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There is intense public interest surrounding the conservation and management of sharks, including a debate over whether sustainable shark fisheries are possible or fishing bans on sharks are needed to conserve these animals. An important but rarely discussed data point in discussions of global shark fisheries is the case of British Columbia's fishery for Pacific spiny dogfish, Squalus suckleyi, which in 2011 became the first Marine Stewardship Council−certified shark fishery anywhere in the world. A few years later, despite reportedly healthy local stocks and thriving global markets for this shark, the fishery voluntarily withdrew its MSC certification, and in recent years more than 95% of the quota for Pacific spiny dogfish has been left in the water. This study provides insight into what happened to this fishery through a review of grey literature and a series of stakeholder interviews with British Columbian fishermen, fish processors, managers and environmentalists. It is a rare case study of a fishery that largely ceased operations without a clear mechanistic explanation like a stock collapse, a government mandate to limit fishing or a clear shift in market demand. This fishery appears to have been affected by the combination of several factors, including a temporary reduction in biomass due to oceanographic effects, potential blowback from overly broad environmental messaging that did not distinguish between sustainable and unsustainable shark fisheries, management changes resulting in altered fishing incentives and changes to processing capacity associated with consolidating the fishing industry into ownership by relatively few large companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrological conditions are key factors in the evaluation of water resources and ecosystems. The Yongding River Basin has many irrigated areas, and excessive agricultural water consumption has led to serious water shortages and ecosystem damage. To investigate the evolution of ecohydrological conditions and their driving factors in the Yongding River basin in a changing environment, this study combines indicators of hydrologic alteration with the range of variability approach (IHA-RVA) to identify the most ecologically relevant hydrological indicators (ERHIs) and to determine the periods of hydrological variability in the basin, using the Xiangshuipu section on the Yang River as the study area. By calculating the degree of hydrological alteration, the evolutionary pattern of ecohydrological conditions in the basin was analyzed, and the WetSpa model was used to quantitatively identify the contributions of climate change, reservoir storage, and irrigation water withdrawal to the alteration of hydrological conditions. The results showed that the rise and fall rate; maximum and minimum 1 day flows; dates of maximum flow; and July flows were the most ecologically relevant hydrological indicators for the Xiangshuipu section. Variability of this section occurred between 1982 and 1988; except for the annual maximum 1 day flows and fall rate, which underwent moderate changes; all other indicators exhibited small changes and the overall hydrological alteration of the Xiangshuipu section was low. The most influential change in the hydrological conditions was irrigation water withdrawal (from specific irrigation); followed by climate change and reservoir storage. The results of this study provide an important basis for water resources utilization and ecological management in the Yongding River basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suppressions in public data severely limit the usefulness of spatial data and hinder research applications. In this context, data imputation is necessary to deal with suppressed values. We present and validate a flexible data imputation method that can aid in the completion of under‐determined data systems. The validations use Monte Carlo and optimisation modelling techniques to recover suppressed data tables from the 2017 US Census of Agriculture. We then use econometric models to evaluate the accuracy of imputations from alternative models. Various metrics of forecast accuracy (i.e., MAPE, BIC, etc.) show the flexibility and capacity of this approach to accurately recover suppressed data. To illustrate the value of our method, we compare the livestock water withdrawal estimations with imputed data and suppressed data to show the bias in research applications when suppressions are simply dropped from analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the challenges currently facing Brazil's basic sanitation sector. The sector's characteristic profitability and dynamism have brought State-run Water & Sewage (W&S) services into the spotlight of the structural reform agenda on the argument that governments do not have the resources necessary to universalize coverage. There is a pattern of W&S services' operating with a surplus, which helps explain the intense dispute in recent years in favour of legal changes to the market position of CESBs and local providers to favour an expanding role for private agents. Converging with the structural reform agenda, Law 14,026, sanctioned on 15 July 2020, made far-reaching changes to the legal framework for sanitation and provided for the State's complete withdrawal from the sector. The new regulatory framework prohibited programme contracts, required tender processes for sanitation service contracts, encouraged regionalization without CESBs, set out national guidelines for States and municipalities to access federal funding and introduced a national regulation regime under the National Waters and Basic Sanitation Agency. The model of cooperation that operates in the SUS could serve as a reference for constructing a social pact in the sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The object of the present study was to analyse water consumption in a four-person household (park employee housing) located in the village of Kulczyn in Polesie National Park (PNP) in Poland. The wastewater from the buildings was discharged to a hybrid constructed wetland integrated into a closed-loop water system. As part of the study, seasonal, weekly, and daily changes in water consumption and the amount of water used to flush the toilets were determined over a period of one year. It was shown that the average daily water consumption in the entire house was 437 L/d, or 109 L/p/d (litres/person/day). The average daily water consumption per capita was, therefore, similar to that reported for Poland by the European Commission and much lower than that reported for Western European countries (150–250 L/p/d). The highest water withdrawals were recorded in the spring season (March–May) at 117–122 L/p/d, and the lowest in the holiday month of July—88 L/p/d. The highest water consumption levels during the week were recorded on Saturdays—an average of 136 L/p/d, and the lowest on Wednesdays—an average of 92 L/p/d. During the 24 h of a day, the highest water withdrawals were observed late in the evening (10–11 pm) and periodically in the morning (around 10 am), on weekends, and during the holiday period (July and August). It was shown that the amount of water used to flush toilets represented on average about 20% of the total amount of water consumed. This indicates that approximately 88 L/d of water was used to flush the toilets in the homestead under study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climatic change intensifies the water crisis, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. In this regard, the provision of enough water for irrigation is a serious dilemma because the agricultural sector consumes the largest amount of water (70% withdrawal and 90% consumption). In this review, we have summarized recent innovations that have emerged as unconventional techniques to supply adequate water for irrigation purposes. We present the principles and basics of seven approaches: the Sahara Forest Project (SFP), water extraction from the air (WEA), aquifer recharge, the treatment of marginal water using a magnetic field, desalination and wastewater treatment (DWT), electro-agric technology (E-AT), and the Toshka Project. The SFP is currently being utilized in Aqaba, Jordan, and DWT is considered a common practice worldwide, whereas some of these innovations are still under investigation to ensure their feasibility for large-scale applications, such as E-AT. The Toshka Project is considered a wonderful idea that utilizes the water stored behind the High Dam in Lake Nasser, Egypt. Several approaches have been adopted to reduce the amount of water being used for irrigation, as the current amount of freshwater is insufficient for the requirements of increased agricultural consumption, particularly in hot, arid, and semi-arid regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alpine areas shaped in a normally fissured bedrock do not typically contain important groundwater aquifers. In contrast, a wide Quaternary cover in mountainous areas, especially of landslide deposits, can make large aquifers promising for water withdrawals. A geological study of the central sector of the Chalamy Valley, a right tributary of the main Dora Baltea River (Aosta Valley) in which the Perrot Spring is located, was carried out, with the aim of providing a preliminary assessment of hydrogeological significance. The main interest of this investigation is, in addition to the high discharge of the Perrot Spring, its location within Mont Avic Natural Park, which is a very busy area with walkers, cyclists, visitors, and scholars. The geological survey shows a thick body of sandy silty glaciolacustrine sediments, consequent to