Water Resources Engineering Commons^™

Enhancing Agricultural Sustainability Under Climate Change: A Multi-Scale Framework Integrating Climate Extremes, Resource Efficiency, And Data-Driven Modeling, Shahryar Fazli

Computational and Data Sciences (PhD) Dissertations

Agricultural systems are increasingly challenged by climate variability, where shifting temperature regimes, hydrological variability, and the rising frequency of compound and cascading extremes threaten global food security and resource sustainability. Addressing these challenges requires integrated frameworks that bridge biophysical monitoring, predictive modeling, and adaptive decision-making. This dissertation develops a data-driven, multi-scale framework to quantify and enhance agricultural resilience by integrating remote sensing, climate analytics, and machine learning across the United States, with a focus on California and the Western U.S.

First, hyperspectral and thermal remote sensing data from EMIT and OpenET are integrated to characterize crop nitrogen–water interactions and assess …

Harnessing Nigeria’S Aquaculture And Fisheries Component Of The Blue Economy, B. S. Awe, O. Adeoti

Blue Economy

Nigeria aims to diversify from carbon to blue economy. Target 7 of Goal 14 of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the creation of the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, and the passage of the National Policy on Marine and Blue Economy (2025 -2034) in May 2025 are the three frameworks driving this ambition. However, water pollution and changes in climate are central to harnessing the aquaculture and fisheries component of the blue economy. With increasing waste disposal in waterways and waterbodies and decreasing river water flow due to changes in climate, these have implications for …

From Disaster To Resilience: Developing Smart Settlements In The Himalayas, Keshav Bhattarai, Ambika P. Adhikari

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

Nepal’s catastrophic 26 August 2026 Bhote Koshi–Trishuli flood should be understood not only as a humanitarian tragedy but also as a potentially major turning point in updating national settlement and reconstruction policy. Engineers and scientists have described the floods as a glacier–bedrock collapse that triggered an ice-rock avalanche and debris flow. As per the live updates on September 7, 2026, the total death toll was 1,355, and 4,996 people were missing (The Hindu, 2026). Indian and Nepali rescuers worked urgently to locate and rescue people buried under hydropower tunnels, buildings, mud, and landslide debris.

UN News reported on September 3, …

From Himalayan Catastrophe To National Resilience: Lessons From The 2026 Bhote Koshi And Trishuli River Floods In Nepal, Keshav Bhattarai, Ambika P. Adhikari

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

On the morning of 26 August 2026, the mountains above Nepal’s northern frontier delivered a disaster of almost unimaginable speed and scale. A massive mass of ice, rock, and sediment detached in the high Himalayan terrain near the Nepal–Tibet border, descended roughly 1,200 metres, interacted with the Lhende Khola system, and generated a debris-rich flood that surged through the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli river corridors, destroying settlements, markets, roads, bridges, hydropower facilities, and an international border crossing and transforming them into fields of mud, boulders, and wreckage within minutes (ICIMOD, 2026b; Reuters, 2026a). Satellite analysis indicates that a substantial section …

Novel Uncrewed Aircraft Water Sampling Device, Justin Fratto, Avinash Muthu Krishnan, Kayla D. Taylor, David Zink, Marc Compere, Kevin Adkins

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

Supported by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this project’s objective is to create a novel simultaneous surface and discrete depth water sampler for use with an uncrewed aircraft, something which has not been done before. The device will be used to improve the spatiotemporal resolution of harmful algal bloom (HAB) monitoring on Lake Okeechobee in South Florida to provide timely and precise information on water quality and HABs. HABs are characterized by the EPA as certain species of algae that can produce harmful toxins and produce excessive blooms or growth in certain conditions. Often occurring in warmer months due to …

The Aggregation Of Microplastics By Enhancing Extracellular Polymeric Substance Production In Pseudoalteromonas Sp. Ncimb 2021 To Improve Removal Efficiencies In Environmental Matrices, Janelle L. Mercer

All Theses

Microplastics (MP) are ubiquitous in the natural environment and are a growing threat due to their small size and durability. Plastics are released into the environment through improper waste management, wastewater treatment outfalls, industrial spills, agricultural runoff, and landfills. These particles breakdown into secondary MP through degradation pathways. MP, less than 5 mm, require intricate removal techniques from water systems. Filtration techniques, though viable and effective, have implementation constraints due to high cost, maintenance demands, and filter fouling. By integrating coagulation and flocculation processes prior to filtration, MP removal efficiencies can increase, while minimizing operational challenges during filtration. Extracellular polymeric …

Implementation Of A Practical Sharp Interface Saltwater Intrusion Model To Assess Future Sea-Level Impacts, Alexandra G. Defalco

All Theses

Rising sea levels caused by global warming exacerbate saltwater intrusion, the inland movement of seawater into coastal aquifers. These processes increase susceptibility to freshwater contamination, surface flooding, and infrastructure damage. Numerical models are utilized to assess hazards to coastal aquifers on a regional scale.

