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Topic Review
Aquaculture-Integrated Agriculture Systems
Multiple uses of water aquaculture-integrated agriculture systems (AIAS) are inevitable to produce more food per drop of water to address water shortage, food insecurity, and climate change. Pond-based AIA could aid in increasing productivity, income for food producers and soil fertility, ecosystem maintenance, and adaptation to environmental change. AIAS helps adapt to and mitigate climate change by reducing waste and greenhouse gas emissions, reducing pressure on water resources, and recycling nutrients.
  • 718
  • 31 Jan 2023
Topic Review
Groundwater Flow System
The Independence Basin is located in a semi-arid region of Mexico, delimited predominantly by volcanic mountains. Around 30 m3/s of water are extracted from regional aquifers mainly for agro-export activities, causing declines in the water table of up to 10 m/a, increased temperature and dissolved elements that are harmful to health and the environment.
  • 716
  • 05 May 2022
Topic Review
Impact of Cyanobacteria Blooms on Environment and Health
Cyanobacteria blooms are a global aquatic environment problem. Due to global warming and water eutrophication, the surface cyanobacteria accumulate in a certain area to form cyanobacteria blooms driven by wind. Cyanobacteria blooms change the physical and chemical properties of water and cause pollution. Moreover, cyanobacteria release organic matter, N (nitrogen) and P (phosphorus) into the water during their apoptosis, accelerating the eutrophication of the water, threatening aquatic flora and fauna, and affecting the community structure and abundance of microorganisms in the water. Simultaneously, toxins and carcinogens released from cyanobacteria can be enriched through the food chain/web, endangering human health. 
  • 710
  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Application of Atomic Force Microscopy in Membrane Fouling
Membrane separation technology has emerged as the preferred method for producing clean water during wastewater treatment and desalination. This preference is attributed to the high separation accuracy, energy efficiency, lack of secondary pollution, and ease of operation of the technology. Membrane fouling is a key obstacle in membrane applications, including ultrafiltration (UF), microfiltration (MF), nanofiltration (NF), and reverse osmosis (RO). Membrane fouling is a particularly serious problem in the pre-treatment processes of industrial wastewater, leading to poor water quality and increased operating costs. A thorough understanding of fouling formation and properties is required in wastewater treatment using membranes and contributes to slowing down membrane fouling and implementing appropriate control measures. In response, extensive foundational investigations of membrane fouling have been conducted, with researchers seeking to clarify primary foulants, membrane–foulant interactions, and potential fouling mitigation techniques.
  • 709
  • 02 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Freshet
thumb|An example of usage of the term "freshet" is shown in the text on a historic marker at Durgin Bridge near Sandwich, New Hampshire. The term freshet is most commonly used to describe a spring thaw resulting from snow and ice melt in rivers located in upper North America. A spring freshet can sometimes last several weeks on large river systems, resulting in significant inundation of flood plains as the snowpack melts in the river's watershed. Freshets can occur with differing strength and duration depending upon the depth of the snowpack and the local average rates of warming temperatures. Deeper snowpacks which melt quickly can result in more severe flooding. Late spring melts allow for faster flooding; this is because the relatively longer days and higher solar angle allow for average melting temperatures to be reached quickly, causing snow to melt rapidly. Snowpacks at higher altitudes and in mountainous areas remain cold and tend to melt over a longer period of time and thus do not contribute to major flooding. Serious flooding from southern freshets are more often related to rain storms of large tropical weather systems rolling in from the South Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico, to add their powerful heating capacity to lesser snow packs. Tropically induced rainfall influenced quick melts can also affect snow cover to latitudes as far north as southern Canada, so long as the generally colder air mass is not blocking northward movement of low pressure systems. In the eastern part of the continent, annual freshets occur from the Canada Taiga ranging along both sides of the Great Lakes then down through the heavily forested Appalachian mountain chain and St. Lawrence valley from Northern Maine and New Brunswick into barrier ranges in North Carolina and Tennessee . In the western part of the continent, freshets occur throughout the generally much higher elevations of the various west coast mountain ranges that extend southward down from Alaska even into the northern parts of Arizona and New Mexico.
