Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Tool to Enhance Sustainable Groundwater Management in California

A growing population and an increased demand for water resources have resulted in a global trend of groundwater depletion. Arid and semi-arid climates are particularly susceptible, often relying on groundwater to support large population centers or irrigated agriculture in the absence of sufficient surface water resources. In an effort to increase the security of groundwater resources, managed aquifer recharge (MAR) programs have been developed and implemented globally. MAR is the approach of intentionally harvesting and infiltrating water to recharge depleted aquifer storage. California is a prime example of this growing problem, with three cities that have over a million residents and an agricultural industry that was valued at 47 billion dollars in 2015. The present-day groundwater overdraft of over 100 km3 (since 1962) indicates a clear disparity between surface water supply and water demand within the state. In the face of groundwater overdraft and the anticipated effects of climate change, many new MAR projects are being constructed or investigated throughout California, adding to those that have existed for decades. Some common MAR types utilized in California include injection wells, infiltration basins (also known as spreading basins, percolation basins, or recharge basins), and low-impact development. An emerging MAR type that is actively being investigated is the winter flooding of agricultural fields using existing irrigation infrastructure and excess surface water resources, known as agricultural MAR. California therefore provides an excellent case study to look at the historical use and performance of MAR, ongoing and emerging challenges, novel MAR applications, and the potential for expansion of MAR. Effective MAR projects are an essential tool for increasing groundwater security, both in California and on a global scale. This chapter aims to provide an overview of the most common MAR types and applications within the State of California and neighboring semi-arid regions

Optical Express Methods of Monitoring of Pathogens in Drinking Water and Water-Based Solutions

Hygienic standards to the quality of potable water require continuous monitoring of the absence of pathogenic microorganisms directly in water flow. Despite a great number of laboratory devices for checking the quality of potable water, there are no express analyzers for monitoring of pathogenic organisms, which could be embedded directly into the automatic checkout systems. The reasons of it are low concentration of pollutions and the presence of additional effects, which impede automatic data processing. The new method, the express analysis of pathogens in water, was developed. It shall be mentioned that the proposed method of express diagnostics allows detection of infectious agents in the water in minutes based on nonlinear effects. This research has, hopefully, laid the foundation for development of a prototype for determination of the content of the genetically modified soy in meat products. The inventive methods can be recommended for DNA diagnostics in medicine ,veterinary sciences and insanitation. The main advantage of this method is that there is no need for DNA isolation. It is sufficient to create a suspension of the product by centrifugation

Geo-Electrical Investigation for Groundwater Resources in a Part of Butembo Area (North Kivu Province; Democratic Republic of Congo)

This paper presents the results of the groundwater research undertaken in Butembo area, Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. By the geophysical survey undertaken in this campaign, the expected result was to find out aquifers through the geological exploration and geophysical survey. The geological exploration has revealed that the geology of Butembo is built by crystalline rocks covered by a lateritic top soil. The geophysical investigation was focuses on the electrical method of resistivity using the Schlumberger configuration spreading the current electrodes from 1.5 to 280m with depth penetration capability of 93.3m.  The field data was acquired using the allied Ohmega resistivity meter and the computer plot using the WinResist software after being subjected to manual plotting. The analyses of sounding curves of data over the areas have brought out three to four subsurface geo-electric patterns. The geophysical curves suggest that aquifers are made by fractured crystalline bedrock. The aquifer level is overlain by more than 20 m of saprolite and a thick slightly weathered basement. This sandy clay saprolite can constitute an aquifer but it lower transmissivity and the hygienic conditions made it unusable. By this research, we have got ideas relatively to the underground water of the region so that we may evaluate the possibility of their domestic use by drilling

Artificial Recharge of Groundwater with Recycled Municipal Wastewater in the Pajaro Valley

Abstract The Pajaro Valley, located along California’s Central Coast, is the State’s 5th most productive agricultural region. Groundwater is the main source of water for the region, and due to high agricultural demand, the Pajaro Valley is facing groundwater depletion and rapid seawater intrusion. Artificial recharge of recycled water into groundwater aquifers in other locations has proven to be an effective method of mitigating groundwater depletion and seawater intrusion while providing a sustainable water supply. Two methods of artificial recharge with recycled water exist: direct injection and surface spreading (infiltration). Case studies of both methods of recharge were analyzed to determine the benefits, issues and solutions associated with each project type. Direct injection is very effective when used as a seawater intrusion barrier to exert hydraulic pressure on seawater, preventing it from flowing inland. As evidenced by several case studies, clogging can be significant in direct injection wells, but well design and maintenance can effectively address clogging. Surface spreading basins require less engineering and have lower operating costs than direct injection, and they are able to accommodate fluctuating flows of water, unlike direct injection wells. Clogging of the infiltration basin surface is inevitable, as demonstrated by the case studies, but this type of clogging is relatively easy to remedy with regular basin maintenance. Based on the information gained from the case studies, the Pajaro Valley is a feasible basin for both direct injection, in the form of a seawater barrier, and surface spreading operations. A dual project featuring both a seawater barrier directly along the coast and a surface spreading basin further inland is recommended to provide the highest possible defense against saltwater intrusion while taking full advantage of all recycled water production to recharge the groundwater aquifer and supplement water supplies

Groundwater investigation in Paphos region

Cyprus is a semi-arid island. Its water resources rely on winter rainfall which supply the impounding reservoirs constructed on the dry river courses and replenish the groundwater resources within the river gravels or the plain aquifers. water requirements for domestic use and irrigation have been increasing considerably for the last ten years. The potential of the conventional water resources have been developed according to techno-economic factors. Also, the unconventional sources (treated domestic effluents and desalinating sea water) are receiving particular attention to support water requirements throughout the island. The current study deals partly with the calcarenite aquifer of the Paphos Coastal Plain. It has been investigated whether this resource is offered for an integrated exploitation program. In addition the domestic effluent of the Paphos urban zone is considered as a promising resource for providing reliable and continuous quantities for irrigation use after treatment. [Continues.

