Found 32 results
Open Access
Article
19 May 2025Database of Ecological Indicators of Freshwater Algae and Cyanobacteria
Accumulation of ecological data on species of algae and cyanobacteria represents 9531 taxa-indicators from 18 taxonomic phyla. The most represented among the indicators is the taxonomic group of diatoms. The indicators are grouped into twelve ecological groups, which can be indicators of nine environmental parameters. The environmental characteristics for each of the indicator systems and the relationship between some of them are given. Individual abbreviations of ecological indicator groups that have been established as a result of long-term use are given. References are given to examples of the application of analysis of specific water bodies using bioindication methods, and prospects for use in monitoring and assessing water quality are shown. A specific example of using the database is given. The table of indicator taxa contains cumulative ecological data and is easy to use. This table is a living tool that can be supplemented and transformed when new information about indicator species comes.
Open Access
Article
23 April 2025Socio-Economic and Environmental Impacts of Jamrani Irrigation Dam Project, Kumaon Himalaya, India
This paper examines the economic and environmental impacts of the proposed Jamrani Irrigation Dam Project on the upstream and downstream areas. This study is primarily empirical, and a case study of six villages was conducted. A total of 415 households are being affected—fully and partially, due to the construction of the dam, out of which 122 heads of households were interviewed. A structured questionnaire was constructed, and the heads of households were asked about the socio-economic and environmental impacts of the proposed dam project. Furthermore, a detailed perception study of these households was conducted. Secondary data related to the size of the dam project, various land uses being affected by the dam, its socio-economic and environmental impact, and the most beneficial sectors were collected from the irrigation department, Government of Uttarakhand’s report 2020. In addition, socio-economic data from 415 households were collected from the same source. This study reveals that the dam project will have many favourable economic impacts in terms of supplying ample water for drinking and irrigation, electricity generation, development of infrastructural facilities and tourism, and the Gaula River flood control. On the other hand, the dam project will lead to land degradation, depletion of faunal and floral resources, soil erosion, and finally, the rehabilitation of the affected people. This study suggests that the proper use of technology and a suitable rehabilitation policy will make the project successful.
Open Access
Article
15 April 2025Without Land and Water in Wallmapu (Ancestral Mapuche Territory): Exploring Causal Relationships and Perceptions in the Chol-Chol Watershed, La Araucanía, Chile
From a multi-variate database, causal relationships regarding water scarcity for human consumption in the Chol-Chol River basin were identified. The relationships were examined using the principal component analysis (PCA) statistical technique, and digital coverage was processed with ArcGIS 10.1, allowing for the construction of different thematic maps. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with various local actors, including Mapuche community leaders or lonkos (chiefs in the Mapudungun language) and local planners. The models with the greatest statistical significance are associated with the variables that measure land use changes between 2013 and 2017, particularly native forest and agricultural crops. In areas with greater changes in land use, there is less water availability and greater drinking water distribution by tanker trucks. A group of three models with the best goodness of fit (statistically significant) were identified. The models are related to the replacement of native forests with forest plantation (monoculture) and overexploitation of groundwater for irrigation. This model also links lower native vegetation cover in the southeastern part of the basin to agricultural uses on arable land, which is of higher quality than land in the north, and to lower drinking water consumption. The historical occupation processes of the Araucanía region (Wallmapu), the public policies of land and water (water emergency zone), climate change (decreases in flow and precipitation and increases in temperatures) are some of the driving forces behind land use change and water availability observed. An important innovation of this work has been the realization and discussion of the interviewees’ perceptions, showing different perspectives on a common problem; water scarcity. The interviews reveal diverse responses to the research question: What are the main variables related to the lack of water in Mapuche territory? The perception of Mapuche lonkos is that the lack of water is mainly associated with the rapid expansion of forest plantations. Local planners in the municipalities share a similar opinion.
Open Access
Article
20 March 2025Fluctuations in Internal Water Footprint of Major Crops in Egypt: Implications for Sustainable Water Management
The scarcity of water represents a significant obstacle to the advancement of agriculture in Egypt, requiring the implementation of inventive water policies and effective resource management practices. The notion of virtual water, which considers the water contained within things, is a possible remedy to mitigate the strain on water resources. This study examines the changes over time in the amount of water used internally and the amount of virtual water exported by rice, maize, and wheat crops in Egypt between 2000 and 2018. The assessment evaluates the impact of climate variables, crop productivity, and renewable water sources on the internal water footprint. The study uses data from several sources and applies a Nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) model to analyse how productivity, renewable water supplies, temperature, and precipitation affect the internal water footprint. The EVIEWS software is utilised for conducting statistical analysis. The results demonstrate that the internal water footprint and productivity of the crops studied vary over time, and climate conditions and the availability of water control this variation. The maximum internal water footprint values for rice, maize, and wheat were recorded in 2008, 2011, and 2017, respectively, aligning with the highest temperatures and available renewable water resources. The analysis reveals complex connections between the independent factors and the internal water footprint of each crop. Precipitation has an inverse correlation with the internal water footprint of rice, but renewable water resources have a favourable impact on the internal water footprint of wheat. The study emphasizes improving crop choices to minimize water usage and boost water output. Given Egypt’s expected water scarcity by 2025 and its reliance on Nile water for irrigation, implementing sustainable solutions for water resource management in agriculture is crucial. These findings give useful insights for policymakers and stakeholders in creating efficient water management policies and promoting food security in Egypt.
