Publications by authors named "Gert-Jan Wilbers"

Salinization, the increase and accumulation of salts in water and soil, impacts productivity of arable crops and is exacerbated by climate change. The Netherlands, like several other deltas and semi-arid regions, faces increasing salinization that negatively impacts agriculture and freshwater availability. Although a lot of salinity expertise exist in the Netherlands, several knowledge gaps on the impact of salinization in the Netherlands, as well as steps to facilitate closing this knowledge gaps to improve saline agriculture in the Netherlands, still exist.

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Surface water pollution in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (MD) could threaten human, animal and ecosystem health given the fact that this water source is intensively used for drinking, irrigation and domestic services. We therefore determined the levels of pollution by organic pollutants, salts, metals and microbial indicators by (bi)monthly monitoring of canals between November 2011 and July 2012 at 32 sampling locations, representing fresh and saline/brackish environments. The results were compared with national water quality guidelines, between the studied regions and with water quality data from main waterways.

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The objective of this study was to assess the quality of harvested rainwater in the Mekong Delta (MD), Vietnam for local (roof types, storage system and duration) and spatial (proximity of industry, main roads, coastline) conditions. 78 harvested rainwater samples were collected in the MD and analyzed for pH, turbidity, TDS, COD, nutrients (NH4, NO3, NO2, o-PO4), trace metals and coliforms. The results show that thatch roofs lead to an increase of pollutants like COD (max 23.

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Hydrological drought periods are expected to become more severe in North-Western Europe as a result of climate change. This may have implications for water quality, as demonstrated by declining water quality of large rivers (e.g.

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