Water Resource Management Commons^™

The World's Largest Saddle Dam At Risk: Multisensor Geohazard Analysis And Downstream Impacts, Hesham El-Askary, Hesham Morgan, Surendra Maharjan, Ali Elgendy, Wenzhao Li, Rejoice Thomas, Austin Madson, Cyril Rakovski

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) Saddle Dam, which holds approximately 89% of the main reservoir's live storage, is one of the largest and most critical auxiliary dams globally; its construction on Ethiopia's Blue Nile has consequently raised significant regional and international concerns regarding potential environmental impacts and geohazard risks. This study presents a comprehensive risk assessment of the GERD Saddle Dam by integrating high-resolution satellite data (GRACE, Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, WorldView-3), hydrological modeling (SWAT), Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI), geospatial analysis, and advanced statistical techniques. The results highlight critical structural vulnerabilities, including groundwater infiltration estimated at approximately 41 ± 6.2 billion …

To Hold Or Sell Breeding Cattle In The Rangelands, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Animal production and livestock factsheets

In a dry season where feed, water and finances are limited, removing less productive animals as soon as possible is a good option. This will free up feed for more productive animals and help preserve ground cover.

This page provides some of the information and a process for making decisions about holding or selling breeding cattle.

Supporting Data – Urban Stream, Cardinal Court, Isu, Normal, November 9, 2023 To May 1, 2025, Eric Wade Peterson, Ava Miller

Faculty Publications - Geography, Geology, and the Environment

Between November 9, 2023 to May 1, 2025, water samples were collected upstream and downstream along a segment of a stream adjacent to Cardinal Court on the Illinois State University campus. At each location, samples were collected at the surface. In-situ measurements of Dissolved Oxygen, Specific Conductance, and Temperature were recorded with a YSI 85. Anion samples were analyzed using a Ion Chromatograph for fluoride (F^-), chloride (Cl^-), nitrate as nitrogen (NO3-N), phosphate (PO₄^3-), and sulfate (SO₄^2-). The available dataset provides the recorded field parameters and the analyzed ion concentrations.

Watersmart Farms - Desalination: Brine Management Review, V Ravisankar, E Wendell, S Aktar, B Husbands, L Li, J K. Ruprecht

Natural resources commissioned reports

All desalination technologies generate residual wastes. Waste-stream management poses both cost and implementation challenges that may critically impact project viability, environmental health, and proximate land use. Brine management encompasses brine minimisation and concentration, dilution, and disposal techniques. The scope of this report is to:

• Summarise commercially available approaches to aid in the selection of the best available technology (BAT) for future inland, small-scale desalination plants;
• Provide general performance metrics such as system recovery, energy consumption and costs; and
• List alternative desalination technologies to reverse osmosis (RO) that may mitigate specific residual waste management challenges.

The choice of technology for brine …

High Spatiotemporal Resolution Monitoring Of Crop Water Stress Across The Contiguous United States Using Harmonized Landsat And Sentinel-2 Data, Na Chen, Yanlei Feng, Na Wang, Jevan Yu, Mohammad Reza Alizadeh, Yifeng Cui, Ning Ye, Wenzhe Jiao, Joshua B. Fisher, César Terrer

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Accurate and timely monitoring of crop water stress is essential for efficient agricultural water management, ultimately maintaining and improving crop productivity. While Landsat has been used for this purpose, its temporal resolution hampers timely detection of crop water stress. The recently released Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 Version 2.0 dataset, which enables a higher-frequency time series of satellite observations (2–3 days, 30 m), offers a promising solution to this challenge. However, its potential for crop stress monitoring remained unexplored. In this study, we utilized 923 HLS satellite tiles to assess crop water stress across the contiguous United States (CONUS). Crop water …

Continuous Sorption Of Ionic Dyes Onto Nanoporous Faujasite Zeolite And The Regeneration Of The Adsorbent, Frederick O. Oshomogho, Miracle Aisosa Omorogieva

BAU Journal - Science and Technology

This study evaluates the efficiency of synthesized faujasite zeolite in the continuous removal of methylene blue from water and tests the reusability of the regenerated adsorbent. Faujasite Zeolite was synthesized from locally available aluminosilicate clay in Edo State using standard methods documented in the literature. XRF analysis affirmed the elemental composition, showing high levels of silica and alumina, which increased its adsorption capacity. SEM images depicted a crystal-clear structure with an octahedral shape and visible micro-pores on the surface. TGA showed effective thermal stability below 300 ºC, with a 10% weight loss between 28.59 ºC and 300 ºC. BET analysis …

When Words Flow Like Water: How The Enbridge Line 3 Pipeline Environmental Impact Statement Failed To Prevent Hydrogeologic Harm In Minnesota, Carly Gutzmann

