Water Management Projects Research Articles

Research of Key Technologies on Design and Implementation of Intelligent Pump Station

Abstract With the continuous advancement of technology, intelligent solutions have found widespread applications in various fields, including pump stations in water management projects. This paper focuses on the key technologies involved in intelligent pump station monitoring, control, and operation. The paper takes a pump Station as an example and addresses the problems and current situation in its management. It designs the architecture of an intelligent pump station at three layers: business application, technical methods, and requirements. Solutions are proposed for pump station dispatch and operation, safety management, and engineering maintenance. Finally, by establishing a smart monitoring system based on the five senses and one brain concept and utilizing a dual-factor intelligent verification method in conjunction with digital twin technology. Finally, intelligent management of the pump station is achieved. By exploring these technologies, the paper aims to provide insights into the crucial aspects of designing and implementing intelligent pump stations, thereby facilitating more efficient and intelligent management, control, and operation of water management projects.

WaterpyBal: A comprehensive open-source python library for groundwater recharge assessment and water balance modeling

Water balance modeling is an essential aspect of water management projects. This study presents WaterpyBal, a tool that generates spatial–temporal water balance models, focused on diffused precipitation and recharge modeling. WaterpyBal has flexible input data and modeling time intervals and integrates different stages of the water balance assessment, such as data interpolation and evapotranspiration and infiltration calculations, while taking into account soil characteristics and urban water cycle. WaterpyBal calculates water budget parameters such as recharge, deficit, and runoff and can be used to create maps, datasheets, and raster archives. WaterpyBal has a modular design that ensures its further development. This Python library is accompanied by the WaterpyBal Studio, a graphic user interface that facilitates the usage of WaterpyBal in water management projects. The functionality of WaterpyBal is demonstrated using a synthetic example. In essence, WaterpyBal supports sustainable groundwater management projects and ensures reproducible research results in these environmental fields.

The Use of Artificial Intelligence in Water Management Projects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

This paper investigates the potential for utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to improve water distribution management in Saudi Arabia. With increasing population and water scarcity, there is a need for more efficient water management. The paper reviews successful applications of AI and internet of things (IoT) in water distribution in other countries, in order to identify best practices that could be applied in Saudi Arabia. Challenges such as lack of infrastructure, data, human capabilities, and regulations are discussed. Findings indicate that AI and IoT can reduce water waste, leaks, and costs, but an adequate infrastructure and vision are needed.

Spatial Distribution and Accessibility Evaluation of National Water Parks in China

A water park is a nature-based site along a river or water management project that plays a vital role in protecting the local ecological system and providing water recreation, making it an essential component of China’s ecological and ecotourism security strategy. This study sought to portray the distribution of China’s 878 National Water Parks (NWPs) and to visualize the pattern of accessibility for NWP resources by the gravity-2SFCA method. The investigation produced the following findings: (1) The national-scale pattern of ecotourism and water recreation can be revealed by the distribution of NWPs, which were concentrated on the eastern side of the “Hu Line” but were dispersed on the western side. (2) NWPs can function as detectors of various endowment and management modes of basin-scaled water resources through the relationship between different categories of NWPs and their locations, which can provide guidance for regional planners. (3) The accessibility of NWPs is an effective indicator for revealing spatial disparity between the supply of NWP resources and the population distribution. Then, the general NWP development strategy can be made based on a hot-spot visualization analysis of accessibility patterns.