Fish abundance estimation with imaging sonar in semi-intensive aquaculture ponds

To know the abundance of fishes and their size distribution in the semi-intensive rearing systems in traditional ponds is an aspect key to plan and manage efficiently the sales lots. Usually this information is obtained by means of sampling which mandatory supposes a direct catch and stressful and time consuming management of fishes. Therefore, in this work we propose the use of non-invasive procedures based on multibeam sonars or imaging sonars to count and size the fishes in the ponds. For that, we use a commercial technology portable-fixed multibeam imaging sonar and estimate the abundance in ponds of a gilt-head seabream (Sparus aurata) fishfarm from sonar image analysis and adapting statistical methodologies traditionally applied for bird abundance estimation. Additionally, a simulation software was developed to emulate the fish aggregation contained in the rearing ponds. This computer program allows the calculation of an abundance correction factor which depends on the transducer beam size in relation to the pond size. The results indicate that the estimation is as accurate as the obtained by the fishfarm manager using traditional sampling methods and additionally it is possible to obtain a realistic function of the size distribution which allows estimate the biomass by size contained in the rearing ponds.This work was supported by KTTSeaDrones project (0622_KTTSEADRONES_5_E), cofunded by the European Regional Development Fund, ERDF, through the Interreg V-A Spain-Portugal program (POCTEP) 2014–2020. We would like to express our gratitude to Rafael Rodríguez Sierra (Manager of ‘Salinas del Astur’) for his willingness to carry out all the experiments of the KTTSeaDrones project at the ‘Salinas del Astur’ facilities. Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Huelva/ CBUA

Numerical Evaluation of Community-Scale Aquifer Storage, Transfer and Recovery Technology

Communities in the coastal regions of south-western Bangladesh currently experience severe seasonal water scarcity and groundwater sources of unsuitable salinity. Aquifer storage, transfer and recovery (ASTR), using a seasonal surplus of potable water, is being tested as a potential low-cost (less than $8000 USD) water supply alternative for these communities. A variable-density numerical groundwater model was developed to investigate the engineering technical feasibility of small-scale ASTR systems for the coastal communities in Bangladesh and specifically to support future field site selection and system design. The numerical model was calibrated based on an existing ASTR site and applied to explore the influence of a range of hydrogeological and engineering design parameters. Simulations showed that the water extracted from the ASTR system was able to meet the Bangladesh Drinking Water Standard for Total Dissolved Solids of 1 g/L when injection head or aquifer transmissivity was maximized. A generic ASTR model was developed to examine systems in a non-site-specific context. This analysis showed that four injection wells distributed around a central extraction well with system parameters configured to produce a single injection well plume diameter 1.5 times greater than the level of dispersivity in the system led to high recovery efficiencies regardless of other site characteristics such as injection rate, aquifer depth, and effective porosity

Sample handling in surface sensitive chemical and biological sensing : a practical review of basic fluidics and analyte transport

This paper gives an overview of the advantages and associated caveats of the most common sample handling methods in surface-sensitive chemical and biological sensing.We summarize the basic theoretical and practical considerations one faces when designing and assembling the fluidic part of the sensor devices. The influence of analyte size, the use of closed and flow-through cuvettes, the importance of flow rate, tubing length and diameter, bubble traps, pressure-driven pumping, cuvette dead volumes, and sample injection systems are all discussed. Typical application areas of particular arrangements are also highlighted, such as themonitoring of cellular adhesion, biomolecule adsorption–desorption and ligand–receptor affinity binding. Our work is a practical review in the sense that for every sample handling arrangement considered we present our own experimental data and critically reviewour experience with the given arrangement. In the experimental partwe focus on sample handling in optical waveguide lightmode spectroscopy (OWLS) measurements, but the present study is equally applicable for other biosensing technologies in which an analyte in solution is captured at a surface and its presence is monitored. Explicit attention is given to features that are expected to play an increasingly decisive role in determining the reliability of (bio)chemical sensingmeasurements, such as analyte transport to the sensor surface; the distorting influence of dead volumes in the fluidic system; and the appropriate sample handling of cell suspensions (e.g. their quasi-simultaneous deposition). At the appropriate places, biological aspects closely related to fluidics (e.g. cellular mechanotransduction, competitive adsorption, blood flow in veins) are also discussed, particularly with regard to their models used in biosensing

The significance of the transition of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SADA) Systems to TCP/IP platforms

SCADA system security is a significant United States national security issue based on the systems’ vulnerabilities and the cyber threats that seek to exploit them. Within the last fifteen years as SCADA systems have collectively transitioned to Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) networks, analysts and policy-makers have expressed increased concern over the general security and protection of SCADA systems, which are responsible for monitoring and controlling our nation’s critical infrastructure. SCADA systems are susceptible based on their ease of entry and their attractiveness as a target. In addition, there a number of cyber threats such as hackers and malware, insiders, terrorist organizations and state actors that are dangerous based on their intent and capabilities. U.S. government engagement with private sector owners and operators of critical infrastructures is essential for mitigating the abundant threats that characterize cyber-terrorism