Water Resource Management Commons^™

Evaluation Of Evaporative Drivers And Hydrologic Influences Using Energy And Water Budget Techniques At A Shallow Saline Lake In The Western Sandhills Of Nebraska, Usa, Colin Peake

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

The western Sandhills of Nebraska contain many shallow lakes and wetlands that interact strongly with groundwater and the overlying atmosphere. The region is semi-arid, and most of the lakes are saline, supporting a wide range of ecosystems. Water levels and salt concentrations are highly sensitive to variations in precipitation, evaporation, and groundwater fluxes, making the Sandhills an excellent laboratory for examining the effects of climate on the water balance of interdunal lakes. In this study, we investigate the atmospheric controls on evaporation rates, as well as the water balance of Alkali Lake, one of the more saline lakes in the …

Survival, Growth, And Settlement Of Dreissena Rostriformis Bugensis Veligers In Low And High Calcium Waters, Emma Ruhmann

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Populations ofDreissena rostriformis bugensis(quagga mussels) have continued to spread throughout the western United States since their discovery in the Boulder Basin of Lake Mead, NV-AZ in early 2007. Today, quagga mussel specific research is still lacking and the physicochemical characteristics of aquatic systems required by quagga mussels to successfully establish is not fully understood. This includes an absence of research in aquatic environments in the western United States and on quagga mussel veligers (larval stage). Calcium is considered the defining factor for determining if a lake or river is suitable for quagga mussel establishment. The minimum calcium threshold for invasion …

A Comparative Study Of Underwater Robot Path Planning Algorithms For Adaptive Sampling In A Network Of Sensors, Sreeja Banerjee

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Monitoring lakes, rivers, and oceans is critical to improving our understanding of complex large-scale ecosystems. We introduce a method of underwater monitoring using semi-mobile underwater sensor networks and mobile underwater robots in this thesis. The underwater robots can move freely in all dimension while the sensor nodes are anchored to the bottom of the water column and can move only up and down along the depth of the water column. We develop three different algorithms to optimize the path of the underwater robot and the positions of the sensors to improve the overall quality of sensing of an area of …

A Mixed Methods Approach Of Communication Campaign Development And Assessment: Identifying The Needs Of An Audience And Determining The Value In Evaluation, Tara Johnson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The two articles presented in this thesis used both quantitative and qualitative research methods to examine two distinct stages of communication campaigns: research and evaluation. In the quantitative study, students (n = 440) at the University of Arkansas were surveyed to determine their perceptions of the Arkansas Water Resources Center (AWRC), water resources, and water issues. A questionnaire was developed from an existing instrument, reviewed by a panel of experts, pilot tested, and revised. The researchers found participants were most aware (M = 3.23, SD = 1.14), concerned (M = 4.07, SD = 0.86), and interested (M = 4.10, SD …

An Architectural Overview Of Hydroshare, A Next-Generation Hydrologic Information System, Jefferson Heard, David G. Tarboton, Ray Idaszak, Jeffery S. Horsburgh, Dan Ames, Alex Bedig, Anthony M. Castronova, Alva Couch

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

HydroShare is an online, open-source, collaborative system being developed for sharing hydrologic data and models as part of the NSF’s Software Infrastructure for Sustained Innovation (SI2) program. The goal of HydroShare is to enable scientists to easily discover and access hydrologic data and models, retrieve them to their desktop, or perform analyses in a distributed computing environment that may include grid, cloud, or high performance computing. Scientists may also publish outcomes (data, results or models) into HydroShare, using the system as a collaboration platform for sharing data, models, and analyses. HydroShare involves a large distributed software development effort requiring collaboration …

Odm Tools Python: Open Source Software For Managing Continuous Sensor Data, Jeffery S. Horsburgh, Stephanie Reeder, Amber Spackman Jones