Risk Management of Methane Reduction Clean Development Mechanism Projects in Rice Paddy Fields

Agriculture accounts for the largest share of anthropogenic methane emissions. Rice paddy fields emit a significant amount of methane gas worldwide. Changing paddy water management practices has an enormous potential to reduce greenhouse gases. The clean development mechanism (CDM) project uses a market mechanism to reduce methane through private participation. There are various risks associated with private investment in CDM projects, although carbon credits as an economic incentive assist in mitigating some of these risks. Farmer participation plays a key role in the success of paddy water management projects in rural areas; however, despite the significant potential to reduce global methane emissions, very few projects have been implemented. When designing a Sustainable Development Mechanism (SDM) system, it is crucial to understand why the market mechanism in the existing CDM projects has failed. This study identifies and categorizes the risks and barriers to paddy water management in CDM projects and analyzes risk management options in CDM projects in India, Indonesia, and Mozambique. The results of this study showed that aside from economic risks, barriers to the application of technology in the field pose critical risks. The lack of knowledge and implementation experiences in rural areas increases barriers to practice. This in turn causes risk of difficulties in technology transfer which can be alleviated by improving awareness and introducing new knowledge through education and training in rural project implementation. Additionally, we highlight the importance of international efforts to build governance between the private and public sectors and promote technology transfers through multi-stakeholder engagement. This study provides specific information to encourage methane reduction worldwide and vitalize rice paddy water management in carbon reduction projects.

Lysine Crosslinked Polyacrylamide─A Novel Green Polymer Gel for Preferential Flow Control.

Acrylamide-based polymer gels have been applied to control the preferential flow in the subsurface for decades. However, some commonly used crosslinkers, such as Cr (III) and phenol-formaldehyde, are highly toxic and are being phased out because of stringent environmental regulations. This work uses l-lysine as the green crosslinker to produce acrylamide-based polymer gels. This article systematically studied the effect of lysine and polymer concentration, salinity, pH, and temperature on gelation behavior and thermal stability. Besides, the gelation mechanism and crosslinking density were elucidated in this work. A high-permeability sandstone core was used to test the plugging efficiency of this novel green gel system. This polyacrylamide/lysine system has a controllable gelation time. It can form gels at temperatures higher than 80 °C, with the gelation time from hours to days, and the elastic modulus of the gel can reach over 400 Pa. In addition, the crosslinked gels have been stable at 80 to 130 °C for over 200 days. This novel gel system could decrease rock permeability by over 1000 times. Besides, the Frrw is two times higher than the Frro, confirming that the current gel system can reduce the permeability to water more than that to oil. As a green gel system, this novel polymer gel system could replace the current toxic gel systems for the preferential fluid control for water management projects in oil and gas reservoirs, enhanced geothermal systems, and carbon capture and sequestration projects.

Hydrological regime of the transboundary Uldza River and terminal Torey Lakes under conditions of anthropogenic impact

Aim. Assess the change in the hydrological regime of the Torey Lakes based on a probabilistic forecast of the parameters of the water balance of these reservoirs, taking into account anthropogenic influence.Material and Methods. The study used materials from the state observation network of Roshydromet, Earth remote sensing data, research materials from scientific organisations and other sources of information that are in the public domain. Methods of statistical data analysis, mathematical modeling, hydrological calculations, including the water balance method and methods of processing and decoding satellite information were used.Results. With the implementation of the planned water management project, accompanied by additional non‐returnable water consumption in Mongolia, the consequences for the water regime of the Torey Lakes can be significant, especially in the low‐water phase of the water cycle, when the level decrease in the Barun‐Torey Lake will average 70 cm and in Zun‐ Torey – 80 cm. Through this project, the faster drying of the lakes, on average 2–3 years earlier, will be avoided.Conclusions. The ecological systems of the Dauria region are characterized by a process of cyclic succession and are mainly adapted to the contemporary climatic moisture cycle. For these ecosystems, any changes in external factors are fundamentally important, since they can lead to the irreversibility of natural processes. Based on the results obtained in this study, it is possible to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the anthropogenic impact on the state of the Torey Lakes and nearby ecosystems.