The U.S. Navy is currently developing a robust, reduced-order groundwater modeling platform, SWI6, that uses the sharp interface approach to approximate the location of the freshwater-saltwater interface to define the extent of saltwater intrusion within an aquifer. Featuring compatibility with MODFLOW 6 unstructured grid formats and the Newton-Raphson formulation for better solution stability, SWI6 improves upon …

Leveraging Deep Learning Recurrence And Attention Mechanisms For Flood Forecasting And Assessment, Elnaz Heidari

All Dissertations

Predicting how much water will flow in rivers and streams is important for managing floods, water supply, and the environment. Traditionally, government agencies have used complex models, such as the National Water Model (NWM), which simulate how much water moves through landscapes using physical laws and real-world data. However, recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have enabled new ways to make these predictions. This research explored whether AI-based models could predict river discharge more accurately. These AI models learn patterns from past data instead of relying only on physical rules. To find out how well they work, the AI models …

The Influence Of Rainfall And Land Cover Change On Streamflow Variability In Eastern Florida Watersheds, Brynn Romberger

Theses and Dissertations

Streamflow in Florida watersheds is influenced by both land cover change and rainfall variability, but separating their contributions is difficult because both have changed over recent decades. This study evaluated rainfall trends and land cover change to determine which better explains flood and drought threshold exceedance across 27 USGS streamflow gauges within the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) from 1985 to 2025. Streamflow was characterized using change-point, trend, and variability analyses with a six-threshold exceedance framework. Land cover was quantified using the National Land Cover Database (NLCD), rainfall characteristics were derived from the Analysis of Records for Calibration …

Evaluation Of Dredged Sediments As A Partial Replacement For Fine Aggregate In Mortar And Concrete, Ashish Gautam

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

The feasibility of using dredged sediment from the Mobile River as a partial replacement for fine aggregate in mortar and concrete was investigated through a series of laboratory characterization and performance evaluation. Three dredged sediment samples (A, B and C) were initially examined, and Sample A was selected for further evaluation due to its closer resemblance to natural fine aggregate. This sample exhibited lower moisture content, higher sand equivalent values, higher specific gravity, and lower absorption. Mortar mixtures with 0, 10, 20, 30, 50, 75 and 100% dredged sediment replacement showed decreasing workability as the replacement level increased. The 20% …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Carbon Quantum Dots And Gold Nanoparticles For Norovirus Biosensing Applications In Water Systems, Breanne Evans

Master's Theses

Rapid, reliable detection of viral pathogens remains a significant challenge across water-treatment and environmental monitoring systems, including drinking-water, wastewater, water reuse, and environmental surveillance applications. Waterborne viral contamination can pose substantial public-health risks, making early detection essential for protecting water quality and responding quickly to treatment failures or contamination events. Direct potable reuse (DPR) is one particularly demanding example because it requires continuous verification of treatment performance and the broader need for rapid virus monitoring extends across many water-treatment and environmental surveillance applications. Norovirus is a priority target because of its widespread occurrence in wastewater, environmental persistence, and exceptionally low …

Water Use And Yield Of Subsurface Drip-Irrigated Forage Crops In Northern Utah, Nishchal Tamang

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Growing water scarcity in the Intermountain West has increased interest in improving water use efficiency. Subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) has the potential to reduce evapotranspiration (ET), evaporative losses, surface runoff, and deep percolation. SDI adoption in Utah forage crops is limited, and region-specific information on forage crop water use under SDI is lacking. This study compared ET, yield, and productivity of forage crops between SDI and conventional irrigation methods in northern Utah.

The study was conducted on production fields. Applied irrigation, precipitation, and crop yield were directly measured, while deep percolation was estimated using numerical unsaturated flow modeling. Surface runoff …

Wildfire Impacts On Fluvial Hydrology From Watershed To National Scales, Paige G. Tunby

Civil Engineering ETDs

Wildfires alter the water quantity and quality in downstream river networks. Fires promote biodiversity, maintain habitat, and provide many ecosystem services in a fire-adapted landscape. However, changes in the natural fire regimes can alter ecosystem function and threaten the water security of impacted downstream communities. The magnitude, timing, and persistence of these impacts are difficult to predict due to the lack of high-resolution datasets with adequate coverage to evaluate spatiotemporal trends after a fire. This dissertation moves us beyond the status quo to evaluate post-fire fluvial responses across scales, from the event-scale impacts after the Hermit’s Peak-Calf Canyon wildfire in …

Application Of Cost-Effective High-Resolution Remote Sensing To Characterize Flooding In Mountain River Corridors, Ishwar Joshi, Ian Gowing, Brian M. Crookston

Civil and Environmental Engineering Student Research

This study evaluated a cost-effective UAV-based multi-sensor approach for characterizing river corridor conditions during and after moderate floods in two mountain river corridors in Northern Utah, USA: the Logan River and Blacksmith Fork River. These study reaches included urban, rural, and agricultural areas, hydraulic structures and bridges, and fish passage structures. A DJI Matrice 300 UAV was used with two separate payloads: an AgEagle Altum-PT multispectral camera and an R3 Pro V2 two-return LiDAR system. The workflow included UAV flight planning and data collection, post-processing of the multi-spectral and LiDAR sensor data, spatial resolution and accuracy assessment, and interpretation of …

