Development of optimal location and design capacity of wastewater treatment plants for urban areas: a case study in Samawah city

Water, and related wastewater structures, are critical factors in the existence and the improvement of civilizations. Wastewater gathering and management has a considerable effect on the climate and economy at both regional and global level, and, accordingly, it is appropriate to advance actions that guarantee effective management for wastewater, particularly in urban areas. This research thus examined the environmental and economic aspects of proposed locations for wastewater treatment plants. Samawah city, located in the southern part of Iraq, was selected as a case study for the research methodology, and for research purposes, the studied city was divided into three main zones (1, 2, and 3) of sixteen areas. The Google Earth tool was used to calculate the lowest elevations in the studied zones in order to assess the suggested positions of treatment plants. Additionally, the WinQSB program was utilised to select the most appropriate positions for treatment plants based on data obtained from local government departments. These data include population, water consumption, and required lengths and subsequent cost of pipes. This research thus developed a new strategy for assigning the locations of wastewater treatment plants

Impact of Evapotranspiration Formulations at Various Elevations on the Reconnaissance Drought Index

Numerous drought indices with various intricacy have been utilised in several climatic regions. Presently, the reconnaissance drought index (RDI), which is considered as a powerful index of meteorological drought, is acquisitioning approval primarily in semi-arid and arid climatologic areas. Because RDI is based on precipitation (P) and evapotranspiration (ET), it assesses the ET estimation effects on the characterisation of drought severity computed by RDI. The current study sheds light on the impact of the ET methods, and the elevation and climate conditions on the RDI annual results, (particularly, the alpha form of the index (RDIα12)), using three of the most widespread experimental ET estimates with low data requirements. These techniques are known as Thornthwaite, Hargreaves, and Blaney-Criddle, and are utilised in addition to the Food and Agriculture Organization Penman-Monteith reference technique. Data from 24 stations for the period from 1979 to 2014 cover different elevations and climatic conditions. No significant (P > 0.05) impacts on both the standardised (RDIst) and normalised (RDIn) forms of the RDI were detected by applying the considered ET methods at various elevations for various climatic conditions. However, the RDIα12 is directly influenced with a significant (P < 0.05) deviation that has been observed by various ET methods at different elevations and climate conditions. Accordingly, consideration should be paid to the ET estimation methodologies, in particular at high elevations. The use of various approaches may lead to flaws in availability of water resources and water quality forecasts

Factors associated with Adherence to Insulin Self-Administration among Children and Adolescents with Type 1 DM in Iraq

Abstract Adolescents and children with type 1 diabetes have been reported to have challenges regarding adherence to treatment regimens compared with other age groups with diabetes. The study aimed to determine the level of commitment and investigate the effects of different factors on insulin adherence in type 1 diabetes patients in Iraq. This cross-sectional study included face-to-face interview questionnaires with caregivers of children and adolescents. Interviews were conducted in the Specialized Center of Endocrinology and Diabetes in Nasiriyah City, Iraq, from October 4, 2022, to March 30, 2023. The adherence questionnaire consisted of two sections; each consisted of five questions, including insulin and blood glucose recommendations. Blood samples were obtained from the patient to determine fasting blood glucose (FBG) and glycated hemoglobin (HBA1c)—results: 180 patients (86 males and 94 females) with type 1 DM. The mean age, weight, and disease duration were 10.75 (4.36) years, 36.30 (16.41) kg, and 6.24 (3.70) years, respectively. They had uncontrolled blood glucose (208.42 95.0 mg/dl) and HBA1c (9.90 2.85%). The patients (52.2%) were girls with primary school qualifications (43.3%). Most of the caregivers (parents and guardians) were either illiterate (30.6%) or had completed primary school (33.9%). In addition, the patient's families (43.9%) had low income (0.5 million ID cards). Therefore, most patients (60%) did not visit a doctor regularly or check their blood glucose. Adherence in the studied population could be higher. Focusing on raising their patients' awareness is pivotal to enhancing their medication adherence to reduce their short- and long-term diabetic complications, improve blood glucose control, and improve clinical outcomes. Keywords: Diabetes, Adherence, Insulin self-medication, Iraqi patients

Climate change and water resources in arid regions : uncertainty of the baseline time period

Recent climate change studies have given a lot of attention to the uncertainty that stems from general circulation models (GCM), greenhouse gas emission scenarios, hydrological models and downscaling approaches. Yet, the uncertainty that stems from the selection of the baseline period has not been studied. Accordingly, the main research question is as follows: What would be the differences and/or the similarities in the evaluation of climate change impacts between the GCM and the delta perturbation scenarios using different baseline periods? This article addresses this issue through comparison of the results of two different baseline periods, investigating the uncertainties in evaluating climate change impact on the hydrological characteristics of arid regions. The Lower Zab River Basin (Northern Iraq) has been selected as a representative case study. The research outcomes show that the considered baseline periods suggest increases and decreases in the temperature and precipitation (P), respectively, over the 2020, 2050 and 2080 periods. The two climatic scenarios are likely to lead to similar reductions in the reservoir mean monthly flows, and subsequently, their maximum discharge is approximately identical. The predicted reduction in the inflow for the 2080–2099 time period fluctuates between 31 and 49% based on SRA1B and SRA2 scenarios, respectively. The delta perturbation scenario permits the sensitivity of the climatic models to be clearly determined compared to the GCM. The former allows for a wide variety of likely climate change scenarios at the regional level and are easier to generate and apply so that they could complement the latter

Adaptation strategy to mitigate the impact of climate change on water resources in arid and semi-arid regions : a case study