On Lessons from Water Recharge Projects in Mexico: Science-Policy Collaboration and Stakeholder Participation

Analyzing collaborative practices among water governance institutions is key to generating timely information for stakeholders, policymakers, and researchers -as these are rethinking their goals and network structures to find the most productive avenues for collective work. This study draws on existing collaboration theories to characterize and analyze science-policy interactions between researchers, water managers, non-governmental organizations, and consultants who have participated or currently participate in water management and recharge projects in Mexico. We sampled 70 people that had worked or are working on water recharge projects in eight Mexican states in three broad regions: Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Sonora (northern); Estado de Mexico, San Luis Potosí, Mexico City (central); and Oaxaca (southern). Participants represented research institutions, non-governmental organizations, universities, federal, state, and municipal governments, and consultants. The data were collected using a mixed-methods approach (i.e., semi-structured interviews; online surveys). We identified science-policy interactions between researchers, policymakers, and non-governmental organizations critical to effectively developing and implementing water recharge projects. Our results find that trust and stakeholder participation are the most critical elements for building collaborative relationships. Finding ways to supersede structural challenges and promote science-policy collaboration among sectors and interagency with water management responsibilities will help achieve environmental and policy goals and increase water recharge development across Mexico.

Influence of Knowledge and Skills among residents in Kibra Intergrated water, sanitation and waste management project on the wellbeing of Soweto East Residents, Nairobi, Kenya

The study sought out to determine the influence of knowledge and skills among residents in integrated water management influenced on the wellbeing of Soweto East residents in Kibra, Nairobi County. Apart from intense overcrowding, lack of proper and adequate infrastructure, housing and poor sanitation worsened by open sewages and lack of drainage systems have characterized Kibra slums for years. In addition, a series of factors including very low incomes, irregular employment, lack of secure land tenure or collateral, and lack of property and informational records prevent Kibra households from accessing loans to finance construction projects, housing improvements or home purchases. To address these problems, Government of Kenya (GoK) and UN-Habitat instituted Kibra Integrated Water, Sanitation and Waste Management Project (WATSAN) in Soweto East to support small-scale community-based initiatives in water, sanitation and waste management as an entry point, while also aiming at improving the livelihoods of people living in Soweto East. Study sought to examine the extent to which the Project has been successful in enhancing well-being of Soweto East residents. The study employed descriptive survey research design since it’s most suited when conducting research study to a large population. The sample frame for this study comprised of 980 households from 6400 beneficiaries from Soweto East. The study sample size was 90 respondents distributed randomly among beneficiaries’ households. Data collection was done using questionnaires and was thereafter analyzed quantitatively using SPSS version 20 as a tool and presented in form of frequencies, pie-charts, tables, and graphs. The study found out that knowledge and skills had a positive effect on the wellbeing of Soweto East residents in Kibra, Nairobi County. The study thus concludes that having proper knowledge and skills of water and waste management will translate to improved wellbeing of the slum dwellers. This is because, improvement of all aspects of the environment including sanitation and hygiene requires that the community has proper education and awareness, and these cannot be reached without the proper co-operation from the slum dwellers. The study recommends the need to facilitate stakeholder interaction by encouraging community-based institutions such as women groups, youth groups, Community Development Associations, traditional councils, Water and Sanitation Committees (WASHCOMs) and other identified interest groups. There is also need to educate the residents to enhance awareness on the effects of poor waste and sanitation practices and benefits of KWATSAN. The study further recommends successful enforcement procedures to safeguard efficient waste gathering and dumping.

A concept of Technological and Managerial Complexity of Project Management in Khyber Pakhtoonkhawa, Pakistan

Purpose: The study aims as an engineering example of a single-objective Project Complexities (SOPCs) problem, Water Users Associations (WUAs) of On Farm Water Management (OFWM) and its use for a Project Complexities & Water Management (PCs & WM) model parameters prediction is presented in this study.
 Methodology: A traditional method for WUAs training used herein is the well-known Background ladder method, which uses an umbrella based approach of project application and adaptation to the prevailing scenario and locale to minimize an output error. As a novel approach, umbrella approach of complex project can be used here for the same purpose.
 Findings: It is shown that obtained errors are much lower than the outputs obtained from the Background ladder method. Next, an identification of the integration of complex projects as in David model. This model is a fully three-dimensional approach of Linear, Horizontal and Vertical Project Complexities and Water Management at different combinations of Project Complexities and Water Management along with the development of new model in the shape of Ladder Approach. The first main result is that the Complexities of Complex Projects Can be solved by parallel analysis in reasonable time and locale. The second outcome is the fact that the local minimas of the identified problems can be resolved through Umbrella Approach of Project Application and adoption method as well as statistical analysis. This will also minimize the need of training of locale peoples for a Water Management Project’s work.
 
