Water Shortage Problems Research Articles

Plant Water Use Efficiency for a Sustainable Agricultural Development

The rising shortage of water resources worldwide in crop-producing regions and the need for irrigation optimisation call for sustainable water savings. That is, the allocation of irrigation water will be an ever-increasing source of pressure because of vast agricultural demands under changing climatic conditions. Consequently, irrigation has to be closely linked with water-use efficiency with the aim of boosting productivity and improving food quality, singularly in those regions where problems of water shortages or collection and delivery are widespread. The present Special Issue (SI) contains 19 original contributions addressing water-use efficiency under challenging topic of sustainable irrigation management to meet water scarcity conditions. These papers cover a wide range of subjects, including (i) interaction mineral nutrition and irrigation in horticultural crops, (ii) sustainable irrigation in woody fruit crops, (iii) medicinal plants, (iv) industrial crops, and (v) others devoted to remote sensing techniques and crop water requirements, genotypes for drought tolerance, and agricultural management platform. The studies have been carried out in both field and laboratory surveys, as well as modelling studies, and a wide range of geographic regions are also covered. The collection of these manuscripts presented in this SI updates and provides a relevant knowledge contribution for efficient saving water resources.

Highly-performance polyimide as an efficient photothermal material for solar-driven water evaporation

Solar interfacial evaporation, as an efficient sustainable technology for clean water production, is conducive to mitigate the problem of global water shortage. The development of highly efficient photothermal materials, however, remains a challenge. In this work, we report a photothermal material of polyimide (PI) coupled with carbon nanotube (CNT). The PI is synthesized from in-house diaminocyanostyrene and commercial pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDA) to absorb UV and visible light. The CNT complementarily absorbs NIR light in the solar spectrum. Upon integration with glutaraldehyde crosslinked cellulose (G-CNF) as the waterway and polyurethane (PU) as the heat insulation layer, the PI/CNT-based three-dimension (3D) interfacial steam generator exhibits high solar energy absorption efficiency. The steam evaporator shows a water evaporation rate of 1.58 kg m−2 h−1 and high stability against salinity and pH variations, providing a potential portable technology for water purification.

Validation of Recycled Nanofiltration and Anion-Exchange Membranes for the Treatment of Urban Wastewater for Crop Irrigation.

One of the alternative sources to tackle the problem of water shortage is the use of reclaimed water from wastewater treatment plants for irrigation purposes. However, when the wastewater has a high conductivity value, it becomes unusable for crop irrigation and needs a more specific treatment. In this work, recycled nanofiltration (rNF) membranes and anion-exchange membranes (rAEMs) obtained from end-of-life RO membranes were validated to evaluate their application capability in saline wastewater treatment. The use of recycled membranes may represent an advantage due to their lower cost and reduced environmental impact associated with their production, which integrates membrane-based technology into a circular economy model. Both recycled membranes were tested in crossflow filtration and electrodialysis (ED) systems. The results of the rNF membrane showed a high selective rejection of divalent ions (SO42− (>96%) and Ca2+ and Mg2+ (>93%)). In the case of the ED process, the comparison between rAEMs and commercial membranes showed an appropriate demineralization rate without compromising the power consumption. Finally, the quality of both system effluents was suitable for irrigation, which was compared to the WHO guideline and validated by the 7-week lettuce crop study.

Analysis and Evaluation of Variation Characteristics in Groundwater Resources Carrying Capacity in Beijing between 2010 and 2020

