A new framework for integrated, holistic, and transparent evaluation of inter-basin water transfer schemes.

Water shortages are forecast to affect 50% of the world's population by 2030, impacting developing nations most acutely. To increase water security there has been a significant increase in Inter-basin Water Transfer (IBWT) schemes, engineering mega-projects that redistribute water from one basin to another. However, the implementation of these schemes is often contested, and evaluation of their complex impacts inadequate, or hidden from full public scrutiny.

Identifying critical source areas using multiple methods for effective diffuse pollution mitigation.

Diffuse pollution from agriculture constitutes a key pressure on the water quality of freshwaters and is frequently the cause of ecological degradation. The problem of diffuse pollution can be conceptualised with a source-mobilisation-pathway (or delivery)-impact model, whereby the combination of high source risk and strong connected pathways leads to 'critical source areas' (CSAs). These areas are where most diffuse pollution will originate, and hence are the optimal places to implement mitigation measures.

High resolution characterisation of E. coli proliferation profiles in livestock faeces.

Agricultural intensification can lead to high volumes of livestock faeces being applied to land, either as solid or liquid manures or via direct defecation, and can result in reservoirs of faecal indicator organisms (FIOs) persisting within farmland. Understanding the survival of FIOs, e.g.

Strong and recurring seasonality revealed within stream diatom assemblages.

Improving stream water quality in agricultural landscapes is an ecological priority and a legislative duty for many governments. Ecosystem health can be effectively characterised by organisms sensitive to water quality changes such as diatoms, single-celled algae that are a ubiquitous component of stream benthos. Diatoms respond within daily timescales to variables including light, temperature, nutrient availability and flow conditions that result from weather and land use characteristics.

A catchment-scale model to predict spatial and temporal burden of E. coli on pasture from grazing livestock.

Effective management of diffuse microbial water pollution from agriculture requires a fundamental understanding of how spatial patterns of microbial pollutants, e.g. E.