the barrage of the Chalamy Valley from the glacier hosted in the main Aosta Valley. These sediments, outcropping in the north-facing slope of the Chalamy Valley, are involved in significant gullies and covered by a thick landslide accumulation located in the northern slope of the Bec de Nona, formed by very heterometric sediments. A wide detachment scarp is shaped in serpentinite characterized by evident fracture systems. The preliminary hydrogeological significance for the Perrot Spring, located at the boundary between glaciolacustrine and landslide sediments, was proposed. In detail, the thick landslide cover, characterized by high permeability, represents an important aquifer with a relatively fast groundwater flow to the spring. The underlying glaciolacustrine sediments of the low band of the slope, typically with very low permeability, favor the concentration of groundwater near the boundary with landslide sediments and the spring supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Originating in Glacier Park, Montana, the transboundary St. Mary River has provided a focus for international water sharing for a century. It was dammed and diverted in the USA, and more extensively in Alberta, where it supports Canada's centre for agricultural irrigation. Following water withdrawals, the riparian cottonwoods (Populus angustifolia) collapsed, and we assessed the woodland decline downstream from the St. Mary Dam, through eight sets of aerial photographs over seven decades. These revealed 88% woodland loss from 1951 to 1999 (R2 = 0.984), including a steeper decline with the 1980s drought. Following the implementation of an environmental flow regime that increased minimum flows after 1993, the remnant woodlands were stabilized, with a slight recovery by 2022. Analyses of the historical hydrology revealed compound contributions to the woodland mortality. (1) Annual river flows declined with increasing water diversion, and (2) late summer flows were particularly depleted. (3) Dam operations resulted in abrupt stage recessions and irregular spikes. (4) Accompanying climate warming, the spring snowmelt advanced and late summer flows declined. (5) The greatest climatic influence involved multiple‐year clusters with high versus low flows, corresponding with the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) from 1920 to 1990 (R2 = 0.365), but less coupled thereafter. This long‐term study demonstrates the coordination between hydroclimatic variation, water management and the fate of riparian woodlands, which reveal ecosystem health. An environmental flow regime provided benefit, and for other regulated rivers in dry ecoregions, we recommend functional flow regimes that provide sufficient minimum flows and avoid abrupt flow recession or irregular spikes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The minimum pressure at the draft tube inlet of turbine should be controlled above -8 m H2O in the calculation of transient processes of hydropower station to prevent dangerous water column separation. For the pump-turbine, the magnitude of pressure pulsations is large and their composition is complex. There is no clear answer to which pressure pulsation components should be included in the calculation of the minimum pressure. In this study, a pump-turbine model with straight cone draft tube is considered, and different velocity pulsations are applied to the runner inlet to analyze the changing laws of cavitation cavity at the draft tube inlet. It is found that the maximum cavitation cavity volume of the draft tube is related to the inlet velocity pulsation frequency. With the increase in frequency, the cavity volume increases rapidly first and then decreases slowly. The variation period of cavitation cavity is affected by the pressure pulsation frequency and the pressure fluctuation of the draft tube outlet. The possible pressure pulsation frequency at the actual runner inlet has a great influence on the fluctuation of the cavitation cavity at the draft tube, but the resonance effect occurs when frequency is consistent with the frequency of the draft tube vortex. The fluctuation of the water hammer in the draft tube is the fundamental factor of cavity vorticity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intermittent water supply (IWS) system delivers the drinking water for a short duration of a day. Customers' satisfaction with such a system highly depends on the volume of water delivered at each house service connection rather than the pressure-dependent flow rate. In most of the systems, the supply is made until emptying of the source storage reservoir or tank happens. The advantaged consumers (who belong to the high-pressure zone) receive water quicker than the disadvantaged consumers. As the IWS has trusted with the volume of water delivered, volume-driven analysis (VDA) is required to understand the supply rate at demand nodes and the actual duration of supply to the consumers located across the network. Supply to each house service connection (HSC) depends on the availability of static pressure at the ferrule points in the distribution main. The aggregated volume of water that can be delivered by the node corresponding to the available pressure requires an equivalent arrangement that represents house service connections (HSCs) in the modeling. In the present work, a modified method of volume-driven analysis is presented to simulate the aggregated flow from the HSCs at each node and to evaluate the actual volume of water delivered within the supply duration. The application of the method is illustrated through a hypothetical rural water supply network. The volume of water that can be received by the group of houses and its duration of supply to fulfill the demanded volume can be obtained from the proposed analysis and also it is shown how the uncontrolled withdrawal of water affects the disadvantaged consumers in the water supply system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, changes in precipitation patterns together with the increasing water demand impose a sustainable management where the budget between water availability and demand is positively closed. A parsimonious hydrogeological modelling approach coupled with a soil water balance is developed and applied in order to quantify the hydrological and hydrogeological dynamics in a semi-arid region of the Mediterranean basin. In particular, the present work focuses on the hydrogeological dynamics of the catchment areas of Siedi, Foggia di Rau, Pigonati, and the Palmarini channels located in the Brindisi Plain, Southern Italy. In the last decades, in the Brindisi Plain the anthropization processes as well as the industrial and agricultural development have generated an intensive exploitation of both shallow and deep groundwater resources as well as their qualitative deterioration. A dry hydrologic year (2019–2020) caused a recharge deficit, resulting in a lowering of the groundwater level of the shallow aquifer compared to the expected seasonal value. The results evidence a sensitive natural system, where the variability of the rainfall regime combined with water withdrawal leads to a system that is very vulnerable to climate change impacts, such as the presence of erratic rainfall patterns affecting aquifer recharge. This study represents the first approach to couple a soil moisture balance model and groundwater flow model to assess the impact of changes in rainfall patterns on groundwater recharge for the Brindisi Plain aquifer. The developed integrated hydrogeological model can be applied to other sites with similar hydrogeological features and represents an important tool in order to evaluate the effectiveness of cost-effective sustainable actions for the management of the groundwater resources with respect to land-use practices and socio-economic aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article informs The 2022 hydrological drought in the Po River basin, the worst in two centuries, is examined in a historical context using a 216-year river flow time series. The study reveals an increasing trend in severe drought occurrence, particularly in summer river flows, attributed to a combination of changes in precipitation regime, snow fraction, snowmelt, evaporation rate, and increased irrigation.

