Downstream River Research Articles

Methane emissions due to reservoir flushing: a significant emission pathway?

Abstract. Reservoirs represent a globally significant source of the greenhouse gas methane (CH4), which is emitted via different emission pathways. In some reservoirs, reservoir flushing is employed as a sediment management strategy to counteract growing sediment deposits that threaten reservoir capacity. Reservoir flushing utilizes the eroding force of water currents during water level drawdown to mobilize and transport sediment deposits through the dam outlet into the downstream river. During this process, CH4 that is stored in the sediment can be released into the water and degas to the atmosphere, resulting in CH4 emissions. Here, we assess the significance of this CH4 emission pathway and compare it to other CH4 emission pathways from reservoirs. We measured seasonal and spatial CH4 concentrations in the sediment of Schwarzenbach Reservoir, providing one of the largest datasets on CH4 pore water concentrations in freshwater systems. Based on this dataset we determined CH4 fluxes from the sediment and estimated potential CH4 emissions due to reservoir flushing. CH4 emissions due to one flushing operation can constitute 7 %–14 % of the typical annual CH4 emissions from Schwarzenbach Reservoir, whereby the amount of released CH4 depends on the seasonal timing of the flushing operation and can differ by a factor of 2. Larger flushing events that mobilize deeper sediment layers lead to non-linear increases in CH4 mobilization. This suggests that regular flushing of smaller sediment layers releases less CH4 than removal of the same sediment volume in fewer flushing events of thicker sediment layers. However, additional indirect CH4 emissions pathways contributing to the total CH4 emissions may vary with the flushing operation. In other reservoirs with higher sediment loadings than Schwarzenbach Reservoir, reservoir flushing could cause substantial CH4 emissions, especially when flushing operations are conducted frequently. Our study recognizes CH4 emissions due to reservoir flushing as an important pathway, identifies potential management strategies to mitigate these CH4 emissions and emphasizes the need for further research.

Benthic diatom communities and a comparative seasonal-based ecological quality assessment of a transboundary river in Bangladesh.

Seasonality can play a crucial role in altering water quality in tropical rivers, and as a benthic community, diatom can show seasonal variation and changes in ecological status. During the present study, the Trophic Diatom Index (TDI) and Water Quality Index (WQI) were used to determine the ecological status of a transboundary river, the Sari-Goyain River in Bangladesh. Samplings were carried out from upstream to downstream river sites in wet and dry seasons to observe the seasonal dynamics. The benthic diatom composition and physicochemical parameters showed seasonal variation in ecological water quality assessment. In the River, 42 different diatom species from 19 genera were recorded. The mean TDI values indicated an oligotrophic condition of the river in both seasons. But, the WQI values showed excellent and good water quality in the wet and dry seasons, respectively. So, the WQI was helpful in assessing seasonal variation of ecological water quality status in the Sari-Goyain River. For the long-term monitoring of the ecological status of the river, seasonal variation and WQI-based assessment should be considered.

Hydrologic and Organic Carbon Quality Controls on Nitrous Oxide Dynamics Across a Variably Confined Karst Aquifer

AbstractAtmospheric concentrations of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) have increased approximately 20% since the pre‐industrial era. Riverine systems represent an important atmospheric source of N2O however, the influence of varying hydrogeological conditions and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) quantity and quality on N2O dynamics remains poorly understood. We investigate effects of these processes on N2O dynamics in the Santa Fe River watershed in north‐central Florida, USA where a gradient in DOC quantity and quality is caused by varying surface water‐groundwater exchange. The watershed is underlain by the karstic Floridan aquifer, which is confined in the headwaters and contains terrigenous recalcitrant DOC, while the unconfined lower reaches contain protein‐like labile DOC substrates. Where extensive surface water‐groundwater exchange occurs at the boundary between the confined and unconfined aquifer, incomplete denitrification raises N2O concentration to 6.1 μg N‐N2O L−1, approximately 20 times greater than the concentration expected from equilibration with atmospheric N2O. These elevated concentrations create average local fluxes reaching ∼950 μg N‐N2O m−2 hr−1 within the mixing zone. Summation of spatially explicit emission estimates for upstream, mixing zone, and downstream river sections yield a total average emission rate of ∼3,758 kg N‐N2O yr−1. Despite having the smallest surface area across the river transect (∼8%), emissions from the mixing zone account for 26% of the total river emission rate. These findings highlight the potential contributions from karst landscapes to N2O cycling caused by varying redox conditions during surface water‐groundwater exchange, which creates hotspots of N2O production and emissions.

