Hydrology Commons^™

A New Passive Surface Water Flux Meter For Simultaneous Measurement Of Contaminant And Water Fluxes In Streams And Rivers, Stephen A. Sassman

Open Access Dissertations

A passive surface water flux meter (PSFM) for measurement of contaminant concentration/flux in rivers and streams is described and tested. The novel PSFM design was developed for portability and ease of adaptability for a variety of contaminant classes. Although previous designs have been evaluated under constant flow conditions, the PSFM has never been used for measurement of pesticides or hormones and this is the first time that it has been tested under transient flow. Discharge through the PSFM is assessed by measuring miscible displacement of alcohol tracers from granular activated carbon (GAC). The tracer retardation factors (R) measured by miscible …

Hydro-Climate Temporal Variations And Their Influences On Net Primary Production In A Eurasian Steppe Watershed, Xiaomin Yang

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Climate, which is the most important factor that influences Net Primary Productivity, has been detected changing all over the world. The confounding effects of step change invalidate the stationarity assumption of commonly used trend analysis methods such as the Mann-Kendall test technique, so previous studies have failed to explain inconsistencies between detected trends and observed large anomalies. In this research, by formulating a trend analysis approach that considers nonstationary due to step changes, trends and extreme occurrences of precipitation, temperature, and runoff in annual, seasonal, and monthly scales were analyzed in a mid-latitude Eurasian steppe watershed in northeast China, and …

Infiltration And Runoff Parameters For Tilled And No-Till Row Crops, Andrew J. Volkmer

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Infiltration and runoff are hydrologic processes that effect the amount of water available to plants, for groundwater recharge, and for stream flow. No-till planting (NT) is a management practice used to reduce soil erosion, increase water infiltration, and reduce soil water evaporation, and can have great impact on infiltration and runoff. An investigation was conducted to determine the impact of NT on infiltration and runoff when compared to tilled conditions.

Runoff and precipitation data was gathered from sites at Fillmore County, NE, Phelps County, NE, the USDA-ARS North Appalachian Experimental Watersheds (NAEW) near Coshocton, OH, and the Lennoxville Research Station …

Systematic Analysis Of Drainage Events In Free Draining And Managed Subsurface Drainage Systems, Guy Bou Lahdou

Open Access Theses

Understanding the hydrologic controls that regulate outflow from free and managed subsurface drainage systems during drainage events can offer improved insight on the overall functioning and effectiveness of the systems so that they can be better managed or retrofitted to increase their environmental benefits. This study used drainage, precipitation, water table, and soil moisture data from a monitoring site located in east central Indiana to investigate the event hydrology of 22 drainage events in free and managed subsurface drainage systems. Relationships between event drainage volume, drain flow hydrograph metrics, column soil moisture, water table depth, and precipitation characteristics were explored …

Toward A Reliable Prediction Of Seasonal Forecast Uncertainty: Addressing Model And Initial Condition Uncertainty With Ensemble Data Assimilation And Sequential Bayesian Combination, Caleb Matthew Dechant, Hamid Moradkhani

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Uncertainties are an unfortunate yet inevitable part of any forecasting system. Within the context of seasonal hydrologic predictions, these uncertainties can be attributed to three causes: imperfect characterization of initial conditions, an incomplete knowledge of future climate and errors within computational models. This study proposes a method to account for all threes sources of uncertainty, providing a framework to reduce uncertainty and accurately convey persistent predictive uncertainty. In currently available forecast products, only a partial accounting of uncertainty is performed, with the focus primarily on meteorological forcing. For example, the Ensemble Streamflow Prediction (ESP) technique uses meteorological climatology to estimate …

Estimating Unsaturated Flow Properties In Coarse Conglomeratic Sediment, Michael James Thoma Jr.

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I address the lack of knowledge of unsaturated flow in coarse, conglomeratic sediment by determining if functional θ-ψ-K relationships, specifically van Genuchten-Mualem (VGM) relationships, developed to predict unsaturated flow in relatively fine-grained sediment can be directly applied to coarse, conglomeratic sediment. In the summer of 2011, a field-scale infiltration test was conducted at the Boise Hydrogeophysical Research Site to determine if functional ψ-θ-K relationships could be applied to infiltration in coarse, conglomeratic sediment, and to estimate parameter values for the VGM relationships. Vertically and laterally distributed ψ(t) and θ( …

Determining The Dynamics Of Agricultural Water Use: Cases From Asia And Africa, Lisa-Maria Rebelo, Robyn Johnston, Poolad Karimi, Peter G. Mccornick