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

Hydrologic and water quality data is being collected at high frequencies, for extended durations, and with spatial distributions that require infrastructure for data storage and management. The Observations Data Model (ODM), which is part of the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI) Hydrologic Information System (HIS), was developed as a framework in which to organize, store, and describe point observations data. In this paper we describe ODM Tools Python, which is an open source software application that allows ODM users to query and export, visualize, and edit data stored in an ODM database. Previous versions …

Anammox Polishing In Mainstream Wastewater Treatment To Meet Stringent Ammonia And Total Nitrogen Limits, Rebecca Mary Holgate

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

As nitrogen discharge limits are becoming more stringent there is a need for new processes that are sustainable and cost effective. Since anaerobic ammonia oxidizing bacteria (anammox) were discovered in the mid 1990s, there has been considerable success implementing anammox in many wastewater treatment plants to treat internally generated nitrogen rich waste streams (e.g. centrate). Recently, there has also been discussion of implementing anammox in mainstream wastewater treatment to exploit the benefits of autotrophic nitrogen removal.

A two stage A/B pilot study was conducted that included a high-rate activated sludge (HRAS) process followed by a two-stage de-ammonification process incorporating nitrite-shunt …

U.S. Drought Monitor, July 29, 2014, Brad Rippey

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for July 29, 2014 (7/29/14) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Repeated Multibeam Echosounder Hydrographic Surveys Of 15 Selected Bridge Crossings Along The Missouri River From Niobrara To Rulo, Nebraska, During The Flood Of 2011, Benjamin J. Dietsch, Brenda K. Densmore, Kellan R. Strauch

United States Geological Survey: Water Reports and Publications

In 2011, unprecedented flooding in the Missouri River prompted transportation agencies to increase the frequency of monitoring riverbed elevations near bridges that cross the Missouri River. Hydrographic surveys were completed in cooperation with the Nebraska Department of Roads, using a multibeam echosounder at 15 highway bridges spanning the Missouri River from Niobrara to Rulo, Nebraska during and after the extreme 2011 flood.

Evidence of bed elevation change near bridge piers was documented. The greatest amount of bed elevation change during the 2011 flood documented for this study occurred at the Burt County Missouri River Bridge at Decatur, Nebraska, where scour …

U.S. Drought Monitor, July 22, 2014, David Miskus

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for July 22, 2014 (7/22/14) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Using Temporal Changes In Drought Indices To Generate Probabilistic Drought Intensification Forecasts, Jason A. Otkin, Martha C. Anderson, Christopher Hain, Mark Svoboda

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

In this study, the potential utility of using rapid temporal changes in drought indices to provide early warning of an elevated risk for drought development over subseasonal time scales is assessed. Standardized change anomalies were computed each week during the 2000–13 growing seasons for drought indices depicting anomalies in evapotranspiration, precipitation, and soil moisture. A rapid change index (RCI) that encapsulates the accumulated magnitude of rapid changes in the weekly anomalies was computed each week for each drought index, and then a simple statistical method was used to convert the RCI values into drought intensification probabilities depicting the likelihood that …

U.S. Drought Monitor, July 15, 2014, David Miskus

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for July 15, 2014 (7/15/14) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

U.S. Drought Monitor, July 8, 2014, Anthony Artusa

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for July 8, 2014 (7/8/14) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Decolorization Of Hair Dye By Lignocellulosic Waste Materials From Contaminated Waters, Habib Zahir, Michelle Naidoo, Rada-Mayya Kostadinova, Karla A. Ortiz, Rosario Sun-Kuo, Abel E. Navarro

Publications and Research

Basic yellow 57 (BY57) was chosen as a model hair dye due to its prevalence in cosmetics wastewaters. This study proposes the use of lignocellulosic materials like spent tea leaves of peppermint (PM), chai tea (CT), and chamomile (CM) as raw adsorbents for the removal of BY57 from contaminated solutions. Batch adsorption experiments were carried out at room temperature to achieve the maximum adsorption capacity. Results indicate that the highest removal is achieved at pH 6–8, with a minimum adsorbent mass of 75 mg and in the absence of salinity, crowding agents and heavy metals. Adsorption equilibria were modeled according …