The problems of water shortages and groundwater overexploitation are serious in Beijing. Resources are over-exploited to meet the industrial needs of various sectors, and the capacity of groundwater resources to support economic development is also reduced. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the evaluation of regional groundwater resources carrying capacity from the perspective of time and space. This study evaluates the groundwater resource carrying capacity of Beijing from time and space by using the function between water use efficiency and groundwater availability constructed by regional water supply, consumption data and GDP data. The results show that: The proportion of groundwater in water supply in Beijing has decreased and it was still one of the main sources of water supply from 2010 to 2020. From the perspective of time, when the degree of groundwater exploitation (De) was greater than 1, the contribution rate of exploitation degree of economic development (Dg) reached 60% from 2010 to 2015, indicating that the economic development of Beijing is highly dependent on groundwater resources. From 2015 to 2020, the De was less than 1, but the Dg value kept increasing and approaching 90% and the total overload rate was 81.8%. The supporting capacity of groundwater resources will become more fragile. At the spatial scale, only the Dongcheng and the Xicheng regions were overloaded whose rates were 58.48% and 69.92%. The research shows that the degree of groundwater exploitation has approached the saturation state, the economic development is highly dependent on groundwater resources and there is a large space for water saving. Improving the utilization efficiency of water resources cannot improve the carrying capacity of groundwater resources, so it is still necessary to increase the amount of groundwater resources by recharging the groundwater through a series of comprehensive over-exploitation control measures, which is of great significance to the management and sustainable development of regional groundwater.

Water Conservation and Environmental Sustainability from a Community Clinical Psychological Perspective

This study was carried out as a part of the international cooperation project “Agua Futura” for the improvement of water resource management in rural communities of Central America. Given the problem of water shortage, especially in El Salvador, the aim was to detect some key factors affecting water conservation and environmental sustainability from a community clinical psychological perspective. Ninety rural inhabitants (mean age = 46.84, SD = 17.05) of El Salvador were given a structured interview exploring their symbolizations about water conservation. Data were analyzed through computer-assisted thematic analysis, then complemented by a qualitative analysis. Several themes were identified highlighting some differences regarding the emotional salience given to water resources as a primary good, the sense of responsibility for the sustainability of water resources at the community level, as well as diverse motivations and purposes affecting water use in households. The findings support the role of emotions, representations about others’ attitudes, and defenses against vulnerability and future uncertainty about water shortage. Additionally, the shift between an individualist or collectivist perspective underlying the decision to preserve water resources represents a significant matter to be taken into account for the understanding of effective pro-environmental behaviors in the long run.

3D-printed spider-web structures for highly efficient water collection

Fog and moisture in nature are important freshwater resources, and the collection of these fog water is of great significance to arid regions. Inspired by the unique geometric structure of the spindle knot on spider silk, artificial fibers with periodic structures have been fabricated for water collection, which can effectively alleviate the problem of water shortage in arid areas. Traditional manufacturing methods are difficult to replicate the true shape of the spindle knot, and related research has encountered a bottleneck in improving water collection efficiency. 3D printing technology, which is different from traditional subtractive manufacturing, can directly replicate spider silk with periodic knots, making it possible to study water collection by artificial spider webs of various designs. Here, 3D printing technology is used to fabricate artificial spider webs with different geometric structures for efficient transportation and collection of water. In addition, the artificial spider web is treated with hydrophilic surfaces. In the humid environment for 2 h, the spider web with convex-concave multi-size spindle knots and multi-curvature connections has a maximum water collection capacity of 6.2g, and the mass of water collection is 35% higher than the existing best water collection artificial fibers. This work provides a sustainable and environmentally friendly route for the effective collection of humid air, and has certain reference value for the development of environmentally friendly water collection equipment.

Enhanced Contactless Salt-Collecting Solar Desalination.

Solar desalination is expected to solve the problem of global water shortage. Yet its stability is plagued by salt accumulation. Here, a paper-based thermal radiation-enabled evaporation system (TREES) is demonstrated to achieve sustainable and highly efficient salt-collecting desalination, featuring a dynamic evaporation front based on the accumulated salt layer where water serves as its own absorber via energy down-conversion. When processing 7 wt % brine, it continuously evaporates water at a high rate─2.25 L m-2 h-1 under 1 sun illumination─which is well beyond the input solar energy limit for over 366 h. It is revealed that such enhanced evaporation arises from the unique vertical evaporation wall of the paper-TREES, which captures the thermal energy from the heated bottom efficiently and gains extra energy from the warmer environment. These findings provide novel insights into the design of next-generation salt-harvesting solar evaporators and take a step further to advance their applications in green desalination.