Journal of Earth and Life Science

For the aquifers of Minnesota, the environmental impact statement (EIS) was a promise of protection that never left the page. An environmental impact statement is meant to be an aid in the decision making process in order to ensure that projects consider potential environmental harms that may occur. However, they are often used instead as another regulatory box to check, rather than as active considerations when planning. As such, a project plan can be flawed from the start—if project developers only consider environmental impacts after they have already put considerable time, effort, and funding into their project as-is, they may …

Summary Of Beaver And Iron Counties’ Water Conservation And Provisioning Strategies, Lisa Welsh, Joanna Endter-Wada, Burdette Barker, Bethany Neilson, Anna Mcentire, Melissa Stamp, Brian Steed

Reports

This report focuses on water conservation and provisioning strategies that both Beaver and Iron Counties are pursuing to help meet their citizens’ current and future water needs and to contribute to statewide water conservation efforts. It primarily relies on publicly available data from state, county, conservancy district, and city databases, plans, and documents. The purposes of this document are to provide regional context for understanding water use in Beaver and Iron Counties and to describe water conservation strategies that can influence the trajectories of their future water use. 

In both Beaver and Iron Counties, agriculture remains the primary user of …

Assessment Of Soybean Response To Irrigation Variability In Eastern Nebraska Using The Aquacrop Model, Anmol Singh, Saleh Taghvaeian, Yufeng Ge, Derek M. Heeren, Frank Bai

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] is a major irrigated crop in eastern Nebraska, where recent expansions in irrigated agriculture and projected trends in irrigation demand necessitate thorough investigations of approaches that can optimize its irrigation management. In this study, the AquaCrop model was calibrated and validated using 19 variable irrigation treatments from a five-year field experiment. The model accurately simulated canopy cover, soil water content, and grain yield, with validation normalized root mean square error (nRMSE) of 12%, 7%, and 7%, respectively. The model was subsequently applied to estimate soybean yield and water requirement during a 15-year period (2010–2024) …

Micronutrients (Trace Elements) For High Rainfall Pastures In Western Australia, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Natural resources factsheets

Micronutrient deficiencies can result from removal of agricultural products over many years, changes in soil acidity, or from large increases in plant biomass production and export. This page is specific to high rainfall pastures (more than 600mm average annual rainfall) in the south-west of Western Australia.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development recommends tissue testing to check plant micronutrient nutrient needs.

Community Science For Enigmatic Ecosystems: Using Ebird To Assess Avian Biodiversity On Glaciers And Snowfields, William E. Brooks, Jordan Boersma, Neil Paprocki, Peter Wimberger, Scott Hotaling

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Mountain glaciers and snowfields are rapidly receding because of climate warming. Species living in these habitats remain poorly studied, likely because of the remoteness and ruggedness of their terrain. We leveraged community science data from eBird—an online database of bird observations from around the world—to characterize bird use of mountain glaciers and snowfields. We estimated total bird biodiversity and preference for glaciers and snowfields over nearby, ice-adjacent habitats. We used field notes from eBird users and breeding codes to extend our data set to include insight into habitat usage and behavior. Finally, we compared our community-science approach to previous studies …

Forecasting Precipitation In Cuba Using Graph Based Deep Learning, Taufiqul Islam

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses

Daily precipitation forecasting remained a challenging problem in regions characterized by strong spatial heterogeneity, nonlinear atmospheric dynamics, and intermittent rainfall behavior. Cuba represented a particularly complex case due to the combined influence of tropical cyclones, easterly waves, mesoscale convective systems, and orographic effects, which produced highly variable rainfall patterns in both space and time. Conventional statistical and machine-learning models typically treated stations independently and therefore overlooked spatial dependencies that strongly influenced rainfall variability across the island.

This study developed a spatiotemporal deep-learning framework for daily precipitation forecasting across 40 spatial nodes in Cuba using data from 1979 to 2023. The …

Constraining The Tectono-Climatic Evolution Of The Northern Rocky Mountains: Insights From Volcanic Glass, Leaf Water, And Leaf Wax Hydrogen Isotopes, Rijumon Nandy

Earth & Environmental Sciences Dissertations

The Eocene-Oligocene period in the North American Cordillera represents a period of great intrigue with complex interactions among tectonics, climate, and surface processes. Although this period is generally associated with synorogenic extension associated with gravitational collapse of the Cordillera, the paleotopographic history remains debated. Existing studies offer conflicting interpretations, suggesting either sustained elevations or modest uplift during this time. Notably, recent reconstructions based on volcanic glass δD values have proposed renewed uplift during the early Oligocene, which needs to be tested with a more extensive and robust dataset. Concurrently, global cooling and aridification during this interval may have been amplified …

Changing Snow Hydrology In The Great Lakes And Resilience Through Adaptive Management, Aradea R. Hakim