 

Evaluation of Lesser Zab River Course Change between Dokan and Dibbs Dams (N-Iraq), Using GIS Techniques

The morphology of the lesser Zab River is influenced, by the presence of two dams (Dokan dam and Dibbs dam) that regulates the natural seasonal flows, this will affect the study area infrastructure and it has varied impacts upon water management strategies. Therefore, this study aims to quantify the morphological changes of the river course in the downstream reaches of the Dokan dam using Remote Sensing and GIS techniques using the Digital Elevation Model (DEM 30x30m) for the period from 1980 to 2020. This study shows that the differences in discharge for a long time will affect the distribution of erosion and deposition along the downstream river channel. The river course has been changed slightly at the upper reach of the study area, and the overall change is towards the middle and the lower reaches of the river, showing a gradual increase in the channel length, increasing meandering index, and the formation of alluvium islands at the river meander. Implications of this study could help identify river changes and their influence on the design and planning of water management projects and infrastructure in the area beside the other risks that might arise in terms of hazards such as floods.

Environmental Aspects of the State of African Coastal Territories

To preserve the ecological balance and health of the population of the African continent, it is necessary to maintain the cleanliness of the surrounding rivers, lakes and ocean coasts. Oil production, transportation of oil and petroleum products inevitably lead to pollution of sea waters due to accidents on tankers, equipment breakdowns, and fires. Oceanic coasts are of great importance for the development of the tourism industry, which plays a significant role in the national economies of African countries. However, many coastal areas are contaminated with industrial and household waste, oil refining waste and sewage. As a result of the growth of cities, the increase in the number of urban residents and the development of industry, a huge number of substances that do not decompose naturally is discharged into water sources. Currently, domestic sewage in most coastal cities does not meet modern sanitary requirements, since the repair of old and the laying of new sewage treatment plants require large financial investments. In the interests of nature and human health, a number of international instruments has been adopted prohibiting the import of hazardous and radioactive waste, as well as the dumping or incineration of hazardous waste in the oceans and inland waters on the African continent. In some African countries, periodic clean-up activities are carried out on ocean and river coasts, but they are ad hoc and do not have a decisive impact on the state of contaminated areas. Experts of international environmental organizations have proposed a set of measures for the conservation and rational use of water resources: construction of wastewater treatment plants; mandatory environmental assessment of all major water management projects; development of measures to eliminate possible damage; control of new industrial installations and industrial waste disposal; design and operation of landfills based on reliable hydrogeological information and environmental expertise. However, these regulations are often violated, and solving the problem of coastal water pollution remains a distant prospect.

A GIS-based framework to determine spatially explicit priority categories for flood risk management intervention schemes

Abstract The necessity of plural valuation of costs for flood risk management is widely acknowledged, but practical case studies are still scarce. We developed a GIS-based plural valuation framework to determine spatially explicit priority categories for flood risk management intervention schemes on the Drava River, Southern Hungary. A conventional economic evaluation, including land market prices and additional costs due to legal conservation restrictions, was complemented by ecological valuation of vulnerability. The inclusion of ecological vulnerability significantly changed the proposed priority areas for flood risk management interventions: in this case, softwood riparian forests face far less threat, together with other Natura 2000 habitats, in comparison to unprotected wetlands and grasslands. This valuation framework also highlights priority habitats and areas for joint conservation and water management projects, utilising the synergies between several EU Directives as the Birds Directive, Habitats Directive, Flood Directive, and Water Framework Directive. Our framework is adaptable for the other floodplains along major or medium-sized European rivers, assuming that specific local settings are considered.