Efficient direction-independent fog harvesting using a corona discharge device with a multi-electrode structure

Efficient collection of water from fog can effectively alleviate the problem of water shortages in foggy but water-scarce areas, such as deserts, islands and so on. Unlike inefficient fog meshes, corona discharge can charge water droplets and further enhance the water-collecting effect. This study proposes a novel multi-electrode collecting structure that can achieve efficient and direction-independent water collection from fog. The multi-electrode structure consists of three parts: a charging electrode, an intercepting electrode and a ground electrode. Four types of water-collecting structures are compared experimentally, and the collection rates from a traditional fog mesh, a wire-mesh electrode with fog coming from a high-voltage electrode, a wire-mesh electrode with fog coming from a ground electrode and a multi-electrode structure are 2–3 g h−1, 100–120 g h−1, 60–80 g h−1 and 200–220 g h−1, respectively. The collection rate of the multi-electrode structure is 100‒150 times that of a traditional fog mesh and 2–4 times that of a wire-mesh electrode. These results demonstrate the superiority of the multi-electrode structure in fog collection. In addition, the motion equation of charged droplets in an electric field is also derived, and the optimization strategy of electrode spacing is also discussed. This structure can be applied not only to fog collection, but also to air purification, factory waste gas treatment and other fields.

Research on Water Rights Allocation of Coordinated Development on Water–Ecology–Energy–Food

Water rights trading is an important way to solve the problem of water shortage by market mechanism. The allocation of water rights among ecological water, energy water, and grain planting water are the basis of the regional water rights trade. In this paper, the concept of coordinated development of water–ecology–energy–food is proposed. We build a water rights allocation model with fairness, efficiency, and coordinated development as the goal, to achieve water security for various industries. Taking Yinchuan city as an example, the results showed that compared with the current water rights the water rights of life increased by 1.07%, the water rights of ecology increased by 1.85%, the water rights of energy industry decreased by 1.09%, the water rights of food planting decreased by 3.27%, the water rights of other agriculture increased by 0.83%, and the water rights of the general industry increased by 0.65%. After the allocation of water rights, the cooperativity of water–ecology–energy–food increased by 7.56%, and the total value of water resources in various industries increased by 2.31 × 108 CNY. A new water rights allocation model is developed in this paper, which can provide a reference for the allocation of water rights among regional industries.

WATER SOURCES IN CYRENAICA IN THE GREEK AND ROMAN PERIODS. TECHNOLOGY AND USE

This study identifies the most important methods the Greeks and Romans used to solve water shortages and how they developed irrigation and agricultural systems attested by archaeological remains and classical writers. We can benefit from those methods in the modern era to develop agriculture and renew interest in agricultural products that the region was famous for, many of which have now disappeared. The researcher used a descriptive and analytical approach based on collecting information written by classical writers on water resources and agriculture in the region, and recent studies on the development of ancient irrigation systems. The researcher also conducted field studies in Cyrenaica to identify the most important sources of water in each region and the methods the inhabitants used to solve the water shortage problem.

Chemical Regulation Effect of Water Use Efficiency of Maize Intercropping

In order to solve the practical problems of large water demand and shortage of water resources in traditional wheat/maize intercropping, a planting method of changing stubble retention method is proposed in this paper. This method was used to study the effects of three stubble retention methods of traditional wheat straw incineration, straw return, and straw stubble on grain yield, water use efficiency (WUE), and economic benefits of wheat/maize intercropping. The results showed that, compared with the grain yield of burning and returning, the single cropping of wheat increased by 7.2% and 5.1%, the intercropping of wheat increased by 6.2% and 5.1%, the single cropping of corn increased by 4.7% and 2.5%, and the intercropping of corn increased by 7.2% and 3.3%, respectively; compared with the burned and returned WUE, wheat monoculture increased by 20.4% and 16.2%, respectively, wheat intercropping increased by 17.9% and 14.6%, respectively, corn monoculture increased by 16.7% and 10.9%, respectively, and corn intercropping increased by 11.8% and 17.0%, respectively. In terms of the average value of monoculture wheat, monoculture corn, and wheat/corn, the net benefits of incineration, turning, and stubble treatment are 10946, 11471, and 13454 yuan • hm−2, respectively. Considering the grain yield, water use efficiency, and net income, the standing stubble planting mode is the best planting mode of wheat/maize in this area.