  • 707
  • 30 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Treatment Methods for Dye-Contaminated Effluents
Advancements in textile dyeing technologies have introduced novel categories of dyes that have deleterious effects on ecosystems. Primarily, azo dyes represent the majority of synthetic dyes employed in textiles and in the realms of culinary and miscellaneous applications. Traditionally, these dyes infiltrate the environment via discharged contaminated effluents such as wastewater from industrial facilities. The contaminated discharged effluent exerts a pervasive impact on ecosystems, engendering pernicious afflictions in both human and faunal populations. Several treatment methodologies are employed for the eradication of contaminants from natural water resources and wastewater, encompassing all phases within water and wastewater treatment infrastructures. The evolution of each treatment stage is intricately linked to the escalating demand for potable water of impeccable quality. Water treatment methods such as Coagulation and Flocculation, Photocatalytic Degradation, Ion Exchange, Electrochemical Technique, Membrane Filtration, Electrodialysis Process, Biodegradation Techniques, and Adsorption are covered in detail, alongside the impacts of bio-based activated carbon as an adsorbent for azo dye. 
  • 691
  • 26 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Land Use for Critical Cemeteries in Central Ecuador
Cemeteries are sites for the final disposal of human bodies that constitute a source of contamination of soil and water as a result of the cadaveric decomposition generated. In addition, land use conflicts were encountered in the cemetery grounds. It is concluded that the existing cemeteries should be subjected to more detailed environmental analysis and subsequently should be treated as security landfills in the closure and post-closure stage. Also, it has been concluded that the cemeteries should not be located in urban or peri-urban areas.
  • 689
  • 11 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Diverse Techniques for the On-Site Treatment of Blackwater
The maintenance of people’s lifestyle against global climate change, exhaustion of groundwater, depletion of minerals, and water scarcity has instigated the recycling and reuse of water from unlikely sources. This situation has motivated researchers to develop effective technologies for treating wastewater, enabling its reuse. Water security has been ensured in myriad, highly populated regions through large-scale centralized treatment facilities. The development and implementation of small-scale, renewable-energy-based, decentralized, on-site treatment methodologies ensure water sustainability in rural areas, where centralized treatment facilities are impractical for application.
  • 689
  • 07 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Economic Indicators in Water Sector for Circular Economy
Protection and sustainable management of water was indicated as one of the strategic tasks in the process of transformation towards a circular economy (CE) in the European Union (EU), therefore, the water and wastewater sector plays an important role in this process.
  • 685
  • 31 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Bathing Water Quality (Croatia/Region/EU)
Bathing water management in the European Union (EU) is regulated by Bathing Water Directive (BWD) 2006/7/EC. The first Directive came into force in 1976 (76/160/EEC) and set the standards for designated bathing waters to be met by all EU Member States. Its main objective was to safeguard public health and protect the aquatic environment in coastal and inland areas from pollution. The Directive was repealed in 2006 by the new, revised BWD 2006/7/EC. The purpose of the new BWD is to preserve, protect and improve the quality of the environment and to protect human health. It lays down provisions for the monitoring and classification of bathing water quality, the management of bathing water quality and the procedures for informing the public about bathing water quality. All Member States were required to transpose the revised BWD into national law by 2008, with full implementation due by December 2014.
  • 683
  • 22 Sep 2021
Topic Review
F-Ratio
In oceanic biogeochemistry, the f-ratio is the fraction of total primary production fuelled by nitrate (as opposed to that fuelled by other nitrogen compounds such as ammonium). The ratio was originally defined by Richard Eppley and Bruce Peterson in one of the first papers estimating global oceanic production. This fraction was originally believed significant because it appeared to directly relate to the sinking (export) flux of organic marine snow from the surface ocean by the biological pump. However, this interpretation relied on the assumption of a strong depth-partitioning of a parallel process, nitrification, that more recent measurements has questioned.
  • 683
  • 16 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Mountain Permafrost Hydrology
Mountain Permafrost Hydrology can be defined as “the geoscience that describes and predicts the occurrence, circulation, and distribution of the water within high and cold mountainous terrain”.
  • 669
  • 30 Jan 2022
Topic Review
The Ecosystem Services of Temperate Wetlands
Wetlands constitute important habitats that provide several ecosystem services (ES). Wetlands have been termed the kidneys of the world for their water purification services and contain 20–25% of total soil organic carbon. Wetlands are among the ecosystems with the most valuable ES, with regulating services being the most important for inland wetlands. 
