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Interpretations of integrated water cycle management (IWCM) differ across jurisdictions. This paper discusses 10 interpretations of the IWCM concept globally, in Australia and in jurisdictions similar to Australia. Five interpretations of many IWCM versions in Australia are reviewed. This strategic concept aims to address the internal challenges of managing water demand and supply, achieving appropriate disposal and/or wastewater recycling for re-use and distribution networks and providing services at an affordable rate, per changing community needs. The IWCM concept is also recognised as a resource planning tool to address external challenges, such as the uncertainties of climate change, the circular economy and resilience. All 10 IWCM concepts reviewed in this paper acknowledge governance and stakeholders to be of primary importance: governance to drive the conceptual interpretation and stakeholders to develop, drive, implement and promote IWCM as adept at addressing local challenges. The two global interpretations place primary importance on governance, stakeholder engagement and natural resource management, whereas the local interpretations place equally high importance on water critical infrastructure and water economy. Technology, which is changing at an unprecedented pace, is considered, but not as an immediate or primary challenge. These differences are mainly attributed to the organisations' responsibilities and constraints, which drive IWCM concept design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines maritime tourism in the Baltic Sea region. The first part presents basic information related to the maritime tourism market, along with the key aspects and effects that the maritime tourism market has on the regions where it takes place. The next part concerns the Baltic Sea. The location and characteristics of the Baltic Sea are briefly presented. Passenger shipping connections between Baltic ports are described. The last part is devoted to the analysis of statistical data in the Baltic Sea region, focusing on passenger exchange in selected ports and in the entire Baltic Sea over the years. Finally, the potential directions of the development of maritime tourism in the Baltic Sea are characterized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of rapid advancement of agricultural production, the dynamic evolution characteristics of land and water resources in the main grain-producing areas and the influencing factors are less studied. This study takes Heilongjiang Province, the main grain-producing area in China, as an example, constructs an index system from three functions: production, life, and ecology, uses information entropy to determine the weights and importance of each index, uses the rate of change of the index to determine the basic data of the dynamic development of the system, combines the weights to determine the dynamic evolution characteristics, and compares and analyzes them with the static evolution characteristics determined by the actual data. The results showed that there were differences in the important indicators under different conditions, and the important indicators under static and dynamic conditions were the proportion of the tertiary industry to GDP(A7) and GDP per unit area(A8), with importance weights of 7.45% and 8.0%, respectively. The static evolution index of the land and water resource system increased slowly from 0.16 to 0.91, while the dynamic evolution index fluctuated and declined from 0.58 to 0.34, indicating that the ability of the land and water resource system in the study area to maximize comprehensive benefits is constantly weakening. Managers can pre-control the development speed of the important indicators under dynamic conditions and promote the sustainable development of the land and water resource system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Floods and droughts are the events that most threaten crop production; however, the impact of floods on crops is still not fully understood and often under-reported. Nowadays, multiple sources of information and approaches support the estimation of agricultural losses due to floods. This study aims to understand the differences in agricultural loss estimates provided by two conceptually different approaches (crop models and expert-based models), evaluating their sensitivity to flood hazard inputs. We investigated the challenges in flood agricultural loss assessments referring to a case study for which, in addition to model simulations, information from surveys and on-site inspections were available. Two crop models (APSIM and WOFOST) and the expert-based model AGRIDE-c were applied to evaluate agricultural yield losses after the flood event of the Panaro River (Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy) that took place on the 6 December 2020. Two modelling tools were used to reproduce the event: the hydraulic model HEC-RAS and the image-based tool FwDET. Additionally, surveys among local farmers were conducted in the aftermath of the event to evaluate the flood features (water depth, extent and duration) and crop losses. The main findings of the study are that APSIM and WOFOST provide similar estimates of yield losses, while AGRIDE-c tends to underestimate yield losses when the losses over the entire study area are evaluated. The choice of the flood simulation technique does not influence the loss estimation since the difference between the yield loss estimates retrieved from the same model initialized with HEC-RAS or FwDET was always lower than 2%. Information retrieved from the surveys