Discovering the impact of farmer field schools on the adoption of environmental-friendly technology

Excessive use of irrigation and fertilizers aggravates water shortage and challenges environmental sustainability. Although environment friendly technologies save water and fertilizer, yet their adoption rate remains low. One possible reason for this is the lack information about them, which necessitates effective information-delivering agricultural extension modes. Using data from 274 tomato and cucumber farm households in Beijing, this study examined the effect of farmer field schools (FFS) on promoting the adoption of environment friendly irrigation and fertilization technologies. We found evidence that FFS training significantly increases the adoption rate of environment friendly irrigation and fertilization technologies. The results suggest that the FFS program is an effective approach to extend environment friendly irrigation technologies to partially solve the problem of water shortage and nitrate leaching. We propose extending the FFS program to fields other than integrated pest management.

Recent insights into greywater treatment: a comprehensive review on characteristics, treatment technologies, and pollutant removal mechanisms.

With the rapid socio-economic and industrial development, the problem of water shortage is becoming increasingly serious. Seeking alternative water sources to reduce the need for freshwater resources is an increasing concern. Household greywater production is high and accounts for about 50-80% of domestic wastewater. In recent years, the in situ treatment and reuse of greywater have received widespread attention. Treated greywater can be used for non-potable purposes such as toilet flushing and irrigation, which can greatly reduce the pressure of freshwater resource shortage. This paper reviews the sources and characteristics of greywater and analyzes its quantity and quality. In addition, this paper outlines and summarizes various greywater treatment technologies commonly used, including physical, biological, and chemical treatment technologies, as well as combination technologies. Understanding the mechanisms of contaminant removal is essential for effective greywater treatment. While discussing different treatment technologies, we focus on the removal mechanisms of pollutants from greywater, including organics, nutrients, surfactants, and emerging contaminants. Finally, future perspectives on greywater management and reuse are presented. Through a comprehensive review, we expect that this review will help the reader to better understand the characteristics of greywater and to more rationally select the appropriate treatment technology based on the removal mechanism of pollutants.

A reliable GIS-based FAHP-FTOPSIS model to prioritize urban water supply management scenarios: A case study in semi-arid climate

• Developed a GIS-based-MCDM method to select optimum urban water management scenario. • The paper considers triangular fuzzy sets to reduce uncertainty in decision-making. • The developed model is robust and flexible to manage required urban water demands. • A hydrologic model utilizing WEAP is designed to assess the developed model scenarios. The growing problem of urban water shortage and its sustainable management methods is one of today's critical research needs globally. This paper applies an integration of the Geographic Information System (GIS) and Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) with the help of triangular fuzzy sets to manage urban water supply priorities in a semi-arid region. Hence, a group decision-making approach was proposed by combining the Fuzzy AHP (FAHP) and the Fuzzy TOPSIS (FTOPSIS) models based on quantitative and qualitative criteria. Therefore, a hierarchical model-based GIS and AHP was developed to classify the effective criteria and determine the Importance Weights (IWs) of criteria according to the experts’ opinions and using data layers based on spatial criteria. The priority ranking of scenarios was obtained using the FTOPSIS method. Different criteria such as environmental, geographical, geological, economic, climatic, and social conditions were considered in this study. Furthermore, to assess the water supply scenarios under the essential water demands of the basin cities and suburbs, a hydrologic model utilizing WEAP software was designed. Among the considered criteria, total expense, climatic conditions, and geographic conditions with the IWs values of 0.9, 0.85, and 0.83 were determined as the most effective criteria for evaluating the scenarios' ranking, respectively.

