Water quality classification using self-organizing maps and cluster analysis: Case of Meknes-El Hajeb Springs, Morocco.

The Ouislane sub-watershed is currently experiencing severe water shortages and is highly dependent on its water supply. The sub-watershed spans two communes: Meknes to the north and El Hajeb to the south. It serves as the primary water source for irrigation and drinking purposes for the local population.

Framework for mapping large-scale nature-based solutions for drought mitigation: Regional application in Flanders.

Droughts are classified as the most expensive climate disasters as they leave long-term and chronic impacts on the ecosystem, agriculture, and human society. The intensity, frequency, and duration of drought events have increased in the past and are expected to continue rising at global, continental, and regional scales. Nature-based solutions (NBS) are highlighted as effective solutions to cope with the future impacts of these events.

The underexposed nature-based solutions: A critical state-of-art review on drought mitigation.

Droughts are the most expensive climate disasters as they leave long-term and chronic impacts on the ecosystem, agriculture, and human society. The intensity, frequency, and duration of drought events have increased over the years and are expected to worsen in the future on a regional and planetary/global scale. Nature-based solutions (NBS) such as wetland and floodplain restorations, green infrastructures, rainwater harvesting, etc.

Declining cost of renewables and climate change curb the need for African hydropower expansion.

Across continental Africa, more than 300 new hydropower projects are under consideration to meet the future energy demand that is expected based on the growing population and increasing energy access. Yet large uncertainties associated with hydroclimatic and socioeconomic changes challenge hydropower planning. In this work, we show that only 40 to 68% of the candidate hydropower capacity in Africa is economically attractive.

The impact of extensive agricultural water drainage on the hydrology of the Kleine Nete watershed, Belgium.

Agricultural water drainage can significantly lower groundwater levels and affect catchment hydrology. Therefore, building models with and without these features can indicate an adverse impact on the geohydrological process. Therefore, the standalone Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT+) model was initially developed to simulate streamflow at the Kleine Nete catchment outlet.

Regionalization of the SWAT+ model for projecting climate change impacts on sediment yield: An application in the Nile basin.

Study Region: Nile basin.

Study Focus: Several studies have shown a relationship between climate change and changes in sediment yield. However, there are limited modeling applications that study this relationship at regional scales mainly due to data availability and computational cost.

A spatiotemporal atlas of hydropower in Africa for energy modelling purposes.

The modelling of electricity systems with substantial shares of renewable resources, such as solar power, wind power and hydropower, requires datasets on renewable resource profiles with high spatiotemporal resolution to be made available to the energy modelling community. Whereas such resources exist for solar power and wind power profiles on diurnal and seasonal scales across all continents, this is not yet the case for hydropower. Here, we present a newly developed open-access African hydropower atlas, containing seasonal hydropower generation profiles for nearly all existing and several hundred future hydropower plants on the African continent.

Hysteresis and parent-metabolite analyses unravel characteristic pesticide transport mechanisms in a mixed land use catchment.

To properly estimate and manage pesticide occurrence in urban rivers, it is essential, but often highly challenging, to identify the key pesticide transport pathways in association to the main sources. This study examined the concentration-discharge hysteresis behaviour (hysteresis analysis) for three pesticides and the parent-metabolite concentration dynamics for two metabolites at sites with different levels of urban influence in a mixed land use catchment (25 km) within the Swiss Greifensee area, aiming to identify the dominant pesticide transport pathways. Combining an adapted hysteresis classification framework with prior knowledge of the field conditions and pesticide usage, we demonstrated the possibility of using hysteresis analysis to qualitatively infer the dominant pesticide transport pathway in mixed land-use catchments.

Quantification and characterization of glyphosate use and loss in a residential area.

Urban runoff can be a significant source of pesticides in urban streams. However, quantification of this source has been difficult because pesticide use by urban residents (e.g.

Multiobjective calibration for comparing channel sediment routing models in the soil and water assessment tool.

Sediment transport is important for ecology and water quality in receiving waters. Physically based channel erosion methods were implemented in the Soil and Water Assessment Tool version 2009 (SWAT2009) to improve sediment concentration (SS) results. In the study, the default simplified Bagnold sediment routing method (EQN-0) and the physically based simplified Bagnold sediment routing method (EQN-1) were compared with Pareto fronts from multiobjective calibration.

Comparison and evaluation of model structures for the simulation of pollution fluxes in a tile-drained river basin.