was not sufficient to validate the damage estimates provided by the models but could be used to derive a qualitative picture of the event. Therefore, further research is needed to understand how to effectively incorporate this kind of information in agricultural loss estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper undertakes a comparative analysis of the governance systems of nature areas in relation to resilience measures in the field of water and nature management. The main question is to identify the key characteristics of governance that influence the resilience of the selected areas. The purpose of this comparative study is to understand and explain how aspects within the governance context influence the success of policy initiatives or measures towards resilience goals. For comparison, the hierarchic method is used. The results of the five case studies are compared: four cases from the Netherlands and one from UK. For the assessment of the governance of selected areas the governance assessment tool is used to systematically assess the relevant elements and qualities of the governance contexts and to understand the circumstances for the implementation of adaptive measures. The results of the comparison reveal different combinations of the governance qualities creating, to some extent, the setting for the resilience of the areas in which external factors and continuous interaction between layers of the governance system influence the adaptive capacity of the governance to manage resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is difficult for small municipalities to ensure their urban water cycle complies with the principle of cost recovery established in the European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive. Unlike more populous municipalities, small municipalities face higher average production costs. However, at least in Spain, the price of water is, on average, lower in small municipalities. We question whether the low price of water in rural areas is due, at least in part, to people linked to agriculture, i.e., do farmers constitute a special interest group that hinders increases in the price of water? The main hypothesis was tested with data taken from Torre-Cardela, a municipality in southern Spain with close to 800 inhabitants. In the research a contingent valuation analysis was carried out to analyze respondents' willingness to pay in the event of a hypothetical increase in the price of water to help cover the service costs. Contrary to expectations, the study yields no evidence that the agricultural population is more resistant to price rises than the rest of the citizens surveyed. In fact, results show that people involved in the agricultural sector would be willing to accept a hypothetical increase in water tariffs in between 15% and 25% over the current tariff, while for the rest of the population this same increase would be lower (in between 9% and 20%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water quality indices are suitable tools used for assessing water quality because of their capacity to reduce a large number of water quality indicators into one value which defines the water quality class. In this study, Water Quality Index (WQI), Water Pollution Index (WPI) and Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Water Quality Index (CCME-WQI) were applied in order to evaluate the seasonal and spatial variation of the water quality in the Romanian Lower Danube sector. Fourteen physico-chemical parameters, i.e., pH, DO, BOD5, COD, N-NH4+, N-NO3−, N-NO2−, N-total, P-total, SO42−, Cl−, Fe-total, Zn2+ and Cr-total, were monitored along the Danube course (on a distance of about 120 km), during the four seasons between the autumn of 2018 and the summer of 2019 in order to calculate the three indices mentioned above. Indices results showed that the water analysed was ranked into different water quality classes, although the same dataset was used. These differences were due to the contribution of each parameter taken into account in the calculation formula. Thus, the WQI scores were mostly influenced by those parameters whose maximum allowable concentration was low (e.g., heavy metals, N-NO2−), while the WPI and CCME-WQI scores were influenced by those parameters which exceeded the maximum allowable concentration (BOD5, DO, COD, N-NO3−, N-NO2−). Based on the WQI results, the water was ranked into quality classes II and III. WPI and CCME-WQI assessed water only in quality class II, with one exception in the case of CCME-WQI when water was ranked into quality class III. The temporal assessment identified the seasons in which the water quality was lower, namely summer and autumn. The variation of the indices values between the sampling stations demonstrates the existence of pollution sources in the study area. Moreover, the indices results illustrated the contribution of the main tributaries (Rivers Siret and Prut) to the Danube River water quality. The appropriate applicability of the three indices was also discussed in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of water distribution networks (WDNs) can be quantified by several types of hydraulic measure. In design and operation of a WDN, sufficient consideration should be given to system performance, and it would be inefficient to separately consider individual characteristics of hydraulic measures. Instead, various reliability indices have been developed and utilized to evaluate the performance of WDNs; however, deciding which index to use according to a particular WDN situation has not been investigated in sufficient depth. In this regard, this study