Supervised Geomorphic Mapping of Himalayan Rivers Based on Sentinel-2 Data

The Himalayan region is a hotspot in terms of expected future hydrological and geomorphological variations induced by climate change on proglacial areas and the related implications for human societies established along the downstream rivers. Due to the remoteness of the proglacial zones in the Himalayas and the associated logistical problems in carrying out traditional field and UAV-based morphological monitoring activities, remote sensing here plays a crucial role to monitor past and current fluvial dynamics, which could be used to anticipate future changes; however, there has been, so far, limited research on morphological changes in Himalayan proglacial rivers. To address this gap, a morphological classification model was designed to classify recent changes in Himalayan proglacial rivers using the Google Earth Engine platform. The model is the first of its kind developed for the Himalayan region and uses multispectral S-2 satellite data to delineate submerged water channels, vegetated surfaces, and emerged, unvegetated sediment bars, and then to track their variations over time. The study focused on three training sites: Langtang-Khola (Nepal), Saltoro (Pakistan), and Nubra (Jammu and Kashmir) rivers, and one testing site, the Ganga-Bhagirathi River (India). A total of 900 polygons were used as training samples for the random forest classifier, which were further divided into 70% calibration and 30% validation datasets for the training sites, and a separate validation dataset was acquired from the testing site to assess the model performance. The model achieved high accuracy, with an average overall accuracy of 96% and a kappa index of 0.94, indicating the reliability of the S2 data for modeling proglacial geomorphic features in the Himalayan region. Therefore, this study provides a reliable tool to detect past and current morphological changes occurring in the Himalayan proglacial rivers, which will be of great value for both research and river management purposes.

Managing cyanobacteria with a water quality control curtain in Iron Gate Reservoir, California

Mejica BN, Ebert DA, Tanaka SK, Deas ML. 2023. Managing cyanobacteria with a water quality control curtain in Iron Gate Reservoir, California. Lake Reserv Manage. 39:291–310.Iron Gate Reservoir, a eutrophic monomictic reservoir on the Klamath River, a Pacific coast river within the United States, stratifies thermally during summer and is subject to cyanobacteria blooms that produce microcystin toxins, causing public health concerns. An impermeable curtain was installed in Iron Gate Reservoir upstream of the powerhouse intake to control the withdrawal depth and improve water quality of releases to the downstream Klamath River. Thermal stratification minimizes vertical downward movement of cyanobacteria-laden near-surface waters, and the curtain was hypothesized to reduce cyanobacteria and toxin concentrations downstream of the curtain and dam. The Wedderburn number, which indicates unstable (mixed) or stratified conditions, was used to calculate mixed layer depths and define conditions under which the curtain would be likely to be effective. Changes in chlorophyll a, cyanobacteria gene, Microcystis spp. gene, and microcystin concentrations were used to quantify curtain effectiveness for different curtain depths and mixed layer depths. When curtain depth extended below the mixed layer, concentrations of total chlorophyll a, total cyanobacteria, total Microcystis spp., and total microcystin in waters downstream of the curtain were statistically significantly reduced by an average of 87, 90, 78, and 64%, respectively. Concentrations were not consistently reduced downstream of the curtain under other configurations. Findings indicate the curtain can be managed to take advantage of stratification within the epilimnion and address issues pertaining to downstream cyanobacteria and associated toxins, and should improve water quality and reduce public health notices for the 305.7 km of river downstream of Iron Gate Dam.