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Across Africa and Asia, water resources are being affected by a complex mixture of social, economic, and environmental factors. These include climate change and population growth, food prices, oil prices, financial disruptions, and political fluctuations. The need to produce more food will have one of the largest impacts on water and will continue to reshape the patterns of agricultural water use in major food-growing regions. With this increasing demand on water for agriculture, from large-scale irrigation to intensification of rainfed systems, it is becoming increasingly important to ensure that water resources decision-making has access to information that captures the spectrum …

Floodplain Mapping Using Soil Survey Geographic (Ssurgo) Database, Nikhil Sangwan

Open Access Theses

Floods are the most damaging of all natural disasters, adversely affecting millions of lives and causing financial losses worth billions of dollars every year across the globe. Flood inundation maps play a key role in assessment and mitigation of the potential flood hazards. However, there are several communities in the United States for which the flood risk maps have not been published yet, as the current flood inundation mapping methods are typically very expensive and time consuming. The objective of this study is to develop and examine an economical alternative approach to floodplain mapping using widely available soil survey data. …

Improving The Treatment Of Non-Aqueous Phase Tce In Low Permeability Zones With Permanganate, Chanat Chokejaroenrat, Steve D. Comfort, Chainarong Sakulthaew, Bruce I. Dvoark

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

Treating dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs) embedded in low permeability zones (LPZs) is aparticularly challenging issue for injection-based remedial treatments. Our objective was to improve thesweeping efficiency of permanganate (MnO4−) into LPZs to treat high concentrations of TCE. This wasaccomplished by conducting transport experiments that quantified the penetration of various perman-ganate flooding solutions into a LPZ that was spiked with non-aqueous phase14C-TCE. The treatments weevaluated included permanganate paired with: (i) a shear-thinning polymer (xanthan); (ii) stabilizationaids that minimized MnO2rind formation and (iii) a phase-transfer catalyst. In addition, we quantifiedthe ability of these flooding solutions to improve TCE destruction under batch …

Water Metrics, Lisa-Maria Rebelo, Jean-Marc Faurès, Poolad Karimi, Wim Bastiaanssen, Meredith Giordano, Vladimir Smakhtin, Peter G. Mccornick

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Society has a universal need for water that crosses all sectors of activity. We need to be able to measure progress towards sustainable water for all by working towards targets that consider the different dimensions of water resources and use, including water quantity and quality. A suite of indicators that reflect water use by different sectors is needed to measure progress towards the forthcoming SDGs’ [sustainable development goals] water-related targets. Such indicators will need to rely on national data, must consider the variation in data availability, and can be complemented with new cost-effective ways for data collection.

Remote sensing measurements, …

Water-Food-Energy Nexus, Jeremy Bird, Felix Dodds, Peter G. Mccornick, Tushaar Shah

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

The proposed SDGs on water, food and energy security all include targets on increasing efficiencies. Yet the water–food–energy nexus has multiple dimensions that, if managed in isolation, will compromise a nation’s ability to achieve the full portfolio of SDGs.

Climate change introduces additional uncertainties, further increasing tensions between sectors for access to water. Conventional energy and food production are emitters of greenhouse gases, but measures to reduce emissions—including renewable energy interventions, such as subsidies for biofuel production—can have adverse consequences on food prices.

To achieve desirable and sustainable outcomes for water, food, and energy requires investigating these elements as an …

Afrontar El Cambio: Cuidar Del Agua, De La Agricultura Y De La Seguridad Alimentaria En Una Era De Incertidumbre Climática, Peter G. Mccornick, Vladimir Smakhtin, Luna Bharati, Robyn Johnston, Matthew Mccartney, Fraser Sugden, Floriane Clement, Beverly Mcintyre

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

En 1950, la población mundial era apenas superior a los 2500 millones de habitantes. En 2013, ronda los 7 mil millones. Aunque el crecimiento de la población se está ralentizando, se estima que en 2050 se alcanzarán los 9600 millones de habitantes. El aumento de la población será mayor en los países en desarrollo, donde los alimentos a menudo escasean, y la tierra y el agua están sometidas a presión. Para alimentar a la población mundial en 2050, tendrán que producirse más alimentos sin que haya un aumento significativo del terreno de cultivo y contando con un caudal menor de …