  • 666
  • 18 May 2022
Topic Review
Cyanobacteria, Blooms and Cyanotoxins in East African Lakes
Cyanobacteria, algal blooms and cyanotoxins have become common environmental enigmas in marine, freshwater and estuarine ecosystems. In East African lakes, mainly Microcystis, Arthrospira, Dolichospermum, Planktolyngbya and Anabaenopsis species of cyanobacteria have been responsible for the production of anatoxin-a, homoanatoxin-a, microcystins, cylindrospermopsin and nodularin. Microcystins and anatoxin-a have been implicated as the proximal cause of indiscriminate fish deaths and epornitic mortality of lesser flamingos
  • 650
  • 05 May 2023
Topic Review
Arsenic Exposure via Contaminated Water and Food Sources
Arsenic poisoning constitutes a major threat to humans, causing various health problems. The presence of arsenic in ecosystems can originate from several natural or anthropogenic activities. Arsenic can be then gradually accumulated in different food sources, such as vegetables, rice and other crops, but also in seafood, etc., and in water sources (mainly in groundwater, but also to a lesser extent in surface water), potentially used as drinking-water supplies, provoking their contamination and therefore potential health problems to the consumers. 
  • 643
  • 24 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Removal of Emerging Contaminants from Municipal Wastewater
The presence of emerging organic contaminants (EOCs) in the environment is increasing and requires the development of technologies for their effective removal. EOCs can be classified into a wide variety of groups depending on their chemical structures and end uses. A popular group of EOCs are pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs). The growing use of PhACs is leading to persistence and prolonged exposure of these compounds in the environment, which may eventually affect the enzymatic and metabolic mechanisms of living organisms.
  • 641
  • 19 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Water Quality Observations from Space
Water is the basis of all life on this planet. Yet, approximately one in seven people in the world do not have access to safe water. Water can become unsafe due to contamination by various organic and inorganic compounds due to various natural and anthropogenic processes. Identifying and monitoring water quality changes in space and time remains a challenge, especially when contamination events occur over large geographic areas. Remote sensing makes it possible to monitor and identify large land and water bodies that suffer from quality problems more effectively and efficiently. 
  • 636
  • 23 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Watershed Eco-Compensation Mechanism in China
The watershed’s ecological environment and water resources contribute significantly to agricultural production and the people’s well-being. However, excessive exploitation and utilization of watersheds harm the watershed ecosystem environment. The reduction in biodiversity, water quality degradation, and decline in ecosystem stability have become severe. Watershed eco-compensation (WEC) is considered a significant environmental policy instrument for watershed ecological protection and management.
  • 634
  • 22 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Drought Monitoring and Forecasting across Turkey
Drought is the consequence of a significant decline in the hydrological variables such as precipitation, soil moisture, and streamflow that undesirably affects all living beings. There are various indices for drought monitoring and assessment that can identify the characteristics of drought, such as magnitude, severity, and duration. They are obtained from hydro-meteorological indicators, such as precipitation, temperature, runoff, soil moisture, reservoir storage, and groundwater level. Some indices are more appropriate than others for certain circumstances, such as the location of the study area, drought type, and availability of data. With the development of meteorological satellites and RS technology on the one hand and the emergence of data-mining techniques on the other hand, a lot of research has been conducted in the field of drought monitoring and forecasting (DMF) using these technologies. 
  • 629
  • 06 May 2023
Topic Review
Framework Proposal for Achieving Smart and Sustainable Societies
The proposed model is based on the integration of three smart strategies: (1) water provision that consists of the use of greywater and rainwater; (2) sanitation provision that comprises the nutrients recovery from excreta and organic solid waste and; (3) resource-oriented agriculture that conceives the use of the water provision system for the production of food with the use of nutrients recovered from the sanitation system. The S3 framework has the potential to increase the well-being, human development, water availability, food safety, poverty alleviation, and healthy environments of societies through the provision of safely managed basic services as well as the recycling of nutrients and water to achieve sustainability at household and community levels.
  • 628
  • 29 Nov 2021
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