The tiger crab, Aegla concepcionensis , is a threatened endemic freshwater decapod of Chile, distributed throughout small areas of the Mediterranean region of Central Chile (37°30′-38°00′S). Its habitat includes streams and lakes with riparian areas dominated by native plants, with little or null human intervention. To our knowledge, the tiger crab's distribution is limited and human stressors (e.g., water withdrawal, exotic tree plantations and climate change) have led to degradation of its habitat. Based on the presence of these stressors and the virtual lack of knowledge of its ecology, the tiger crab has been categorized as Endangered (EN). This study presents a preliminary description of the species' ecology based on its abundance and its morphometrics, as well as on its feeding habits in Caburgua lake, South Central Chile. We established 16 sampling points, half of which in the shallow bathymetric stratum (0-10 m depth) of the lake itself, and half in the Lumaco stream, one of the lake's tributaries. We used baited traps to capture specimens. A. concepcionensis appeared to be found in the lake's shallow bathymetric stratum, but not in the stream. Individuals showed negative allometric growth, males were larger than females, and they showed scavenger feeding behaviour. Our findings provide useful information to help with tiger crab conservation, although more extensive surveys will be required to collect sufficient data for establishing a robust conservation program for the species in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the production of furniture, large amounts of waste materials are generated, which are most often stored in warehouses without a specific purpose for their subsequent use. In highly developed countries, as many as 25 million tons of textile waste are produced annually, of which approximately 40% is non-clothing waste such as carpets, furniture and car upholstery. The aim of this research was to produce and evaluate dry-formed high-density fiberboards (HDF) bonded with urea-formaldehyde resin, 12% resination, with various shares of recycled particles of natural leather used in upholstery furniture production at different contents (1, 5 and 10% by weight). The panels were hot-pressed (200 °C, 2.5 MPa, pressing factor 20 s mm−1). Mechanical properties (modulus of rupture, modulus of elasticity and screw withdrawal resistance) and physical properties (density profile, thickness swelling after water immersion, water absorption and surface absorption) were tested. The density profile and contact angle of natural leather have been also characterized. The results show that increasing the content of leather particles in HDF mostly has a positive effect on mechanical properties, especially screw withdrawal resistance and water absorption. It can be concluded that, depending on the further use of HDF, it is possible to use recovered upholstery leather particles as a reasonable addition to wood fibers in HDF technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water withdrawals for irrigation at an unsustainable rate resulted in a decline in the groundwater levels in the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer (MRVAA) in the central southern USA. This drawdown of groundwater threatens agricultural production in the Mississippi Delta, an important agricultural region in the state of Mississippi, USA. Effective and efficient use of available resources is important to sustain and enhance agricultural productivity in this area. This study assessed the opinions of farmers on water conservation management practices and technologies that improve irrigation management and save water in the Mississippi Delta region based on data collected in an irrigation survey conducted in 2012. Most landowners believed that water conservation practices were effective in reducing irrigation water use without reducing maximum crop yields and have a positive return on investment. Land forming, tailwater recovery system, on‐farm storage, instream weirs to pond surface water, computerized hole selection for furrow irrigation, short irrigation runs, and irrigation scheduling were considered efficient water conservation technologies by landowners. Perceptions about use of different practices also depend upon the crops produced by the respondents. About 20 to 24% and 14.9 to 86% of survey respondents thought that on‐farm storage and center pivot, respectively, were inefficient water conservation practices for irrigating crops in the Mississippi Delta. The adoption of these practices may be increased if the landowners know the economic returns of implementing them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cloud model of water resources has been explored in the early stages in recent years. However, it is still lacking on the cloud model service platforms for the water cycle simulation and water resources allocation. This study aims to construct the water cycle models for water resource allocation using multi-objective optimization. A modular modeling approach was also adopted with the model library as the core. The B/S architecture pattern was utilized to configure the basic network structure. The cloud model service platform was designed using the classic cloud computing architecture. Four layers were divided into: IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service), SaaS (Software as a Service), and Visualization Service Layer. The calculation services were provided by the water cycle model and water resources optimization model (SaaS layer) on the server side. The core of the entire system included the solving methods, numerical models, file systems, and database components. The backend database selected MySQL to support data for the entire system, including graphical, modeling, calculation, and hydrological data. Two parts were on the browser side: 1) Modeling and flow field display module included the numerical model building, parameter setting, simulation statistics and querying, and flow field display; 2) Data transmission and calls between the browser and Web server was achieved via the Python interface in HTML, enabling the seamless data exchange. Once an external request was initiated from the browser, it was sent to the server via the Python interface. Subsequently, the Python logic on the server side invoked Python models to perform analysis and calculations using the received request. The computed data from the models was then presented within the HTML framework through the server, indicating the seamless integration and display of the calculation on the user interface. Taking the Shaanxi section of the Weihe River Basin as an example, the new platform was used to simulate the water cycle evolution after multi-objective optimization for the water resources allocation in the long-term planning. The results show that: 1) The relative errors of monthly average runoff were -4.32% and -1.02%, respectively, in the periods of calibration and verification. The Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency coefficients of monthly average runoff were 0.82 and 0.85, respectively. It infers that the water cycle model of the cloud model service platform was effectively characterized by the runoff during the verification period. The total rainfall and the total evaporation values were 21.78, and 17.97 billion cubic meters, respectively, under the multiple-year average inflow frequency in 2025. The average depth of annual runoff was 121.80 mm with a total runoff volume of 5.63 billion cubic meters. The inflow and outflow water volume values were 3.39, and 7.20 billion cubic meters, respectively. The total water withdrawal was 5.10 billion cubic meters for economic and social purposes, where 2.767, 2.369, and 0.40 billion cubic meters were from the surface water, shallow groundwater, and deep groundwater, respectively. The water outputs in the Shaanxi Province of the Wei River Basin were evaporation and socio-economic water withdrawal, accounting for 77.89% and 22.11%, respectively. The spatial distribution of runoff depth depended mainly on the distribution of rainfall. A significant decreasing trend was also found in the runoff volume at various hydrological stations. 2) The Pareto optimal frontier was obtained using the NSGA-III (Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm III). An optimal plan of water resources allocation was obtained using a population multi-attribute decision-making model, where five decision-makers were assumed to participate in the decision-making. As such, the water shortage rate, grain yield reduction rate, and GDP reduction were 7.95%, 1.23%, and 0.15%, respectively, in the entire region in 2025. The agricultural water deficit reached 438 million cubic meters, accounting for 87.04% of the total water deficit. Water shortages were concentrated mainly in the areas from Baoji Gorge to Xianyang North, Xianyang to Tongguan South, and Xianyang to Tongguan North. The findings can provide technical references and insights for the smart water conservancy system and the refined allocation of water resources in the Weihe River Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Boundary condition is an important factor in estimating land subsidence induced by groundwater withdrawal. In previous analytical studies, the upper boundaries are commonly assumed to be constant‐head, which could fail to reflect the declines in groundwater table during groundwater pumping. A one‐dimensional (1‐D) consolidation model of aquifer systems due to groundwater drawdown is considered in this study, in which the water‐table decline is taken into account. A mathematical model, which incorporates Neuman's model of unconfined flow into Terzaghi's theory of consolidation, is first presented. The analytical solutions for both hydraulic head drawdown and subsidence are developed in the Laplace domain. A more explicit solution to the elastic, single‐layered model is also derived. The validation of the presented solutions is verified by comparing with existing solutions in degenerated cases. The results show that the presented hydraulic drawdown solutions can be used to describe the water table decline. Moreover, the subsidence solutions are notably different from solutions based on the commonly‐used constant‐head boundary, and these previous models could severely underestimate the subsidence. The influences of specific yield, compressibility of the pore water, hydraulic conductivity, and viscosity of soil skeleton on the water table decline and long‐term deformation are also investigated using the presented solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated the effects of supplementing different sources (sulfate vs. hydroxychloride) of Cu, Mn, and Zn during feed restriction and highstarch challenge periods on heifer growth performance and physiology. On d 0, Nelore heifers (n = 40) were stratified by body weight (BW = 238 ± 38 kg) and age (21 ± 1 mo), and individually allocated into 1 of 40 drylot pens. The study was divided: washout (d 0 to 27), nutrient surplus (d 28 to 55), nutrient restriction (d 56 to 83), and high-starch challenge (d 84 to 112). The washout period consisted