Water Resource Management Commons^™

Comparisons Of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems And Agro-Terrestrial Surveys: Techniques To Determine Field Elevation Surfaces For Improved Crop And Water Management., Richard A. Pickett Jr

Student Theses and Dissertations

Row crop agriculture in Arkansas relies predominantly on groundwater resources for irrigation. This places great demand on the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer (MRVAA), which is in a current state of decline. The Eastern Arkansas region produces commodity crops including soybeans, rice, corn, cotton, and peanuts, all of which utilize irrigation for optimal productivity. Conservation practices that reduce groundwater use include precision land leveling, multiple inlet rice irrigation, and computerized hole size selection for furrow irrigation. To collect elevation data to irrigate efficiently, these practices require precision agriculture technology, more specifically Real-Time Kinematic–Global Navigation Satellite Systems (RTK-GNSS). As RTK-GNSS technologies …

Agriculture Water Use And Economic Value In The Great Salt Lake Basin, Cody Zesiger, Burdette Barker, Sarah Null, Earl Creech, Matt Yost, Ryan Larsen, Joshua Dallin

All Current Publications

This fact sheet briefly describes human impacts on GSL water volume, human population growth, surface water withdrawals, and agricultural water use from 1985 and 2015 in the GSL Basin. Finally, agriculture’s economic impact and food production in the GSL Basin are summarized.

Great Salt Lake Policy Assessment: A Synthesized Resource Document For The 2023 General Legislative Session, William Anderegg, Craig Buttars, Joel Ferry, Natalie Gochnour, Kim Shelley, Brian Steed, David Tarboton, Leila Ahmadi, Eric Albers, Blake Bingham, Paul Brooks, Joanna Endter-Wada, Candice Hasenyager, John Lin, Anna Mcentire, Bethany Neilson, Sarah Null, Kevin Perry, Ben Stireman, Courenay Strong, Kyla Welch, Matt Yost

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Declining water levels threaten economic activity, public health, and ecosystems of Great Salt Lake and surrounding communities. This policy assessment provides a summary of data, insights, and policy options that will inform strategies to improve water management and increase deliveries to the lake.

Evaluation Of Woodchip Bioditch Reactors As A Nutrient Reduction Conservation Strategy, Geoffrey K. Payne

Student Theses and Dissertations

Continued increases in nitrogen and phosphorus loads in waterways cause problems with water quality, impacting human health, the economy, and the environment. To reach nutrient load reduction targets, innovative conservation strategies should be evaluated. This study aimed to assess (1) the potential of using woodchip bioditch reactors for the mitigation of nitrate (NO3-) and soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) in agricultural waterways; (2) the influence of orientation of the bioditch reactor to flow direction on NO3- and SRP concentrations and loads; and (3) the impact that differing wet/dry cycles have on NO3- and SRP concentrations and loads when bioditch reactors are …

Bats Increased Foraging Activity At Experimental Prey Patches Near Hibernacula, Winifred F. Frick, Yvonne A. Dzal, Kristin A. Jonasson, Michael D. Whitby, Amanda M. Adams, Christen Long, John E. Depue, Christian M. Newman, Craig K. R. Willis, Tina L. Cheng

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

1. Emerging infectious diseases in wildlife can threaten vulnerable host populations. Actions targeting habitat improvements to aid population resilience and recovery may be beneficial long-term strategies, yet testing the efficacy of such strategies before major conservation investments are made can be challenging.

2. The disease white-nose syndrome (WNS) has caused severe declines in several species of North American hibernating bats. We tested a novel conservation approach targeted at improving foraging conditions near bat hibernacula by experimentally manipulating insect density in the pre-hibernation fattening period and spring emergence recovery period. We measured foraging (feeding buzzes) and echolocation activity of little brown bats Myotis …

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Constituent Loads And Trends In The Upper White River Basin: A Nonpoint Source Management Program Priority Watersheds, Erin M. Grantz, Brian E. Haggard

Arkansas Water Resources Center Technical Reports

The Arkansas Department of Agriculture – Natural Resources Division (ANRD) has identified the Upper White River Basin (UWRB; HUC 11010001) a hydrologic unit code (HUC) 8 watersheds, located in Northwest Arkansas, for prioritization by the Nonpoint Source (NPS) Management Program. UWRB includes Beaver Lake in its borders, the drinking water source for 1 in 6 Arkansans. Nonpoint source pollution concerns in these watersheds are excess nutrients from agriculture and sediment from changes in land use/land cover (LULC).

