Integrated Assessment Of Water Resources Research Articles

A web GIS based integrated water resources assessment tool for Javeh Reservoir

The creation of tools and services for tracking, estimating, and predicting water resource indices that might provide authorities access to information in close to real-time is essentially a must. The considerable development of Web-Geographic Information System Decision Support System (Web-GIS DSS) allows for the analysis of geospatial data and scenarios via the internet without a traditional desktop GIS. The web GIS technology is coupled to techniques which determine water resources Carlson, and Organization for Economic Corporation and Development (OECD) Trophic Status Indices (TSIs), the water resource vulnerability index (WRVI), and social water stress index (SWSI). The water quality indices were determined by helping machine learning (ML) techniques, Decision Tree, Random Forest, and XGBoost. The performances of aforementioned MLs were compared, and the best efficient one, XGBoost, was included in the Web-GIS DSS tool. The developed Web-GIS DSS was examined in Javeh Reservoir, Kurdestan, Iran.The developed Web-GIS DSS allows the users to define the relevant features of the Javeh Reservoir system in pre-defined time horizons such as meteorological, hydrological, inflow water quality, reservoir operation strategies, downstream water demands, geographical external water transfers, etc. The results indicate that the Javeh Reservoir experiences eutrophication status according to the Carlson and OECD indices over time horizons. The water quantity assessment reveals the Javeh Reservoir's susceptibility based on WRVI, although no stress is indicated by SWSI. This susceptibility may be attributed to limited precipitation and water inflow during the simulation period, suggesting a need for comprehensive water resources management.The conclusion drawn from this research underscores the essential role of the developed Web-GIS DSS in decision-making processes for water and environment management, substantiating its practicality with accurate and user-friendly water and environmental data analysis. The tool exemplifies the potential of integrating ML and Web-GIS technologies to promote sustainable environmental practices, thereby establishing a model for future research and policy-making initiatives.

Regionalization of catchment hydrological model parameters for global water resources simulations

AbstractParameter regionalization of hydrological models is one of the most commonly used methods for hydrological prediction over ungauged catchments. Although there were many regional studies, there is no clear conclusion on the best-performing regionalization method for global hydrological modelling. The objective of this study is to determine an appropriate global-scale regionalization scheme (GSRS) for global hydrological modelling. To this end, the performance of five regionalization methods with two different average options, two weighting approaches, and seven efficiency thresholds (i.e. Kling-Gupta efficiency (KGE) values to measure hydrological model performances) was compared over thousands of catchments based on four conceptual hydrological models. Results of nine global models from the Global Earth Observation for Integrated Water Resource Assessment (EartH2Observe) project were selected to validate the accuracy of GSRS in estimating global runoff. The results show that: (1) Spatial proximity method with the Inverse Distance Weighting method and the output average option offers the best regionalization result when using the KGE ≥ 0.5 as an efficiency threshold for all four hydrological models, (2) the regionalization-based global hydrological simulation schemes (RGHSs), i.e. the proposed GSRS combining with four hydrological models, consistently performs better than the nine global models from EartH2Observe project in the estimation of runoff for most catchments, with varying degrees of improvement in the median, upper and lower quartiles, and whiskers of each performance metric, and (3) the global long-term annual water resources estimated by RGHSs range between 42,592 and 46,810 km3/yr.

Applying the System of Environmental and Economic Accounts for Water (SEEA-Water) for integrated assessment of water security in an aquifer scale - Case study: Azarshahr aquifer, Iran