of limit-feeding Tifton hay (2.5% of BW; DM basis) and providing free choice access to white salt only. On d 28, heifers were randomly assigned to receive protein DM supplementation (0.10 to 0.20% of BW) added with sulfate (SUL) or hydroxychloride (HYD) sources of Cu, Mn, and Zn (≥ 260, 200, and 960 mg of Cu, Mn, and Zn per kg of supplement DM) from d 28 to 112 (n = 20 heifers/ treatment). From d 28 to 55, heifers were offered ad libitum Tifton hay. From d 56 to 83, heifers were limitfed 50% of average hay DM intake consumed in the last 6 d of the previous phase (d 50 to 55). From d 84 to 112, each respective protein supplement was mixed with a starch-based total mixed ration (TMR). Heifers were gradually adapted to the starch-based TMR by increasing the concentrate DM amount while simultaneously decreasing the hay DM amount by 20% every 7 d (starting with 35% concentrate and 65% hay on d 84 and ending with 80% concentrate and 20% hay from day 106 to 112). Individual heifer shrunk BW were collected on d 0, 28, 56, 84, and 112, following 12 h of feed and water withdrawal. Effects of treatment × day and treatment were not detected (P ≥ 0.37) for heifer BW, average daily gain (ADG), and dry matter (DM) intake, except for ADG from d 28 to 56, which was less (P = 0.05) for SUL vs. HYD heifers (-0.21 ± 0.05 vs. -0.10 ± 0.05 kg/day, respectively). Effects of day, but not treatment × day and treatment (P ≥ 0.43), were detected for fecal pH, which remained relatively constant from d 0 to 84, and then decreased (P < 0.01) from 7.2 on d 84 to 5.8-6.0 on d 110. Overall, protein supplementation added with hydroxychloride sources of Cu, Mn, and Zn had minor positive effects on heifer growth performance immediately following a washout period, but did not improve heifer growth performance and fecal pH during nutrient restriction and high-starch challenge periods, compared with protein supplementation added with sulfate sources of same metals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Collaborative Governance: Principles, Processes, and Practical Tools" by Stephen Greenwood, Laurel Singer, and Wendy Willis is a comprehensive guide to understanding and implementing collaborative governance. The book explores the principles, vocabulary, and theories of collaboration, emphasizing the importance of trust and reciprocity in addressing complex challenges. It provides a unique framework for approaching collaborative governance, consisting of four phases: assessment, design and organization, deliberation and decision-making, and implementation and adaptation. The authors also offer practical advice and tools for strengthening collaborative governance groups and individual leadership. This book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in learning about and engaging in collaborative governance, with case studies and examples that illustrate its application in various contexts. [Extracted from the article]

Irrigation accounts for the largest consumptive water use in the United States (US), representing 62% of the total water consumption. Water supply managers and government agencies use user-reported water withdrawal data for developing water management programs. However, many users underreport or are not in compliance with the water withdrawal reporting regulations of the state. The regulations in many states also exempt users from reporting irrigation water withdrawals under a specific amount. Such irregularities in non-reported but consumptive agricultural withdrawals result in the underestimation of water use and considerable uncertainty about the impacts of irrigation withdrawals on water supply. Therefore, this study presents a methodology for estimation of non-reported agricultural withdrawals at the county level to understand their potential effects on water supply and enhance management of agricultural water resources. This study developed a data-based method using USDA census irrigation data, USDA Irrigation and Water Management Survey (IWMS) and gridded meteorological data to develop estimates of irrigation water withdrawals from 2002 to 2017. Additionally, user reported withdrawal data was used to validate estimates and quantify the volume of unreported water use for small (below the withdrawal reporting threshold) and large farms at county level. It was observed that small and large farm unreported withdrawals averaged 13% and 110% of reported withdrawals respectively. Notably, 86% of counties in Virginia with irrigation have collective small farm withdrawals of sufficient magnitude that would be subject to reporting requirements if they were from a single user. Small farm unreported withdrawals were consistent through time and large farm unreported withdrawals decreased between 2002 and 2017 due to lower irrigation demand and higher reporting. This approach provides a practical method that can be adopted by water supply managers to better account for agricultural water use in humid climates where supplemental irrigation is not fully captured in existing permitting and reporting regulations.

In this study, the usability of Ligula intestinalis as a bioindicator for pesticide accumulation was investigated. Two different experiments were designed for the detection of pesticide residues and its withdrawal period. In the first experiment, the accumulation of malathion for 10 days was measured in the hybrid fish, Squalius orientalisxAlburnus derjugini sampled from a dam lake. In the next experiment, withdrawal was measured for 15 days. The infected and healthy fish in groups exposed malathion and not exposed malathion were sampled at the end of the first experiment. No malathion residue was found in the control group that was not exposed with malathion. For the second experiment, infected and healthy fish from malathion and without malathion groups were sampled to measure the elimination of malathion on the 1st, 4th, 5th, 8th, 12th, and 15th days. At the end of the first experiment, the presence of malathion was not detected in the control group while accumulation was observed in both fish and L. intestinalis in the experimental group. At the end of the second experiment (15th day), the highest residual value was found in L. intestinalis (1.02 mg/kg) while it was determined as 0.009 mg/kg in infected fish and 0.006 mg/kg in uninfected fish. According to the correlation, malathion accumulation was linear between uninfected fish and infected fish. On the other hand, an inverse correlation was found between L. intestinalis and both malathion and control fish. As a result, it was determined that L. intestinalis can be used as a bioindicator in pesticide accumulation and the pesticide is still detectable in the parasite after withdrawal from fish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the expansion of China's automobile market and the increase in the proportion of electric vehicles, the influence of the automobile industry on water resources has been increasingly, and as a result, water resources will become an important factor restricting the development of the electric vehicle industry in China. Until now, there are still no in-depth studies on the influences of the water footprint of electric vehicles. The paper establishes a life cycle assessment model by which to analyze the reduction potential of the water footprint of various types of passenger vehicles in their operation. The paper also compares the water footprint of passenger vehicles under different power structures, revealing the potential influence of developing electric vehicles on the demand of water resources. The results show that at the base year (2019), the plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and battery electric vehicles consume more water than the gasoline-based internal combustion engine vehicles do, while water consumption of the hybrid electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles is lower than that of the gasoline-based internal combustion engine vehicles; as for the year 2035, even after the proportion of renewable energy generation increases, the water withdrawal and consumption of the battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles will still be larger than those of the gasoline-based internal combustion engine vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: There is a major societal need for analgesics with less tolerance, dependence, and abuse liability. Preclinical rodent studies suggest that bifunctional ligands with both mu (MOPr) and delta (DOPr) opioid peptide receptor activity may produce analgesia with reduced tolerance and other side effects. This study explores the structure-activity relationships (SAR) of our previously reported MOPr/DOPr lead, benzylideneoxymorphone (BOM) with C7-methylene-substituted analogs. Methods: Analogs were synthesized and tested in vitro for opioid receptor binding and efficacy. One compound, nitro-BOM (NBOM, 12) was evaluated for antinociceptive effects in the warm water tail withdrawal assay in C57BL/6 mice. Acute and chronic antinociception was determined, as was toxicologic effects on chronic administration. Molecular modeling experiments were performed using the Site Identification by Ligand Competitive Saturation (SILCS) method. Results: NBOM was found to be a potent MOPr agonist/DOPr partial agonist that produces high-efficacy antinociception. Antinociceptive tolerance was observed, as was weight loss; this toxicity was only observed with NBOM and not with BOM. Modeling supports the hypothesis that the increased MOPr efficacy of NBOM is due to the substituted benzylidene ring occupying a nonpolar region within the MOPr agonist state. Discussion: Though antinociceptive tolerance and non-specific toxicity was observed on