Local, state, and national groups, including the NPS Source Management Program, have invested in education, best management practices, and streambank restoration in the …

Constituent Loads And Trends In The Upper Illinois River Watershed: A Nonpoint Source Management Program Priority Watershed, Erin M. Grantz, Brian E. Haggard

Arkansas Water Resources Center Technical Reports

The Arkansas Department of Agriculture - Natural Resources Division (ANRD) has identified the Upper Illinois River Watershed (UIRW; 11110103), a hydrologic unit code (HUC) 8 watershed, located in Northwest Arkansas for prioritization by the Nonpoint Source (NPS) Management Program. URIW encompasses the Illinois River from its headwaters to the state line with Oklahoma and has been the subject of interstate disputes over water quality for decades. Nonpoint source pollution concerns in UIRW are excess nutrients from agriculture and sediment from changes in land use/land cover (LULC).

Local, state, and national groups, including the NPS Source Management Program, have invested in …

2022 Kentucky River Watershed Watch Annual Report, Steven J. Evans, Malissa Mcalister

Kentucky River Watershed Watch

No abstract provided.

Adsorption Of Antibiotics In Wastewater By Stevia Rebaudiana Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles, Hania Guirguis

Theses and Dissertations

Green zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs), synthesized using Stevia rebaudiana extract, are investigated as novel adsorbents for the removal of the antibiotics ciprofloxacin (CIP) and tetracycline (TET) from water. The green ZnO NPs were synthesized using a novel, rapid and ecofriendly technique that utilized a natural source with high sugar content as a reducing agent and a less energy intensive approach that did not require annealing or calcination at high temperatures. The particles are mesoporous, with a hexagonal wurtzite structure, a BET surface area of 15.28 m2/g and a size range of 37.36-71.33 nm. At pH 5, the green ZnO …

Assessing Ecosystem Health Through Contaminants In The Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve, Nancy Torres

Theses

Although the Tijuana River Estuary (TRE) remains the largest, most-intact coastal wetland in Southern California, it has a history of major changes, much of this related to its location immediately north of the US / Mexico Border. One of the primary challenges is cross-border flows from the rapidly growing city of Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, and the delivery of wastewater, debris, and sediment to sensitive coastal wetland ecosystems. There is a need to more fully investigate these environmental changes to assess the ecosystem health of the Tijuana River Estuary over time, especially related to pollution impacts. This can inform an …

Time Domain Reflectometry Waveform Interpretation With Convolutional Neural Networks, Zhuangji Wang, Shan Hua, Dennis Timlin, Yuki Kojima, Songtao Lu, Wenguang Sun, David Fleisher, Robert Horton, Vangimalla R. Reddy, Katherine Tully

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

Interpreting time domain reflectometry (TDR) waveforms obtained in soils with non-uniform water content is an open question. We design a new TDR waveform interpretation model based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) that can reveal the spatial variations of soil relative permittivity and water content along a TDR sensor. The proposed model, namely TDR-CNN, is constructed with three modules. First, the geometrical features of the TDR waveforms are extracted with a simplified version of VGG16 network. Second, the reflection positions in a TDR waveform are traced using a 1D version of the region proposal network. Finally, the soil relative permittivity values …

National Development And The Sustainability Of Mining In The Atacama Desert, Chile, Dakota Soleil Osgood

Capstone Collection

As climate change continues to intensify on a global scale, efforts have been made to implement renewable energies and progressive technologies. These tools are critical in the shift towards a more sustainable practice, and yet analysis of localized impacts from the development of these mechanisms is inadequate. Chile has been and continues to be a leading country in mineral extraction, with an economic history founded in the mining industry. The establishment of mining in Chile as a progressive tool has aided the social and economic development of the nation. Consequences of mining extraction, however, include intensive environmental degradation, human rights …

Not A Waste: Wastewater Surveillance To Enhance Public Health, Anna Gitter, Jeremiah Oghuan, Anuja Rajendra Godbole, Carlos A. Chavarria, Carlos Monserrat, Tao Hu, Yun Wang, Anthony W. Maresso, Blake M. Hanson, Kristina D. Mena, Fuqing Wu

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Domestic wastewater, when collected and evaluated appropriately, can provide valuable health-related information for a community. As a relatively unbiased and non-invasive approach, wastewater surveillance may complement current practices towards mitigating risks and protecting population health. Spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, wastewater programs are now widely implemented to monitor viral infection trends in sewersheds and inform public health decision-making. This review summarizes recent developments in wastewater-based epidemiology for detecting and monitoring communicable infectious diseases, dissemination of antimicrobial resistance, and illicit drug consumption. Wastewater surveillance, a quickly advancing Frontier in environmental science, is becoming a new tool to enhance public health, improve …

