Groundwater Hydrology

The two fields of knowledge “geology” and “hydrology” always go hand in hand, often giving rise to the terms “geohydrology” and “hydrogeology.” The importance of the science of water, commonly called “hydrologic science,” is always complemented by the “science of the interior of the earth.” Whereas hydrology is concerned with the quality and quantity of underground water, its movement, extraction, and recharge, geology talks of the rock matrix and the structure in which this water is contained, stored, and moved around.In recent times, the knowledge of geohydrology or the hydrology of groundwater has gained an impetus many times its original scale; and with that, acquisition, expansion, research, advancement, and dissemination of this knowledge have become more significant. With so many dimensions of geohydrology available for exploration, research, and technological advancement, any work contributing to any dimension of geohydrology and groundwater will find its right place. This compilation of chapters is going to play a very important part in furthering the knowledge of geohydrology and may prove an interesting and useful read for various cross-sections of academia, researchers, engineers, hydrologists, and all categories of water consumers

Potential contribution of a carbon offset scheme to the costs of greenhouse gas emissions reductions in developing countries

textThe energy sector in the developing world is expected to account for 27% of global emissions of greenhouse gases from fossil fuel combustion in 2035 – in 1990 it accounted for 7%. The increase is concentrated in rapidly growing countries in Asia that depend on coal for power generation. Maximizing electricity generation using renewable technologies in these countries provides an obvious approach to slowing global emissions growth. A barrier to increased use of renewable generation is cost: financial incentives could help to increase its use in developing countries. The principal objective of this research is to examine the practicability and potential scale of an offset scheme aimed at providing this incentive. Offset schemes have a poor reputation due to problems experienced with the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). I identify the CDM’s failure to ensure the additionality of projects as a key issue and propose an approach to the assessment of additionality specific to grid connected generation projects. I present case studies of wind and small hydro projects in China and India in which I calculate the marginal abatement cost of emissions cuts and use the new approach to additionality to draw conclusions regarding the eligibility of projects to receive offsets in some hypothetical future scheme. My analysis shows that the proposed approach offers advantages over methodologies permitted by the CDM. I analyze the supply and demand for credits from existing schemes during 2013-2020 and show that oversupply will continue to impact their price, removing any incentive for investment in renewable generation. Using an original approach based on IEA forecasts for the energy sector, I estimate the maximum availability of offsets from a post-2020 scheme based on renewable generation, and assess the potential global demand.Public Affair

Persistent Organic Pollutants in Urban Soils of Central London, England, UK: Measurement and Spatial Modelling of Black Carbon (BC), Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH), Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) and Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB)

Total organic carbon (TOC), black carbon (BC), total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) were determined in 73 surface (0-2 cm) and subsurface (5-20 cm) soil samples taken from a 142 km2 area in Central London, UK. Soils were assessed to provide a baseline chemistry for site owners, developers, occupiers and regulators involved in understanding the potential risk to human health and the environment. TOC range was 1.75-11.85 % (mean 5.82 %), BC 3.72-32.71 mg.g-1 (mean 13.8 mg.g-1), TPH 72-4673 mg.g-1 (mean 443 mg.g-1), Σ16PAH 1.64-421.23 mg.g-1 (mean 47.99 mg.g-1) and Σ7PCB 2.56-148.72 µg.kg-1 (mean 20.82 µg.kg-1). Surface soils were less polluted than sub-surface soils due to a decline in industry, power generation, coal burning and traffic. PAH and PCB showed a stronger affinity for BC than TOC and were higher than many other international cities. South east London (Greenwich, Woolwich, Deptford) had the highest PAH pollution. Source PAH ratios confirmed a combustion/urban road run-off origin with minor petroleum inputs. Random Forest spatial modelling (machine learning) revealed large scale pollution trends across London soils. Normal background concentrations (NBC) were calculated and compared to risk-based human health generic assessment criteria (GAC). Benz[a]anthracene, benzo[a]pyrene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, and dibenzo[a]anthracene exceeded the Land Quality Management GACs for three land uses (residential, allotments and public open space near residential housing). The NBC determined for ∑7PCBs (110 µg.kg-1) and dioxin-like PCB 118 (59 µg.kg-1) exceeded the residential and allotment soil guideline values

