Ecosystems and water resources regulation

With the development of digital information technology, the requirements for information technology in the management of the Yellow River are gradually increasing, and the application of information technology in the various operations of the Yellow River system is becoming more and more extensive. This paper firstly attempts to conduct an integrated study of the Yellow River water resources management system, integrating various business systems for water resources management and realizing the sharing of resources and information. Secondly, through numerical simulation, a numerical prediction model of water resources based on coupled atmosphere-hydrology-sediment environment and a numerical simulation system of hydrology-sediment is constructed to optimize the system of integrated water resources information and management of the Yellow River basin. Finally, the system is applied to the Yellow River basin, and its rationality is tested. The results show that in the dynamic water resources deployment experiment, the water resources utilization efficiency is 87.0%, which is 8.8% more efficient compared to the water resources system deployment before optimization, and the joint probability constraint and water resources utilization efficiency in the case are 0.01 and 79.6% respectively. In this paper, the system optimization of the integrated water resources management system of the Yellow River based on numerical simulation has improved the accuracy and real-time performance of water resources management, as well as the efficiency of water resources utilization, completing the integration and optimization of the integrated water resources management system of the Yellow River.

Abstract. One of the innovative objectives in the EC project BRAHMATWINN was the development of a stakeholder oriented Integrated Water Resources Management System (IWRMS). The toolset integrates the findings of the project and presents it in a user friendly way for decision support in sustainable integrated water resources management (IWRM) in river basins. IWRMS is a framework, which integrates different types of basin information and which supports the development of IWRM options for climate change mitigation. It is based on the River Basin Information System (RBIS) data models and delivers a graphical user interface for stakeholders. A special interface was developed for the integration of the enhanced DANUBIA model input and the NetSyMod model with its Mulino decision support system (mulino mDss) component. The web based IWRMS contains and combines different types of data and methods to provide river basin data and information for decision support. IWRMS is based on a three tier software framework which uses (i) html/javascript at the client tier, (ii) PHP programming language to realize the application tier, and (iii) a postgresql/postgis database tier to manage and storage all data, except the DANUBIA modelling raw data, which are file based and registered in the database tier. All three tiers can reside on one or different computers and are adapted to the local hardware infrastructure. IWRMS as well as RBIS are based on Open Source Software (OSS) components and flexible and time saving access to that database is guaranteed by web-based interfaces for data visualization and retrieval. The IWRMS is accessible via the BRAHMATWINN homepage: http://www.brahmatwinn.uni-jena.de and a user manual for the RBIS is available for download as well.

The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Constitution confines the power of regional states over water to administration of watercourse that flows within their respective territories. Various proclamations introduce an integrated approach to water resources management through the application of proper and integrated master planning. To this end, a new institutional framework is established through the creation of Basins’ Development Authority at national level. The previously established Basin High Councils and Authorities were implementing integrated water management within their respective basins and the powers and obligations of the basin based high councils and authorities are transferred to the newly established National Basin High Council and Basins Development Authority. Some adjustments are necessary due to federalism and issues related to the constitutional framework of water resources that have been overlooked. When the Water Resources Management Proclamation and other water laws are read together with the various provisions of the FRDE Constitution, they lack clarity save the power of the federal government to enact framework legislation over water resources within states’ territories. Works undertaken by the federal profit-oriented public enterprises transforming water into an economic good on the lands that are administered by the regional states is an area of on-going controversy. I argue that regional states should claim their constitutional right to levy and collect land use fee from profit making federal public enterprises that are engaged in transforming water into economic good within the framework of integrated water resources management system. Key terms Water · Water resources · Federalism · Water law · Integrated water resources management · Ethiopia

There is a global crisis looming over the world pertaining to the supply of fresh water which draws upon itself the need for developing a system that could cater to it. The developed system needs to be smart enough with use of machine learning so as detect excessive or normal water flow through a pipe, the data must always be end to end encrypted so as to ensure confidentiality and security to the water usage pattern, it must be able to be deployed in a large scale across a state or country for instance wherein each water pipeline must be connected in the network so as to maintain the water resource at large. This would make enough data flow in the connected network that would require for a computational intensive Cloud platform and yet have intelligence or distributed computing facilities in-built in the network to develop and deploy an integrated water resource management system. The basic construct of our design does abide by the aforementioned constraints and does allow for a large scale commercial deployment. There is a scarcity of such an integrated water resource management system in our country as well as abroad and our paper does bring to light an intelligent, low powered and commercial deployable device that could well fill up the void through an array of technologies in the system design which fundamentally lies on an Internet of Things framework.

