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Recently, University of Illinois has been working on the front-end engineering design (FEED) of carbon capture facilities for several power plants in Illinois. While carbon capture facilities often would need cooling water for operation, the water demand for power plants carbon capture facilities has not received much attention. For the two real-world FEED design projects (the Prairie State Generating Company (PSGC) and the 21st Century Power plant (21CPP)), we comprehensively analyze the water demand and supply risks for the two carbon capture facilities. Both power plants and the associated carbon capture facilities are expected to run for decades and thus climate change would play key role in managing water supply risks which is important for informing the engineering design of water system and cooling system of the carbon capture facilities. Both historic and future hydrologic conditions are examined to determine water supply risks. Future hydrologic conditions are simulated using hydrologic models and global circulation models (GCM) results. The climate scenarios are adopted from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Projection Phase 5 (CMIP5) datasets. Three representative concentration pathways (RCPs), i.e. RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5, are employed for exploring different future carbon dioxide emission scenarios. This work explores the tradeoff between water footprint and carbon footprint of power plants in Illinois and provides scientific information for water management and carbon management and for engineering design of the real-world carbon capture facilities.

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE), an emerging approach for community-wide COVID-19 surveillance, was primarily characterized at large sewersheds such as wastewater treatment plants serving a large population. Although informed public health measures can be better implemented for a small population, WBE for neighborhood-scale sewersheds is less studied and not fully understood. This study applied WBE to seven neighborhood-scale sewersheds (average population of 1,471) from January to November, 2021. Community testing data showed an average of 0.004% incidence rate in these sewersheds (97% of monitoring periods reported two or fewer daily infections). In 92% of sewage samples, SARS-CoV-2 N gene fragments were below the limit of quantification. We statistically determined 10-2.6 as the threshold of the SARS-CoV-2 N gene concentration normalized to pepper mild mottle virus (N/PMMOV) to alert high COVID-19 incidence rate in the studied sewershed. This threshold of N/PMMOV identified neighborhood-scale outbreaks (COVID-19 incidence rate higher than 0.2%) with 82% sensitivity and 51% specificity. Importantly, neighborhood-scale WBE can discern local outbreaks that would not otherwise be identified by city-scale WBE. Our findings suggest that neighborhood-scale WBE is an effective community-wide disease surveillance tool when COVID-19 incidence is maintained at a low level.Graphical abstract

Threshold changes in rainfall-runoff generation commonly represent shifts in runoff mechanisms and hydrologic connectivity controlling water and solute transport and transformation. In watersheds with limited human influence, threshold runoff responses reflect interaction between precipitation event and antecedent soil moisture. Similar analyses are lacking in intensively managed landscapes where installation of subsurface drainage tiles has altered connectivity between the land surface, groundwater, and streams, and where application of fertilizer has created significant stores of subsurface nitrogen. In this study, we identify threshold patterns of tile-runoff generation for a drained agricultural field in Illinois and evaluate how antecedent conditions—including shallow soil moisture, groundwater table depth, and the presence or absence of crops—control tile response. We relate tile-runoff thresholds to patterns of event nitrate load observed across multiple storm events and evaluate how antecedent conditions control within-event nitrate concentration-discharge relationships. Our results demonstrate that an event tile-runoff threshold emerges relative to the sum of gross precipitation and indices of antecedent shallow soil moisture and antecedent below-tile groundwater moisture deficit, indicating that both shallow soil and below-tile storages must be filled to generate significant runoff. In turn, event nitrate load shows a linear dependence on runoff for most time periods, suggesting that subsurface nitrate export and storage can be estimated using runoff threshold relationships and long-term average nitrate concentrations. Finally, within-event nitrate concentration-discharge relationships are controlled by event size and the antecedent tile flow state because these factors dictate the sequence of flow path activation and tile connectivity over a storm event.