Water Quality Assessment of Remote Sensing Techniques: A Comparative Insight Between Yangtze of China and Porong of Indonesia

The river water quality, exceptionally the total suspended solid (TSS) in China and Indonesia, has deteriorated due to human activities. Remote sensing makes it easier for observers to monitor river water quality, especially TSS. However, measuring the river water quality by remote sensing is still in the model and algorithm development stage in China and Indonesia. This study aims to identify the river water quality on remote sensing in China's Yangtze River and Porong River, East Java, Indonesia, and to analyze comparisons of river water quality on remote sensing in Yangtze River, China, and Porong River, East Java, Indonesia. This method uses a literature review based on journals, articles, and primary sources to review related literature on TSS concentrations in rivers and remote sensing in China and Indonesia. River water monitoring methods can measure the TSS in China and Indonesia using remote sensing. Many water quality models for waterways are based on different satellite images. In the Yangtze Downstream River, the algorithm of TSS uses the latest random forest on Landsat-8. The algorithm of TSS in the Porong River estuary used linear regression on sentinel-2 imagery. These TSS algorithms can more precisely assess TSS in water quality for scientific studies. The results show that the latest random forest is a more precise remote sensing algorithm in China than Linear regression in Indonesia. The suspended solid models and remote sensing images such as China's MODIS, Landsat-8, and MERIS are accurate in China. Therefore, developing more precise remote sensing techniques, total suspended solid models composed of Wiggin's Algorithm and Markert Algorithm, NDWI Algorithm, and remote sensing imagery such as Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8 in Indonesia is crucial to determine total suspended solids. The researchers additionally contribute to advanced research toward advancing suitable remote sensing techniques in various areas in Indonesia.

Evaluation of small hydropower turbines installed downstream of Nile River branches (Egypt)

The current study proposes a new strategy for using small hydroelectric turbines in downstream river branches with the least amount of construction and the lowest cost by comparing two different methods of installing the turbines, the first by installing the turbines at the river's bottom and the second by installing the turbines on floating boats. The methodology of this article is based on predicting the distribution of velocities through the watercourse using experimental data collected at various points in the river's depth, and then predicting the resulting electrical power for different sizes of turbines, as well as estimating the number of turbines for each row and the number of rows along the river. Therefore, Investigate the proposed systems. The proposed small hydropower system's economic viability and environmental impact are investigated in this article. According to the nature of the waterway, the best diameter of a turbine that can be used is 1.5 m based on water velocities and river depths. The proposed power plant generated 25.8 kW per single turbine row, with an estimated cost of produced power (0.035 USD/kWh) of approximately 20 turbines installed per row. Compared to other renewable energy sources, the proposed hydropower system is cost-effective and environmentally friendly, as generating electricity with the proposed small hydropower plant could reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by 368 tones of CO2 per single turbine row.

Basin‐scale variables drive macroinvertebrate biomass in low‐order streams across different mountain ecoregions

AbstractAimBiomass is an important descriptor of macroinvertebrate communities, providing insights into stream productivity and ecosystem functioning. Nevertheless, the drivers of biomass are still poorly assessed, especially in multiscale studies. Here, we aimed at filling this gap by assessing the relationship between environmental variables measured at patch, reach and basin scale and macroinvertebrate biomass, as well as the transferability of such relationships across different mountain regions.LocationMaritime‐Cottian Alps and the Tuscan‐Emilian Apennine (Northern Italy).TaxaFreshwater macroinvertebrates.MethodsPatch‐, reach‐ and basin‐scale variables, either measured in the field or computed with kriging techniques, were summarised with sparse principal component axes and later used in mixed modelling and variance partitioning to assess the relative effect of environmental variables on macroinvertebrate biomass. An independent model was run for each region, and results were compared to assess the transferability of drivers.ResultsBasin‐scale variables explained most of the biomass variability in both regions, supporting the transferability of results. More specifically, mean cumulated daily precipitation was the main driver of macroinvertebrate biomass. Patch‐ and reach‐scale variables also significantly affected macroinvertebrate biomass, but their relative role varied depending on the region considered, without any clear pattern.Main ConclusionsOverall, we highlighted a dominance of basin‐scale drivers—and specifically of the mean cumulated precipitation—and a consistency of results across different mountain regions. This implies that climatic variables regulate energy fluxes to higher trophic levels and subsidies to both downstream river sections and terrestrial ecosystems. These findings offer insights into ecosystem‐level vulnerability to climate change.