The European Union Water Framework Directive requires an integrated pollution prevention plan at the river basin level. Hydrological river basin modeling tools are therefore promising tools to support the quantification of pollution originating from different sources. A limited number of studies have reported on the use of these models to predict pollution fluxes in tile-drained basins.

The CatchMod toolbox: easy and guided access to ICT tools for Water Framework Directive implementation.

Web-based toolboxes are handy tools to inform experienced users of existing software in their disciplines. However, for the implementation of the Water Framework Directive, a much more diverse public (water managers, consultancy firms, scientists, etc.) will ask for a very wide diversity of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools.

Effect of different river water quality model concepts used for river basin management decisions.

n this research the applicability of two different water quality concepts, a QUAL2E-based and a RWQM1-based water quality model is evaluated in terms of management decisions. The Dender river in Belgium serves as a case study for the application of the methodology. By using sensitivity analysis on both model concepts the important processes are revealed.

Methods to quantify and identify the sources of uncertainty for river basin water quality models.

Worldwide, the application of river basin water quality models is increasing, often imposed by law. It is, thus, important to know the degree of uncertainty associated with these models and their application to a specific watershed. These uncertainties lead to errors that are revealed when model outputs are compared to observations.

Development of a geographical information system for pesticide assessment on an Ecuadorian watershed.

Banana production is very important for the Ecuadorian national income, but it is also a potential source of river pollution in the country. Current research is focusing on the use of GIS to perform pesticide assessment of a river basin that includes banana as its main agricultural activity. The Agricultural Non Point Source Model (AGNPS) is being used to perform pesticide assessment in the basin.

Application of automated measurement stations for continuous water quality monitoring of the Dender river in Flanders, Belgium.

During the summer of 1999, two automated water quality measurement stations were installed along the Dender river in Belgium. The variables dissolved oxygen, temperature, conductivity, pH, rain-intensity, flow and solar radiation were measured continuously. In this paper these on-line measurement series are presented and interpreted using also additional measurements and ecological expert-knowledge.

A critical comparison of systematic calibration protocols for activated sludge models: a SWOT analysis.

Modelling activated sludge systems has gained an increasing momentum after the introduction of activated sludge models (ASMs) in 1987. Application of dynamic models for full-scale systems requires essentially a calibration of the chosen ASM to the case under study. Numerous full-scale model applications have been performed so far which were mostly based on ad hoc approaches and expert knowledge.

Optimisation of the discrete conductivity and dissolved oxygen monitoring using continuous data series obtained with automated measurement stations.

During the last five years, research on the relation between pollution loads and ecological river water quality has been done on the Dender river. In addition to biological sampling of macroinvertebrates and fish, automated measurement stations were used too to investigate the spatio-temporal variability of physical-chemical water pollution. This study on on-line water quality data collection is based on a measurement campaign during March-April 2000 with two automated measurement stations at two different sites: the flow control weirs at Geraardsbergen and Denderleeuw.

Propagation of uncertainty in diffuse pollution into water quality predictions: application to the River Dender in Flanders, Belgium.

The uncertainty of water quality predictions caused by uncertainty in the inputs related to emissions of diffuse pollution is analysed. An uncertainty analysis of the effects of diffuse pollution is essential to compare the cost and benefits of measures to lower those emissions. We focus on diffuse nitrate pollution due to fertiliser use.

Concepts for river water quality processes for an integrated river basin modelling.

Although there are various ways to model the bio-chemical processes in rivers, two main trends can be distinguished: the traditional QUAL2E-type models and the RWQM-type models, developed by extending and adapting the ASM equations. Both approaches have their weak and strong points. This paper focuses on the application of these concepts in an integrated modelling context.

Detection of the most optimal measuring points for water quality variables: application to the river water quality model of the River Dender in ESWAT.

This paper presents a methodology for the definition of an optimal set of sampling data for the calibration of a river water quality model. Starting with an extensive set of measurements, it is the aim to reduce those data to obtain just as much data as necessary for a calibration with an acceptable uncertainty in the parameters. The method requires a model for the river under examination and the availability of samples for a first calibration of the model.

Sensitivity analysis and auto-calibration of an integral dynamic model for river water quality.

ESWAT--Extended Soil and Water Assessment Tool--was developed to allow for an integral modelling of the water quantity and quality processes in river basins. ESWAT is a physically based, semi-distributed model, with a moderate-to-large number of parameters and input and output variables (depending on the desegregation scheme). An auto-calibration procedure was implemented for the optimisation of the process parameters.