Current Issue : October - December Volume : 2018 Issue Number : 4 Articles : 5 Articles
Shortages in water resources and the fragile ecosystem by coal-mine water affect\nthe Yulin coal-mine base in northwest China, so taking coal-mine water\ninto account is an important issue for the sustainable management of water\nresources. This paper aims to explore how the Yulin coal-mine base can improve\nits conjunctive utilization of water resources. Integrated utilization is\nproposed by establishing a multi-objective, multi-water-source, optimal-\nallocation model; setting up an integrated information platform; and\ngiving very useful measures and policy suggestions to the local government.\nFinally, this research can also serve as an example of integrated water utilization\nfor other energy bases....
Major flood events occurred in the Arda River region in the last decades with\ngreat economic, social and environmental effects. A specific software package\nhas been developed for the simulation of the flood runoff and routing process\nof the transboundary Arda River basin. The software package is taking into\naccount the existence of the three cascade Bulgarian reservoirs aiming to flood\nprotection and power optimization. Inflow estimations for duration of five\ndays ahead and initial water levels at the three reservoirs are imported at the\nbeginning of the simulation. The management tool includes all the alternative\noperation modes of hydropower plants, water released from spillways, and\nriver and reservoir flow characteristics in order to optimize the total system\n(power generation and flooding costs) during the flood event. The developed\nsoftware is also an efficient tool for the establishment of a flood warning system....
An investigation on the soil microbe populations from an agricultural inning\narea at the Pearl River estuary in Guangdong province, China was conducted\nvia high through-put sequencing. The results revealed abundant diversity in\nthe soil bacterial and fungal populations. In total, 197103 sequence tags were\nobtained from soil samples, most of which represented bacterial genera Actinomycetes\n, Bacillus and Marinobacter , while a majority of 118378 tags obtained\nwere derived from fungal genera Clostridium , Devosia , Bradyrhizobium,\nBdellovibrio , Phenylobacterium , Penicillium , and Emericella . Furthermore,\nnine physiological indexes (pH, available phosphorous, basic-group nitrogen,\navailable potassium, catalase, sucrose, urease, phosphatase, and organic\nmatters) were measured in three soil samples, and the association between\nthese physiological indexes and microbe population composition was\nexamined. The results revealed obvious inter-sample differences associated\nwith ten dominating microbial groups: genera Clostridium , Devosia , Bradyrhizobium,\nBdellovibrio , Phenylobacterium , and Penicillium were mainly impacted\nby pH (with a positive correlation), genera Sphingomonas and Acinetobacter\nmainly by available phosphorous (positive correlation), and genera\nGemmatimonas and Pseudomonas by both pH and available phosphorous\n(negative correlation). Our study suggested that regulation of microbial species/\npopulations might help improve soil environment to facilitate the growth\nof crops� above-ground parts, and this provides practical information for inning\nagriculture....
Water is an indispensable resource for life. In the district of AhomadÃ?©gbÃ?© in\nBenin, although most of the population has access to improved water sources,\nin their homes, residents consume poor water quality due to microbiological\ncontamination during transport and storage. To identify necessary actions\nneeded to improve household drinking water quality, the present study aims\nto analyze the knowledge, attitudes, and practices the district of AhomadÃ?©gbÃ?©ââ?¬â?¢s\npopulation regarding household drinking water treatments methods.\nA study was conducted, where 377 residents were interviewed using an\nindividual questionnaire and 82 participants were selected for eight focus\ngroups to determine the populationââ?¬â?¢s knowledge, attitudes, and practices.\nMore than 65% of the districtââ?¬â?¢s population knew some methods of water\ntreatment at home. In practice, however, they lacked the knowledge to apply\nthe different water treatment methods and only 6.1% of the population used\nat least one method of water treatment at home, even if it was not always\nadapted. The water treatment methods residents used were Alum\n(KAl(SO4)2âË?â?¢12 H2O, chemical decantation method), filtration on tissues, and\ndisinfection by boiling. Ineffective home water treatment methods, such as oil\nand cresol were also used. The population is aware of water contamination\nduring transport and storage. Unfortunately, most residents surveyed do not\ntreat water before consumption, and those who treat it, use inappropriate methods. Thus, people must be made aware of the health benefits of using effective\nhome water treatment methods and their correct use....
In a scenario of climate changes and increasing stress upon available fresh\nwater resources like rivers, lakes and aquifers, collecting fog water is a promising\nyet relatively unexplored potentiality. Providing sufficient water and reducing\nwater extractionââ?¬â?¢s environmental impact at the same time can be a\nchallenge with conventional ways, but fog harvesting technology presents itself\nas a powerful and efficient alternative. Water availability profoundly determined\nregional economic benefit, social relations and it also influenced environmental\nsecurity and ecosystem services. Underdeveloped countries have\nbeen dealing with water scarcity issue for decades, but also wealthy countries\nwill have to face the water crisis soon, due to unsustainable development\nprocesses. A review of the state of the art highlights the most relevant parameters\nto deal with when discussing about fog water harvesting. In regions\nwith frequent fog events, this technology already proved to be a sustainable\ndrinking water resource for rural communities and their low per capita water\nusage was provided by basic devices utilization. Nevertheless, in this paper,\ndifferent fog water harvesting applications are investigated, besides the already\nexisting fresh-water collection, reforestation and agricultural use. Further options,\nsuch as building components, outdoor activities and domestic devices\nare considered, according to different parameters, such as economic benefits,\npossibility of standardized production, life cycle and market attractiveness. A\ndesirable novel concept would become relevant in specific contexts, thanks to\nmultiple functions, offering locals designed and customized solutions. Also\nnoteworthy are the landscape impact of such devices and the effects of the\nproject in terms of places regeneration, raising awareness and ââ?¬Å?greenââ?¬Â conscience\ncreation. The study of local climatic data and improvement in fog collector\napplications, integration with architectural and landscape design, will\nexpand the regions where fog harvesting can be applied and its sustainable\nimprovements....
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