Open Access
Review
10 March 2025A Review on Water Quality Indices
Water, as vital natural resource, is indispensable for human activities, both directly and indirectly. It significantly contributes to a country’s economic development, encompassing above-ground and underground water resources. However, ongoing pollution from surface contaminants is causing concerning degradation in both confined and unconfined aquifers, warranting the need for addressing this issue. Water quality indices (WQIs) serve this purpose by simplifying complex water quality data, providing a single value for easier interpretation. Surface water quality indices have achieved global recognition, while the development of groundwater quality indices is an evolving field. WQIs are established based on specific water quality criteria set by national and international organizations, which consider various parameters based on the intended use of water bodies. Consequently, numerous WQI models exist, including National Sanitation Foundation (NSFWQI), Oregon (OWQI), British Columbia (BCWQI), Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environments (CCMEWQI), and country-specific variants tailored to the unique requirements of individual regions such as Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Spain, Canada, Malaysia, and others, all in accordance with the specific characteristics of the water system under assessment.
Open Access
Review
07 March 2025Unravelling the Role of Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Co-Catalysts in Photocatalytic Water Splitting: Mechanistic Insights and Material Strategies
The reliance on fossil fuels has led to a substantial increase in greenhouse gas emissions, presenting a critical environmental challenge. Addressing this issue necessitates the adoption of alternative renewable energy sources, with green hydrogen emerging as a promising candidate due to its high gravimetric energy density and absence of harmful emissions. Among the various hydrogen production techniques, photocatalytic technology has garnered significant attention for its dual potential to produce green hydrogen and degrade pollutants, thereby addressing both energy and climate crises. Efforts to scale photocatalytic technology for industrial applications have identified cocatalyst integration as a pivotal strategy, as it enhances reaction kinetics by lowering the activation energy and mitigating charge carrier recombination. This review comprehensively examines the hydrogen economy, the underlying principles of photocatalysis, recent technological advancements, key factors influencing photocatalytic reactions, the role of catalysts in hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) surface mechanisms, strategies for cocatalyst optimization, and future directions for the field.
Open Access
Article
21 February 2025Efficient Removal of Glyphosate from Aqueous Solution by Cerium Dioxide Loaded Biochar
Glyphosate, which is one of the most widely used organophosphorus herbicides, poses a threat to the surrounding water environment. Traditional adsorbents were depicted to have poor capacities to eliminate it. CeO2 embraces the potential to adsorb glyphosate efficiently. However, suitable carbonaceous composites were necessary to be employed as its support. In this paper, water hyacinth was used as the precursor to prepare CeO2-loaded biochar (CeO2/WHBC), which was employed to remove glyphosate from the aqueous solution via adsorption. The results showed that CeO2/WHBC-3 illustrated the best adsorption performance for glyphosate with the capacity of 126.3 mg·g, which was prepared with per mmol CeO2 loaded of 0.2 g WHCB. Static adsorption experiments demonstrated that glyphosate adsorption at different solution pH values followed the Langmuir isotherm model and quasi-second order kinetic model, indicating that the adsorption was monolayer adsorption and that the adsorbent’s surface active sites primarily controlled the rate. Coexisting ion interference experiments showed that common cations (K+, Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+) and anions (Cl−, NO3−, SO42−) both promoted glyphosate adsorption on the CeO2/WHBC-3 surface. Moreover, the prepared sorbent maintained a high adsorption capacity after five adsorption-desorption cycles. Dynamic adsorption experiments showed that the CeO2/WHBC-3 packed column could efficiently remove glyphosate from aqueous solutions, even at high concentrations and fast flow rates. Zeta potentials and XPS analysis revealed that the adsorption mechanism of CeO2/WHBC-3 for glyphosate is mainly through electrostatic adsorption and metal complexation.