Fluvial sediment load sensitivity to climate change in cold basins on the Tibetan Plateau: An elasticity approach and the spatial scale effect

The sensitivity of fluvial sediment load to climate change and predictions of future sediment load in cold basins remain poorly investigated, although changes in river sediment transport have important geomorphological, ecological, and societal implications. Here, we adapt a sediment elasticity approach to examine the sensitivity of fluvial suspended sediment load to changes in air temperature and precipitation in the headwater of the Yangtze River (HYR) on the inner Tibetan Plateau. Results show that every 1 °C increase in air temperature can increase the suspended sediment load by 14–27 % by intensifying thermally-driven glacial and permafrost erosional processes, and every 10 % increase in precipitation can increase the suspended sediment load by 16–24 % through enhancing pluvial-driven erosional processes. We predict an increase of 60–85 % in the suspended sediment loads in HYR by 2050 relative to the present-day period under the Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5, as both air temperature and precipitation are projected to increase. Our analysis highlights that smaller upland rivers appear to respond to modern climate change more rapidly and intensively than larger downstream rivers due to the larger glacier and permafrost coverages, poorer vegetation, as well as steeper fluvial relief, and higher sediment connectivity. This study provides a framework and a data-driven sediment elasticity approach to predict climate change and cryosphere degradation-driven changes in future fluvial suspended sediment load in cold basins, highlights the importance of the spatial scale effects in modulating fluvial responses, and has implications for assessing the impacts of climate change on channel morphology and aquatic ecosystems.

Constraining the sources and cycling of dissolved inorganic carbon in an alpine river, eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

It is generally acknowledged that riverine dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) behaviors play a critical role in global carbon cycling and hence have an impact on climate change. However, little is known about the intricate DIC dynamics under various meteorological conditions in the alpine areas. Here, we investigated DIC biogeochemical processes in the Bailong River catchment, eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP), by combining measurements of major ions, stable and radioactive isotopic compositions of DIC (δ13CDIC and Δ14CDIC), and physiographic parameters in the Bailong River catchment. Statistics and stoichiometry analyses suggest that multiple biogeochemical processes could affect carbon cycling in the Bailong River catchment. The “old” DIC with low Δ14C values (−472.4 ± 127.8 ‰, n = 3) and stoichiometry analysis of dissolved ions showed clear evidence that carbonate weathering is primarily responsible for water chemistry in the upstream (elevation >2000 m). However, upstream samples showed that δ13CDIC increased between 5 ‰ and 11 ‰ from the theoretical mixing line, concomitant with increasing pH and decreasing pCO2, suggesting that isotopic fractionation of DIC due to CO2 outgassing may be the primary cause of the increased δ13CDIC values. Additionally, the higher Δ14C values (−285.4 ± 123.5 ‰, n = 12) in the downstream region below 2000 m suggest that allochthonous modern carbon had a great impact on DIC variations. The presence of younger DIC may have important implications for the interpretation of inorganic carbon age in downstream rivers. Our study demonstrates that physiographic conditions can regulate DIC behaviors, which can improve estimations of carbon yield and comprehension of global carbon cycle.

River ice modelling for hydropower operations at Albeni Falls Dam, Idaho

This paper presents a method to quantitatively assess the impact of ice-affected hydraulics on hydropower operations using the widely used Hydrologic Engineering Center River Analysis System (HEC-RAS) hydraulic model. The model was used to identify historical periods where downstream river ice growth reduced the net head on a US Army Corps of Engineers dam on the Pend Oreille River in Idaho, USA. The model was used to create curves of projected stage impacts based on border-ice and continuous bank-to-bank ice formation scenarios. The temperature modelling capabilities in HEC-RAS were used to hindcast ice formation periods on the river that were validated with shore-based webcam data. These results provide a framework that can be applied to other rivers with hydropower generation, particularly sites where an open-water HEC-RAS model exists.

