CNY), which is still higher than that in 2020. This shows that the water resource allocation scheme can eliminate the disparity between supply and demand for water resources and achieve intergenerational equity. Therefore, the intergenerational equity model can alleviate the contradiction of water resources and realize intergenerational equity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Resources Systems Modeling and Management: Quantity and Quality)

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14 pages, 725 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Water-Saving Society Policy on Water Consumption in the Cities of China: A Propensity Score Matching Analysis

by Yali Zhao and Min Li

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(21), 8171; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17218171 - 05 Nov 2020

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2328

Abstract

The increased demand for water resources due to urban population and economic growth has worsened the urban water crisis. In order to address this issue, a policy of “developing a water-saving society” (namely, water-saving society policy) has been implemented in some Chinese cities. This study takes 285 cities at the prefecture level and above as the sample and uses the propensity score matching (PSM) method to analyze the effect of China’s urban water-saving society policy on the reduction of water consumption per CNY 10,000 gross domestic product (GDP) from 2005 to 2017. The results show that the water-saving society policy significantly (p < 0.01) reduced water consumption in the study period; however, the effects differed between cities with different water resource endowments, economic development level, and urban scale. Specifically, there was a positive water consumption reduction effect in cities in humid areas, with low economic development, or of large scale, while the effect was limited in cities in arid areas, with high economic development, or of small scale. Therefore, for areas where water resource supply is insufficient, water-saving policy should be designed and implemented suiting local conditions, and it is also necessary to explore more water sources. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Resources Systems Modeling and Management: Quantity and Quality)

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29 pages, 14483 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Response of a Coastal Groundwater System to Natural and Anthropogenic Factors: Case Study on East Coast of Laizhou Bay, China

by Ya Sun, Shiguo Xu, Qin Wang, Suduan Hu, Guoshuai Qin and Huijuan Yu

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(14), 5204; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17145204 - 18 Jul 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2376

Abstract

With a shifting climate pattern and enhancement of human activities, coastal areas are exposed to threats of groundwater environmental issues. This work takes the eastern coast of Laizhou Bay as a research area to study the response of a coastal groundwater system to natural and human impacts with a combination of statistical, hydrogeochemical, and fuzzy classification methods. First, the groundwater level dynamics from 1980 to 2017 were analyzed. The average annual groundwater level dropped 13.16 m with a descent rate of 0.379 m/a. The main external environmental factors that affected the groundwater level were extracted, including natural factors (rainfall and temperature), as well as human activities (irrigated area, water-saving irrigated area, sown area of high-water-consumption crops, etc.). Back-propagation artificial neural network was used to model the response of groundwater level to the above driving factors, and sensitivity analysis was conducted to measure the extent of impact of these factors on groundwater level. The results verified that human factors including irrigated area and water-saving irrigated area were the most important influencing factors on groundwater level dynamics, followed by annual precipitation. Further, groundwater samples were collected over the study area to analyze the groundwater hydrogeochemical signatures. With the hydrochemical diagrams and ion ratios, the formation of groundwater, the sources of groundwater components, and the main hydrogeochemical processes controlling the groundwater evolution were discussed to understand the natural background of groundwater environment. The fuzzy C-means clustering method was adopted to classify the groundwater samples into four clusters based on their hydrochemical characteristics to reveal the spatial variation of groundwater quality in the research area. Each cluster was spatially continuous, and there were great differences in groundwater hydrochemical and pollution characteristics between different clusters. The natural and human factors resulted in this difference were discussed based on the natural background of the groundwater environment, and the types and intensity of human activity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Resources Systems Modeling and Management: Quantity and Quality)

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24 pages, 2343 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Regional Water Resources Security Evaluation Based on a Hybrid Fuzzy BWM-TOPSIS Method

by Yan Tu, Kai Chen, Huayi Wang and Zongmin Li

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(14), 4987; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17144987 - 10 Jul 2020

Cited by 26 | Viewed by 2827

Abstract

Nowadays, water resource security is becoming increasingly prominent, and this problem is a primary bottleneck restricting China’s future sustainable development. It is difficult to come to a unified conclusion on water resources security, and applications of highly feasible evaluation methods are lacking in practice. In this paper, a novel evaluation methodology is proposed for regional water resources security evaluation. First, water security is divided into two aspects: water quantity security and water quality security. The disposal rate of harmless household garbage, the excellent water resources proportion, and the functional water body loss proportion are creatively considered as indicators of water quality security in the evaluation system. In addition, a Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method is used to evaluate the water security levels in different regions. For distinguishing the importance of different indicators, a Best–Worst Method (BWM) is employed to calculate the indicator weights, as triangular fuzzy linguistic sets can more flexibly describe the preferences of decision makers (DMs) regarding the indicators; therefore, it is embedded in BWM to determine indicator weights. Moreover, the fuzzy BWM-TOPSIS method is applied to evaluate the water security levels of six regions in North China, a comparison analysis with the equal weight TOPSIS method as well as the fuzzy BWM-AHP method, and a sensitivity analysis for indicator weights are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of this proposed method. Finally, some suggestions based on the evaluation results are given for effective and rational utilization of water resources in North China. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Resources Systems Modeling and Management: Quantity and Quality)

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19 pages, 409 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Water Pricing Policy as Tool to Induce Efficiency in Water Resources Management

by Marcos García-López, Borja Montano and Joaquín Melgarejo

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(10), 3534; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17103534 - 18 May 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2023

Abstract

This research seeks to determine and analyze the reaction to an increase in the water invoice with the aim of introducing improvements in wastewater treatments. To this end, the purification situation is analyzed and the price elasticities of demand are obtained through Ordinary Minimum Squares. The results show that there are several small noncompliant treatment plants, as well as a complex interaction among consumption, price, and income. In many cases, the results offer small or significant differences without a clear pattern. However, it highlights the number of household members as it is strongly related to consumption and price and not considering it in the elaboration or modification of the water tariff would lead to inefficiencies. A reduction in revenue has also been found due to the strong consumer reaction, so it is necessary to assess in more depth what kind of price change would be most appropriate, as well as whether such measures would be best suited to address the problem. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Resources Systems Modeling and Management: Quantity and Quality)

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