Development and analysis of the Soil Water Infiltration Global database.

In this paper, we present and analyze a novel global database of soil infiltration measurements, the Soil Water Infiltration Global (SWIG) database. In total, 5023 infiltration curves were collected across all continents in the SWIG database. These data were either provided and quality checked by the scientists who performed the experiments or they were digitized from published articles. Data from 54 different countries were included in the database with major contributions from Iran, China, and the USA. In addition to its extensive geographical coverage, the collected infiltration curves cover research from 1976 to late 2017. Basic information on measurement location and method, soil properties, and land use was gathered along with the infiltration data, making the database valuable for the development of pedotransfer functions (PTFs) for estimating soil hydraulic properties, for the evaluation of infiltration measurement methods, and for developing and validating infiltration models. Soil textural information (clay, silt, and sand content) is available for 3842 out of 5023 infiltration measurements (~76%) covering nearly all soil USDA textural classes except for the sandy clay and silt classes. Information on land use is available for 76% of the experimental sites with agricultural land use as the dominant type (~40%). We are convinced that the SWIG database will allow for a better parameterization of the infiltration process in land surface models and for testing infiltration models. All collected data and related soil characteristics are provided online in *.xlsx and *.csv formats for reference, and we add a disclaimer that the database is for public domain use only and can be copied freely by referencing it. Supplementary data are available at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.885492 (Rahmati et al., 2018). Data quality assessment is strongly advised prior to any use of this database. Finally, we would like to encourage scientists to extend and update the SWIG database by uploading new data to it

Sustainable Groundwater Management in the Arid Southwestern US: Coachella Valley, California

Sustainable groundwater management requires approaches to assess the influence of climate and management actions on the evolution of groundwater systems. Traditional approaches that apply continuity to assess groundwater sustainability fail to capture the spatial variability of aquifer responses. To address this gap, our study evaluates groundwater elevation data from the Coachella Valley, California, within a groundwater sustainability framework given the adoption of integrative management strategies in the valley. Our study details an innovative approach employing traditional statistical methods to improve understanding of aquifer responses. In this analysis, we evaluate trends at individual groundwater observation wells and regional groundwater behaviors using field significance. Regional elevation trends identified no significant trends during periods of intense groundwater replenishment, active since 1973, despite spatial variability in individual well trends. Our results illustrate the spatially limited effects of groundwater replenishment occur against a setting of long-term groundwater depletion, raising concerns over the definition of sustainable groundwater management in aquifer systems employing integrative management strategies

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Not AvailableIn this study, a methodology is presented and demonstrated for combined estimation of regional specific yield and distributed recharge using double water-table fluctuation (DWTF) technique and geographical information system (GIS) in a hard-rock aquifer system of semi-arid regions. The study area was divided into 25 zones and groundwater budget components were computed for both wet and dry seasons using 11-year period (1996–2006) data. In each zone, the regional specific yield was estimated by applying the WTF technique for dry seasons and the rainfall recharge was estimated by applying the WTF technique for wet seasons. Zone-wise rainfall–recharge relationships were established using regression technique. Thereafter, the specific yield and recharge estimates were used with GIS to generate their maps. Surface-water bodies were found to significantly contribute to groundwater recharge. This finding underscores the need for adopting rainwater harvesting in the study area to enhance recharge. The regional specific yields were found to range from 0.038 to 0.002, whereas the mean rainfall recharge was found to vary from 0.5 to 10.9 cm. The box–whisker plots of z-scale transformed specific yield revealed the greatest spatial variation. The spatial and temporal variations of the rainfall recharge in the study area are statistically significant (p 30%). The developed rainfall–recharge relationships were found to be ‘highly significant’ (r2 ≥ 0.54, p r2 ≥ 0.36, p < 0.01) in ten zones and ‘insignificant’ (r2 < 0.36) in the remaining zones.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableWater scarcity problems in arid regions have been successfully tackled by water harvesting from the times immemorial. This study focuses on an indigenous rainwater harvesting system, locally known as virda that was evolved centuries ago in Banni grassland of Kachchh, Gujarat, India. Animal husbandry is the major occupation of local people called as maldharies, and agriculture is not possible due to low rainfall and inherent salinity present in soil and water. The indigenous water harvesting system based on traditional knowledge is found to be highly effective in sustaining livelihoods of people and life of animals. Success of virda is evident from the fact that the method, developed centuries back, is still found in existence and operational. This indigenous technology developed by the maldharies learnt over the generations based on their wisdom and experience, is not only a traditional method rather it has also been embedded into their culture. Quality of virda water is found suitable for drinking purpose. Thus, virda is a unique water culture for the maldharies community of Banni. Moreover, suitable scientific interventions are suggested to integrate with traditional knowledge-based indigenous technology for further improvement.Not Availabl