Search

Groundwater represents one of the largest resources of freshwater in the world. Thus, investigations of groundwater level variations due to climate change and increasing human activities are of great importance, especially in resource scarce regions. Our research aimed to understand the long‐term effects of climate events and water use on groundwater levels over the study area via Mann‐Kendall, Sen's Slope, Innovative Polygon Trend Analysis (IPTA), and Innovative Trend Analysis (ITA) analyses. Although several studies are available in relation to GWL trend analysis via ITA, Mann‐Kendall and Sen slope in the literature, there are few IPTA studies conducted. The focus of the study was seven wells across Türkiye over the period 1987–2022. Results demonstrate that there was a downward trend in GWL in all stations annually, regardless of the method. At monthly scale, a decrease was noted, especially in June, August, and September, while seasonally, decreases were seen in autumn and winter. Moreover, it was evident the results of the Sen slope and ITA were compatible, while the IPTA was a useful tool in detecting GWL trends. Identifying and understanding GWL trends is highly valuable in informing groundwater resource managers of critical areas of overuse and other factors affecting groundwater, resulting in preventive interventions to overcome such problems and protect this critical resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rivers are subject to increasing human pressure, resulting in a loss of their natural characteristics, further enhanced by climate change. The present study focuses on a piedmont reach of the Italian Po River and combines Landsat satellite information with hydrological records to investigate changes in sandbars exposure and riparian vegetation coverage, considering the summer period of 1984–2022. Satellite data were handled via Google Earth Engine, looking at common indexes such as the Modified Normalized Difference Water Index, which was used to identify temporal variations in wetted channel area, and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, considered as a proxy of vegetation coverage variations. Changes in the river hydrology were analysed by looking at the annual minimum water levels, the discharge duration curve, the stage–discharge relationship and the yearly annual water volume. Results suggest that a process of oversimplification is affecting this reach of the Po River, showing how climate change can affect piedmont European watercourses. Indeed, after an initial period where bars tended to be barer and somehow stable over time, in the most recent decade a different trend appeared, with vegetation able to colonize the exposed sandbars more. Using the Po River as an exemplary case study, this work suggests that prolonged dry periods, which are more common in recent decades, might impact large and medium rivers located in temperate climates, favouring the development of vegetation on exposed sandbars, eventually resulting in a less dynamic active channel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the quality of education in universities can play a prominent role in the development of countries. The purpose of this study is to develop a methodology for assessing the quality of education in Water Resources Engineering, one of the sub-disciplines of Civil Engineering, based on Klein's learning model and using the hybrid fuzzy-AHP-TOPSIS method. Four out of the top ten universities in Iran, including Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Amirkabir University of Technology (AUT), Shiraz University (SU), and Khajeh Nasir al-Din Toosi University of Technology (KUT) are considered as case studies. First, the weight coefficients were determined by surveying the students in the fuzzy environment using the AHP method, and then these coefficients were transferred to the TOPSIS environment. Finally, the relative closeness of universities (CC) as a performance evaluation criterion in the form of CC (IUST) = 0.54, CC (AUT) = 0.49, CC (SU) = 0.45, and CC (KUT) = 0.39 were obtained. The sensitivity analysis was performed based on the number and type of Klein's qualitative criteria on the model, and Fourier series expansion curves were used to observe the exact behavior of the model and better compare the results. This model of evaluation can have a considerable influence on the education methods improvement in Civil Engineering departments and related fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In temperate climates, agricultural ditches are generally bounded by seasonal vegetation, which affects the hydrodynamics and mixing processes within the channel and acts as a buffer strip to reduce a load of pollutants coming from the surrounding cultivated fields. However, even if the control of such vegetation represents a key strategy to support sediment and nutrient management, the studies that investigated the effect of different vegetation maintenance scenarios or vegetation coverage on the flow and mixing dynamics at the reach scale are very limited. To overcome these limitations and provide additional insights into the involved processes, tracer tests were conducted in an agricultural ditch roughly 500 m long close to Warsaw in Poland, focusing on two different vegetation scenarios: highly vegetated and fully cut. Under the highly vegetated scenario, sub-reaches differing in surficial vegetation coverage are analysed separately to better understand the influence of the vegetation conditions on the flow and mixing parameters. Special attention has been paid to the longitudinal dispersion coefficient in complex natural conditions and its dependency on vegetation coverage (V). The vegetation maintenance decreased the travel and residence times of the solute by 3–5 times, moderately increasing the peak concentrations. We found that the dispersion coefficient decreased approximately linearly with the increase of vegetation coverage at V>68 %. Further research is needed at lower vegetation coverage values and different spatial plant distributions. The obtained longitudinal dispersion coefficient values complement dispersion value datasets previously published in the literature, which are barely available for small natural streams. The new process understanding supports the design of future investigations with more environmentally sound vegetation maintenance scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Restoration works on an 11 km long reach of the Spree River near Cottbus in Germany were accomplished in 2014. The overall objective was to improve the biodiversity, changing the morphological structure from a straight single-thread river to a braiding one with reshaped thalweg, and creating zones with varying flow velocities required for fish spawning. Several interventions were made, among which also two types of groynes were constructed along the reach: impermeable stone groynes, with an inclined crest so that only the tip is typically submerged during normal flow conditions, and wooden groynes made of several large trunks, which are mainly submerged at normal flow conditions. To compare local morphodynamic effects caused by the different types, flow velocities and bed topography were measured at distances of 12 m upstream and 16 m downstream of two selected groynes. The vertical profile was captured by measuring at five levels above the bed. Bed material was sampled at several locations around the groynes. The analysis of the measurements showed the effect of each groyne type on the flow velocity, bed topography and bed material. Furthermore, the differences in the effects of each groyne type on the flow, bed topography and bed material were highlighted.