As an important stage in integrated water resources management, integrated assessment adopts a set of indicators to address not only the physical water balance, but also the role of water in social welfare, economic production, and employment. The indicators should be located in an analytical framework capable of figuring out the inter-relationships among different environmental, social, and economic disciplines. Adopting the System of Environmental and Economic Accounts for Water (developed by the United Nations), this paper aims to provide an integrated assessment in the groundwater resource in the Azarshahr aquifer area in the Northwestern Iran, comparing local water security indicators in 2006 and 2016. The results show that the local water resource in the study area is highly stressed in terms of quantity and quality. In addition, the area suffers severely from unsustainability and dis-equilibrium between water resource and consumption. Using a system dynamics model developed in VENSIM PLE, the paper analyzed five different policy options, which could have been devised to improve the water security in the area. The policy option 1 (stepwise reduction in the irrigated agricultural area from 2006 to 2010 followed by a constant 2% decline from 2010 to 2016) was found more effective in controlling the water salinity. Since it is highly inelastic in terms of regional economic revenue, it could be a cost-effective policy to prevent salinization of water with low impacts on the regional revenue. The methodology can be applied for building water accounting systems in similar areas for the purpose of integrated water resources assessment and planning.

Coupling groundwater GIS mapping and geovisualisation techniques in urban hydrogeomorphology: focus on methodology

The role of climate, geology, geomorphology, land use/cover, hydraulics and human activities are vital for the balanced and integrated assessment of water resources in urban areas. This approach addresses the key importance on ground field surveys at several scales, a representative hydrological inventory and an integrated groundwater mapping as useful tools to support urban groundwater systems conceptualisation. Lately, a new emphasis has arisen, addressing issues related to an integrated geovisualisation techniques and Geographical Information System (GIS) mapping studies on urban water supply systems, mainly in historical cities. Some key catchments in Porto urban area (NW Portugal) was selected to demonstrate this approach and to show the importance of groundwater GIS mapping for urban studies. The Porto city bedrock is dominated by an anisotropic and heterogeneous fissured media. An extensive field survey yielded data on hydroclimatology, hydrogeology, hydrogeomorphology, urban hydraulics and potential contamination sources. The Infiltration Potential Index in Urban Areas (IPI-Urban), Urban Recharge and Vulnerability Indexes was determined using GIS mapping techniques and hydrological inventory fieldwork. The integrated approach can be incorporated into an urban hydrological management system to support decision making on sustainable groundwater resources and in urban planning.

Integrated Water Resource Assessment of Irrigation System of Haryana

Agriculture is the major activity in the state of Haryana and large volume of water is required to meet the irrigation demands of the crops grown. But, there is limited water availability in the state. Haryana receives water from Yamuna River and Bhakra system. Sowmelt, rainfall and groundwater are main sources of water in the catchment. It is essential to integrate the manmade canal system with hydrological system. This paper focuses on integrated hydrological modeling framework to conceptualize the system and to assess the Water Resources of the state. Snowmelt and Rainfall runoff modeling using GR4JSG model were combined to model the inflows to the irrigation system of Haryana. Irrigator canal model of eWater Source has been used to generate water demands from crops grown. The water balance and water use efficiency have been worked out for each district of Haryana. The hydro climate input data, stream flows, crop data and soil data have been used in the study. The flows modeled at Tuini (P), Yashwant Nagar, Bausan, Haripur, Poanta and HKB sites were compared with the observed flows. The objective function of NSE Daily and log Flow duration was used for model calibration and validation at various locations up to Mathura, the outlet of the study area. The value of the objective function at Mathura was 0.54, a fairly good value. The results of the Irrigator canal model have shown that all the Inflows, Outflows and the Utilizations of water have been properly balanced for each district. The water use efficiency of districts varies from 27% to 59%. The overall water use efficiency for Haryana canal system has been calculated as 39%. This is low value indicating excess water is being extracted to meet the water demands.

Integrated water assessment and modelling: A bibliometric analysis of trends in the water resource sector

There are substantial challenges facing humanity in the water and related sectors and purposeful integration of the disciplines, connected sectors and interest groups is now perceived as essential to address them. This article describes and uses bibliometric analysis techniques to provide quantitative insights into the general landscape of Integrated Water Resource Assessment and Modelling (IWAM) research over the last 45years. Keywords, terms in titles, abstracts and the full texts are used to distinguish the 13,239 IWAM articles in journals and other non-grey literature. We identify the major journals publishing IWAM research, influential authors through citation counts, as well as the distribution and strength of source countries. Fruitfully, we find that the growth in numbers of such publications has continued to accelerate, and attention to both the biophysical and socioeconomic aspects has also been growing. On the other hand, our analysis strongly indicates that the former continue to dominate, partly by embracing integration with other biophysical sectors related to water – environment, groundwater, ecology, climate change and agriculture. In the social sciences the integration is occurring predominantly through economics, with the others, including law, policy and stakeholder participation, much diminished in comparison. We find there has been increasing attention to management and decision support systems, but a much weaker focus on uncertainty, a pervasive concern whose criticalities must be identified and managed for improving decision making. It would seem that interdisciplinary science still has a long way to go before crucial integration with the non-economic social sciences and uncertainty considerations are achieved more routinely.