Pollution prediction for heavy metals in soil-groundwater systems at smelting sites

The spread of heavy metal contaminations originating from polluted industrial sites pose major environmental risks to surrounding areas. However, the migration of heavy metals in the subsurface is a very complex process that requires the coupling of geological, hydrological, solute transport and geochemical data to better understand and predict contaminant flow paths, plume movement in space and time. In this study, a three-dimensional (3D) variable saturated solute transport numerical model of soil-groundwater was developed to understand pollution risks in a large lead–zinc (Pb-Zn) smelting site. Using the calibrated numerical model, risk trends of heavy metal pollution were predicted, and the design and evaluation of a pollution control technology were proposed. The results showed that the risk of heavy metal spillover was extremely high. It could break through the geographical boundary of the site after 60 days and affect the downstream river on the 712th day. By using a permeable reactive barrier (PRB) based on zero-valent iron (ZVI) and bentonite, the time for the Cd pollution plume to reach the river could be effectively delayed by 225 days, and its diffusion range reduced to 10.2%. However, 31–42% of the contaminants continued to spread outwards through lateral flow pathways even with a PRB. Based on these results, a better remediation strategy for the smelting site is to first remove, passivate or solidify the existing pollution sources, and then use PRB technology to block the pollution transmission pathways. The research results have expanded the application of numerical simulation in the study of industrial pollution sites, providing guidance methods and technical support for pollution prevention and control and space utilization at polluted non-ferrous smelting sites.

Analysis of the impact of the Xiaolangdi Reservoir on the runoff of the Yellow River downstream based on CEEMDAN-multiscale information entropy.

Water resources are vital to the development of human society, and mastering the law of runoff changes is the basis for achieving sustainable use of water resources. To study the impact of reservoir construction on the changes of downstream river runoff, this paper decomposes the runoff before and after reservoir construction using the CEEMDAN method based on the runoff data from the Huayuankou hydrological station. The fluctuation characteristics of each decomposition series of runoff before and after reservoir construction and the intra-annual variation pattern of runoff are also analyzed by combining multi-time information entropy and coefficient of variation. The results show that after the operation of the Xiaolangdi Reservoir, the annual runoff variation cycle tends to be flat, and the monthly runoff cycle is significantly reduced. After reservoir construction, the entropy values of each IMF and Res of runoff become larger, the complexity and randomness of runoff changes increase, and predictability decreases. Before and after the operation of the Xiaolangdi Reservoir, the coefficient of variation of runoff were 0.28-1 and 0.38-0.83, the distribution of runoff was more uniform, and the percentage of runoff in the flood season was reduced from 51.51 to 39.89%.

Estimation in jet deflection angle of deflector on the chutes

ABSTRACT Ski jumps are commonly used to discharge flow away from release structures into downstream rivers for energy dissipation. However, due to large intersection angles of jet and river flow or the jet impacting position unreasonable, the serious sour of riverbed or bank may occur, threatening the security of hydraulic structure. Hence, the impacting position and direction of jet from ski jump are pressing for research. For obtaining a controllable and desired outflow condition, adding rectangular tetrahedral deflector is a common and effective measure to change the flow direction. In this study, physical experiments and numerical simulation were conducted and the effect of the deflector contraction ratio on the flow deflection angle was revealed. The results indicate that the contraction ratio is a key parameter of the deflector, and a larger contraction ratio contributes to a larger jet deflection angle. Based on the data in the present and previous studies, a new empirical expression for estimating the deflection angle is proposed for rectangular tetrahedral deflector. By contrast with previous research, the calculated result from the expression presents a better agreement with the test data.