The Yampa River basin, Colorado and Wyoming : a preview to expanded coal-resource development and its impacts on regional water resources

The sense of the principle of basin management of water resources is disclosed in the article. The experience of European countries in this area and the prospects of its implementation in Ukraine are analyzed. The principles of integrated water resources management are characterized. The components of the river basin management plan as the main planning document for implementation of the program of measures for the sustainable management of water resources within the river basin for the long-term period are indicated. The structural scheme of integrated water resources management is proposed and its components are described. Conclusions are made on the necessity of implementing the integrated water resources management system based on the basin principle

Assessment of the state and rationality of the operation of the water management complex (WMC) of the Poltava region is an extremely relevant study of the present, since the WMC was created in the 60s-70s of the last century and actively provides the sectors of the economy and the population with water resources. The study aim is to assess the water resource potential as the basis for the functioning of the water-chemical complex, to determine the levels of technogenic impact on the water resource potential. A review of the sources was carried out using the Google Scholar database by filtering for the period from 2010 to 2021 and mainly revising publications on numerous samples related to monitoring and control of the state of the water management complex of the Poltava region. According to the official report of 2019, the rivers Dnieper, Psel, Sukhoi Omelnik, Uday received an assessment: slightly polluted waters, the Vorskla and Orzhitsa rivers are moderately polluted waters. The main ingredients responsible for the low water ratings as of 2019 are phosphate ions, manganese, as well as nitrite nitrogen, total iron and BOD5. The manganese content was measured in three rivers, and the average estimate ranged from 5.8 in the Psel River to 11.85 in the Vorskla River. According to the Regional Office of Water Resources in the Poltava region, in 2019, 109.8 million m3 were withdrawn from the natural water bodies of the Poltava region, namely underground water bodies, which is 4.6 million m3 less than in 2018 (or 4.0 %), including 69.83 million m3 (which is 3.29 million m3 or 4.5 % less than in 2018). However, the total water intake in the region over the past 10 years has decreased by 2.2 times. A positive trend is that all discharges occur at treatment facilities of housing and communal services. There is no discharge of return water without treatment into surface water bodies of the Poltava region; however, within the boundaries of settlements there is a discharge of under-treated municipal wastewater and runoff from the urbanized territory. Consequently, balancing water use is possible by introducing waterless, low-water and water-saving technologies in all sectors of the economy, maximum use of water in recycling water supply systems; replacement of physically and morally worn out water supply and water protection equipment, etc.

Given the adverse effects of current water shortages, low utilization and imbalance between the supply and demand, and other status quo problems relating to social economic development, the construction industry and agriculture, a cloud model was applied to a water resource system using five sustainable water resource utilization schemes for Kiamusze, Heilongjiang Province, as an example. This research changes the qualitative description of the concept language into a quantitative analysis of an evaluation indicator. A cloud model-based analytical method for regional sustainable water resource utilization schemes was proposed, and the sustainable grades of the water resources were calculated. The research results showed that, in addition to the natural continuation of such schemes, the development trends of four new schemes achieved the sustainable utilization of water resources, and thus, the sustainable water resource utilization was optimized. However, when the open-source, throttle, comprehensive and coordination schemes were subjected to the optimum applicability analysis, based on the limiting factors in different periods, resource availability and long-term development, decision-making regarding the best solution in different periods better ensures sustainable development in Kiamusze. The research results provide a significant theoretical basis for the formulation of scientific and reasonable sustainable water resource utilization strategies in Kiamusze. Keywords: cloud model, regional water resources, sustainable utilization, normal cloud, scheme analysis DOI: 10.3965/j.ijabe.20160905.2529 Citation: Fu Q, Meng F X, Li T X, Liu D, Gong F L, Osman A, et al. Cloud model-based analysis of regional sustainable water resource utilization schemes. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2016; 9(5): 67－75.