This study investigated the accuracy and suitability of several methods commonly used to estimate riverine nitrate loads at eight watersheds located southwest of Lake Erie in the Midwestern United States. This study applied various regression methods, including a regression estimator with five, six, and seven parameters, an estimator enhanced by composite, triangular, and rectangular error corrections with residual and proportional adjustment methods, the weighted regressions on time, discharge, and season (WRTDS) method, and a simple linear interpolation (SLI) method. Daily discharge and nitrate concentration data were collected by the National Center for Water Quality Research. The methods were compared with subsampling frequencies of 6, 12, and 24 times per year for daily concentrations, daily loads, and annual loads. The results indicate that combinations of the seven-parameter regression method with composite residual and rectangular residual adjustments provided the best estimates under most of the watershed and sampling frequency conditions. On average, WRTDS was more accurate than the regression models alone, but less accurate than those models enhanced by residual adjustments, except for the most urbanized watershed, Cuyahoga. SLI was the most accurate in the Vermilion and Maumee watersheds. The results also provide some information about the effects of rating curve shape and slope, land use, and record length on model performance.

Expansion and intensification of managed landscapes for agriculture have resulted in severe unintended global impacts, including degradation of arable land and eutrophication of receiving water bodies. Modern agricultural practices rely on significant direct and indirect human energy inputs through farm machinery and chemical use, respectively, which have created imbalances between increased rates of biogeochemical processes related to production and background rates of natural processes. We articulate how these imbalances have cascaded through the deep inter-dependencies between carbon, soil, water, nutrient and ecological processes, resulting in a critical transition of the critical zone and creating emergent inter-dependencies and co-evolutionary trajectories. Understanding of these novel organizations and function of the critical zone is vital for developing sustainable agricultural practices and environmental stewardship.

The damming of rivers has created hotspots for organic carbon sequestration and methane production on a global scale as the reservoirs intercept fluvial suspended and dissolved loads. To better understand how the C-biogeochemistry of a reservoir responds to watershed processes and evolves over time, Lake Decatur, located in the Intensively Managed Landscape Critical Zone Observatory (IML-CZO) was studied. Solid phase analyses (% organic C, C/N, δ13C, δ15N) of soils and sediments sampled from stream bank exposures, river suspensions, and the lake bottom were conducted to characterize organic C (OC) sources throughout the sedimentary system. Agriculturally-driven soil erosion rapidly altered lake bathymetry causing an evolution of sedimentary and OC deposition patterns, which in turn shaped where and when methane production occurred. A positive correlation between OC accumulation rate and porewater dissolved inorganic C (DIC) δ13C profiles indicates that methane generation is strongly influenced by OC burial rate. The sources of the lake bed particulate organic C (POC) have also evolved over time. Drowned vegetation and/or shoreline inputs were dominant initially in areas adjacent to the original river channel but were rapidly overwhelmed by the deposition of sediments derived from eroded agricultural soils. Eutrophication of the lake followed with the onset of heavy fertilizer application post-1960. This succession of sources is expected to be commonplace for reservoirs greater than ~ 50–60 years old in agricultural settings because of the relative timing of tillage and fertilizer practices. The 13C/12C ratios of methane from Lake Decatur were more depleted in 13C than what is commonly expected for freshwater sedimentary environments. The 13C-depletion suggests that CO2-reduction is the dominant methanogenic pathway rather than the anticipated acetate dissimilation process. The isotopic observations reveal that commonly held assumptions about methane production and its C-isotopic signature in freshwater systems are over-simplified and not strictly applicable to this system.

In intensively managed landscapes, interactions between surface (tillage) and subsurface (tile drainage) management with prevailing climate/weather alter landscape characteristics, transport pathways, and transformation rates of surface/subsurface water, soil/sediment, and particulate/dissolved nutrients. To capture the high spatial and temporal variability of constituent transport and residence times in the critical zone (between the bedrock and canopy) of these altered landscapes, both storm event and continuous measurements are needed. The Intensively Managed Landscapes Critical Zone Observatory (IML-CZO) is comprised of three highly characterized, well instrumented, and representative watersheds (i.e., Clear Creek, Iowa; Upper Sangamon River, Illinois; and Minnesota River, Minnesota). It is organized to quantify the heterogeneity in structure and dynamic response of critical zone processes to human activities in the context of the glacial and management (anthropogenic) legacies. Observations of water, sediment, and nutrients are made at nested points of the landscape in the vertical and lateral directions during and between storm events (i.e., continuously). The measurements and corresponding observational strategy are organized as follows. First, reference measurements from surface soil and deep core extractions, geophysical surveys, lidar, and hyperspectral data, which are common across all Critical Zone Observatories, are available. The reference measurements include continuous quantification of energy, water, solutes, and sediment fluxes. The reference measurements are complemented with event-based measurements unique to IML-CZO. These measurements include water table fluctuations, enrichment ratios, and roughness as well as bank erosion, hysteresis, sediment sources, and lake/floodplain sedimentation. The coupling of reference and event-based measurements support testing of the central hypothesis (i.e., system shifts from transformer to transporter in IML-CZO due to the interplay between management and weather/climate). Data collected since 2014 are available through a data repository and through the Geodashboard interface, which can be used for process-based model simulations.