Scrutinizing Famine Disaster Based On Rainfall Trend Investigation (A Case Study of Khorasan Razavi Province)

Rainfall is one of the most important components of the hydrological cycle. The importance of rainfall in arid and semi-arid regions is more apparent. Due to the important role of rainfall trend assessment in the proper management of water resources, in the present study, Khorasan Razavi province, the second-most populous province of Iran located in the northeast of the country, for this purpose was studied. Currently, this region is facing water shortage problems. In this study, the non-parametric Mann-Kendall method was used to evaluate the annual rainfall trend over a thirty-year period from 1989 to 2019. On the other hand, Sen's slope estimator method was used to determine the magnitude of the rainfall trend in the studied synoptic and rain gauge stations. The results showed that the root of water shortage problems is not due to drastic changes in rainfall. Therefore, water shortage problems in Khorasan Razavi province are mainly due to a lack of proper management (i.e., mismanagement). The present study, by examining the rainfall trend using an appropriate framework, tried to take an effective step towards improving the management of water resources in the northeast of Iran.

Experimental investigation of hydrophobic bentonite effects on reducing evaporation from water surfaces

Abstract In recent years, due to the occurrence of water shortage and drought problems, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions of the world, new methods to reduce evaporation from the surface of dam reservoirs, lakes, and other water-free surfaces are investigated. This study aimed to use hydrophobic bentonite to reduce water evaporation from water surfaces, on a laboratory scale, and field conditions for the first time. Bentonite initially became hydrophobic by stearic acid (SA). Under such conditions, hydrophobic bentonite floats on the surface of water and forms a thin coating layer. The produced hydrophobic bentonite had a contact angle of 150°, indicating its superhydrophobicity. Evaporation reduction was measured under laboratory and field conditions and it was compared to hexadecanol as the reference material. The results demonstrated that the hydrophobic bentonite efficiency under laboratory conditions was similar to that of hexadecanol and prevented water evaporation by 36%. However, under field conditions, hydrophobic bentonite and hexadecanol efficiencies were 40% and 23% to reduce evaporation for 30 days, respectively. In terms of stability, hexadecanol needed to be re-injected after three days, while hydrophobic bentonite was stable and remained on the surface for more than 100 days under laboratory conditions and for more than 15 days under field conditions without needing re-injection. This coverage with method can be used to reduce evaporation from lakes, tanks, and reservoirs of small dams.

Climate Vulnerability Assessment and Building Community Resiliency at Kalaskati Union, Bakerganj

Bangladesh is frequently cited as a country that is extremely vulnerable to climate change. Socioeconomic sectors like agriculture and fishing are more climate-sensitive in the country. These climate change impacts are extremely detrimental to the economy, the environment, and the social development of the people in the study area. To complete the objectives, both qualitative and quantitative data have been collected through questionnaire surveys, photography, and observation methods, and those data have been involved with primary and secondary data collected from the community, government, and NGO officials. To conduct the survey for the research, the total sample size was 100. From the study, different climate vulnerabilities like 38% cyclone, 46% river-bank erosion, 41% flood, 36% seasonal change are severely noticed and 43% moderate condition of drought affects the socio-economic conditions. 84% of people faced problems in crop production and 75% changed their lifestyle due to irregular events. Consequently, most poor families experienced food insecurity, health problems, water shortage, and hygiene problems. Damaged infrastructure also hampered earnings and production. People try to control the situations and approve a diversity of options and technologies to adapt to the climate change impacts in the area. The government and different NGOs actively perform adaptation practices for building disaster resiliency. Union Disaster Management Committee serves resilience activities such as disseminating early warnings among the community during cyclones. NGOs help to build cooperative agricultural farms and inspire local people to engage in aforestation, balancing the local climate. Using developed seeds of vegetables and food crops, changing cropping patterns, using organic fertilizer to improve soil fertility instead of chemical fertilizers, and irrigating vegetables and some crops for increasing productivity. The community people in the study area recommended increasing climate-resilient activities through community participation and enhancement of their capacity.