In people’s minds and on the ground: Values and power in climate change adaptation

As decisions on climate change adaptation involve stakeholders with different values, beliefs and attitudes (VBA), decision outcomes depend on how stakeholders interact and how power is distributed. In this paper, we explore the VBA of stakeholders involved in three water management projects focusing on dams, micro-reservoirs, or wetlands in a Peruvian watershed facing droughts. We apply a framework with the core ideas of the hydrosocial cycle, the decision context perspective, and the VBA hierarchy to show how stakeholders’ perspectives and power influence practices on the ground. The analysis of VBA reveals three different perspectives on water management held by different stakeholder groups. First, a community-based perspective, frequent among local communities, favors micro-reservoirs managed by communities. Second, an infrastructure-based perspective, frequent among public sector stakeholders, shows a preference for dams managed by the private sector. Third, a nature-based perspective, with a preference for wetlands managed by the public sector, is found across stakeholder groups. In the three water management projects, different power distributions determine which VBA dominate and influence practices on the ground. Dams on the ground represent power from the public and private sectors, while micro-reservoirs represent local grassroot control. In the wetland project, the outcomes of the evolving hydrosocial cycle are still unclear and will depend on how multiple perspectives are considered. Examining and questioning the decision context in which adaptation occurs can help excluded stakeholders achieve more power and agency and tackle the fundamental question of ‘adaptation of what and for whom’.

Fuzzy Multi-Mode Time–Cost–Quality Trade-Off Optimization in Construction Management of Hydraulic Structure Projects

Along with the increased use of water resources, some large water conservancy projects began construction to address power supply shortages and control flooding and drainage. As investment grows, construction cycles lengthen, external environmental impacts become bigger, and civil engineering project management becomes more complex. The real aim of the hydraulic-structure engineering project model is to manage ways of delivering the project on time while maintaining reasonable quality standards and building costs, to optimize project value. We note that the trade-off between conflicting objectives in a water conservancy project in an uncertain environment is a difficult task. To simulate the relationship between a project’s construction quality and its time limit, two new piecewise functions—a double exponential function and a quadratic function—were proposed, and then a fuzzy multi-mode discrete time–cost–quality trade-off concept for water-management projects was established. This model finds the best solution to an NP-hard problem using the particle-swarm optimization algorithm (PSO). A comparison of the calculations to previous studies validates the model and its computational approach. The optimized results of a water conservation project are provided as a conceptual framework for project planning and construction timeframes.

Sea Water Converted into Usable and Emergency Drinkable Water

Abstract: Water could be very important for all residing beings. It covers almost 70% of earths surface. Even alevin though the principal part of earth is included via way of means of water, there's extreme scarcity of consuming water in maximum of the international locations throughout the world. Safe consuming water is crucial for all kinds of lifestyles alevin though it does now no longer offer any calories. Desalination of sea water seems as an answer for this problem. Advanced desalination technology which are carried out to seawater and brackish water show to be powerful options in a whole lot of situations. This take a look at in particular makes a speciality of upcoming traits in current desalination technology and emphasizing the alternatives supplied via way of means of them. Desalination is a way wherein the extra salts are eliminated from sea water or brackish water changing it into secure potable or usable water. Desalination techniques are labelled into thermal procedures and membrane procedures. In this bankruptcy we speak approximately special thermal procedures like multistage flash distillation, a couple of impact distillation, vapour compression evaporation, cogeneration and sun water desalination Keywords: Water management project, Desalination, Salt remova

Virtuous Cycle: An Idea of Water Resources Management and Top-Level Planning

Facing the conflict between human activities and the ecological environment, this study proposes a “Virtuous Cycle” concept of water resource management and top-level planning. By analyzing and summarizing typical experiences from both macro-policy and micro-practice, the characteristics and mechanisms of the Virtuous Cycle are discussed. According to the analysis method of “Problem-Attribution-Goal-Task-Measures” (PAGTM), taking the “Five Water Governance” water management project in Zhejiang Province of China as a case study, the specific measures and technical framework of the Virtuous Cycle are explored. This study hopes to provide a reference for the top-level planning and path design of harmonious and sustainable natural-social water resources management.