Integrated water resource assessment for the Adelaide region, South Australia

Abstract. South Australia is the driest state in the driest inhabited country in the world, Australia. Consequently, water is one of South Australia's highest priorities. Focus on water research and sources of water in the state became more critical during the Millenium drought that occurred between 1997 and 2011. In response to increased concern about water sources the South Australian government established The Goyder Institute for Water Research – a partnership between the South Australian State Government, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Flinders University, University of Adelaide and University of South Australia. The Goyder Institute undertakes cutting-edge science to inform the development of innovative integrated water management strategies to ensure South Australia's ongoing water security and enhance the South Australian Government's capacity to develop and deliver science-based policy solutions in water management. This paper focuses on the integrated water resource assessment of the northern Adelaide region, including the key research investments in water and climate, and how this information is being utilised by decision makers in the region.

Criticality of Water: Aligning Water and Mineral Resources Assessment.

The concept of criticality has been used to assess whether a resource may become a limiting factor to economic activities. It has been primarily applied to nonrenewable resources, in particular to metals. However, renewable resources such as water may also be overused and become a limiting factor. In this paper, we therefore developed a water criticality method that allows for a new, user-oriented assessment of water availability and accessibility. Comparability of criticality across resources is desirable, which is why the presented adaptation of the criticality approach to water is based on a metal criticality method, whose basic structure is maintained. With respect to the necessary adaptations to the water context, a transparent water criticality framework is proposed that may pave the way for future integrated criticality assessment of metals, water, and other resources. Water criticality scores were calculated for 159 countries subdivided into 512 geographic units for the year 2000. Results allow for a detailed analysis of criticality profiles, revealing locally specific characteristics of water criticality. This is useful for the screening of sites and their related water criticality, for indication of water related problems and possible mitigation options and water policies, and for future water scenario analysis.

Integrated water resources assessment and management in a small watershed – a geomorphic approach

Depleting water resources and increasing human demands on the available fresh water resources suggest the need and scope for integrated water resources assessment and management. Narava basin, a small watershed spread over 105 km2 with a khondalitic suite of rocks and gneisses of Archaean age in the north coastal region of Andhra Pradesh, India was studied to propose effective water resources assessment and management strategies. The watershed, with an undulating topography and gentle to steep slopes, is drained by a dendritic to sub-dendritic drainage system. The watershed receives an annual average rainfall of 980 mm. With increasing agricultural activity, monsoon failures, and indiscriminate developmental activities, groundwater during the last two decades has become the main trusted source for irrigation and drinking. A hydrogeomorphological approach integrating remote sensing applications, geoelectrical investigations and hydrological studies was proposed to delineate and study the groundwater potential and recharge dynamics in the Narava watershed. Linking the remote sensing data, morphometric characteristics, topographic analysis, land use/cover assessment and groundwater conditions, hydrogeomorphic maps were prepared. Synergizing the lineament densities with layer parameters, aquifer yields, groundwater occurrence and dynamics, groundwater potential zones were demarcated and classified. Merging the characteristics of groundwater potential, hydrogeomorphology and water balance, suitable water harvesting structures and management strategies are suggested.

