ALBERT

Description: The evolution of the major achievements in water lifting devices with emphasis on the major technologies over the centuries is presented and discussed. Valuable insights into ancient water lifting technologies with their apparent characteristics of durability, adaptability, and sustainability are provided. A comparison of the relevant technological developments in several early civilizations is carried out. These technologies are the underpinning of modern achievements in water engineering. They represent the best paradigm of probing the past and facing the future. A timeline of the historical development of water pumps worldwide through the last 5500 years of the history of mankind is presented. A chronological order is followed with emphasis on the major civilizations.

Description: As one of the most destructive and costly natural disasters, drought has far-reaching negative effects on agriculture, water resources, the environment, and human life. Scientific understanding of propagation from meteorological to hydrological drought is of great significance for accurate forecasting of hydrological drought and preventing and mitigating drought disasters. The objective of this study is to analyze the spatio-temporal variational characteristics of propagation from meteorological drought to hydrological drought and the associated driving mechanisms in the eastern Qilian Mountains using the standard precipitation index (SPI), standardized runoff index (SRI), and drought propagation intensity index (DPI). The results show that there has been meteorological humidification and hydrological aridification in the upper reaches of the Shiyang River Basin over the last 56 years; especially in the 2000s, the intensity of hydrological drought was the strongest and the intensity of meteorological drought was the weakest, indicating the propagation intensity of meteorological drought to hydrological drought was extremely strong during this period. The changes of meteorological and hydrological dry–wet are different, both on seasonal and monthly scales. The meteorological dry–wet is shown to have had a significant effect both on the current and month-ahead hydrological dry–wet, where the one-month lag effect was most obvious. The relationship between meteorological and hydrological droughts also vary in space: Hydrological aridification in the Huangyang River, and the rivers east of it, was greater than that in the western tributaries. The drought propagation intensities from west to east showed a decreasing trend, excluding the Huangyang River. Climate and land-use changes are the main factors affecting the propagation from meteorological drought to hydrological drought. When the natural vegetation area accounted for between 76.3–78%, the cultivated land area between 0.55–3.6% and the construction area between 0.08–0.22% were a peer-to-peer propagation process from meteorological drought to hydrological drought in the upper reaches of the Shiyang River.

Description: Flood discharge and sediment transport are closely linked to channel resistance in steep mountain streams. Previous research has mainly focused on the resistance of fixed-bed channels with steep gradients and mobile-bed channels in alluvial rivers. The present study performs an experiment and establishes a calculation method for the fixed-bed resistance of mountain channels. The basic expression of the mobile-bed resistance of steep mountain channels is derived by determining the controlling factors of the bed load movement on the riverbed resistance. The proposed formula can accurately predict the variation of the bed load resistance. The results of the present research improve the understanding of fluid dynamics and sediment transport in steep mountain channels.

Description: Scientific and rational class-based storage can effectively improve the management level of flood control materials, providing assurance for the material support that is essential in flood control. Based on an analysis of the three key factors—importance, cost, and reserve—of flood control materials and combined with the correlations of different classes of materials, a comprehensive evaluation index system and a class-based model for these materials are developed using the grey clustering method. An empirical analysis is also conducted based on the realistic requirements of a warehouse of the Jiangsu provincial water conservancy and flood control materials reserve centre, which results in the proposal of a class-based materials storage strategy for this warehouse.

Description: Water, Vol. 10, Pages 832: Water Use Efficiency and Its Influencing Factors in China: Based on the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)—Tobit Model Water doi: 10.3390/w10070832 Authors: Shuqiao Wang Li Zhou Hui Wang Xiaocong Li Water resources are important and irreplaceable natural and economic resources. Achieving a balance between economic prosperity and protection of water resource environments is a major issue in China. This article develops a data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach with undesirable outputs by using Seiford’s linear converting method to estimate water use efficiencies for 30 provinces in China, from 2008–2016,and then analyzes the influencing factors while using a DEA-Tobit model. The findings show that the overall water use efficiency of the measured Chinese provinces, when considering sewage emissions as the undesirable output, is 0.582. Thus, most regions still need improvement. Provinces with the highest water efficiency are located in economically developed Eastern China. The spatial pattern of water use efficiency in China is consistent with the general pattern of regional economic development. This study implies that factors like export dependence, technical progress, and educational value have a positive influence on water use efficiency. Further, while industrial structure has had a negative impact, government intervention has had little impact on water use efficiency. These research results will provide a scientific basis for the government to make plans for water resource development, and it may be helpful in improving regional sustainable development.