Climate change and drought phenomena impacts have become a growing concern for water resources engineers and policy makers, mainly in arid and semi-arid areas. This study aims to contribute to the development of a decision support tool to prepare water resources managers and planners for climate change adaptation. The Hydrologiska Byråns Vattenbalansavdelning (The Water Balance Department of the Hydrological Bureau) hydrologic model was used to define the boundary conditions for the reservoir capacity yield model comprising daily reservoir inflow from a representative example watershed with the size of 14,924 km2 into a reservoir with the capacity of 6.80 Gm3. The reservoir capacity yield model was used to simulate variability in climate change-induced differences in reservoir capacity needs and performance (operational probability of failure, resilience, and vulnerability). Owing to the future precipitation reduction and potential evapotranspiration increase during the worst case scenario (−40% precipitation and +30% potential evapotranspiration), substantial reductions in streamflow of between −56% and −58% are anticipated for the dry and wet seasons, respectively. Furthermore, model simulations recommend that as a result of future climatic conditions, the reservoir operational probability of failure would generally increase due to declined reservoir inflow. The study developed preparedness plans to combat the consequences of climate change and drought

Climate change and anthropogenic intervention impact on the hydrologic anomalies in a semi-arid area : lower Zab river basin, Iraq

Climate change impact, drought phenomena and anthropogenic stress are of increasing apprehension for water resource managers and strategists, particularly in arid regions. The current study proposes a generic methodology to evaluate the potential impact of such changes at a basin scale. The Lower Zab River Basin located in the north of Iraq has been selected for illustration purposes. The method has been developed through evaluating changes during normal hydrological years to separate the effects of climate change and estimate the hydrologic abnormalities utilising Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration. The meteorological parameters were perturbed by applying adequate delta perturbation climatic scenarios. Thereafter, a calibrated rainfall-runoff model was used for streamflow simulations. Findings proved that climate change has a more extensive impact on the hydrological characteristics of the streamflow than anthropogenic intervention (i.e. the construction of a large dam in the catchment). The isolated baseflow is more sensitive to the precipitation variations than to the variations of the potential evapotranspiration. The current hydrological anomalies are expected to continue. This comprehensive basin study demonstrates how climate change impact, anthropogenic intervention as well as hydro-climatic drought and hydrological anomalies can be evaluated with a new methodology

Climate variability impact on the spatiotemporal characteristics of drought and aridity in arid and semi-arid regions

Investigating the spatiotemporal distribution of climate data and their impact on the allocation of the regional aridity and meteorological drought, particularly in semi-arid and arid climate, it is critical to evaluate the climate variability effect and propose sufficient adaptation strategies. The coefficient of variation, precipitation concentration index and anomaly index were used to evaluate the climate variability, while the Mann-Kendall and Sen’s slope were applied for trend analysis, together with homogeneity tests. The aridity was evaluated using the alpha form of the reconnaissance drought index (Mohammed & Scholz, Water Resour Manag 31(1):531–538, 2017c), whereas drought episodes were predicted by applying three of the commonly used meteorological drought indices, which are the standardised reconnaissance drought index, standardized precipitation index and standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index. The Upper Zab River Basin (UZRB), which is located in the northern part of Iraq and covers a high range of climate variability, has been considered as an illustrative basin for arid and semi-arid climatic conditions. There were general increasing trends in average temperature and potential evapotranspiration and decreasing trends in precipitation from the upstream to the downstream of the UZRB. The long-term analysis of climate data indicates that the number of dry years has temporally risen and the basin has experienced succeeding years of drought, particularly after 1994/1995. There was a potential link between drought, aridity and climate variability. Pettitt’s, SNHT, Buishand’s and von Neumann’s homogeneity test results demonstrated that there is an evident alteration in the mean of the drought and aridity between the pre- and post-alteration point (1994)

Critical review of salinity intrusion in rivers and estuaries

There is scientific evidence of accelerated sea level rise and saline intrusion. Some impacts, such as stratification and estuarine circulation, are subtle; others are dramatic including shifts in salt-sensitive habitats and limited water availability of suitable quality for industrial and municipal uses. These results have become a remarkable reality resulting in a set of integrated surface water organisation issues. Tremendous population increases overwhelming many coastal areas have expanded the problem. These challenges have been studied from many perspectives using various objectives and methodologies, and then arriving at different findings. However, all research assured that significant rises in sea level have influenced estuaries and tidally affected rivers, and these observations are expected to become rapidly worse in the future. This study introduces, categorises, critically investigates, and synthesises the most related studies regarding accelerated sea level rise and challenges of the development associated with the resources of surface water in estuaries and tidally-affected rivers. This critical review reveals that there is a need for research that focuses on the development of sustainable surface water resources

The reconnaissance drought index : A method for detecting regional arid climatic variability and potential drought risk

The impact of climate variability on water demand and availability in drylands is substantial. Establishing methods to analyse precipitation (P) and evapotranspiration data sets may generate useful tools that assist in drought recognition and regional variations therein. The authors developed an index that simultaneous integrates both these variables in climate variability analysis. This study proposes the alpha and normalised forms of the reconnaissance drought index (RDI) as a single climatic index for the recognition of geographical areas with differing drought characteristics and potential weather variability. The prime application is that the RDI combines in a single index both P and potential evapotranspiration. A more consistent trend of climate variability can be identified by applying time series of different durations of RDI compared to using time series of P and potential evapotranspiration separately. The researchers explore this approach using meteorological data form 24 locations representing arid, semi-arid (Mediterranean (MD), tropical (TR), continental (CN)), and humid climatic conditions. The method is then tested through application to the semi-arid Lower Zab River basin (LZRB) in Iran and Iraq. Findings show that many regions such as the LZRB will face major droughts, indicating that there is an urgent requirement to advance water management strategies