Attributiveness of a mass flow analysis model for integrated water resources assessment under data-scarce conditions

Nutrients in river systems originate from multiple emission sources, follow various pathways, and are subject to processes of conversion and fate. One approach to tackle this complexity is to apply balance-oriented models. Although these models operate on a coarse temporal and spatial scale, they are capable of assessing the significance of the different emission sources and their results can be the basis for developing integrated water quality management schemes. In this paper we propose and apply a methodology to evaluate the attributiveness of such model results with regard to the modelled emission pathways. The MONERIS (MOdelling Nutrient Emissions in RIver Systems) model is set up, assuming plausible ranges of emission levels from four principal sources. The sensitivity of model performance is computed and related to the contribution from the pathways. The approach is applied for a case study in the upper Western Bug catchment (Ukraine). Coefficient of determination (R(2)) is found insensitive against the model assumptions, at levels around 0.65 for nitrogen and 0.55 for phosphorous emissions. Relative mean absolute error is minimized around 0.2 for both nutrients, but with equifinal combinations of the varied emission pathways. Model performance is constrained by the ranges of the emission assumptions to a limited extent only.

Assessing water availability in a semi-arid watershed of southern India using a semi-distributed model

Summary Appropriate groundwater resource management becomes a priority for the States of the semi-arid southern India. Because of the highly increasing groundwater demand, the number of drought-prone regions where the groundwater resource is classified as over-exploited by the Government is critically increasing. Thus there is a need to develop quantitative methodologies adapted to the regional context that are capable to assess water resources at watershed scale and the impact of management measures. This study demonstrates the calibration and use of an integrated water resource assessment model (SWAT) in an 84 km 2 representative semi-arid crystalline watershed of southern India with no perennial surface water source. The model can reproduce (i) the recharge rate estimates derived independently by a groundwater balance computation, (ii) runoff and surface water storage occurring in tanks that spread along the drainage system, (iii) groundwater table fluctuations monitored at a monthly time step. Results show that even if the calibration period (2006–2010) was more humid than long-term average, the watershed is sensitive to the monsoon inter-annual variability with water-stress during the dry years and an associated loss in agricultural production. The impact of these dry years is spatially variable with higher vulnerability for sub-basins having proportionally larger irrigated paddy areas, lower groundwater resource, and/or lower recharge potential (i.e., due to land use and repartition of percolation tanks). The scope for additional recharge by means of managed aquifer recharge structures is limited and demand-side management measures are needed to mitigate pumping. A wishful management objective may be to see groundwater reserves as a supplementary resource in case of monsoon failure and not as the main water resource to be used indiscriminately. SWAT proved to be an adequate modeling framework for the simulation of water resource in semi-arid hard-rock context where groundwater vertical fluxes largely prevail over regional lateral flows at km-scale. It provides interesting capabilities for water availability mapping and the simulation of different types of scenarios (e.g., land use changes, climate change).

Searching for simplified farmers' crop choice models for integrated watershed management in Thailand: A data mining approach

This study used the C4.5 data mining algorithm to model farmers' crop choice in two watersheds in Thailand. Previous attempts in the Integrated Water Resource Assessment and Management Project to model farmers' crop choice produced large sets of decision rules. In order to produce simplified models of farmers' crop choice, data mining operations were applied for each soil series in the study areas. The resulting decision trees were much smaller in size. Land type, water availability, tenure, capital, labor availability as well as non-farm and livestock income were found to be important considerations in farmers' decision models. Profitability was also found important although it was represented in approximate ranges. Unlike the general wisdom on farmers' crop choice, these decision trees came with threshold values and sequential order of the important variables. The decision trees were validated using the remaining unused set of data, and their accuracy in predicting farmers' decisions was around 84%. Because of their simple structure, the decision trees produced in this study could be useful to analysts of water resource management as they can be integrated with biophysical models for sustainable watershed management.

