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A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water Quality and Contamination".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 July 2023) | Viewed by 19199

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Roohollah Noori

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Guest Editor

School of Environment, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Interests: water quality modeling; water quality management; inland waters; hydroinformatics; lake and reservoir management

Dr. Rabin Bhattarai

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Guest Editor

Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
Interests: water quality; hydrology; soil erosion; sediment transport
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Soroush Abolfathi

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Guest Editor

Warwick Water Research Group, School of Engineering, The University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
Interests: pollution transport in the aquatic environment; climate change and flooding; nature-based solutions for sustainable water management; microplastics transport

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Anthropogenically driven input of pollution loads into inland waters during the Anthropocene has resulted in profound implications for the socioecological function of these waterbodies, including nutrient cycling, sediments, dissolved oxygen availability, recreational activities, primary production, socioeconomic benefits, navigation, and fishery production. At present, around 750 million tons of effluents and 350 million tons of industrial wastes are discharged into inland waters annually, leading to the loss of more than 30 percent of global biodiversity. Wastewater effluents are projected to grow due to increasing urbanization and industrial activities. Fertilizer use has been projected to double by 2050, leading to an increase of 180% and 150% in nitrogen and phosphorus effluents, respectively. In addition, the use of other chemical compounds and emerging pollutants such as microplastics is expected to increase, and consequently, novel contaminants can be a major concern in inland waters in future.

This situation can be exacerbated by climatic stressors and the changing climate, and more importantly under the status quo management of inland waters. Therefore, this Special Issue aims to highlight the recent cutting-edge findings which can help us with sustainable management of water quality across inland water bodies (both surface and ground waters) to mitigate the undesirable impacts of climate disturbances and, more importantly, human activities. The solutions presented are expected to protect natural and human-made inland waters and downstream built ecosystems at various geographical scales for the benefit of society. We are pleased to welcome research papers, technical notes, perspectives, and review papers that highlight novel achievements on issues that can improve the state of water quality, biodiversity and restoration of inland waters, and understanding of the key underlying processes which govern the behavior of pollution in aquatic domains.

Dr. Roohollah Noori
Dr. Rabin Bhattarai
Dr. Soroush Abolfathi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

water quality
climate change
inland waters
biodiversity
environmental assessment
water resources engineering
pollutant mixing

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 5696 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modeling the Effectiveness of Sustainable Agricultural Practices in Reducing Sediments and Nutrient Export from a River Basin

by José Pedro Ramião, Cláudia Carvalho-Santos, Rute Pinto and Cláudia Pascoal

Water 2022, 14(23), 3962; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14233962 - 5 Dec 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4078

Abstract

Water pollution from unsustainable agricultural practices is a global problem that undermines human health and economic development. Sustainable agricultural practices have been considered to maintain global food production without compromising water quality and ecosystem health. However, the effectiveness of sustainable agricultural practices in reducing sediments and nutrient export and the combination of practices that will best achieve water quality objectives is still under-explored. In this study, we assess the effectiveness of sustainable agricultural practices in reducing sediments and nutrients export to rivers and determine the combination of practices that would allow the highest reductions of sediments and nutrients, using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) in a Portuguese river basin highly affected by agricultural pollution. SWAT was calibrated and validated for river discharge, sediments, phosphorous, and nitrate loads at the outlet of the basin, with a good agreement between simulated and observed values. The effects of filter strips, fertilizer incorporation, and conservation tillage were analyzed considering both individual and combined effects. Our study shows that sustainable agricultural practices can substantially reduce sediments and nutrients export from a river basin, with the highest average combined depletion of sediments, phosphorus, and nitrate export (25%) achieved when fertilizer incorporation, conservation tillage, and filter strips were implemented simultaneously. Additional studies exploring the effect of sustainable agricultural practices across a range of climate and watershed characteristics, as well as their capacity to deal with challenges related to climate change, will further improve our understanding of the effectiveness of sustainable agricultural practices. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Quality Management of Inland Waters)

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22 pages, 5143 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Hydrodynamic Drivers of Nutrient and Phytoplankton Dynamics in a Subtropical Reservoir

by Mayra Ishikawa, Luziadne Gurski, Tobias Bleninger, Harald Rohr, Nils Wolf and Andreas Lorke

Water 2022, 14(10), 1544; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14101544 - 11 May 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2387

Abstract

Chlorophyll-a (chla) is an important parameter to assess water quality in lakes and reservoirs, since it is a proxy for phytoplankton biomass and primary production. The increasing availability of data with high spatial and temporal resolution allows assessing short-term dynamics and small-scale variations of chla within larger water bodies. In freshwater reservoirs, the nutrient concentrations and the physical conditions that control phytoplankton growth vary along their longitudinal extend. Here, we analyze how the flow paths of the inflowing river water into density-stratified reservoirs affect the vertical and longitudinal distribution of nutrients and chla. We combine spatially resolved and high-frequency measurements of chla from satellite remote sensing and in-situ sensors, with numerical simulations using a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model to assess the influence of density currents on chla dynamics along a subtropical drinking water reservoir in the south of Brazil. Chla did not have pronounced seasonal dynamics (4.9 ± 1.2 µg L⁻¹, at the continuous measurement station); instead, spatial variability along the reservoir was more pronounced (4.4 ± 2.1 µg L⁻¹, all monitored points within the euphotic zone). Most of the nutrients from the inflowing river were consumed in the upstream region, and phytoplankton in the lacustrine zone depended on internal loading. Temporal variability was observed only in the upstream region, and phytoplankton produced in that area was transported downstream by density currents, resulting in large concentrations of chla below the euphotic zone. The results of a hydrodynamic model that simulates the present state are in good agreement with the observations. Two simulated scenarios, where the density current patterns were altered, resulted only in slight variations in density currents, indicating that the influence of the main inflow was of minor relevance in chla concentrations in downstream regions of the reservoir. Our results highlight the importance of two-dimensional hydrodynamic processes in regulating phytoplankton dynamics in reservoirs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Quality Management of Inland Waters)