Rethinking Cairo’s elevated urban highways: Scoping impacts and potentials

Urban policies of the last 50 years in Egypt focused on extending and developing road networks to the extent that Egyptians used to describe it as the era of roads and bridges. From such policy came an introduction of a big number of elevated urban highways that cuts through Cairo’s urban fabric to ensure the flow of the city. Elevated urban highways are often perceived as a tool for mobility, but it introduces much more complicated impacts on the urban fabric and the communities that they pass through. While the international literature has long pointed out such impacts there is a gap in the local Egyptian literature that discusses the notion of elevated urban highways and its various impacts. It is argued that highways introduce a set of social, environmental and economic impacts, but most importantly some of those impacts are actual potentials that can be utilized to serve the needs of the community. This research aims at scoping the impacts and potentials of Cairo’s elevated urban highways. Understanding the impacts and potentials will provide better information for decision-making leading to better urban management of affected areas. This is achieved through studying three independent cases of elevated urban highways in Cairo: Al Azhar bridge, 15th of May bridge, and Saft El-Laban corridor. Through site visits and in-depth interviews with local stakeholders, the research provides an understanding of how the presence of elevated structure impacted each community, analyzes its spatial elements and scopes its potential uses. Based on the observations and investigations, many findings were revealed, like how communities perceive elevated highways differently, and how a negative impact in one case can actually be perceived as a positive impact in another case. Empirical findings presented interesting observations that sometimes contradict with the international literature and theories. The field work lead to realizing how new structures can lead to the formation of different power dynamics related to claiming ownership in each case. Observations and research reflected how the laws and regulations in regards to spaces under the elevated highways are vague, leading to misunderstandings and conflicts in regards to ownership and uses. Most importantly discussions reveal that Cairo’s elevated urban highway holds much more spatial potentials than the common belief of being just a tool for mobility

Landlock

Landlock: Paralysing Dispute over Minerals on Adivasi Land in India explores the ways in which political controversy over a bauxite mining and refining project on constitutionally protected tribal lands in Andhra Pradesh descended into a state of paralysis where no productive outcome was possible. Long-running support for Adivasi (or tribal) land rights motivated a wide range of actors to block the project’s implementation by recourse to India’s dispersed institutional landscape, while project proponents proved adept in proposing workarounds to prevent its outright cancellation. In the ensuing deadlock, the project was unable to move towards completion, while marginalised Adivasi groups were equally unable to repossess their land. Such a ‘landlock’ is argued to be characteristic of India’s wider inability to deal with conflicts over land matters, despite the crucial importance of land for smallholder livelihoods and various economic processes in an intensely growth-focused country. The result has been frequent yet grindingly slow processes of contestation in which powerful business and state interests are, at times, halted in their tracks, but mostly seem able to slowly exhaust local resistance in their pursuit of large-scale projects that produce no benefits for the rural poor

Evaluation of Hydrogeochemical Characteristics of San Joaquin, Tulare, and Mojave Aquifers, Southern California

Before making attempts to enhance and manage the quality of water, a thorough understanding of these processes is necessary since the chemical quality of groundwater is impacted by a number of linked processes. This would be more important in arid and semiarid regions like the southern part of California where more rely on groundwater for agriculture and drinking water uses than the other states. As a result, fundamental knowledge of the governing processes of groundwater chemistry is required for effective water resource management. Thus, this study is primarily concerned with three aspects in Mojave, Tulare, and San Joaquin aquifers: The first step is chemical properties of groundwater with respect to hydrogeochemical aspects and salinity. Without different managerial approaches, irrigation with poor-quality water can have a variety of adverse effects, such as increased soil salinity/sodicity, poor penetration, soil hardening, and/or plant-specific ion toxicity. Together, these variables inhibit crop growth and, eventually, a crop\u27s economic output. Numerous indices have been proposed and are often employed in groundwater for this purpose, including Na%, SAR (sodium adsorption ratio), RSC (residual sodium carbonate), MH (magnesium hazard), PI (permeability index), and PS (potential salinity). In the second section, we go into more detail about the levels of heavy metals in groundwater and how pollution indices like HPI (heavy metal pollution index), HEI (heavy metal evaluation index), and CI (contamination index) can be used to evaluate the health risks of consuming groundwater that is overly contaminated with these heavy metals. The concentration of nitrate in the aquifers is the third factor. The multi-isotope systematics (δ15N- and δ18O-NO3) method is highlighted in this study, along with typical δ15N- and δ18O-NO3 ranges of known NO3 sources, as well as many other parameters, including the effects of pH, EC, reduction-oxidation, and other elements/ions on nitrate concentration and δ15N- and δ18O-NO3 determination. In addition, this paper covers how to map water quality indicators in the Mojave, Tulare, and San Joaquin aquifers using a GIS (geographical information system) based on water quality information system and spatial analysis with IDW (inverse distance weighted) interpolation