Effectiveness in storing and reducing floods of the red river upstream reservoirs under the incident of Lienmac dyke

The Red river and Thai Binh river’s dyke system includes 56 dikes classified from grade III to special grade with a total length of 2.207,75km which 37.709km of special grade, 553.70km of grade I, 502,43km of grade II and grade III. At the present, on the Red River and Thai Binh River systems, there are 230 existing weak locations, which have not been completely reinforced yet. It might cause unsafety situations of large flood flush and high water levels of rivers for a long time. Therefore, studying the solutions to support the response under unsafety situations of the dike system is a significant meaning topic. The present paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of solutions using reservoirs at the Red river upstream in order to store and reduce floods in downstream. This also supports the effort to respond the urgent situations upstream such as huge floods, dyke failures in downstream and dyke failure at Lien Mac. In the scope of this paper, one and two-dimensional hydraulic simulation method was utilized, which describes the scenarios to regulate the upstream reservoir of the Red River and hydraulic calculation of the downstream river network. Then, the effectiveness of flood reduction in each scenario can be estimated. Simulation results show that depending on the calculation scenarios, the capacity of reservoirs can be 5.553 million m3 to cut and reduce flood for downstream. The flooded area might be decreased by 47.528 ha in case using a part of the capacity of the construction. The time when the reservoirs completely close the floodgates and do not discharge the flood into downstream is from 27 to 30 hours, this is an important time for the Lien Mac dike to be completely sealed within 24 hours. The time when the reservoirs completely close the floodgates and do not discharge the flood into downstream is from 27 to 30 hours, this is an important time for the Lien Mac dike to be completely closed within 24 hours.

Slope planting patterns are superior to ditch grassing in reducing ditch erosion load to rivers: Evidenced from a five-year study in an intensive sugarcane growth watershed

Large-scale sugarcane cultivation accelerates downstream ditch erosion and causes significant soil C, N, and P losses, resulting in water pollution. The sugarcane planting pattern, i.e. the area ratio of newly planted sugarcane and perennial sugarcane, significantly affects slope soil erosion and nutrient loss. However, the influence of slope planting pattern change on downstream ditch soil erosion and pollution into the river remains unclear. We designed four experimental treatments: bare ditch-high area ratio of newly planted sugarcane (BD-H), 1-year ditch grassing-low area ratio of newly planted sugarcane (GD1-L), 2-year ditch grassing-middle area ratio of newly planted sugarcane (GD2-M), and 3-year ditch grassing-middle area ratio of newly planted sugarcane (GD3-M). Using a combination of a five-year field observation and compound-specific stable isotope (CSSI) tracing techniques, we determined the relative role of grass planting in the ditch and slope planting pattern on ditch erosion and associated nutrient loss in an intensive sugarcane cultivation watershed. The results showed that the effect of the area ratio of newly planted sugarcane on the upstream slope was significantly greater than that of grass planting on the downstream ditch erosion and river pollution. Newly planted sugarcane ratios on the upstream slope were significantly and positively correlated with the runoff in the downstream ditch (p < 0.01). The vegetation coverage, root density, and soil organic matter significantly increased with grass planting years of ditches (p < 0.01). The area ration newly planted sugarcane accounted for 57% of the variation of ditch erosion parameters (N, P, and SOC loss) (p < 0.01), and grass planting (soil organic matter, vegetation coverage, and root density) accounted for 27% of the variation of ditch erosion parameters (p < 0.05). In large-scale sugarcane-growing areas in tropical and subtropical regions, to prevent and control ditch erosion and pollution into the river, attention should be paid to vegetation restoration in the downstream ditch and the rational allocation of planting patterns in the upstream slope catchment area.

The non-coevolution of DIC and alkalinity and the CO2 degassing in a karst river affected by acid mine drainage in Southwest China

Dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in mine water generated during coal mining is a large and potential source of atmospheric CO2, however its geochemical behaviors under the influence of AMD in relation to CO2 degassing and carbonate buffering are not well known. In this study, water temperature, pH, DO, alkalinity, Ca2+ concentration, and the carbon isotope of DIC were measured monthly from November 2020 to November 2021 and carbonate chemistry and CO2 emission flux were calculated to reveal the processes of DIC evolution and CO2 degassing from the Chetian River draining a karst region, which is materially affected by the input of large quantities of AMD. The results showed that carbonate erosion, the mineralization of terrestrial organic matter, and domestic sewage input are all identified to contribute DIC to different degrees to the river. Throughout the year, the Chetian River undergoes high-intensity CO2 degassing, which is dominated by HCO3−-neutralized degassing and proton-enhanced degassing in different reaches. The pCO2 in the river under the influence of AMD is as high as 237,482 μatm, while the F-CO2 approaches 316.9 g C m−2 d−1. Meanwhile, the carbonate system in the downstream karst river buffers an average of 85.2 % of DIC release at the river's outlet. The input of AMD significantly altered the carbon cycle of the surface watershed in the headwaters of tributaries, and greatly enhanced the release of CO2 from surface water to the atmosphere; meanwhile, the buffering of carbonates on acidity in the water of main streams causes pCO2 to rapidly reduce over a short distance. Obviously, the carbon emission effect generated by the interaction between AMD and carbonate mainly occurs in the tributary water system. Considering the huge amount of AMD worldwide, this large potential source of atmospheric CO2 requires a specific and precise quantitative analysis based on actual observations.

Stackelberg Social Equilibrium in Water Markets

Market power in water markets can be modeled as simultaneous quantity competition on a river structure and analyzed by applying social equilibrium. In an example of a duopoly water market, we argue that the lack of backward induction logic implies that the upstream supplier foregoes profitable strategic manipulation of water to the downstream supplier. To incorporate backward induction, we propose the Stackelberg social equilibrium concept. We prove the existence of Stackelberg social equilibrium in duopoly water markets with an upstream–downstream river structure and derive it in the example of a duopoly market.

The effects of nutrient loading from different sources on eutrophication in a large shallow lake in Southeast China.

Lake water eutrophication has become one of the leading obstacles to sustainable economic development in China. Research on the effects of mainstream currents on reservoirs has been relatively underdeveloped compared with research on tributaries, though changes in the water-sediment transport regime in a downstream river may affect nutrient transport behavior in a lake connected to that river. This is particularly problematic because certain wastewater sources, including runoff from agricultural wastes and industrial discharges, adversely affect lake water. Our study focused on Sanshiliujiao Lake, a significant drinking water source in Fujian, Southeast China, that has suffered considerably from eutrophication over the past few decades. This study aimed to estimate the phosphorus and nitrogen loads to the lake, exploring their sources and their ecologic effects using in situ observation and the export coefficient model. Our results showed that the pollution loads of total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TN) were 2.390 and 46.040 t/year, respectively, most of which were derived from the water diversion (TP 45.7%, TN 29.2%) and non-point source (TP 30.2%, TN 41.6%). The TN input was the highest in East river (3.557kg/d), followed by Red river (2.524kg/d). During the wet season, the input of TP and TN increased by 14.6 and 18.7 times, respectively, but produced only slight variations in concentration. Water diversion enriched the nutrients inputs and altered the structure and abundance of phytoplankton communities. In addition, when water flows from the main river directly to Sanshiliujiao Lake, algal blooms in river-connected lakes are significantly exacerbated, so our study may also serve as a theoretical basis to regulate eutrophication in Sanshiliujiao Lake.

Prevalence of microplastics in commonly consumed fish species of the river Old Brahmaputra, Bangladesh.

Microplastics (MPs) are pervasive in aquatic environments, but inland waterbodies (rivers and floodplains) have received much less attention. The present study assesses the incidence of MPs in the gastrointestinal tracts of five commercially important edible fish species-two column feeders (n = 30) and three benthivores (n = 45) from upstream, midstream, and downstream of the Old Brahmaputra river in north-central Bangladesh. MPs were detected in 58.93% of fish, with the highest level in freshwater eel, Mastacembelus armatus (10.31 ± 0.75/fish). Fibers (49.03%) and pellets (28.02%) were the most frequent MPs. Nearly 72% MPs were smaller than 1mm, and 50.97% were black. FTIR analysis showed 59% polyethelene (PE), followed by polyamide (40%) and unidentified (1%). MP ingestion was linked to fish size and weight, and a high incidence was recorded in the downstream river. Two omnivorous benthic fish ingest more MPs than others. The results corroborate the presence of MPs in the inland river and fish fauna and augment our understanding of heterogeneous MP uptake by fish.