From the early days of statehood in 1948, it was realized by Israel’s water planners that the country’s overall water inventory was extremely limited, most unevenly and unfavorably distributed, and subject to rather high fluctuations, caused by interannual rainfall variability (Wiener, 1972) and intra-annual extremes, i.e. a long hot summer virtually without rainfall during the six-month period from May to October. The geographical disposition of water resources is unevenly distributed vis-a-vis the location of arable lands and the population centers. About 80% of Israel’s replenishable water resources are located in the wetter north of the country, but ca. 65% of the country’s arable land is located in the dry south, while some 60% of the population lives in the center of the country. Therefore, it was clear from the outset that local demands for water could generally not be supplied from local water resources. A National Water Carrier System needed to be developed for regional and national integration (Figure 1). Policy makers and water planners realized that a special institutional and legal framework had to be created in order to deal with the challenge of providing an adequate water supply throughout the year to the domestic, agricultural and industrial sectors. However, at first a pragmatic approach was adopted to allow necessary regional and local water resource development to take place within the framework of an overall national plan, as explained by Wiener (1972), who was president of Israel’s National Water Planning Organization (TAHAL) for many years since 1956, and responsible for the conception and planning of Israel’s national water development projects: “This approach made it possible to start badly needed development work immediately after the establishment of the State, without having to wait for the assembly of data and for the emergence of the complex legislative and institutional frameworks that are the prerequisite of effective comprehensive national planning. Without obstructing urgent development action, this pragmatic approach still made it possible to preserve the most vital options of later planning,

Effects of Climate Change on Irrigation Decisions and Low Flow Frequency for a Typical Agricultural River Basin of the Midwestern US

Water and energy are two pivotal areas for future sustainable development, with complex linkages existing between the two sectors. These linkages require special attention in the context of the energy transition. Against this background, this paper analyses the role of water availability in the development of solar thermal and photovoltaic power plants for the case of the Draa Valley in southern Morocco. Located in a semi-arid to arid mountainous area, the Drâa Valley faces high water stress - a situation expected to worsen due to climate change. At the same time, the region has one of the greatest potentials for solar energy in the world. To examine whether limited water availability could accelerate or delay the implementation of solar thermal and photovoltaic power plants, this paper compares regional water availability and demand in the Draa Valley for different scenarios, paying particular attention to potential socio-economic development pathways. The Water Evaluation and Planning System software is applied to allocate the water resources in the study region. The water supply is modelled under the Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 climate scenario, while the water demand for the Drâa Valley is modelled for a combination of three socio-economic and two energy scenarios. The climate scenario describes a significant decrease in water availability by 2050, while the socio-economic and energy scenarios show an increase in water demand. The results demonstrate that during a sequence of dry years the reservoirs water availability is reduced and shortages in water supply can result in high levels of unmet demand. If this situation occurs, oasis farming, water for drinking and energy production could compete directly with each other for water resources. The energy scenarios indicate that the use of dry cooling technologies in concentrated solar power and photovoltaic hybrid systems could be one option for reducing competition for the scarce water resources in the region. However, given that energy generation accounts for only a small share of the regional water demand, the results also suggest that socio-economic demand reduction, especially in the agricultural sector, for example by reducing the cultivated area, will most likely become necessary.

Evaluation of Regional Water Resources

Abstract. Climate change impacts in Pacific Northwest Region of North America (PNW) are projected to include increasing temperatures and changes in the seasonality of precipitation (increasing precipitation in winter, decreasing precipitation in summer). Changes in precipitation are also spatially varying, with the northwestern parts of the region generally experiencing greater increases in cool season precipitation than the southeastern parts. These changes in climate are projected to cause loss of snowpack and associated streamflow timing shifts which will increase cool season (October–March) flows and decrease warm season (April–September) flows and water availability. Hydrologic extremes such as the 100 yr flood and extreme low flows are also expected to change, although these impacts are not spatially homogeneous and vary with mid-winter temperatures and other factors. These changes have important implications for natural ecosystems affected by water, and for human systems. The PNW is endowed with extensive water resources infrastructure and well-established and well-funded management agencies responsible for ensuring that water resources objectives (such as water supply, water quality, flood control, hydropower production, environmental services, etc.) are met. Likewise, access to observed hydrological, meteorological, and climatic data and forecasts is in general exceptionally good in the United States and Canada, and is often supported by federally funded programs that ensure that these resources are freely available to water resources practitioners, policy makers, and the general public. Access to these extensive resources support the argument that at a technical level the PNW has high capacity to deal with the potential impacts of natural climate variability on water resources. To the extent that climate change will manifest itself as moderate changes in variability or extremes, we argue that existing water resources infrastructure and institutional arrangements provide a reasonably solid foundation for coping with climate change impacts, and that the mandates of existing water resources policy and water resources management institutions are at least consistent with the fundamental objectives of climate change adaptation. A deeper inquiry into the underlying nature of PNW water resources systems, however, reveals significant and persistent obstacles to climate change adaptation, which will need to be overcome if effective use of the region's extensive water resources management capacity can be brought to bear on this problem. Primary obstacles include assumptions of stationarity as the fundamental basis of water resources system design, entrenched use of historical records as the sole basis for planning, problems related to the relatively short time scale of planning, lack of familiarity with climate science and models, downscaling procedures, and hydrologic models, limited access to climate change scenarios and hydrologic products for specific water systems, and rigid water allocation and water resources operating rules that effectively block adaptive response. Institutional barriers include systematic loss of technical capacity in many water resources agencies following the dam building era, jurisdictional fragmentation affecting response to drought, disconnections between water policy and practice, and entrenched bureaucratic resistance to change in many water management agencies. These factors, combined with a federal agenda to block climate change policy in the US during the Bush administration have (with some exceptions) contributed to widespread institutional "gridlock" in the PNW over the last decade or so despite a growing awareness of climate change as a significant threat to water management. In the last several years, however, significant progress has been made in surmounting some of these obstacles, and the region's water resources agencies at all levels of governance are making progress in addressing the fundamental challenges inherent in adapting to climate change.