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18 pages, 2574 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Longitudinal Chemical Gradients and the Functional Responses of Nutrients, Organic Matter, and Other Parameters to the Land Use Pattern and Monsoon Intensity

by Md Mamun, Ji Yoon Kim, Jeong-Eun Kim and Kwang-Guk An

Water 2022, 14(2), 237; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14020237 - 14 Jan 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3051

Abstract

River water quality degradation is one of the hottest environmental issues worldwide. Therefore, monitoring water quality longitudinally and temporally is crucial for effective water management and contamination control. The main aim of this study was to assess the longitudinal variations in water quality in the mainstream of the Han River, Korea, from 2015 to 2019. The trophic state classification (TSC), microbial pollution indicator (MPI), and river pollution index (RPI) were calculated to characterize river water quality and revealed more serious pollution toward the downstream zone (Dz) due to agricultural and urban-dominated areas. The biodegradability index (BI) indicated that non-biodegradable organic pollutants are increasing in the water body from the urban and animal wastewater treatment plants. Nutrients, organic matter contents, total suspended solids, ionic factors, and algal chlorophyll were higher in the Dz than in any other zones and were markedly influenced by the summer monsoon. Empirical analysis showed that nutrients and organic matter had positive linear functional relations with agricultural and urban coverage and negative linear relations with forest coverage. The pollutant-transport function suggested that suspended solids act as TP and TN carriers. Regression analysis indicated that TP (R² = 0.47) has more positive functional relations with algal growth than TN (R² = 0.22). Our findings suggest that a combination of empirical models and pollution indices might be utilized to assess river water quality and that the resulting information could aid policymakers in managing the Han River. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Quality Management of Inland Waters)

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20 pages, 7081 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Prediction of Nitrate and Phosphorus Concentrations Using Machine Learning Algorithms in Watersheds with Different Landuse

by Aayush Bhattarai, Sandeep Dhakal, Yogesh Gautam and Rabin Bhattarai

Water 2021, 13(21), 3096; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13213096 - 3 Nov 2021

Cited by 22 | Viewed by 4017

Abstract

Rapid industrialization and population growth have elevated the concerns over water quality. Excessive nitrates and phosphates in the water system have an adverse effect on the aquatic ecosystem. In recent years, machine learning (ML) algorithms have been extensively employed to estimate water quality over traditional methods. In this study, the performance of nine different ML algorithms is evaluated to predict nitrate and phosphorus concentration for five different watersheds with different land-use practices. The land-use distribution affects the model performance for all methods. In urban watersheds, the regular and predictable nature of nitrate concentration from wastewater treatment plants results in more accurate estimates. For the nitrate prediction, ANN outperforms other ML models for the urban and agricultural watersheds, while RT-BO performs well for the forested Grand watershed. For the total phosphorus prediction, ensemble-BO and M-SVM outperform other ML models for the agricultural and forested watershed, while the ANN performs better than other ML models for the urban Cuyahoga watershed. In predicting phosphorus concentration, the model predictability is better for agricultural and forested watersheds. Regarding consistency, Bayesian optimized RT, ensemble, and GPR consistently yielded good performance for all watersheds. The methodology and results outlined in this study will assist policymakers in accurately predicting nitrate and phosphorus concentration which will be instrumental in drafting a proper plan to deal with the problem of water pollution. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Quality Management of Inland Waters)

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15 pages, 18832 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Hyper-Nutrient Enrichment Status in the Sabalan Lake, Iran

by Roohollah Noori, Elmira Ansari, Yong-Wook Jeong, Saber Aradpour, Mohsen Maghrebi, Majid Hosseinzadeh and Sayed M. Bateni

Water 2021, 13(20), 2874; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13202874 - 14 Oct 2021

Cited by 25 | Viewed by 3918

Abstract

Lakes/reservoirs are rapidly deteriorating from cultural eutrophication due to anthropogenic factors. In this study, we aimed to (1) explore nutrient levels in the Sabalan dam reservoir (SDR) of northwest Iran, (2) determine the reservoir water fertility using the total phosphorus (TP) based and total nitrogen (TN) based Carlson trophic state indices, and (3) specify primary limiting factors for the reservoir eutrophication. Our field observations showed a state of hyper-nutrient enrichment in the SDR. The highest variation of TN in the reservoir water column happened when the reservoir was severely stratified (in August) while the highest variation of TP took place when the thermocline was attenuated with the deepening of the epilimnion (in October). Both TP and TN based trophic indicators classified the SDR as a hypereutrophic lake. TN:TP molar ratio averaged at the epilimnion indicated a P–deficiency in the reservoir during warm months whilst it suggested a co–deficiency of P and N in cold months. Given the hyper-nutrient enrichment state in the reservoir, other drivers such as water residence time (WRT) can also act as the main contributor of eutrophication in the SDR. We found that WRT in the SDR varied from hundreds to thousands of days, which was much longer than that of other reservoirs/lakes with the same and even much greater storage capacity. Therefore, both hyper-nutrient enrichment and WRT mainly controlled eutrophication in the reservoir. Given time consuming and expensive management practices for reducing nutrients in the watershed, changes in the SDR operation are suggested to somewhat recover its hypereutrophic state in the short-term. However, strategic long-term recovery plans are required to reduce the transition of nutrients from the watershed to the SDR. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Quality Management of Inland Waters)

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