Drivers of wind and water erosion for river sediments in a typical coarse sandy area in the middle reaches of the Yellow River.

Warmer temperatures and the combined effects of wind and water erosion leads to serious soil loss. Identifying the contribution of different drivers to wind and water compound erosion can improve soil erosion management in the watershed. Accordingly, we calculated the erosion energy based on energy theory and applied the mutation test and trend analysis to explore environmental drivers, runoff, and sediment changes for the Kuyehe River Basin.

Heavy metal immobilization and radish growth improvement using Ca(OH)-treated cypress biochar in contaminated soil.

Heavy metal contamination poses a significant threat to soil quality, plant growth, and food safety, and directly affects multiple UN SDGs. Addressing this issue and offering a remediation solution are vital for human health. One effective approach for immobilizing heavy metals involves impregnating cypress chips with calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)) to enhance the chemical adsorption capacity of the resulting woody charcoal.

Relationship between nitrate, heavy metal, and sterols contents in Japanese agricultural soils with risk of groundwater pollution.

In Japanese agricultural lands, nitrate-nitrogen contamination of soil and groundwater often occurs due to the application of livestock excrements and compost. Therefore, rural soils in Japan were sampled and analyzed for nitrate-nitrogen leaching, heavy metal content, and sterols associated with livestock excrement and compost to calculate contamination risk indicators. The results were analyzed using self-organizing maps and cluster analysis.

Interpretable machine learning for predicting the fate and transport of pentachlorophenol in groundwater.

Pentachlorophenol (PCP) is a commonly found recalcitrant and toxic groundwater contaminant that resists degradation, bioaccumulates, and has a potential for long-range environmental transport. Taking proper actions to deal with the pollutant accounting for the life cycle consequences requires a better understanding of its behavior in the subsurface. We recognize the huge potential for enhancing decision-making at contaminated groundwater sites with the arrival of machine learning (ML) techniques in environmental applications.

Production of Graphene Membranes from Rice Husk Biomass Waste for Improved Desalination.

Inexpensive and efficient desalination is becoming increasingly important due to dwindling freshwater resources in view of climate change and population increase. Improving desalination techniques of brackish water using graphene-based materials has the possibility to revolutionize freshwater production and treatment. At the same time, graphene matter can be cheaply mass-produced from biowaste materials.

Health Risk Assessment of Nitrate in Drinking Water with Potential Source Identification: A Case Study in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Infant mortality in Kazakhstan is six times higher compared with the EU. There are several reasons for this, but a partial reason might be that less than 30% of Kazakhstan's population has access to safe water and sanitation and more than 57% uses polluted groundwater from wells that do not comply with international standards. For example, nitrate pollution in surface and groundwater continues to increase due to intensified agriculture and the discharge of untreated wastewater, causing concerns regarding environmental and human health.

Evapotranspiration in Semi-Arid Climate: Remote Sensing vs. Soil Water Simulation.

Estimating crop evapotranspiration (ET) is an important requirement for a rational assessment and management of water resources. The various remote sensing products allow the determination of crops' biophysical variables integrated in the evaluation of ET by using surface energy balance (SEB) models. This study compares ET estimated by the simplified surface energy balance index (S-SEBI) using Landsat 8 optical and thermal infra-red spectral bands and transit model HYDRUS-1D.

Automated Low-Cost Soil Moisture Sensors: Trade-Off between Cost and Accuracy.

Automated soil moisture systems are commonly used in precision agriculture. Using low-cost sensors, the spatial extension can be maximized, but the accuracy might be reduced. In this paper, we address the trade-off between cost and accuracy comparing low-cost and commercial soil moisture sensors.

DynSus: Dynamic sustainability assessment in groundwater remediation practice.

Decision-making processes for clean-up of contaminated sites are often highly complex and inherently uncertain. It depends not only on hydrological and biogeochemical site variability, but also on the associated health, environmental, economic, and social impacts of taking, or not taking, action. These variabilities suggest that a dynamic framework is required for promoting sustainable remediation.

A hybrid approach based on simulation, optimization, and estimation of conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater resources.

Due to limited groundwater resources in arid and semi-arid areas, conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater is becoming increasingly important. In view of this, there are needs to improve the methods for conjunctive use of surface and groundwater. Using numerical models, optimization algorithms, and machine learning, we created a new comprehensive methodological structure for optimal allocation of surface and groundwater resources and optimal extraction of groundwater.

Parasitological Assessment of Sewage Sludge Samples for Potential Agricultural Reuse in Tunisia.

Wastewater sludge represents an important resource for reuse in agriculture. However, potentially harmful pathogens are a main threat in this context. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine the presence of helminth ova and protozoan cysts in dried sewage sludge samples collected from ten wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) located in eight governorates in Tunisia.

-Micronucleus Test Application for Saline Irrigation Water Risk Assessment.