A Biophysical Toolbox for assessment and management of land and water resources in rural catchments in Northern Thailand

With rapid intensification of agricultural catchments in Northern Thailand a suite of environmental issues has surfaced. The Integrated Water Resources Assessment and Management (IWRAM) project was instigated in response to these issues. The project developed a Decision Support System (DSS) for the exploration of biophysical and socio-economic impacts of water resource use options. The IWRAM-DSS is comprised of a ‘Biophysical Toolbox’ that can be implemented alone and an ‘Integrated Toolbox’ that links socio-economic models with the Biophysical Toolbox to explore economic trade-offs and impacts of various scenarios. The Biophysical Toolbox is comprised of three modules—the CATCHCROP crop model, a hydrologic module based upon the IHACRES rainfall-runoff model, and a Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) approach modified to suit conditions in Northern Thailand. This paper describes the Biophysical Toolbox and runs forest conversion, land management, and climate scenarios to demonstrate the potential of this tool in exploring the environmental effects of land and water management options.

Assessment of nitrogen leaching from arable land in large river basins: Part II: regionalisation using fuzzy rule based modelling

This study deals with fuzzy rule based modelling of nitrogen (N)-leaching from arable land. Main purpose is the elaboration of a method, which allows dynamical regionalisation of results from process-based models for large regions and can be efficiently included in metamodels or decision support systems for rapid integrated assessment of water resources. The paper is the second part of a two-part paper. In the first paper the distributed ecohydrological model SWIM had been applied to calculate and analyse nitrogen dynamics in arable soils for a set of representative natural and management conditions in the Saale River basin (Ecol. Model. (in press)). Here, in the second paper the results from those simulation experiments are used to define, train and validate fuzzy rule systems for the estimation of N-leaching. Nine fuzzy rule systems, specific for nine soil classes, were created from the simulation experiments, representing the conditions for the whole Saale River basin. The fuzzy rule systems operate on monthly time steps and consist of 15 rules and seven input variables each, which are compiled from time series of precipitation, percolation and evapotranspiration as well as from information about fertilizer and crop specific nitrogen uptake. Simulated annealing as a non-linear discrete optimisation method is used for automatic rule assessment. Validation of the fuzzy rule systems, carried out by split sampling of 30-year simulation period, shows satisfactory performance on an annual basis and good performance on the long-term basis with average correlation between SWIM-simulated and fuzzy rule-estimated N-leaching values of 0.78 and 0.94, respectively.

CATCHCROP: modeling crop yield and water demand for integrated catchment assessment in Northern Thailand

As part of an Integrated Water Resource Assessment and Management project (IWRAM) in Northern Thailand, a Decision Support System is being constructed in order to provide guidelines for crop diversification and water allocation. The IWRAM software integrates a crop model with hydrological and economic models. Presented here is the integrated crop model, called CATCHCROP, which is capable of simulating yield response to water deficit and fertility depletion. External and internal constraints have largely influenced the model construction. Paucity of observed data and its reliability required the use of conceptual and recognized algorithms. Linkages with the economic and hydrological models led to the choice of a 10-days time step. The stand-alone version of the model has been tested against available data sets coming from two small catchments. First results are fairly satisfactory but it is acknowledged that this kind of integrated model should not be used at the farm plot level to assess cropping practices.

Regionalisation of the base flow index from dynamically simulated flow components — a case study in the Elbe River Basin

This study investigates possibilities for the regionalisation of flow components within large river basins. One main purpose is the derivation of an empirical relationship for the estimation of the average base flow index (i.e. the ratio of base flow to total flow, BFI), which can be included into simplified models in form of decision support systems aimed at rapid integrated water resources assessment. Based on results from the hydrological models ARC/EGMO and HBV in 25 mesoscale sub basins of the macroscale Elbe River Basin, the modelled BFI is regionalised for the whole German part of the Elbe Basin, divided into 114 subbasins. For regionalisation of the average BFI multiple regression (MREG) and two geostatistical approaches (ordinary kriging (OK) and external drift kriging (EDK)) are applied using different physical catchment attributes and observed climate data as independent variables. The average base flow index is strongly related to topographical, pedological, hydrogeological and precipitation characteristics and less influenced by land cover/land use properties of the catchments. As indicated by cross validations, both EDK and MREG are suitable for regionalising the BFI with coefficients of determination of 0.80 and 0.77, respectively. Furthermore, the plausibility of the estimated BFI values is shown by comparisons with parameters calculated from statistical and fractal analysis of daily flow time series, which represent a strong relation to the regionalised BFI values.