repeated administration, NBOM provides an important new tool for understanding MOPr/DOPr pharmacology [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The NCAR Community Earth System Model is used to study the influences of anthropogenic aerosols on the Indian summer monsoon (ISM). We perform two sets of 30-year simulations subject to the prescribed perpetual SST annual cycle. One is triggered by the year 2000 climatology anthropogenic aerosol emissions data over the Indian Peninsula (referred to as AERO), and the other one is by the year 1850 (referred to as CTL). Only aerosol direct effects are included in the experiments. In our results, the transition of ISM in AERO relative to the CTL exhibits a similar ensemble-mean onset date with a larger spread, and more abrupt onset in late spring, and an earlier but more gradual withdrawal in early fall. The aerosols-induced circulation changes feature an upward motion over the northeastern Indian Peninsula and strengthened anticyclonic circulation over the Arabia Sea in the pre-monsoon season, and a northward shift of monsoon flow in the developed monsoon period along with strengthened local meridional circulation over northern India. The strengthened anticyclonic circulation over Arabia Sea caused a 16% increase in natural dust transport from the Middle East in the pre-monsoon season. The elevated aerosol heating over Tibet causes stronger ascending motion in the pre-monsoon period that leads to earlier and more abrupt ISM onset. The earlier monsoon withdrawal is attributed to the aerosol-induced anticyclonic flow within 10°–25°N and cyclonic flow within 0°–10°N over eastern India and Bay of Bengal that resemble the ISM seasonal transition in September. Key Points: Anthropogenic aerosol-radiative heating causes enhanced ascending motion over northern India and Tibet in both pre-monsoon and developed monsoon periods. Aerosol-induced Tibet heating in pre-monsoon period corresponds to earlier and abrupt ISM onset. Aerosol-induced circulation changes in ISM withdrawal period resemble the corresponding seasonal transition over eastern India and Bay of Bengal such that the withdrawal occurs earlier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Irrigation activities are important for sustaining food production, and account for 70 % of total global water withdrawals. In addition, due to increased evapotranspiration (ET) and changes on leaf area index (LAI), these activities have an impact on hydrology and climate. In this paper we present a new irrigation scheme within the land surface model ORCHIDEE. It restrains actual irrigation according to available freshwater by including a simple environmental limit and using allocation rules depending on local infrastructure. We perform a simple sensitivity analysis and parameter tuning to set the parameter values and match the observed irrigation amounts against reported values, assuming uniform parameter values over land. Our scheme matches irrigation withdrawals amounts at global scale, but we identify some areas in India, China and the US (some of the most intensively irrigated regions worldwide) where irrigation is underestimated. In all irrigated areas, the scheme reduces the negative bias of ET. It also exacerbates the positive bias of the leaf area index (LAI) except for the very intensively irrigated areas, where irrigation reduces a negative LAI bias. The increase of ET decreases river discharge values, in some cases significantly, although this does not necessarily lead to a better representation of discharge dynamics. Irrigation, however, does not have a large impact on the simulated total water storage anomalies (TWSA) and its trends. This may be partly explained by the absence of non-renewable groundwater use, and its inclusion could increase irrigation estimates in arid and semiarid regions by increasing the supply. Correlation of irrigation biases with landscape descriptors suggests that inclusion of irrigated rice and dam management could improve the irrigation estimates as well. Regardless of this complexity, our results show that the new irrigation scheme helps simulating acceptable land surface conditions and fluxes in irrigated areas, which is important to explore the joint evolution of climate, water resources and irrigation activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The terrestrial water cycle is important for the arid regions of central Asia (CA). In this study, the spatiotemporal variations in the three climate variables [temperature (TMP), precipitation (PRE), and potential evapotranspiration (PET)] and terrestrial water cycle components [soil moisture (SM), snow water equivalent (SWE), runoff, terrestrial water storage (TWS), and groundwater storage (GWS)] of CA are comprehensively analyzed based on multiple datasets from 2003 to 2020. The major results are as follows: (1) Significant decreasing trends were observed for the TWS anomaly (TWSA) and GWS anomaly (GWSA) during 2003–2020, indicating serious water resource depletion. The annual linear trend values of TWSA and GWSA are −0.31 and −0.27 mm/a, respectively. The depletion centers are distributed over most areas of western and southern Kazakhstan (KAZ) and nearly all areas of Uzbekistan (UZB), Kyrgyzstan (KGZ), and Tajikistan (TJK). (2) TMP and PET have the largest significant negative impacts on SM and SWE. The PRE has a positive impact on terrestrial water variations. (3) During 1999–2019, water withdrawal did not significantly increase, whereas TWS showed a significant decreasing trend. Our results provide a comprehensive analysis of the basic TWS variation that plays a significant role in the water resource management of CA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article concerns UK commercial fruit and vegetable growers' narratives regarding the sustainability of water use for food production. In it we explore their perspectives on efforts by regulators to limit agricultural withdrawals of water from the natural environment in line with EU Water Framework Directive objectives, alongside their views on retailer sustainability commitments. Discourse analysis is used to investigate how the growers contested restrictive regulation, constructed their identities, portrayed other supply chain stakeholders, and conveyed their social relations with them. Using Erving Goffman's theory of frontstage and backstage performances, the implications for the growers' water management decisions and their internalisation of sustainability agendas for water are examined. Whilst the growers gave accounts of purposely misrepresenting their water withdrawal practices and their discourse illustrated significant polarisation between environmental and agricultural interests, their underlying commitment to environmental sustainability was ambivalent, with both anti and pro‐environmental attitudes expressed. The growers also frequently gave critiques of superficial sustainability in fresh produce supply chains. We argue that, given contemporary shifting definitions of agricultural identities, settings in which their construction is negotiated can provide windows of opportunity for conventional growers to engage in genuine pro‐environmental performances that may deepen their assimilation of environmental goals and commitment to sustainable water use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a sensitive climate change indicator, global multi‐depth soil moisture (SM) has undergone great variation due to warming trends during the past decades. Here, we investigate the evolutionary pattern of SM and then carry out an attribution analysis from climate and human perspectives. The results reveal an unbalanced surface and rootzone variation trend during 1980–2020. The surface soil had approximately equal proportions of drying and wetting. Nonetheless, the percentage of the wetting region is significantly higher than that of the drying region for rootzone soil. The significantly drying region is mainly distributed in habitable areas, while the remarkably wetting region is usually located in the harsh climate and tropical humid zones. According to the attribution analysis using the Feature Importance Index of the Random Forest model, Pearson correlation coefficient, Maximum information coefficient, Spearman rank correlation coefficient, and Granger causality with 99% statistical significance, both climatic and human factors presented significant impacts on SM. Specifically, air temperature and evaporation are thought to be the primary climatic factors affecting the seasonal and long‐term variability of SM, respectively. Irrigation water withdrawal is regarded as the dominant driving force of SM variation among six human water withdrawals, and domestic and electricity water withdrawals play indispensable roles in SM fluctuation. Additionally, SM also provides profound feedbacks on climatic factors and human water withdrawals. The global spatial‐temporal SM variation along with warming temperatures could seriously risk food security and sustainable development, which needs to be addressed. Key Points: Drying regions are distributed in habitable areas, while wetting regions are located in the harsh climate and tropical humid zonesAir temperature and evaporation are thought to be the primary climatic factors affecting the seasonal and long‐term variability of soil moisture (SM)Irrigation water withdrawal is regarded as the dominant driving force of SM variation among the six human water withdrawals [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Many countries have experienced the increase of groundwater depletion rate (GWDR), posing great challenges to the environment and society. Given the slow variation of groundwater, long‐term