Water Current, Volume 46, No. 3, Summer 2014

Water Current Newsletter

Partnership of UNL, Private Firm Works to Clean Contaminated Groundwater

USGS Grant to Help Fund Research into Mobilization of Groundwater

Meet the Faculty

From the Director

WRAP Discusses University Advancements, Water Sustainability Fund

Have Your Private Well Water Tested Now

Water Center Begins in 1964, Leaps Forward in 1970s and 1980s

Water Resources Planning and Management

Nebraska Water Center Directors

Current Faculty and Staff of the Nebraska Water Center and NU Water Sciences

Annual Water Tours

Summer Water and Natural Resources Tour

Annual Water Conference Topics

Water Seminar Series Topics

Legacies of the Nebraska Water Center

Water Sciences Laboratory.....a Cutting-Edge …

Development Of A Public Education Website: Building Bridges Over Water, Angelina Mckee

Agricultural Education and Communication

Website created by Angelina McKee to educate the public about water resource issues. Water is the basic unit of life, water resources are the basis for what societies and ecosystems are founded upon. Water shortages and droughts are more prevalent in our ever-changing world. It is no shock that there are discrepancies between various stockholders on either sides of the dry riverbed. This senior project resulted in the development of a website that addresses global water resources, water use in California, water conservation, and water allocation. The website informs the public on water resources and related issues and will hopefully …

U.S. Drought Monitor, July 1, 2014, Anthony Artusa

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for July 1, 2014 (7/1/14) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

A Fesability Analysis Of A Novel Constructed Wetland Design Tool For Arusha, Tanzania, Michael R. Sheehan

Open Access Theses

While water is a resource necessary for all life, in Tanzania alone over 20 million people who live in rural areas have no access to improved water sources. Water stress is a major concern in rural Tanzania, where annual potential evaporation can outpace precipitation by hundreds of mm per year. There is a significant need for improved access to water sources for Tanzanians living in rural regions of Arusha. To improve access to water, both water quantity and quality need to be addressed in a treatment system. Various water collection and treatment systems were compared and contrasted through the lens …

Droughtscape, Summer 2014, Kelly Smith

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Contents

Director’s report

Outlook

Drought & climate summary

Drought impacts

International drought monitoring and planning

Visiting scholars

North American Drought Monitor Forum

New primary Dust Bowl source

New additions to online webinar archive

Community Capitals Framework Institute

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 …

Feasibility Of Mainstream Nitrite Oxidizing Bacteria Out-Selection And Anammox Polishing For Enhanced Nitrogen Removal, Pusker Raj Regmi

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Short-cut nitrogen removal avoids nitrite oxidation to nitrate by nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) and allows a) reduction of formed nitrite to nitrogen gas via heterotrophic denitrification and/or b) oxidation of remaining ammonia with formed nitrite to nitrogen gas via anaerobic ammonia oxidation (anammox). The precondition for achieving shortcut nitrogen removal is suppression of NOB, which is favored by warm and high ammonia strength conditions found in internally generated ammonia-rich waste streams through anaerobic digestion of waste solids referred to as sidestreams or reject water. The discovery of anammox bacteria in the mid-1990s, which are capable of transforming NH₄+ …

Evaluation Of The Epa Swmm Model To Simulate Low Impact Development Features In An Urban Stormwater Environment, Holly Ann Carpenter

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This research thesis explores the use of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Stormwater Water Management Model (SWMM) to model an urban watershed with a developed stormwater management system and test the SWMM model's ability to simulate Low Impact Development (LID) features by proposing typical LID features that can be retrofitted to the developed study area. The SWMM model is established with an existing survey of the study area's stormwater management system, and due to the lack of field data for the study area, the model developed in this research thesis is calibrated with the consideration of a published stormwater model …