Description: Hydrological tracer testing is an effective way to determine the law of recharge and the transport of groundwater. In karst collapse mine water treatment, the hydrological tracing test can determine information such as the runoff velocity and the pattern of underground runoff, so that targeted grouting becomes possible. In this paper, NaCl was used as a tracer, and the content of the tracer was determined by the chloride ion selective electrode method. The NaCl concentration–time curve was plotted, and we obtained a tracer test method that can determine the runoff of the karst quantificationally. The method can quantificationally obtain the groundwater transport velocity, runoff pattern, and connectivity. This combination of grouting rate, grouting pressure, and setting time realized the localized targeted grouting and achieved a significant water damage control effect.

Description: Channel reservoirs have the characteristics of both rivers and lakes, in which hydrodynamic conditions and the factors affecting the eutrophication process are complex and highly affected by weather conditions. Water age at any location in the reservoir is used as an indicator for describing the spatial and temporal variations of water exchange and nutrient transport. The hyper-eutrophic Changtan Reservoir (CTR) in Southern China was investigated. Three weather conditions including wet, normal, and dry years were considered for assessing the response of water age by using the coupled watershed model Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and the three-dimensional hydrodynamic model Environmental Fluid Hydrodynamic Code (EFDC). The results showed that the water age in CTR varied tremendously under different weather conditions. The averaged water ages at the downstream of CTR were 3 d, 60 d, and 110 d, respectively in the three typical wet, normal, and dry years. The highest water ages at the main tributary were >70 d, >100 d, and >200 d, respectively. The spatial distribution of water ages in the tributaries and the reservoir were mainly affected by precipitation. This paper provides useful information on water exchange and transport pathways in channel reservoir, which will be helpful in understanding nutrient dynamics for controlling algal blooms.

Description: Water shortage is severe in the North China Plain (NCP). In addition to a deficiency of water resources, deterioration of groundwater quality should be of great concern. In this study, hydrogeological analysis was conducted in combination with principal component analysis, correlation analysis and the co-kriging method to identify factors controlling the content of major ions and total dissolved solids (TDS) in areal shallow and deep groundwater and to assess groundwater evolution in Cangzhou, China. The results suggested that groundwater quality degradation occurred and developed in the study area, as indicated by increasing concentrations of major ions, TDS and hardness in both shallow and deep groundwater. In shallow groundwater, whose hydrochemical water types changed from HCO3–Ca.Na.Mg and HCO3.Cl–Na in the west (Zone II) to Cl.SO4–Na and Cl–Na in the east (Zone III). Areas with TDS concentrations between 1500 and 2000 mg/L occupied 79.76% of the total in the 1980s, while areas with a TDS concentration ranging from 2500 to 3000 mg/L comprised 59.11% of the total in the 2010s. In deep groundwater, the area with TDS over 1000 mg/L expanded from 5366.39 km2 in the 1960s to 7183.52 km2 in the 2010s. Natural processes (water-rock interactions) and anthropogenic activities (groundwater exploitation) were the dominant factors controlling the major ions’ content in local groundwater. Dissolution of dolomite, calcite, feldspar and gypsum were the primary sources of major ions in groundwater, and the ion exchange reaction had a strong effect on the cation content, especially for deep groundwater.

Description: Intermittent water supply (IWS) is a relatively common phenomenon across the world as well as in rural and peri-urban areas across China, though there has been little IWS-focused research from China published to date. IWS consumers typically adopt a range of strategies to cope with insufficient water supply, poor drinking water quality, and associated inconveniences. In this study, we collected a range of data from small-scale utilities and households in two IWS systems and two continuous water supply (CWS) systems, as well as from comparison groups, in Shandong and Hubei provinces. Data collection included water quality testing, interviews, and surveys on behavioral adaptations, coping strategies, water-related health perceptions, and other metrics of consumer satisfaction. Overall, we found that the IWS coping strategies employed in northern China (Shandong) were associated with generally safe, but inconvenient, water access, whereas adaptation strategies observed in southern China (Hubei) appeared to improve convenience, but not water quality. Compared to the CWS comparison groups, we did not observe significant differences in water- and sanitation-related behaviors in the IWS groups, suggesting interventions to increase adaptive and protective behaviors at the household level might further improve safe water access for households living with IWS. Overall, although the water supply infrastructure in these study areas appeared to be in relatively good condition, in contrast to reported data on IWS systems in other countries, we observed multiple risk factors associated with the water treatment and distribution processes in these IWS systems. Among policy recommendations, our results suggest that the implementation of Water Safety Plans in China would likely improve the management of drinking water treatment and, by extension, safe drinking water supply under conditions of IWS.