estimation of GWDR at high‐resolution is critical for sustainable managements of regional water resources and risks of hydrological extremes in a changing climate. However, limited in‐situ and satellite observations and uncertainties from hydrological model simulations prohibit reliable estimation of the long‐term trend and inter‐annual variation of GWDR. Using survey‐based water withdrawal and water availability datasets, this study provided a spatially distributed estimation of annual GWDR over China at the 0.25° × 0.25° grid scale for the period 1965–2016 using a flux‐based approach. The estimated GWDR has higher spatial resolution and longer temporal coverage than previous products. With the newly compiled data, we found that groundwater over China was depleted at an average rate of 20.4 km3 year−1 during 1965–2016, especially in the arid and semi‐arid areas of northern China. The GWDR showed a significant increasing trend during 1965–2016, but such trend slowed down from 0.66 km3 year−1 during 1965–2001 to 0.06 km3 year−1 during 2001–2016, which was mainly attributed to the deceleration in human water withdrawal. Further analysis showed that over 40% of the inter‐annual variability of GWDR could be explained by precipitation variability, and the climate control increased over time. This study suggested a growing control of climate variations on GWDR over China as the human water withdrawal has been decelerating, and a need for climate change adaptation for a sustainable groundwater management. Plain Language Summary: Groundwater serves as an important freshwater source, and is critical for human life and socioeconomic development. Yet unsustainable groundwater abstraction exceeds recharge from rain and rivers, leading to losses of groundwater storage and substantial drops in groundwater level, namely groundwater depletion. Groundwater depletion would result in significant environmental degradation and threaten food security, which has attracted much attention to long‐term estimation of groundwater depletion at high‐resolution. This study provided a spatially distributed estimation of groundwater depletion rate over China and further analyzed its changing patterns. We found that groundwater depletion in China increased continuously during 1965–2016, but this increasing trend slowed down after 2001 due to the deceleration in human water withdrawal. Results also suggested an increasing negative correlation between groundwater depletion rate and precipitation over time, and addressed the nonnegligible impacts of climate extremes on groundwater depletion. The findings have important implications for groundwater sustainability over water‐scare regions, and water managers should take into account both water demand and climate variations when designing and selecting robust adaptation strategies to cope with groundwater depletion under changing environment. Key Points: Groundwater depletion rate (GWDR) in China was estimated by a flux‐based approach at high spatial resolution and long temporal coverageThe increasing trend of GWDR slowed down after 2001 due to the deceleration in human water withdrawalThere was a significant negative correlation between GWDR and precipitation, and the climate control increased over time [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought stress is becoming the most important factor of global warming in forests, hampering the production of reproductive material with improved resilience. Previously, we reported that heat-priming maritime pine (Pinus pinaster) megagametophytes during SE produced epigenetic changes that generated plants better adapted to subsequent heat stress. In this work, we tested, in an experiment performed under greenhouse conditions, whether heat-priming will produce cross-tolerance to mild drought stress (30 days) in 3-year-old priming-derived plants. We found that they maintain constitutive physiological differences as compared to controls, such as higher proline, abscisic acid, starch, and reduced glutathione and total protein contents, as well as higher ΦPSII yield. Primed plants also displayed a constitutive upregulation of the WRKY transcription factor and the Responsive to Dehydration 22 (RD22) genes, as well as of those coding for antioxidant enzymes (APX, SOD, and GST) and for proteins that avoid cell damage (HSP70 and DHNs). Furthermore, osmoprotectants as total soluble sugars and proteins were early accumulated in primed plants during the stress. Prolongated water withdrawal increased ABA accumulation and negatively affected photosynthesis in all plants but primed-derived plants recovered faster than controls. We concluded that high temperature pulses during somatic embryogenesis resulted in transcriptomic and physiological changes in maritime pine plants that can increase their resilience to drought stress, since heat-primed plants exhibit permanent activation of mechanisms for cell protection and overexpression of stress pathways that pre-adapt them to respond more efficiently to soil water deficit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interaction of climate change and increasing anthropogenic water withdrawals is anticipated to alter surface water availability and the transport of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) in river networks. But how changes to river flow will alter the balance, or stoichiometry, of these fluxes is unknown. The Lower Flint River Basin (LFRB) is part of an interstate watershed relied upon by several million people for diverse ecosystem services, including seasonal crop irrigation, municipal drinking water access, and public recreation. Recently, increased water demand compounded with intensified droughts have caused historically perennial streams in the LFRB to cease flowing, increasing ecosystem vulnerability. Our objectives were to quantify how riverine dissolved C:N:P varies spatially and seasonally and determine how monthly stoichiometric fluxes varied with overall water availability in a major tributary of LFRB. We used a long‐term record (21–29 years) of solute water chemistry (dissolved organic carbon, nitrate/nitrite, ammonia, and soluble reactive phosphorus) paired with long‐term stream discharge data across six sites within a single LFRB watershed. We found spatial and seasonal differences in soluble nutrient concentrations and stoichiometry attributable to groundwater connections, the presence of a major floodplain wetland, and flow conditions. Further, we showed that water availability, as indicated by the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), strongly predicted stoichiometry with generally lower C:N and C:P and higher N:P fluxes during periods of low water availability (PDSI < −4). These patterns suggest there may be long‐term and significant changes to stream ecosystem function as water availability is being dramatically altered by human demand with consequential impacts on solute transport, in‐stream processing, and stoichiometric ratios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water management statistics of the state water cadaster of the Republic of Belarus was used to analyze the dynamics of water use over 2000–2019. The study is based on the statistical methods for the analysis of time series and the relative characteristics of water use dynamics. Trends and priorities were revealed in water use in the country as a whole and at the level of administrative regions. It is shown that in 2000–2019, water intake in the country decreased by 28%, and the use of water for drinking and industrial needs dropped by more than 30%. Comparative analysis revealed differences in water use between regions expressed in the relative characteristics: total water intake, the volume of groundwater development and surface water extraction, the amounts of water use for different purposes. In the majority of administrative regions of the country (102 out of 118), the main source of water supply is groundwater, the development of which exceeds the extraction of surface water, and in 36 regions, water supply relies completely on groundwater. The administrative regions are grouped by the priority objectives of water use. It is found that two water use objectives are of priority in 78 regions; these are household and agricultural needs, met by groundwater. The differentiation of the volumes of water withdrawal and water use priorities at the regional level is determined by population size, the development level of material production branches, and their water demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is crucial to establish appropriate water management in agriculture. Due to financial difficulties, it is also necessary for farmers to work together with government agencies in water management. Existing water allocation models, however, require much effort to collect data. They are also black boxes difficult for farmers to understand, which may discourage farmers from participating in irrigation planning. In this study, we attempted to construct a farm-block-level water balance model with a simple tank model concept and easily collectible data. The model consists of two parts that reproduce the water distribution process from the farm block intake to each field (Canal Tank Model; CTM) and the water balance process in the paddy field (Paddy Tank Model; PTM), respectively. The model coefficients were identified using data from 2002 to 2003, and the model validity was evaluated using data from 2004 and 2005. The CTM coefficients were identified for 2002 and 2003 because of the different land use patterns. The CTM runoff coefficients and hole heights were changed on days when the farmers were considered to have operated diversion ratios significantly. The PTM