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

A number of studies have found that global snow cover is generally decreasing, but a closer examination at regional scales shows greater complexity. In the Great Lakes basin, contrasting trends have been identified. While snow cover is generally decreasing basinwide, leeward (downwind) regions have experienced increases in snowfall and snow cover. Changes in snow dynamics are also associated with shifts in runoff timing and volume due to earlier snowmelt and changing precipitation patterns. Streamflow analyses at gauges across the Great Lakes basin indicate trends toward earlier peak runoff and longer runoff periods, although these patterns vary among watersheds and lake …

Rate Response Of Curlyleaf Pondweed And Native Plants To Flumioxazin In Minnesota Lakes, Pearl J. Jensen

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Curlyleaf pondweed (Potamogeton crispus L.) is an invasive aquatic plant present across the United States that causes significant recreational issues, outcompetes native plant species, and depletes water quality. Before senescing in mid-summer, curlyleaf pondweed forms a large number of turions that can lay dormant in the sediment for several years. Typical herbicide management of this species occurs in early spring to target the plant before turion production occurs and while native plants are dormant. Flumioxazin has shown potential in curlyleaf pondweed management in small scale studies, but its effects have not been assessed in operational management. In this study, treatments …

Hydrogeochemical And Redox Controls On Nitrate And Arsenic Co-Occurrence In The Western Kansas High Plains Aquifer (Usa): A Composite Health Risk Assessment And The Case For Risk-Informed Private Well Governance, Jonathan Kuffour Owusu

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Fifty-one private domestic wells across western Kansas were sampled to quantify nitrate and arsenic occurrence, identify geochemical controls, and evaluate carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks for adult and child receptors in a region where groundwater serves as the primary drinking water source with no routine regulatory oversight. Samples were analyzed for major ions, nutrients, and trace elements by ICP-MS, ion chromatography, and UV-Vis spectrophotometry. Shapiro-Wilk testing confirmed non-normal distributions for both contaminants; inter-county comparisons were therefore conducted using Kruskal-Wallis tests with Dunn's post-hoc correction. Health risk was quantified via chronic daily intake (CDI), hazard quotient (HQ), HQ-based Water Quality Index …

Floodnet Methodology For Determining Flood Sensor Locations, Polly Pierone, Véronëque Ignace, Hannah Eisler Burnett, Hayley Elszasz, Brett F. Branco, Andrea Silverman

The Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay, SRIJB

FloodNet NYC is a collaboration between the City University of New York (CUNY), New York University (NYU) and NYC government agencies. In 2022, the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (NYC DEP) funded FloodNet NYC to install up to 500 flood sensors across New York City (NYC) by the end of June 2027. To meet this goal, FloodNet developed and continued to refine a flood sensor placement methodology to ensure the usefulness of sensor data for flood response, preparedness, mitigation, and overall resilience. Members of the FloodNet team from both technical and community-facing aspects of the project worked together to develop …

Effectiveness Of Walleye Stocking In Winter Kill Lakes, Tyler Haus

Journal of Earth and Life Science

Winter kill events, marked by extensive fish mortality due to hypoxic conditions under the ice, are a common phenomenon in shallow eutrophic lakes, especially in the northern lakes in the northern United States. These events can drastically alter fish communities and often result in the elimination of top predators. Though these lakes will typically slowly bounce back to what they were in a couple of years. This study evaluates the effectiveness of walleye, Sander vitreus, stocking in lakes after a winter kill. For this study, four known winter kill lakes that are consistently stocked with walleye were studied. Pre- …

Assessing Urban–Rural Differences In Largemouth Bass Abundance In Minnesota, Jonathan Gates

Journal of Earth and Life Science

Urbanization can significantly alter freshwater ecosystems and influence sport fish populations. This study examined differences in largemouth bass Micropterus nigricans catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) between urban and rural lakes in Minnesota and evaluated temporal changes between 2000–2010 and 2011–2021. Forty lakes (20 urban, 20 rural) were selected using Minnesota Department of Natural Resources fisheries survey data. Lakes were classified using NLCD 2019 land cover data, with ≥10% developed land designated as urban. Nonparametric analyses (Wilcoxon rank-sum and signed-rank tests) were used to assess spatial and temporal differences in CPUE. Results showed that rural lakes had consistently higher median CPUE than urban lakes …

Neonicotinoid Bioaccumulation In Bluegill And Bullhead Within Lake Julia And Lake Zumwalde, Jake Stuber

Journal of Earth and Life Science

Brown Bullhead Ameiurus nebulosus, Yellow Bullhead Ameiurus natalis, and Bluegill Lepomis macrochirus are unique in their stark differences. Bullhead are scaleless bottom feeders that can tolerate high pollution and low O₂ conditions. In contrast, Bluegill are scaled, aggressive nesters and are less tolerant of high pollutants or low-oxygen conditions. Among these pollutants include a class of chemicals called neonicotinoids (hereafter referred to as neonics). Neonics are a class of insecticides primarily used within agriculture and pest management. Due to the effectiveness, application has escalated on a global scale. They have been well documented by many toxicology assessments. …