Intensively managed land increases the rate of nutrient and particle transport within a basin, but the impact of these changes on microbial community assembly patterns at the basin scale is not yet understood. The objective of this study was to investigate how landscape connectivity and dispersal impacts microbial diversity in an agricultural-dominated watershed. We characterized soil, sediment and water microbial communities along the Upper Sangamon River basin in Illinois-a 3600 km2 watershed strongly influenced by human activity, especially landscape modification and extensive fertilization for agriculture. We employed statistical and network analyses to reveal the microbial community structure and interactions in the critical zone (water, soil and sediment media). Using a Bayesian source tracking approach, we predicted microbial community connectivity within and between the environments. We identified strong connectivity within environments (up to 85.4 ± 13.3% of sequences in downstream water samples sourced from upstream samples, and 44.7 ± 26.6% in soil and sediment samples), but negligible connectivity across environments, which indicates that microbial dispersal was successful within but not between environments. Species sorting based on sample media type and environmental parameters was the dominant driver of community dissimilarity. Finally, we constructed operational taxonomic unit association networks for each environment and identified a number of co-occurrence relationships that were shared between habitats, suggesting that these are likely to be ecologically significant.

The Agricultural Non-Point-Source Pollution (AGNPS) model was used to simulate storm-generated rainfall-runoff and distribution of nitrate-nitrogen (nitrate-N) concentration in the Upper Sangamon River basin draining into Lake Decatur in Decatur, Illinois. This water supply reservoir for the city of Decatur receives water from the 2,400-square-kilometer Lake Decatur agricultural watershed and has high nitrate-N concentrations periodically exceeding the 10 milligram per liter drinking water standard of the U.S. and Illinois Environmental Protection Agencies (USEPA and IEPA). Using monitored and estimated data, the model was calibrated and validated to predict closely-observed runoff volumes and nitrate-N concentrations. Sensitive model parameters were identified. The calibrated model was used to evaluate the effects of different agricultural and watershed management practices (BMPs) for reducing nitrate-N discharge into the lake. Model parameters were identified to represent the BMPs. Model result...

A number of communities in Central Illinois that depend on surface water supplies for their drinking water have been experiencing water quality problems in recent years. Since the dominant land use in the region is agriculture, most of the water quality problems are generally attributed to changes in agricultural practices, especially application of fertilizers and pesticides. The most pressing drinking water quality problem in Central Illinois is high nitrate concentration. The maximum contaminant level (MCL) for nitrate in drinking water is set at10 milligrams per liter. A Technical Advisory Committee developed a set of recommendations on how to implement watershed-based solutions to the water quality problem in Central Illinois based on the results of several hydrologic and water quality studies.

Quantitative monitoring of water conditions in a field is a critical ability for environmental science studies. We report the design, fabrication and testing of a low cost, miniaturized and sensitive electrochemical based nitrate sensor for quantitative determination of nitrate concentrations in water samples. We have presented detailed analysis for the nitrate detection results using the miniaturized sensor. We have also demonstrated the integration of the sensor to a wireless network and carried out field water testing using the sensor. We envision that the field implementation of the wireless water sensor network will enable “smart farming” and “smart environmental monitoring”.

The overall objectives of this study were to characterize the patterns of IUGR of infants weighing more than 2500 g at birth and to identify pregnancy-related risk factors associated with IUGR. A total of 195 term newborns were studied from a Pediatric Hospital in the city of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. The experimental group consisted of 140 newborns whose birth weights ranged between 2500 and 3200 g. A total of 55 non-IUGR infants were included in the control group whose birth weights were between 3200 and 4000 g. IUGR was evaluated based on the fetal growth ratio method defined as the observed birth weight at a given gestational age to the mean birth weight using a sex-specific reference growth standard. Overall, 35% of infants weighing between 2500-3200 g showed patterns of IUGR. These patterns of underweight were associated with lower values in several of the anthropometric indicators and proportionality ratios used. Of all the maternal risk factors evaluated only previous history of low birth weight was found to be statistically significant between IUGR and non-IUGR groups, after adjustment of several control variables. Further analysis of IUGR infants with maternal history of low birth weight demonstrated significantly lower mean values for a variety of anthropometric indicators in comparison to non-IUGR infants without maternal history of low birth weight.