Open Access
Article
06 February 2025Performance Impacts of Rainwater Tanks on Stormwater Drainage Systems
This article explores the impact of using rainwater tanks on the performance of a stormwater drainage system and the possible challenges posed by climate change and future rainfall projections. This project examines a residential development in Aldinga, South Australia. The study sets clear research objectives that include the creation and simulation of drainage systems with different conditions (e.g., with and without rainwater tanks, historical data, and projected data). The aim is to analyze performance changes in the drainage network after the inclusion of rainwater tanks. Furthermore, the incorporation of projected rainfall data is considered to study possible implications of climate change on the system performance. The methodology follows a quantitative approach, with data collection, creating different models with the use of software, and simulating various conditions such as storms with different annual exceedance probabilities and varying proportions of roof area connected to rainwater tanks. Several findings are identified in this project. When roof areas of all residential allotments are connected to rainwater tanks, substantial benefits are observed in reducing peak flows within the network and runoff volumes. This proportion of connected roof area is directly correlated with reductions in peak flow. Also, while the use of projected rainfall data slightly affects benefits in peak flow and volume reduction, they will remain relatively high at least until 2050. Other performance features, such as hydraulic gradient line, long sections, and time to peak, are also explored. Study validates the hypothesis that rainwater tanks have a significant impact on runoff reductions and flood management, particularly when 100% of roof area is connected with rainwater tanks. Also, there is an impact when projected data is used, but it remains manageable and should be considered under specific contexts to decide whether these impacts are significant. Several opportunities for future research are suggested. These include the examination of larger areas, projections to a more distant future, the use of different rainfall patterns, and the consideration of extreme rainfall events.
Open Access
Article
12 December 2024Adsorption of Bisphenol A and 2,6-Dichlorophenol in Water Using Magnetic Phosphogypsum Composite Materials
Phenolic pollutants in water bodies pose a huge threat to human health and environmental safety. In this paper, a hydrophobicity-enhanced magnetic C-SiO2/MPG composite was prepared by a two-step method to remove bisphenol A (BPA)and 2,6-dichlorophenol (2,6-DCP), typical phenolic trace pollutants in livestock wastewater and natural water bodies. The results of pH gradient experiments showed that C-SiO2/MPG showed a stable removal effect on BPA in the pH range of 2–11. The adsorption of 2,6-DCP by C-SiO2/MPG peaked at pH = 2, while the adsorption of 2,6-DCP by C-SiO2/MPG was severely inhibited under alkaline conditions. The PSO kinetic model and the Langmuir isotherm model can better describe the adsorption process of BPA and 2,6-DCP on C-SiO2/MPG, indicating that the monolayer chemical adsorption has a rate-controlling step. With the Langmuir equation fitting, the maximum adsorption capacity of C-SiO2/MPG for BPA and 2,6-DCP at 298 K was calculated to be 561.79 mg/g and 531.91 mg/g, respectively. The results of adsorption thermodynamics indicated that the adsorption of BPA and 2,6-DCP on C-SiO2/MPG was spontaneous, accompanied by a process of entropy decrease. C-SiO2/MPG showed good environmental resistance and repeated use stability for BPA and 2,6-DCP in electrolyte ion interference, actual water samples and cycle experiments. Mechanism analysis showed that the adsorption of BPA and 2,6-DCP on C-SiO2/MPG was mainly controlled by hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions. This study designed an efficient adsorbent for phenolic pollutants that can be used in actual wastewater and broadened the resource utilization of industrial waste phosphogypsm.
Open Access
Article
15 November 2024Long-Term Change in Human Impact and Environmental Perceptions: A 40-Year Case Study of an Environment-Focused Non-Governmental Organization
Non-governmental environmental organizations are diverse in scope, goals and doctrine, ranging from natural history societies to green parties. It was from the 1960s that they became widespread worldwide. To characterize a French NGO and assess the changing trends in its objectives over time, we have qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed the journal it has published without interruption for 40 years: 140 issues, 4500 pages, and almost 250 keywords. The initial scope of the NGO was focused on ‘humans and nature’: we do not protect the environment against humans but with humans, i.e., at the same time as humans, which is the very definition of sustainable development, with its three-fold focus: nature, economy and social justice. The primary issues included recognizing water as a shared resource for all people, promoting sustainable agriculture and transportation (such as railways), advancing peace efforts, and protecting nature. This approach emphasizes a rigorous, evolving scientific perspective that goes beyond a focus on a few charismatic species (‘deluxe biodiversity’), embracing biodiversity in its entirety. Over time, the discourse has kept track of the shifting priorities of most Green parties: less and less focused on nature (e.g., forests, ecosystems) and more and more on social issues (e.g., health, housing, transport). However, it differs in not focusing on the idées fixes of the Greens (e.g., rejection of civil nuclear power, GMOs).