Water is an indispensable resource for human health and social well-being. However, the quality of this critical resource is being threatened by both natural and anthropogenic sources. Surface and groundwater resources in the Upper East Region of Ghana are poorly managed and monitored. The water resources in this part of Ghana are contaminated with coliforms, toxic trace metals, and agrochemicals. Most of the parameters for drinking water quality are seriously being violated in various parts of the region. The major sources of surface water and groundwater pollution in the region are the dissolution of minerals, the widespread application of agrochemicals on farms, biological contamination resulting from human and animal fecal matter due to open defecation and mining activities. These have resulted in diverse health-related problems in the region since the contaminated water sources are the only drinking water supplies for rural folks. Fluoride contamination of the groundwater resources is also a major problem in the region, especially in the Bongo District and the Bolgatanga Municipality, which has resulted in cases of dental fluorosis in these parts of the region. There exists no comprehensive review on the water quality in the Upper East Region of Ghana. Therefore, this review is aimed at discussing the quality of the water resources in the region from previously published works in various parts of the region. The review highlights the major pollutants, pollution sources, and the associated health problems. Recommendations have been offered based on the findings to serve as a framework for policy-making in regard to the water resources in the region.

Understanding the available resources and the needs of those who use them is necessary for the evaluation and allocation of water resources. The main sectors utilizing the basin water resources are agriculture, drinking water, animal husbandry, and industries, and the efficient and rational management of water resources to be distributed among those different sectors of activity is vital. This study attempts to develop an integrated water resource management system for the Dhasan River Basin (DRB) by employing a scenario analysis approach in conjunction with Water Evaluation and Planning Model(WEAP) to analyze trends in water use and anticipated demand between 2015 and 2050, simulating five possible scenarios (I, II, III, IV, and V) as for external driving factors. For the WEAP modeling framework, 2015 was chosen as a current (base) year for which all available information and input data were given to the model and the future demand situation was analyzed for the period 2016-2050 (forecasting period). From the findings, it was observed that for the forecasting period, total water demand, unmet demand, and streamflow were 185.29 Bm3, 117.35 Bm3, and 58.26 Bm3, respectively, in the case of scenario I; 232.34 Bm3, 162.17 Bm3, and 59.87 Bm3 in case of scenario II; 139.40 Bm3, 84.37 Bm3, and 58.15 Bm3 in case of scenario III; 186.15 Bm3, 118.76 Bm3, and 56.98 Bm3 in case of scenario IV; and 181.89 Bm3, 96.87 Bm3, and 53.11 Bm3 in case of scenario V. Results of the study indicated that by 2050, increasing population growth, industrial development, and an increase in the agricultural area will rise the water demand dramatically, posing threats to the environment and humans. Therefore, implementing improved irrigation technologies, advancing agricultural practices on farms, and constructing water conservation and retaining structures could significantly reduce the unmet demands and shortfalls in DRB. Overall findings reveal that the pressure on the Dhasan water resources would increase in the future, and thus several suggestions have been provided to assist decision-makers in sustainable planning and management of water resources to meet future demands.