Globally Scalable Approach To Estimate Net Ecosystem Exchange Based On Remote Sensing, Meteorological Data, And Direct Measurements Of Eddy Covariance Sites, Ruslan Zhuravlev, Andrey Dara, André Luís Diniz Dos Santos, Oleg Demidov, George Burba

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Despite a rapid development of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) for carbon removal in recent years, the methods for evaluating NBS still have certain gaps. We propose an approach based on a combination of remote sensing data and meteorological variables to reconstruct the spatiotemporal variation of net ecosystem exchange from eddy-covariance stations. A Lagrangian particle dispersion model was used for upscaling satellite images and flux towers. We trained data-driven models based on kernel methods separately for each selected land-cover class. The results suggest that the proposed approach to quantifying carbon exchange on a medium-to-large scale by blending eddy covariance flux data with …

Role Of Social Determinants Of Health In Differential Respiratory Exposure And Health Outcomes Among Children, Jagadeesh Puvvula, Jill A. Poole, Yeongjin Gwon, Eleanor G. Rogan, Jesse E. Bell

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Background Attributes defining the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) are associated with disproportionate exposures to environmental hazards and differential health outcomes among communities. The dynamics between SDoH, disproportionate environmental exposures, and differential health outcomes are often specific to micro-geographic areas.

Methods This study focused on children less than 20 years of age who lived in Douglas County, Nebraska, during 2016–2019. To assess the role of SDoH in differential exposures, we evaluated the association between SDoH metrics and criteria pollutant concentrations and the association between SDoH and pediatric asthma exacerbations to quantify the role of SDoH in differential pediatric asthma outcomes. …

Water And Agriculture In The San Diego Region, San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative, Olivia Frigyes, Darbi Berry, A-Bel Gong

San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative

The San Diego region is susceptible to drought with little annual precipitation. The rising temperature and changing precipitation is expected to affect the agriculture economy. Classified as having a mediterranean climate, San Diego has hot, dry summers and cooler, wet winters. In this blog, learn about how San Diego's climate shapes its agricultural communities' reliance on water supply.

Chesapeake Bay Watershed Residents’ And Farmers’ Concerns And Perceptions Of Water Quality, Edem Avemegah, Jessica D. Ulrich-Schad

Publications

Poor water quality is an issue in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed (CBW). In this rapidly urbanizing landscape, both farmers and non-farm residents contribute to nutrient pollution of rivers and streams. Understanding these important stakeholders’ views of water quality problems and how to address them is essential for creating an economically thriving and environmentally beneficial agricultural system that all residents depend upon. To understand key stakeholders’ views on water quality both locally and regionally, researchers from Utah State University and the Pennsylvania State University surveyed residents of the CBW and agricultural producers of the southern part of the CBW (Maryland, Delaware, …

A Participatory Drone Mapping And Critical Physical Geography Of Water Security For Irrigation In Northern Ghana, Dinko Hanaan Dinko

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dam discourse frequently incorrectly assumes that their emergence unilinearly translates to an expansion of economic opportunities while not considering how dams become sites for the reproduction of inequality and injustice. This dissertation investigates how the politics of irrigation water access are nested in a complex web of physical materialities of the 'natural' environment and power relations, with lived consequences on differentiated social identities in semiarid Ghana. The research draws on transdisciplinary perspectives from political ecology, embodiment, critical physical geography, and mixed methods, including interviews, focus group discussions, surveys, participatory drone mapping, and laboratory analysis of soil biochemical properties. The study …

Rainwater Catchment System In Public Sector Housing, Araceli Peña, Muhammad Yanzar Sarin

2023 REYES Proceedings

Water is a universal right for all living beings on the planet, but today it has become a commercial good. It costs significantly to extract water from increasingly distant storage sources. For these reasons and many more the fight for water has become increasingly intense. Precisely, an alternative to avoid more dam construction is the implementation of public politic with actions focused on the integral solution of water, that is to say, that it be distributed fairly and equitably to all users, avoiding more concessions to great industries like as soft drinks and breweries, which are the main consumers and …

The Use Of Transport Time Scales As Indicators Of Pollution Persistence In A Macro-Tidal Setting, Guanghai Gao, John J. O'Sullivan, Aisling Corkery, Zeinab Bedri, Gregory M.P. O'Hare, Wim G. Meijer