Fluoride Exposure From Groundwater As Reflected By Urinary Fluoride And Children’S Dental Fluorosis In The Main Ethiopian Rift Valley, Tewodros Rango, Avner Vengosh, Marc Jeuland, Redda Tekle-Haimanot, Erika Weinthal, Julia Kravchenko, Christopher Paul, Peter G. Mccornick

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

This cross-sectional study explores the relationships between children’s F⁻ exposure from drinking groundwater and urinary F⁻ concentrations, combined with dental fluorosis (DF) in the Main Ethiopian Rift (MER) Valley. We examined the DF prevalence and severity among 491 children (10 to 15 years old) who are lifelong residents of 33 rural communities in which groundwater concentrations of F⁻ cover a wide range. A subset of 156 children was selected for urinary F⁻ measurements. Our results showed that the mean F⁻ concentrations in groundwater were 8.5 ± 4.1 mg/L (range: 1.1–18 mg/L), while those in urine …

The Effect Of Non-Fluoride Factors On Risk Of Dental Fluorosis: Evidence From Rural Populations Of The Main Ethiopian Rift, Julia Kravchenko, Tewodros Rango, Igor Akushevich, Behailu Atlaw, Peter G. Mccornick, R. Brittany Merola, Christopher Paul, Erika Weinthal, Courtney Harrison, Avner Vengosh, Marc Jeuland

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Elevated level of fluoride (F⁻) in drinking water is a well-recognized risk factor of dental fluorosis (DF). While considering optimization of region-specific standards for F⁻, it is reasonable, however, to consider how local diet, water sourcing practices, and non-F⁻ elements in water may be related to health outcomes. In this study, we hypothesized that non-F⁻ elements in groundwater and lifestyle and demographic characteristics may be independent predictors or modifiers of the effects of F⁻ on teeth. Dental examinations were conducted among 1094 inhabitants from 399 randomly selected households of 20 rural communities of …

Fluoride Exposure From Groundwater As Reflected By Urinary Fluoride And Children’S Dental Fluorosis In The Main Ethiopian Rift Valley, Tewodros Rango, Avner Vengosh, Marc Jeuland, Redda Tekle-Haimanot, Erika Weinthal, Julia Kravchenko, Christopher Paul, Paul Mccornick

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

This cross-sectional study explores the relationships between children’s F⁻ exposure from drinking groundwater and urinary F⁻ concentrations, combined with dental fluorosis (DF) in the Main Ethiopian Rift (MER) Valley. We examined the DF prevalence and severity among 491 children (10 to 15 This cross-sectional study explores the relationships between children’s F⁻ exposure from drinking groundwater and urinary F⁻ concentrations, combined with dental fluorosis (DF) in the Main Ethiopian Rift (MER) Valley. We examined the DF prevalence and severity among 491 children (10 to 15 years old) who are lifelong residents of 33 rural communities in which …

On Target For People And Planet: Setting And Achieving Water-Related Sustainable Development Goals, Julie Van Der Bliek, Peter G. Mccornick, James Clarke

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Our specific focus in this book is on securing water for sustainable food production. This links to sustainable water resources management, delivering on the water supply and sanitation requirements and provisioning water for energy and the urban sector. A specific intent is to ensure that the realities in low- and middle-income countries in Africa and Asia are recognized and to provide practical pathways to change that fit these realities and the aspirations of those countries. This will help to prepare for the next step in the SDG [sustainable development goals] process: devolving the SDGs to the national level. It will …

Co-Occurrence Of The Cyanotoxins Bmaa, Daba And Anatoxin-A In Nebraska Reservoirs, Fish, And Aquatic Plants, Maitham Ahmed Al-Sammak, Kyle D. Hoagland, David A. Cassada, Daniel D. Snow

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

Several groups of microorganisms are capable of producing toxins in aquatic environments. Cyanobacteria are prevalent blue green algae in freshwater systems, and many species produce cyanotoxins which include a variety of chemical irritants, hepatotoxins and neurotoxins. Production and occurrence of potent neurotoxic cyanotoxins β-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA), 2,4-diaminobutyric acid dihydrochloride (DABA), and anatoxin-a are especially critical with environmental implications to public and animal health. Biomagnification, though not well understood in aquatic systems, is potentially relevant to both human and animal health effects. Because little is known regarding their presence in fresh water, we investigated the occurrence and potential for bioaccumulation of cyanotoxins …

A Review Of The Hyporheic Zone, Stream Restoration, And Means To Enhance Denitrification, Leanne Merill, David J. Tonjes