Intelligent fuzzy decision‐making system of afforestation in new cities: A case study of the New Administrative Capital, Egypt

• Afforestation in new cities will be conducive to the improvement of overall energy. • Sustainable criteria are considered for decision-making. • Fuzzy AHP was applied to obtain the criteria weights. • Fuzzy TOPSIS of Alternatives was used to recommend suitable trees and plants. • A case study is proposed to illustrate the rationality of the proposed approach. The scarcity of water resources, economic development, and environmental protection are the most important challenges facing governments in dry areas. Proper and legalized new city afforestation projects can achieve maximum economic, environmental, and societal benefit. Therefore, afforestation projects are one of the most important elements of land uses in new cities for their effective role in addressing and reducing the number of negatives associated with urban growth. The problem of water shortage in the process of afforestation of new cities can be faced with several solutions, the most important of which is relying on planting drought-tolerant trees and plants. However, how to plan and select trees and plants to achieve desired goals is an important policy-making problem. This study evaluates four categories, and each category consists of a group of trees and plants that can be planted through a case study in the New Administrative Capital, Egypt. A hybrid fuzzy approach was introduced in which participants could use verbal expressions to express their opinions in decision-making to determine criteria that influence the selection of plants and trees. Many criteria must be taken into consideration in the evaluation process, including economic importance, societal importance, environmental importance, soil strategies, disease and pest resistance, and water-saving. Hence, this study uses a fuzzy hybrid multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach that considers many incompatible criteria. At first, the Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) method was applied to estimate the relative importance of the six selected criteria. Then, the Fuzzy Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (FTOPSIS) method was applied to arrange the trees and plants of the four selected categories. Sensitivity analysis was carried out to validate the validity and stability of the hybrid fuzzy approach through the change in the weights of the criteria. The results of this paper provide a practical reference for optimizing afforestation and selecting suitable trees and plants to achieve a profitable pattern through economic, societal, and environmental aspects in new cities and dry areas.

Atmospheric Water Generator

Abstract: An Atmospheric Water Generator is a device which is extracts water vapor from the humid air. By using different dehumidification technique. the water vapor accumulated then water is then filtered and purified through several filters including carbon, and reverse osmosis, and UV sterilization lights. The result is pure drinking water from the air. an Atmospheric Water Generator Works on the same principle as a refrigerators and air conditioners i.e on the principle of vapor compression refrigeration. in atmospheric water generator air passing through evaporator coil which temperature maintain below dew point temperature of water by vapour compression refrigeration method air condenses to to dew point temperature water vapor separate from air then collected water vapor is passed through a filtration system and it is then stored in a tank. The major aim or objective of our project is to provide safe and clean drinking water to those areas which are facing water shortage problems or where water transportation through regular means is expensive (especially rural areas). Our project hopes to reduce this problem by providing an atmospheric water generator that will run via bicycle-gear arrangement or stand-alone renewable source of energy i.e either solar or wind.

Advancement of the Qianyanzhou Mode in the New Period

In the early 1980s, to control soil and water loss in the rainy season and problems of water shortages in the dry season in the red soil hilly region of central Jiangxi, the academician team of Li Wenhua from Qianyanzhou Station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences proposed a comprehensive muti-dimensional agriculture development mode known as the “Qianyanzhou Mode”. Since then, models for the forest-livestock-food ecosystem, forest-fruit-economy ecosystem, and land-water compound muti-dimensional system and others have been tested, demonstrated, promoted and used to solve major issues in ecological restoration and agricultural production. With the dawn of the new era, the Qianyanzhou Mode is being given new connotations. In order to reduce the use of pesticides and eliminate the use of antibiotics for improving the quality of agricultural products, increasing farmers' income, and assisting in strategies for rural vitalization, Qianyanzhou Station is currently focusing on the development of experiments and demonstrations of green agricultural development modes, such as forest-fruit-fowl, hybrid paper mulberry-pig-fruit, grass-sheep(cattle)-fertilizer-fruit, hybrid paper mulberry-fish-goose, paddy-shrimp, and others. The goal of this new effort is to apply the wisdom of Qianyanzhou to the construction of the ecological civilization, including ecological environment protection and the prosperity of farmers in the old revolutionary base areas in central Jiangxi Province.