Evaluation of drought propagations with multiple indices in the Yangtze River basin.

This paper explored the drought propagation phenomenon based on meteorological, hydrological, and agricultural aspects in the Yangtze River basin (YRB), China. To evaluate meteorological, hydrological, and agricultural droughts, this paper used three drought indices, standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI), standardized runoff index (SRI), and standardized soil moisture index (SSMI), respectively. The community land model (CLM) in the YRB to generate the monthly evapotranspiration, soil moisture, runoff data, which are required for the estimation of drought index, were applied.

Insights into the Pollutant Removal Performance of Stormwater Green Infrastructures: A Case Study of Detention Basins and Retention Ponds.

The quality of water has deteriorated due to urbanization and the occurrence of urban stormwater runoff. To solve this problem, this study investigated the pollutant reduction effects from the geometric and hydrological factors of green infrastructures (GIs) to more accurately design GI models, and evaluated the factors that are required for such a design. Among several GIs, detention basins and retention ponds were evaluated.

Unsupervised aided investigation on the associations between municipal solid waste characteristics and socio-economic conditions.

Better municipal solid waste (MSW) management can help to address environmental concerns and supports economic and social development. Because MSW characteristics can change over time, management strategies should also evolve and be applied correspondingly. However, many previous studies have focused on MSW characterization or investigated specific management strategies for a target MSW.

Impacts of potential evapotranspiration on drought phenomena in different regions and climate zones.

The present study is aimed at examining whether potential evapotranspiration (PET), which is important for drought assessment, influences a drought index (standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index; SPEI) for different regions and climate zones. The study regions were East Asia, Europe, the United States (US), and West Africa, and the climate zones considered were the arid, semiarid, subhumid, and humid zones. We examined the pattern of water deficits, spatial trend of the SPEI, area ratio of spatial extent, and temporal trend to provide an understanding of drought characteristics.

Evaluation of acidity estimation methods for mine drainage, Pennsylvania, USA.

Eighteen sites impacted by abandoned mine drainage (AMD) in Pennsylvania were sampled and measured for pH, acidity, alkalinity, metal ions, and sulfate. This study compared the accuracy of four acidity calculation methods with measured hot peroxide acidity and identified the most accurate calculation method for each site as a function of pH and sulfate concentration. Method E1 was the sum of proton and acidity based on total metal concentrations; method E2 added alkalinity; method E3 also accounted for aluminum speciation and temperature effects; and method E4 accounted for sulfate speciation.

Effects of surface area and inflow on the performance of stormwater best management practices with uncertainty analysis.

The performance of stormwater best management practices (BMPs) is affected by BMP geometric and hydrologic factors. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of BMP surface area and inflow on BMP performance using the k-C* model with uncertainty analysis. Observed total suspended solids (TSS) from detention basins and retention ponds data sets in the International Stormwater BMP Database were used to build and evaluate the model.

Evaluation of pollutant loads from stormwater BMPs to receiving water using load frequency curves with uncertainty analysis.

This study examined pollutant loads released to receiving water from a typical urban watershed in the Los Angeles (LA) Basin of California by applying a best management practice (BMP) performance model that includes uncertainty. This BMP performance model uses the k-C model and incorporates uncertainty analysis and the first-order second-moment (FOSM) method to assess the effectiveness of BMPs for removing stormwater pollutants. Uncertainties were considered for the influent event mean concentration (EMC) and the aerial removal rate constant of the k-C model.