Articles

An understanding of water exchange processes is essential for assessing water quality management issues in coastal bays. This paper evaluates the impact of water exchange processes on pollution persistence in a macro-tidal semi-closed coastal bay through two transport time scales (TTS), namely residence time and exposure time. The numerical model was calibrated against field-measured data for various tidal conditions. Simulated current speeds and directions were shown to agree well with the field data. By considering different release scenarios of a conservative tracer by the refinement of an integrated hydrodynamic and solute transport model (the EFDC), the two TTS were used …

Multi-Scale Adaptive Management Of Social-Ecological Systems, A. Garmestani, Craig R. Allen, D. G. Angeler, L. Gunderson, J. B. Ruhl

School of Natural Resources: Documents and Reviews

No abstract provided.

Local-Scale Impacts Of Water Hyacinth On Water Quality In A Hypereutrophic Lake, J. R. Corman, A. Z. Roegner, Z. Ogari, T. R. Miller, C. M. Aura

School of Natural Resources: Documents and Reviews

No abstract provided.

Spatiotemporal Analysis Of Extreme Precipitation In The Southern Great Plains Hydroclimate Region, P. Flanagan, R. Mahmood

School of Natural Resources: Documents and Reviews

No abstract provided.

Resilience Theory And Coerced Resilience In Agriculture, S. M. Sundstrom, D. G. Angeler, C. R. Allen

School of Natural Resources: Documents and Reviews

No abstract provided.

Storms And Ph Of Dam Releases Affects Downstream Phosphorus Cycling In An Arid Regulated River, B. R. Deemer, R. H. Reibold, A. Fatta, J. R. Corman, C. B. Yackulic, S. C. Reed

School of Natural Resources: Documents and Reviews

No abstract provided.

Modified Tracer Gas Injection For Measuring Stream Gas Exchange Velocity In The Presence Of Significant Temperature Variation, C. R. Jensen, D. P. Genereux, T. E. Gilmore, D. K. Solomon

School of Natural Resources: Documents and Reviews

No abstract provided.

Characterization Of Particulate Size Distributions And Water-Soluble Ions Measured At A Broiler Farm, P. J. Silva, T. Cress, R. Drover, C. Michael, G. Docekal, P. Larkin, A. Godoy, D. A. Cavero, C. Sin, J. Waites, Rezaul Mamood, M. Cohron, K. L. Purvis-Roberts

School of Natural Resources: Documents and Reviews

No abstract provided.

A Workshop On Using Nasa Airs Data To Monitor Drought For The U.S. Drought Monitor, Alireza Farahmand,, Sharon Ray, Heidar Thrastarson, Stephen Licata, Stephanie Granger, Brian Fuchs

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Recent studies indicate that drought indicators based on near-surface air relative humidity (RH), air temperature (T), and air vapor pressure deficit (VPD), derived from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite can detect the onset of drought earlier than other drought indicators, specifically standardized precipitation index (SPI), which is widely used for drought onset detection. A recent study showed that standardized relative humidity index (SRHI) can detect drought signals earlier than SPI (Farahmand et al. 2015). Relative humidity is a climate variable defined as the ratio of air vapor pressure to saturated vapor pressure. Precipitation and relative …

Trust And Subjective Knowledge Influence Perceived Risk Of Lead Exposure, Madeline Goebel, Chloe B. Wardropper

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Lead exposure is a persistent environmental hazard that poses risks to human health. But motivating protective action is challenging with this low visibility hazard whose health effects are often subtle and chronic. Higher risk perception is generally associated with taking protective measures, so public health efforts prioritize risk messaging. Yet, little is known about perceptions of lead exposure risk among the U.S. public. Using cross-sectional data from a national survey of 1035 U.S. residents, we measured the role of trust in government management of lead and subjective knowledge about lead as predictors of perceived risk of lead exposure, controlling for …

Water Literacy In Drought-Prone Regions: Case Studies From Aurora, Colorado, Usa And Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa, Meghan Mccarroll

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Water managers around the world must reevaluate their approach to water security as challenges continue to grow. Supply-focused paradigms that aimed to capture, control, and commodify water resources are increasingly unreliable and often depend on environmentally and socially damaging practices. Of particular concern are regions experiencing climate shocks and aridification from rising global temperatures. In order to stretch limited water resources using equitable water policies, conservation programs, and alternative water sourcing, water managers must invest in a water literate citizenry. Water literacy is the culmination of water-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. The benefits of a water literate citizenry abound, including …