Utilizing Waste Paper Ash As Partial Cement Replacement In Concrete, Karim Hassan

Thesis/ Dissertation Defenses

The concrete industry has a considerable environmental impact. The manufacture of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) emits a large amount of carbon dioxide, while the extensive extraction of virgin natural aggregates further burdens the environment during concrete production. This thesis is concerned with the development of low-carbon concrete through the combined utilization of waste paper ash (WPA), recycled aggregates, and accelerated carbonation curing. The main objective is to reduce the environmental footprint of concrete products, including masonry units, by enhancing their carbon sequestration potential, decreasing the use of cement, and alleviating reliance on virgin aggregates, while also maintaining adequate mechanical and …

Quantifying The Impacts Of The Covid-19 Pandemic And Water Tariff Reforms On Domestic Water Consumption In The Emirate Of Abu-Dhabi, Darin Ibrahim Khedr

Thesis/ Dissertation Defenses

The study of domestic water consumption is of critical importance, particularly in hot and arid regions where limited natural water resources and growing demand place increasing pressure on water supply systems. The Emirate of Abu Dhabi, represents an important case study, as domestic water demand is a major concern for policymakers and water resource managers. The emirate experiences an extremely arid climate and depends heavily on desalination to satisfy water requirements across all sectors. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on domestic water consumption in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and …

The Shrinking Caspian Sea: Eco‐Hydrological Responses To Human And Climate Pressures, Jesse Duku, Mohammad J. Tourian, Marzi Azarderakhsh, Rovshan Abbasov, Ali Mehran, Ali Torabi Haghighi, Stefanos Xenarios, Azara Boschee, Salih Babagiray, Mojtaba Sadegh, Nima Shokri, Ali Nazemi, Alireza Farahmand, Samaneh Ashraf, Temur Khujanazarov, Elmira Hassanzadeh, Dalal Najib, Daniel Placht, Shamshagul Mashtayeva, Ekaterina Rets, Hamid Norouzi, Kaveh Madani, Manoochehr Shirzaei, Hossein Shafizadeh-Moghadam, Chiyuan Miao, Ali Mirchi, Shuo Wang, Amir Aghakouchak

Publications and Research

The Caspian Sea, the Earth's largest inland water body, faces water level decline, drawing comparisons to the collapse of the Aral Sea. Unlike the Aral Sea, the relative roles of climatic variability, hydrological changes, and anthropogenic pressures on the Caspian Sea remain poorly understood. Here, we integrate satellite observations, in situ hydrological records and reanalysis data to examine recent drivers of the Caspian water loss. We show that total river inflow to the Caspian Sea has declined significantly, primarily due to reduced discharge from the Volga River. At the same time, precipitation over the basin has remained broadly stable, while …

Boundary Influence In Truncated Groundwater Models: Reconstructing A Local-Scale Modflow Model From A Consultant-Developed Regional Model In The Monterey Subbasin, Bruce K. Liscomb

Master's Theses

Regional groundwater models built by consultants contain valuable calibrated frameworks but are often too large and complex for repeated local-scale analysis. Rather than rebuilding an entirely new smaller model, this study truncates the existing consultant-built regional model of the Monterey Subbasin, preserving the original grid structure and parameter framework while reducing the active domain to a manageable size for planning-level use. A key finding is that boundary-condition representation exerted a dominant influence on simulated groundwater behavior within the truncated domain, highlighting that truncation is a structural decision that meaningfully affects how the model responds. Model performance was evaluated two ways. …

Optimization Of The Baffle Geometry Of A Circular Culvert Outlet Structure To Maximize Energy Dissipation, Kiarash Shirmahi

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

High-velocity flow at culvert outlets can lead to significant soil erosion and damage to downstream infrastructure, particularly in agricultural regions where land protection is critical. Circular culverts, commonly used in transportation systems, are especially susceptible to this issue due to flow acceleration caused by geometric constraints and installation angles. Despite extensive research on energy dissipation in rectangular culverts, limited attention has been given to circular configurations. This study addresses this gap by evaluating the hydraulic performance of baffle systems designed to reduce outlet energy in circular culverts.

A series of laboratory experiments was conducted using a scaled physical model of …

Dried Water Treatment Residuals Might Be An Option To Reduce Soluble Reactive Phosphorus Release From Soils, Katie B. Mckay

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Nonpoint source pollution from agricultural landscapes contributes to freshwater eutrophication, with legacy phosphorus (P) in soils potentially driving soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) losses to surface waters. The objectives of this study were to evaluate SRP adsorption by dried water treatment residuals (WTRs) produced by Beaver Water District, quantify reductions in soil SRP release across increasing WTR application rates, and compare dried WTR performance to prior WTR studies.

Dried WTRs (~98% solids) were assessed using batch sorption experiments and soil core incubations. Phosphorus sorption was measured by mixing WTRs with CaCl₂ solutions containing increasing SRP concentrations and fitting results to …