QT-AMP: Sequencing PCR amplicons from Quanti-Tray wells to analyze enterococci communities

Enterococcus is ubiquitous in human feces and has been adopted as a useful indicator of human fecal pollution in water. Although regular enterococci monitoring only examines their numbers, identifying human-specific Enterococcus species or genotypes could help discriminate human fecal contamination from other environmental sources. We documented a new approach to characterize enterococci using a high-throughput 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing platform from Quanti Trays after following the counting of the most probable numbers of enterococci. We named this method QT-AMP (Quanti-Tray-based amplicon sequencing). We tested surface water samples collected from three rivers in southwest Florida. We detected 11 Enterococcus species from 45 samples in 1.1 million sequence reads. The method detected three rare species and eight cosmopolitan species (Enterococcus faecalis, E. faecium, E. casseliflavus, E. hirae, E. mundtii, E. gallinarum, E. avium, and E. durans) which have been commonly documented in previous studies. The approximate detection level of QT-AMP was four orders of magnitude higher than regular 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. The current Enterolert MPN method only provides quantitative information but now we can look into the relative abundance of Enterococci species composition by accompanying Illumina sequencing. This QT-AMP could be a useful tool to streamline the quantification and identification of enterococci and could be used in various water management projects and human health risk assessment.

Traditional Water Governance Practices for Flood Mitigation in Ancient Sri Lanka

The tank cascade system, which emerged as early as the fifth century BC in Sri Lanka’s dry zone, has been portrayed as one of the oldest water management practices in the world. However, its important function as flood management has not yet been thoroughly examined. In this paper, we argue that the main principle behind the tank cascade system is not only to recycle and reuse water resources by taking advantage of natural landscapes but also to control floods. This paper examines the evolution of traditional water management and flood mitigation techniques that flourished in pre-colonial Sri Lanka. This historical examination also sheds light on recent policies that exhibited renewed interests in revitalizing some aspects of the tank cascade system in Sri Lanka’s dry zone. This paper shows how ancient Sinhalese engineers and leaders incorporated traditional scientific and engineering knowledge into flood mitigation by engendering a series of innovations for land use planning, embankment designs, and water storage technologies. It also discusses how this system was governed by both kingdoms and local communities. Water management and flood control were among the highest priorities in urban planning and management. The paper thus discusses how, for centuries, local communities successfully sustained the tank cascade system through localized governance, which recent revitalized traditional water management projects often lack.

Comparative Multi-Criteria Assessment of Hydrological Vulnerability—Case Study: Drainage Basins in the Northeast Region of Romania

Hydrological vulnerability (HV) is a (changing) underlying condition in all drainage basins, depending on the dynamics of the potentially dangerous hydrological phenomena, the particularities of drainage networks, land use patterns, and processes that shape landforms in extensive periods. The socioeconomic attributes and the hydrotechnical infrastructure add up to the manifestation of this type of vulnerability. In this paper, we assess the HV levels of 81 drainage basins in the NE of Romania for three distinctive periods (1990–1999, 2000–2009, 2010–2018), using a multi-criteria approach. Two classical multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods were combined in order to evaluate the HV according to factors that refer to floods and hydrological drought occurrences, hydrotechnical structure coverage, the drainage network, land use, and landforms characteristics. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was applied to weigh these factors and the resulting relative importance values were integrated in the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), by which the alternatives represented by the catchments were ranked. The attenuation of the HV through time follows an East–West direction, from the lower elevations of the Moldavian Plateau to the heights of the Carpathians. Hydrological droughts are more likely to occur in the Eastern part of the analyzed territory, while the western section displays a certain propensity for floods. The results may be used by local and national authorities in order to improve the hydrological risk mitigation strategies, and to develop more targeted water management projects, properly calibrated to the conditions of the Northeast Development Region in Romania.