The Cache River is located in the extreme southern part of Illinois, just north of the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Major floods in both of the two rivers have significant impact on the hydrology and hydraulics of the Cache River. In 1915, a cutoff to the Ohio River was constructed east of Karnak that resulted in sub-dividing the Cache River watershed into the Upper and Lower Cache River watersheds. The Upper Cache River watershed consists of the eastern part of the watershed draining directly to the Ohio River through the Post Creek Cutoff. The Lower Cache River watershed consists of the western part of the watershed draining to the Mississippi River through a diversion channel at the outlet. However, part of the Lower Cache River can at times reverse flow, draining to the Upper Cache River and Post Creek Cutoff. Hydrologic and hydraulic models have been developed to simulate the hydrology and hydraulics of the Cache River system to evaluate flow and water level conditions along the river under different alternative scenarios that can be implemented as part of a restoration effort for the Cache River. The hydrologic model that simulates the rainfall-runoff process for tributary watersheds is based on the HEC-HMS model. The model is used to compute runoff from tributary watersheds for selected storm events. Outputs from the HEC-HMS model are then used as inputs to the hydraulic model, UNET. The UNET model, a one-dimensional unsteady-flow dynamic wave routing model, is capable of modeling the complex hydraulics of the Cache River System that experiences flow reversals during flood events in the Lower Cache River.