analyzes the correlation between representative reliability indices and hydraulic measures to propose the most adequate reliability index according to the desired system performance in various situations. Specifically, six hydraulic measures representing system performance were selected from the viewpoint of redundancy, robustness, and serviceability. In addition, nine indices for estimating system reliability were classified based on theoretical backgrounds such as hydraulic, topological, entropic, and mixed approaches. The correlations between the nine indices and six measures were analyzed using 17 sample hypothetical networks with different layouts, under three water supply scenarios, and the overall evaluation results for each reliability index are presented through multi-criteria decision analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The monitoring of fluvial suspended sediment transport plays an important role in the assessment of morphological processes, river habitats, or many social activities associated with river management. However, establishing and operating a well-functioning sediment monitoring system requires the involvement of advanced indirect methods. This study investigates the advantages and limitations of optical and acoustic devices, to quantify the uncertainties and provide a comprehensive comparative assessment of the investigated indirect methods. The novelty of this study, compared to previous ones, is that four different indirect techniques are parallel tested, i.e., the laser diffraction based LISST-Portable|XR, an infrared based optical instrument, the VELP TB1 turbidimeter, the acoustic based LISST-ABS (Acoustical Backscatter Sensor) sensor, and a 1200 kHz Teledyne RD Instruments Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP). The calibration of all the indirect methods was performed based on more than 1000 samples taken from the Hungarian section of the Danube River within a wide suspended sediment concentration range. Implementing a comparative assessment of the different sediment analysis methods, a qualitative and quantitative characterisation of the applicability is provided. Furthermore, a proposal for an optimised sediment monitoring methodology is also suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The temporal and spatial differentiation of the underlying surface in East Asia is complex. Due to a lack of meteorological observation data, human cognition and understanding of the surface processes (runoff, snowmelt, soil moisture, water production, etc.) in the area have been greatly limited. With the Heihe River Basin, a poorly gauged region in the cold region of Western China, selected as the study area, three meteorological datasets are evaluated for their suitability to drive the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT): China Meteorological Assimilation Driving Datasets for the SWAT model (CMADS), Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR), and Traditional Weather Station (TWS). Resultingly, (1) the runoff output of CMADS + SWAT mode is generally better than that of the other two modes (CFSR + SWAT and TWS + SWAT) and the monthly and daily Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency ranges of the CMADS + SWAT mode are 0.75–0.95 and 0.58–0.77, respectively; (2) the CMADS + SWAT and TWS + SWAT results were fairly similar to the actual data (especially for precipitation and evaporation), with the results produced by CMADS + SWAT lower than those produced by TWS + SWAT; (3) the CMADS + SWAT mode has a greater ability to reproduce water balance than the other two modes. Overestimation of CFSR precipitation results in greater error impact on the uncertainty output of the model, whereas the performances of CMADS and TWS are more similar. This study addresses the gap in the study of surface processes by CMADS users in Western China and provides an important scientific basis for analyzing poorly gauged regions in East Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to better understand the impact of different building representations and mesh resolutions on urban flood simulations using the TELEMAC-2D model in idealized urban districts. A series of numerical models based on previous laboratory experiments was established to simulate urban flooding around buildings, wherein different building layouts (aligned and staggered) were modeled for different building representations: building–hole (BH), building–block (BB), and building–resistance (BR) methods. A sensitivity analysis of the Manning coefficient for building grids indicated that the unit-width discharge and water depth in building grids reduce as the Manning coefficient is less than 104 m − 1 / 3 · s . The simulated depths via the BH, BB, and BR methods were compared with the measured data in terms of three accuracy indicators: root mean square error, Pearson product–moment correlation coefficient, and Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency. Observing apparent discrepancies based on the hydrographs was difficult; however, some slight distinctions were observed based on the aforementioned three indicators. The sensitivity of 1, 2, and 5 cm mesh resolutions was also analyzed: results obtained using 1 cm resolution were better than those obtained using other resolutions. The complex flow regime around buildings was also investigated based on mesh resolution, velocity, and Froude number according to our results. This study provides key data regarding urban flood model benchmarks, focusing on the effect of different building representations and mesh resolutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]