Analysis Of Landsat Satellite Data To Monitor Water Quality Parameters In Tenmile Lake, Oregon, Michael T. Waxter

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

The health of North and South Tenmile Lakes in coastal Oregon has declined since the introduction of invasive species of fish and plant life in the 1920s. The lakes are now on the Federal Clean Water Act list of impaired water bodies due, in part, to a lack of dissolved oxygen and Hazardous Algae Blooms (HAB) blooms that occur during June through September. In this report we discuss the possibility of detecting and monitoring these blooms using satellite measurements of water surface color. In-situ measurements obtained from the Tenmile Lakes Basin Partnership were used to calibrate reflectance from the Thematic …

A Multi-Period Mixed Integer Linear Programming Model For Desalination And Electricity Co-Generation In Kuwait, Nael Abdulhameed Alqattan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Water is the root of life and the engine that drives agriculture, industry, economy and services. The demand for water often necessitates desalination, particularly in arid coastal environments where there are several desalination technologies in use today such as Multi-Effect Distillation (MED) and Reverse Osmosis (RO). The key utility requirement for technologies such as desalination and population in general include energy in one form or another. Therefore, desalination and co-generation are often integrated. Another key utility is electricity which is generated from either renewable or non-renewable sources. The demands for water and electricity change over time and are subject to …

Hydrostratigraphic Interpretation Of Test-Hole And Borehole Geophysical Data, Kimball, Cheyenne, And Deuel Counties, Nebraska, 2011-12, Christopher M. Hobza, Steven S. Sibray

United States Geological Survey: Water Reports and Publications

Recently (2004) adopted legislation in Nebraska requires a sustainable balance between long-term supplies and uses of surface-water and groundwater and requires Natural Resources Districts to understand the effect of groundwater use on surface-water systems when developing a groundwater-management plan. The South Platte Natural Resources District (SPNRD) is located in the southern Nebraska Panhandle and overlies the nationally important High Plains aquifer. Declines in water levels have been documented, and more stringent regulations have been enacted to ensure the supply of ground-water will be sufficient to meet the needs of future generations. Because an improved understanding of the hydrogeologic characteristics of …

U.S. Drought Monitor, June 24, 2014, Eric Luebehusen

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for June 24, 2014 (6/24/14) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Environment, Rights, And Waste In Bolivia: Addressing Water And Sanitation Processes For Improved Infrastructure, Maryann R. Cairns

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Water and sanitation (WatSan) development projects impact both natural systems and societal structures where they are placed. A complex process of development, including inter-governmental policies, aid agencies, personal relationships, and community politics enhance and constrain the efficacy of these projects. This study presents the many ways in which the WatSan development process has unintended and unexpected returns for certain community groups. Using a political ecology framework, I look at power structures, perceived and projected environmental impacts, multiple stakeholders, and individual discourses to critique how the right to water and sanitation is implemented in a specific community context. This project advances …

U.S. Drought Monitor, June 17, 2014, Eric Luebehusen

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for June 17, 2014 (6/17/14) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Diffuse Nutrient Pollution From Residential Catchments, Melissa Rachelle Butcher

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nonpoint source nutrient pollution is diffuse pollution lacking discrete origin and conveyance. This thesis synthesizes and critically reviews research on residential nitrogen and phosphorus loss to stormwater runoff and leaching. The evaluation pulls from research covering influential socio-demographic indicators, such as use of lawn maintenance services and homeowner fertilizer practices. The extent to which such social and economic factors may influence the prevalence and fate of diffuse nutrients in stormwater runoff from residential areas has not been adequately established. Understanding the source and influencing factors of diffuse nutrient pollution is important in order to effectively protect surface and groundwater resources. …

U.S. Drought Monitor, June 10, 2014, Matthew Rosencrans

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for June 10, 2014 (6/10/14) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.