Technology & Society Faculty Publications

The hyporheic zone is the subsurface area below and adjacent to a stream where groundwater mixes with stream water, through vertical, lateral, and longitudinal flows. The hyporheic zone connects the stream to uplands and other terrestrial environments. It is a zone of distinct faunal communities, high biological diversity and ecological complexity, and is the site of chemical processing and transformations of ground- and stream waters. The hyporheic zone is important to the overall ecosystem ecology of the stream, and it can influence stream water chemistry. Flows, reactions, and biota in the hyporheic zone are heterogeneous and patchy, making it difficult …

Drainage Structure Datasets And Effects On Lidar-Derived Surface Flow Modeling, Ruopu Li, Zhenghong Tang, Xu Li, Jessie Winter

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

With extraordinary resolution and accuracy, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)-derived digital elevation models (DEMs) have been increasingly used for watershed analyses and modeling by hydrologists, planners and engineers. Such high-accuracy DEMs have demonstrated their effectiveness in delineating watershed and drainage patterns at fine scales in low-relief terrains. However, these high-resolution datasets are usually only available as topographic DEMs rather than hydrologic DEMs, presenting greater land roughness that can affect natural flow accumulation. Specifically, locations of drainage structures such as road culverts and bridges were simulated as barriers to the passage of drainage. This paper proposed a geospatial method for producing …

Impacts Of Climate Changes On The Spatiotemporal Distribution Of Precipitation In The Western United States, Peng Jiang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Precipitation in the Intermountain West is characterized by its great variability in both spatial and temporal distributions. Moreover, the spatiotemporal distribution of the precipitation is changing due to the climate changes. In this dissertation, three studies are conducted to investigate the multi-scale temporal variability of precipitation, the performance of current climate models on this variability, the influence of large-scale ocean oscillations on heavy precipitation, and the impact of human induced global warming on storm properties.

The first study is to examine the performance of current climate models on the simulation of the multi-scale temporal variability determined from the observed station …

A Novel Approach To Flow Estimation In Tidal Rivers, Hamed Moftakhari Rostamkhani, David A. Jay, Stefan A. Talke, Tobias Kukulka, Peter D. Bromirski

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reliable estimation of river discharge to the ocean from large tidal rivers is vital for water resources management and climate analyses. Due to the difficulties inherent in measuring tidal-river discharge, flow records are often limited in length and/or quality and tidal records often predate discharge records. Tidal theory indicates that tides and river discharge interact through quadratic bed friction, which diminishes and distorts the tidal wave as discharge increases. We use this phenomenon to develop a method of estimating river discharge for time periods with tidal data but no flow record. Employing sequential 32 day harmonic analyses of tidal properties, …

Building Upon Common-Pool Resource Theory To Explore Success In Transitioning Water Management Institutions, Christina M. Hoffman

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Nebraska, like many regions around the world, is faced with the challenge of adapting to a new era in water management. Increasing demands for water resources, mounting concerns over threatened and endangered species, and obligations to abide by interstate water allocation agreements have motivated Nebraska to revisit traditional water management approaches. However, although Nebraska’s water management institutions have undergone much change, little research exists on the influence these changes have had on the ability of water institutions to successfully manage water allocations. This research (1) qualitatively explores the perspectives and experiences of stakeholders in the overappropriated region of the Platte …

Tackling Change: Future-Proofing Water, Agriculture, And Food Security In An Era Of Climate Uncertainty, Peter G. Mccornick, Vladimir Smakhtin, Luna Bharati, Robyn Johnston, Matthew Mccartney, Fraser Sugden, Floriane Clement, Beverly Mcintyre

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

In 1950 the global population was just over 2.5 billion. Now, in 2013, it is around 7 billion. Although population growth is slowing, the world is projected to have around 9.6 billion inhabitants by 2050. Most of the population increase will be in developing countries where food is often scarce, and land and water are under pressure. To feed the global population in 2050 the world will have to produce more food without significantly expanding the area of cultivated land and, because of competition between a greater number of water users, with less freshwater. On top of land and water …

Occurrence Of Antimicrobials And Antimicrobial Resistance Genes In Beef Cattle Storage Ponds And Swine Treatment Lagoons, Yuping Zhang, Chiqian Zhang, David B. Parker, Daniel D. Snow, Zhi Zhou, Xu Li