coefficients were identified using the SDFP method and trial and error referring to the groundwater level. However, the PTM seepage holes were fixed to the corresponding values that the vertical seepage was approximately 5 mm/d based on the on-site survey. As a result, despite the arbitrary water manipulation by farmers, the same CTM coefficients for 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005, when the land use pattern was similar, were able to reproduce the water allocation well. This water allocation model can be used to estimate the optimal delivery water management rate and to quantitatively evaluate the excess water withdrawal resulting from the labor reduction in water management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to climate change and increased urbanisation, the current level of freshwater withdrawals and corresponding water usage in Uganda has increased, affecting the availability of these resources and becoming a concern. Education can play a crucial role in providing support to and training students on sustainable water use, both at home and in relation to school activities. Therefore, it is imperative that the education system develops actions, approaches and materials to achieve this goal. The paper assesses the current state of existing Ugandan education on this subject, by identifying the water-related topics currently featured in the curriculum at different class levels, with the aid of questionnaires conducted in four schools in Uganda. Three questionnaires (one for primary school pupils, one for secondary school pupils and one for teachers) were designed for collecting targeted data, and thematic analysis was adopted to analyse the data collected. The results revealed important insights regarding students' behaviours towards water usage at home. They also revealed that water sustainability topics are delivered in the science curriculum at the primary level, as opposed to geography at the secondary level, confirming that overall, there is a lack of integrated practical teaching incorporated within the courses currently taught in Ugandan schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to climate change and the decrease of surface water resources recently, groundwater resources, especially aqueducts, have special importance to meet various human requirements in arid and semi-arid regions. With the aim of aqueduct water withdrawal (AWW) estimating for agricultural uses, the present research was implemented, in Golpayegan and Kashan regions of Iran; classified in non-uniform and uniform climate zones with water scarcity situation. The AWW variables were estimated based on four scenarios including (1) aqueduct local features, (2) hydrological, (3) land-use, and (4) combined scenarios. The [(Mother-well Depth (MWD), Aqueduct Channel Length (ACL)), (minimum flow rate (QMin), maximum flow rate (QMax)), and (Cultivated Area (CA), Orchard Area (OA))] variables reagent the first to third scenarios, respectively. Estimation of AWW was operated via single and Wavelet-hybrid (W-hybrid with de-noising) Soft-computing (SC) approaches, including artificial neural networks (ANNs), Wavelet-ANN (WANNs), adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), Wavelet-ANFIS (WANFIS), gene expression programming (GEP), and Wavelet-GEP (WGEP). The WGEP model's efficiency with the hybrid characteristics of MWD, ACL, QMin, QMax, CA, and OA variables was recommended as the best model to estimate AWW variables without climate conditions' effects. With increasing levels of decomposition in wavelet approach and noise reduction, the performance of the models for estimating AWW increased. Also, the findings revealed that the implementation of the proposed method in uniform climates can have a higher performance than non-uniform climates. The achieved values of RMSE for the combined factor of WGEP models were 23.249 and 17.227 (×103 m3), for estimating AWW in Golpayegan and Kashan, respectively. The performance of WGEP was excellent (R > 0.920) in the estimation of AWW in both climatic types for maximum extreme amounts. Abstracting mathematical formulation of GEP and WGEP models is part of the research finding profound effects implementing policies related to Integrated Water Resources Management to protect the aqueduct's destruction by excessive consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Water Resources Journal / Revue Canadienne des Ressources Hydriques is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the Sahelian semi-arid region, water resources, especially small waterbodies such as ponds, small lakes, and reservoirs in rural areas are of vital importance. However, because of their high number and the scarce in situ monitoring networks, these resources and their spatiotemporal variability are not well known at the regional scale. This study investigates the hydrological regime of 37 small waterbodies, located in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso in central Sahel. We propose a method based on remote sensing data only, which consists of combining water height data from Sentinel-3 Synthetic Aperture Radar Altimeter (SRAL) with water area data obtained with the Sentinel-2 MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI) to create a dense water height time series. Water height variations are then compared to the evaporation estimated by the Penman–Monteith method, using ERA5 reanalysis by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) to infer water regimes during the dry season. Three main regimes stand out, namely a net water loss, mainly resulting from anthropogenic withdrawals, a net water supply occurring after the end of the rainy season through river network or water table exchange, and a balanced behaviour, where water losses during the dry season closely correspond to evaporation rates. Spatial patterns have been identified; in central Burkina Faso, most of the reservoirs show a net dry season water loss, which is explained by frequent irrigation, while reservoirs in northern Burkina Faso, generally show little water loss, indicating that water withdrawal is not significant in this area. Lakes located in the Inner Niger Delta in Mali and connected to the Niger River network generally show an important water supply, particularly at the beginning of the dry season. Lakes in Niger tend to show a weak signal toward water inflow that could be explained by exchange processes with the groundwater. These results show that satellite data are effective at estimating hydrological regimes and the anthropogenic impact on water resources at the large scale, including resources found in small waterbodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Floodplain wetlands are among the most dynamic ecosystems on Earth, featuring high biodiversity and productivity. They are also sensitive to anthropogenic disturbances and are globally threatened. Understanding how flow regime drives the spatiotemporal dynamics of wetland habitats is fundamental to effective conservation practices. In this study, using Landsat imagery and the random forest (RF) machine learning algorithm, we mapped the winter distribution of four wetland habitats (i.e., Carex meadow, reedbed, mudflat, and shallow water) in East Dongting Lake, a Ramsar wetland in the middle to lower Yangtze Basin of China, for 34 years (1988–2021). The dynamics of wetland habitats were explored through pixel-by-pixel comparisons. Further, the response of wetland habitats to flow regime variations was investigated using generalized additive mixed models (GAMM). Our results demonstrated the constant expansion of reedbeds and shrinkage of mudflats, and that there were three processes contributing to the reduction in mudflat: (1) permanent replacement by reedbed; (2) irreversible loss to water; and (3) transitional swapping with Carex meadow. These changes in the relative extent of wetland habitats may degrade the conservation function of the Ramsar wetland. Moreover, the duration of the dry season and the date of water level withdrawal were identified as the key flow regime parameters shaping the size of wetland habitats. However, different wetland vegetation showed distinct responses to variations in flow regime: while Carex meadow increased with earlier water withdrawal and a longer dry season, reedbed continuously expanded independent of the flow regime corresponding to the increase in winter rainfall. Our findings suggested that flow regime acts in concert with other factors, such as climate change and sand mining in river channels, driving wetland habitat transition in a floodplain landscape. Therefore, effective conservation can only be achieved through diverse restoration strategies addressing all drivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Olive trees shed their leaves under severe drought as a defence mechanism. Foliar drought‐induced abscission is a programmed process occurring in a differentiated cell layer at the base of the petiole. Considering the antioxidant properties of vitamin E and its interplay with lipid peroxidation‐derived jasmonates in abiotic stress responses, we hypothesized about their possible role in abscission signaling by forming a jasmonates‐increasing basipetal gradient along the leaf up to the abscission zone. We exposed young olives trees to water withdrawal for 21 days, after which five leaf sections, from the apex to the petiole, were sampled on both attached and detached leaves of irrigated and water‐stressed trees. We found that prolonged drought stress resulted in a sharp reduction in the photosystem II efficiency, chlorophyll and vitamin E contents in leaves, leading to photo‐oxidative stress, reflected by the increase in lipid peroxidation. In