The Illinois River Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) was initiated as a joint federal/state program with the goal of improving water quality and wildlife habitat in the Illinois River Basin. Based on long-term data and research, the two main causes of water quality and habitat degradations in the Illinois River were sedimentation and nutrient loads. To address these issues, the two main objectives of the Illinois River CREP are: 1) reduce the amount of silt and sediment entering the main stem of the Illinois River by 20 percent, and 2) reduce the amount of phosphorous and nitrogen loadings to the Illinois River by 10 percent. To assess the progress of the program towards meeting the two goals, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) and the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) are developing a scientific process for evaluating the effectiveness of the program. The process includes data collection, modeling, and evaluation. The monitoring and data collection component consists of a watershed monitoring program to monitor sediment and nutrient for selected watersheds within the Illinois River Basin and the collection and analysis of land use data throughout the river basin. Data collected at the monitoring stations and long-term data collected by other agencies are being used in evaluating the trends in sediment and nutrient delivery to the Illinois River. The paper presents results of the assessment based on available data. World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2008 Ahupua'a © 2008 ASCE Copyright ASCE 2008 World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2008: Ahupua'a 2 Background The ecology of the Illinois River has been negatively impacted by developments in the watershed over the last century. The two main causes of ecological degradation have been identified as excessive sedimentation and water quality. Excessive sedimentation resulted in the loss of important habitats including backwater lakes and side channels along the river. A good example to illustrate the impacts of excessive sedimentation is Peoria Lake, the largest bottomland lake along the Illinois River. Peoria Lake lost over 70 percent of its volume since 1903 resulting in a decrease of the average water depth from 8 feet to 2.6 feet in 1985 (Demissie and Bhowmik, 1986). Similar sedimentation and reduction in water depth took place in most of the backwater lakes along the Illinois River. Such drastic reductions of water depth had a significant impact on the ecology of the river. These trends alarmed ordinary citizens, local and state governmental agencies in the state resulting in serious restoration efforts for the Illinois River. In 1997, the state developed the first major report on the Integrated Management Plan for the Illinois River Watershed with full participation of all the stakeholders in the watershed (State of Illinois, 1997). As a result of the plan, two major restoration efforts, the Illinois River Conservation Enhancement Program (CREP) and the Illinois River Ecosystem Restoration Project, were initiated as joint efforts by the state and federal agencies (State of Illinois, 2001; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2006). In addition to these major initiatives, numerous restoration efforts have been undertaken by different groups and agencies throughout the watershed. Cumulatively, these restoration efforts are starting to have impacts in the Illinois River and its watersheds. Trends in sediment and nutrient loadings have started to indicate that things are getting better and if these trends continue, there would be significant improvement in the ecology of the Illinois River and its watershed. The Illinois River Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) was initiated as a joint federal/state program with the goal of improving water quality and wildlife habitat in the Illinois River (State of Illinois, 2002). The two main causes of water quality impairment and habitat degradation in the Illinois River were related to excessive sedimentation and nutrient loadings. Based on these understandings, the two main objectives of the Illinois River CREP were to reduce the amount of sediment entering the river by 20 percent and the amount of phosphorous and nitrogen loadings by 10 percent. To assess the progress of the program towards meeting its goals, the state is collecting new data and analyzing long-term datasets collected by state and federal agencies. Analyses of the new and the long-term datasets to assess trends in sediment and nutrient delivery are presented in the following sections. Sediment and Nutrient Data Collection The monitoring and data collection component consists of a watershed monitoring program to monitor sediment and nutrient for selected watersheds within the Illinois River Basin and the collection and analysis of land use data throughout the World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2008 Ahupua'a © 2008 ASCE Copyright ASCE 2008 World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2008: Ahupua'a 3 river basin. Historically, there is a limited number of sediment and nutrient monitoring stations within the Illinois River Basin, and most of the available records are of short duration. Therefore the available data and monitoring network was insufficient to monitor long-term trends especially in small watersheds where changes can be observed and quantified more easily than in larger watersheds. To fill the data gap and to generate reliable data for small watersheds, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources funded the Illinois State Water Survey to initiate a monitoring program that will collect precipitation, hydrologic, sediment, and nutrient data for selected small watersheds in the Illinois River Basin that will assist in making a more accurate assessment of sediment and nutrient delivery to the Illinois River. Five small watersheds located within the Spoon and Sangamon River watersheds were selected for intensively monitoring sediment and nutrient within the Illinois River Basin (figure 1). Location and drainage area information for the monitoring stations are provided in table 1. Court, North, and Haw Creeks are located within the Spoon River watershed, while Panther and Cox Creeks are located within the Sangamon River watershed. The Spoon River watershed generates the highest sediment per unit area in the Illinois River Basin, while the Sangamon River watershed is the largest tributary watershed to the Illinois River and delivers the largest total amount of sediment to the Illinois River. The type of data collected and the data collection methods are presented in detail in the first progress report for the monitoring program and in the Quality Assurance Project Plan, QAPP, (Demissie et al., 2001). Table 1. Sediment and Nutrient Monitoring Stations Established for the Illinois River CREP Project Station ID Name Drainage area Watershed 301 Court Creek 66.4 sq mi (172 sq km) Spoon River 302 North Creek 26.0 sq mi (67.4 sq km) Spoon River 303 Haw Creek 55.2 sq mi (143 sq km) Spoon River 201 Panther Creek 16.5 sq mi (42.7 sq km) Sangamon River 202 Cox Creek 12.0 sq mi (31.1 sq km) Sangamon River Sediment Data Suspended sediment data has been collected at the five monitoring stations since 1999. Examples of the frequency of sediment data collection are shown in figure 2 for the Court Creek Station. Over 7,715 samples have been collected and analyzed at the five monitoring stations since the monitoring program was initiated. As can be seen in figure 2, suspended sediment concentrations are highly variable throughout a year and also from year to year depending on the climatic conditions. It is also evident that sediment concentrations are the highest during storm events resulting in the transport of most of the sediment during storm events. Therefore, it is extremely important that samples are collected frequently during storm events to accurately measure sediment loads at monitoring stations. World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2008 Ahupua'a © 2008 ASCE Copyright ASCE 2008 World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2008: Ahupua'a 4 Spoon RiverW atershed North Creek Court Creek Haw Creek Sangam on RiverW atershed Cox Creek Panther Creek 0 10 20 30 40 5 Miles S a n g a m o n R i v e r W a t e r s h e d i t S p o o n R i v e r i r W a t e r s h e d t I I l l l l i i n n o o i i s s R R i i v v e e r r I I l l l l i i n n o o i i s s R R i i v v e e r r Figure 1. Location of sediment and nutrient monitoring sites for the Illinois River CREP project. World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2008 Ahupua'a © 2008 ASCE Copyright ASCE 2008 World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2008: Ahupua'a 5 Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep MONTH

(1995). Calendar of International Meetings. Water International: Vol. 20, No. 3, pp. 163-165.