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

Livestock manure treatment and storage structures are potential environmental sources of antimicrobials and antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs). In this study, the occurrence of antimicrobials and ARGs was investigated in the water and the sludge compartments of beef cattle storage ponds and swine lagoons. Analysis was focused on two families of antimicrobials (sulfonamide and tetracycline) and the corresponding ARGs (sul1, sul2, tetO, tetQ and tetX). Results showed that the pseudo-partitioning coefficients of tetracyclines were higher than those of sulfonamides, suggesting different distributions of these two classes of antimicrobials between water and sludge. The ARGs tested were …

An Evaluation Of Spatial Variability Of Water Stress Index Across The United States: Implications Of Supply And Demand In The East Vs The West, Jennifer Ann Roath

Open Access Theses

In order to support both human and environmental needs, high quality fresh water must be available when and where it is required. As a metric for indicating unsustainable water usage, WSI is only useful when the values reflect accurate interactions between supply and demand; however, the complexity of temporal and spatial variability of available fresh water complicates the analysis of water stress.

The overall goal of this project was to investigate the spatial variability of water stress across the United States and the appropriate spatial scale for management decisions. To accomplish this, a national dataset describing spatial distribution and breakdown …

Using Gis To Delineate Headwater Stream Origins In The Appalachian Coal-Belt Region Of Kentucky, Jonathan A. Villines

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

Human activity such as surface mining can have substantial impacts on the natural environment. Performing a Cumulative Hydrologic Impact Assessment (CHIA) of such impacts on surface water systems requires knowing the location and extent of these impacted streams. The Jurisdictional Determination (JD) of a stream’s protected status under the Clean Water Act (CWA) involves locating and classifying streams according to their flow regime: ephemeral, intermittent, or perennial. Due to their often remote locations and small size, taking a field inventory of headwater streams for surface mining permit applications or permit reviews is challenging. A means of estimating headwater stream location …

Watershed-Scale Hybrid Stochastic-Deterministic Modeling Framework And Diffused Sources Superpositioning, Ruby Juvah Damalie

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Predicting hydrologic system behavior is imperative to planning and management of water resources. The study developed an integrated hybrid stochastic and deterministic framework to improve prediction accuracy for overland flow and diffused sources in a watershed. The methodology includes sampling input parameters at system level and contribution of nonpoint source from hydrologically disconnected areas (heretofore referred to as system-level approach and superpositioning respectively). System-level approach includes the integration of a topography-based sampling grid generalized linear model developed by the study and Monte Carlo methods. The superpositioning method adopts in-stream water quality equation for overland flow pollution estimation.

The system-level approach …

A Watershed Scale Evaluation Of Selected Second Generation Biofeedstocks On Water Quality, Gurdeep Singh

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study compares a novel simulation approach to the conventional Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) modeler's approach for targeting biofuel crop production on marginal lands. In conventional SWAT modeling approach, non-spatial definition of hydrological response units (HRUs) results in the simulation of biofuel crops on both marginal and non-marginal land. This study provides an alternative approach in which a marginal-land raster was integrated into the land use and land cover (LULC) raster in such a way that the land uses were divided into marginal and non-marginal components. This modified LULC was used for model setup which resulted in marginal …

Global Monthly Water Scarcity: Blue Water Footprints Versus Blue Water Availability, Arjen Y. Hoekstra, Mesfin Mekonnen, Ashok K. Chapagain, Ruth E. Mathews, Brian D. Richter

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Freshwater scarcity is a growing concern, placing considerable importance on the accuracy of indicators used to characterize and map water scarcity worldwide. We improve upon past efforts by using estimates of blue water footprints (consumptive use of ground- and surface water flows) rather than water withdrawals, accounting for the flows needed to sustain critical ecological functions and by considering monthly rather than annual values. We analyzed 405 river basins for the period 1996–2005. In 201 basins with 2.67 billion inhabitants there was severe water scarcity during at least one month of the year. The ecological and economic consequences of increasing …

The Water Footprint Of Humanity, Arjen Y. Hoekstra, Mesfin Mekonnen

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

This study quantifies and maps the water footprint (WF) of humanity at a high spatial resolution. It reports on consumptive use of rainwater (green WF) and ground and surface water (blue WF) and volumes of water polluted (gray WF). Water footprints are estimated per nation from both a production and consumption perspective. International virtual water flows are estimated based on trade in agricultural and industrial commodities. The global annual average WF in the period 1996–2005 was 9,087 Gm3 ∕y (74% green, 11% blue, 15% gray). Agricultural production contributes 92%. About one-fifth of the global WF relates to production for export. …