addition, the content of chloroplast‐derived oxylipins and phytohormones, such as jasmonoyl‐isoleucine and salicylic acid, increased. At the same time, α‐tocopherol decreased in the petiole of water‐stressed attached leaves, suggesting a conditioning for the abscission process to occur. Although no differences were observed in petioles from attached and detached leaves, the dropped ones showed higher oxidative stress in the leaf blade. It is concluded that redox signaling through oxylipins accumulation may trigger leaf abscission in drought‐stressed olive trees. Mechanical stress is, however, additionally needed to execute leaf abscission once the abscission zone is properly conditioned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, three-dimensional (3-D) ordinary kriging of dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations was performed for a eutrophic reservoir based on 81 sampling points using Stanford Geostatistical Modeling Software (SGeMs). Potential hotspots (problematic zones in terms of water quality with high/low DO concentrations) not only at the surface but also in deeper layers of Porsuk Dam Reservoir (PDR) were evaluated. Moreover, 3-D distributions of DO, and specific conductivity (SC) were examined against the thermocline layer identified using the 3-D temperature data. Thermocline layer existed between 10 and 14 m below the surface based on 3-D temperature data. This result showed that the traditional approach of collecting samples from mid-depths may cause incomplete characterization and evaluation of water quality as thermocline layer may not coincide with mid-depth. Although the variation in SC values and temperatures above and below the thermocline layer were relatively homogeneous, this was not the case for DO. 3-D DO distribution suggested a better location for water withdrawal for domestic purposes. 3-D DO maps generated by predicting data at unmeasured locations at different depths could be used as input for 3-D water quality estimation in the reservoir through model simulations in future. Moreover, the outcomes can also be useful in the segmentation (physical configuration) of the water body for future water quality modeling studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-quality gridded data on industrial water use is vital for research and water resource management. However, such data in China usually have low accuracy. In this study, we developed a gridded dataset of monthly industrial water withdrawal (IWW) for China, namely, the China industrial water withdrawal dataset (CIWW), which spans a 56-year period from 1965 to 2020 at a spatial resolution of 0.1° and 0.25°. We utilized >400,000 records of industrial enterprises, monthly industrial product output data, continuous statistical IWW records from 1965 to 2020, to facilitate spatial scaling, seasonal allocation, and long-term temporal coverage in the developing the dataset. The CIWW dataset presented significant improvement in characterizing the spatial and seasonal patterns of IWW dynamics in China, with a much higher accuracy at fine scale while ensuring consistency with statistical records. The CIWW dataset, together with its methodology, and auxiliary data, is useful for water resource management and for research in hydrology, geography, environment, and sustainability sciences. This new dataset is now available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.21901074.v1 (Hou and Li, 2023). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water usage is closely linked with societal goals that are both local and global in scale, such as sustainable development and economic growth. It is therefore of value, particularly for long-term planning, to understand how future sectoral water usage could evolve on a global scale at fine resolution. Additionally, future water usage could be strongly shaped by global forces, such as socioeconomic and climate change, and the multi-sector dynamic interactions those forces create. We generate a novel global gridded monthly sectoral water withdrawal and consumption dataset at 0.5° resolution for 2010–2100 for a diverse range of 75 scenarios. The scenarios are harmonized with the five Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) and four Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) scenarios to support its usage in studies evaluating the implications of uncertain human and earth system change for future global and regional dynamics. To generate the data, we couple the Global Change Analysis Model (GCAM) with a land use spatial downscaling model (Demeter), a global hydrologic framework (Xanthos), and a water withdrawal downscaling model (Tethys). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aquifer surveillance is key to understanding the dynamics of groundwater reservoirs. Attention should be focused on developing strategies to monitor and mitigate the adverse consequences of overexploitation. In this context, ground surface deformation monitoring allows us to estimate the spatial and temporal distribution of groundwater levels, determine the recharge times of the aquifers, and calibrate the hydrological models. This study proposes a methodology for implementing advanced multitemporal differential interferometry (InSAR) techniques for water withdrawal surveillance and early warning assessment. For this, large open-access images were used, a total of 145 SAR images from the Sentinel 1 C-band satellite provided by the Copernicus mission of the European Space Agency. InSAR processing was carried out with an algorithm based on parallel computing technology implemented in cloud infrastructure, optimizing complex workflows and processing times. The surveillance period records 6-years of satellite observation from September 2016 to December 2021 over the city of Chillan (Chile), an area exposed to urban development and intensive agriculture, where ~80 wells are located. The groundwater flow path spans from the Andes Mountain range to the Pacific Ocean, crossing the Itata river basin in the Chilean central valley. InSAR validation measurements were carried out by comparing the results with the values of continuous GNSS stations available in the area of interest. The performance analysis is based on spatial analysis, time series, meteorological stations data, and static level measurements, as well as hydrogeological structure. The results indicate seasonal variations in winter and summer, which corresponds to the recovery and drawdown periods with velocities > −10 mm/year, and an aquifer deterioration trend of up to 60 mm registered in the satellite SAR observation period. Our results show an efficient tool to monitor aquifer conditions, including irreversible consolidation and storage capacity loss, allowing timely decision making to avoid harmful exploitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Irrigation water use represents the primary source of freshwater consumption by humans. The amount of water withdrawals for agricultural purposes is expected to further increase in the upcoming years to face the rising world population and higher living standards. Hence, effective plans for enacting a rational management of agricultural water use are urgent, but they are limited by knowledge gaps about irrigation. Detailed information on irrigation dynamics (i.e., extents, timing, and amounts) is generally lacking worldwide, but satellite observations can be used to fill this gap. This paper describes the first regional-scale and high-resolution (1 and 6 km) irrigation water data sets obtained from satellite observations. The products are developed over three major river basins characterized by varying irrigation extents and methodologies, as well as by different climatic conditions. The data sets are an outcome of the European Space Agency (ESA) Irrigation+ project. The irrigation amounts have been estimated through the SM-based (soil-moisture-based) inversion approach over the Ebro river basin (northeastern Spain), the Po valley (northern Italy), and the Murray–Darling basin (southeastern Australia). The satellite-derived irrigation products referring to the case studies in Europe have a spatial resolution of 1 km, and they are retrieved by exploiting Sentinel-1 soil moisture data obtained through the RT1 (first-order Radiative Transfer) model. A spatial sampling of 6 km is instead used for the Australian pilot area, since in this case the soil moisture information comes from CYGNSS (Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System) observations. All the irrigation products are delivered with a weekly temporal aggregation. The 1 km data sets over the two European regions cover a period ranging from January 2016 to July 2020, while the irrigation estimates over the Murray–Darling basin are available for the time span April 2017–July 2020. The retrieved irrigation amounts have been compared with benchmark rates collected over selected agricultural districts. Results highlight satisfactory performances over the major part of the pilot sites falling within the two regions characterized by a semiarid climate, namely, the Ebro and the Murray–Darling basins, quantified by median values of RMSE, Pearson correlation r , and bias equal to 12.4 mm/14 d, 0.66, and - 4.62 mm/14 d, respectively, for the Ebro basin and to 10.54 mm/month, 0.77, and - 3.07 mm/month, respectively, for the Murray–Darling basin. The assessment of the performances over the Po valley is affected by the limited availability of in situ reference data for irrigation. The developed products are made available to the scientific community for use and further validation at 10.5281/zenodo.7341284 (Dari et al., 2022a). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]