In view of climate change, increasing soil salinity is expected worldwide. It is therefore important to improve prediction ability of plant salinity effects. For this purpose, brackish/saline irrigation water from two areas in central and coastal Tunisia was sampled.

Distribution of heavy metals and related health risks through soil ingestion in rural areas of western Japan.

The distribution of heavy metal concentrations and related human health risks were investigated for Shimabara City, Nagasaki Prefecture. The purpose was to clarify the potential for heavy metal contamination in an area already known to be affected by nitrate pollution. A total of 188 soil samples was collected at 47 sites.

Novel approach for predicting groundwater storage loss using machine learning.

Comprehensive national estimates of groundwater storage loss (GSL) are needed for better management of natural resources. This is especially important for data scarce regions with high pressure on groundwater resources. In Iran, almost all major groundwater aquifers are in a critical state.

Efficient organic mulch thickness for soil and water conservation in urban areas.

The use of organic mulch is important for urban green applications. For urban areas in arid and semiarid regions receiving short high-intensive rainfall, rainfall characteristics, and soil slope play an important role for mulch functioning. These properties of mulch were studied.

Spatiotemporal variation of nitrate concentrations in soil and groundwater of an intensely polluted agricultural area.

Nitrate pollution in groundwater is a serious problem in many parts of the world. However, due to the diffuse and common spatially over-lapping character of potential several non-point pollution sources, it is often difficult to distinguish main nitrate sources responsible for the pollution. For this purpose, we present a novel methodology applied to groundwater for an intensely polluted area.

Assessment of hydro-geochemical properties of groundwater under the effect of desalination wastewater discharge in an arid area.

Desalination to increase irrigation water supply for agricultural production is becoming important in water-scarce regions. While desalination has positive effects on the potential irrigation water quantity and quality, the technique may also be a considered potential source of groundwater pollution. The present study investigated the effects of desalination wastewater discharge on groundwater quality in an arid area in southern Iran for the 2012-2017 period.

INSIDE: An efficient guide for sustainable remediation practice in addressing contaminated soil and groundwater.

Modeling criteria interaction in decision-making problems is complex and often neglected. In complicated problems, like contaminated site remediation projects, independency of involved criteria is not a realistic assumption. INfluence based deciSIon guiDE (INSIDE) is a methodology that enables sustainable decision making and management in contaminated site remediation practice.

Impact of the Sediment Organic vs. Mineral Content on Distribution of the Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in Lake Sediment.

Contamination of the water and sediment with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) was studied for the lake impacted by the release of PFAS-containing aqueous film forming foam (AFFF). PFAS concentrations were analyzed in lake water and sediment core samples. ΣPFAS concentrations were in the range of 95-100 ng L in the lake water and 3.

Evaluation of a new X-band weather radar for operational use in south Sweden.

The performance of a new type of X-band weather radar (WR) for Sweden during a pilot run is studied. Compared to the conventional C-band WRs, the X-band WR covers a smaller area but with a higher spatiotemporal resolution, making it suitable for urban hydrological applications. Rainfall estimations from different elevation angles of the radar (levels) are compared at one-minute and single-event timescales with the observations of several rain gauges at different ranges using hyetographs.

Laboratory Calibration and Field Validation of Soil Water Content and Salinity Measurements Using the 5TE Sensor.

Capacitance sensors are widely used in agriculture for irrigation and soil management purposes. However, their use under saline conditions is a major challenge, especially for sensors operating with low frequency. Their dielectric readings are often biased by high soil electrical conductivity.

Temporal trends and sediment-water partitioning of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in lake sediment.

The use of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) containing aqueous film forming foams (AFFF) at fire training facilities can have an adverse impact on the surrounding environment. The aim of the present study was to study the distribution and temporal trend of 26 PFAS in water and sediment cores for a lake and a pond affected by AFFF release from a fire training facility in Luleå, northern Sweden. In the aqueous phase, maximum ΣPFAS concentration was 1.

Recent and future trends in sea surface temperature across the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman.

Climate change's effect on sea surface temperature (SST) at the regional scale vary due to driving forces that include potential changes in ocean circulation and internal climate variability, ice cover, thermal stability, and ocean mixing layer depth. For a better understanding of future effects, it is important to analyze historical changes in SST at regional scales and test prediction techniques. In this study, the variation in SST across the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman (PG&GO) during the past four decades was analyzed and predicted to the end of 21st century using a proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) model.

A critical review on the application of the National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index.

Many studies have employed the National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index (NSFWQI) with non-original rather than originally defined parameters of the model, particularly when incorporating fecal coliform (FC), total solids, and total phosphates as inputs. For this reason, this study aimed to perform a critical review on the application of the NSFWQI to explore the amount of change that can be expected when users employed non-original parameters (such as orthophosphate and total dissolved solids/total suspended solids instead of total phosphorous and total solids, respectively), or different units (FC based on the maximum probable number (FC-MPN) rather than the colony forming unit (FC-CPU)). To demonstrate the influence of originally defined inputs on NSFWQI results, various scenarios were investigated.