Investigation and integrative modelling of xenobiotics discharged from urban drainage systems

The urban aquatic environment is increasingly polluted by low concentrated but potentially harmful compounds such as pharmaceuticals and endocrine disruptors - so-called xenobiotics. These substances are mainly carried by waste water. Up to now information with regard to their impact on the urban ecosystem and human health exist for only few of them. Within an interdisciplinary project on risk assessment of water pollution, we work on the identification of the fluxes of these substances. In a first step, we used a runoff formation model representing the city of Halle (Germany) and the Saale river. The Saale river acts as surface water system collecting slope inputs along the city traverse and sewer outflows. We investigated the anthropogenic effect on the urban water system using indicators such as hydrological parameters, selected complex organic substances, isotopic signatures and dissolved substances (sulphate, nitrate). A first balance modelling showed that main ions are not very sensitive concerning the diffuse urban input into the river. However, the concentration pattern of fragrances (tonalid, galaxolid), rare earth elements (gadolinium) and endocrine disrupters (t-nonylphenol) point to a different pollution along the city traverse: downstream of the sewage plant a higher load was observed in comparison to the upstream passage. Various substance concentrations in groundwater along the city traverse showed increasing trends.

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Urban Water Security Assessment Using an Integrated Metabolism Approach—Case Study of the National Capital Territory of Delhi in India

Resources ◽

10.3390/resources8020062 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 62 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Ruchira Ghosh ◽

Arun Kansal ◽

G Venkatesh

Keyword(s):

Water System ◽

Water Security ◽

Policy Formulation ◽

Urban Water ◽

Security Assessment ◽

City Region ◽

Social Good ◽

Urban Water System ◽

The City

Water is a non substitutable resource and a social good, which governments must perforce provide to its citizens in the right quantity and quality. An integrated urban metabolism model is useful in understanding the status quo of an urban water and sanitation system. By defining and measuring the values of relevant hydrological performance indicators—deliverables of the model referred to—a thorough knowledge of the present performance and the gaps, which need to be plugged en route to a sustainable urban water infrastructure, can be obtained, as demonstrated in this paper. This then forms the bedrock for decision-making and policy formulation for change to be introduced top-down as well as advice, which would enable the much needed bottom-up support to policies. The authors have chosen Delhi as the case study city, but would like to point out that this application can be reproduced for any other town/city/region of the world. The water balance within the chosen system boundaries shows that the annual unutilized flows, amounting to 1443 million cubic meters, dominate the metabolic flows of water in Delhi, and the annual groundwater withdrawal, which exceeds 420 million cubic meters, is much greater than the recharge rate, resulting in a rapid depletion of the groundwater level. There is an urgent need thereby to improve the rate of infiltration of stormwater and reduce the rate of runoff by focusing on increasing the share of permeable surfaces in the city, as well as to consider the wastewater streams as potential sources of water, while not forgetting demand side of management measures, as the pressure on the urban water system in the city is likely to intensify with a combination of population growth, economic development, and climate change in the near future. The recommendations provided by the authors towards the end of the article, can, if suitable measures are undertaken and robust policies are implemented, result in Delhi’s enjoying a water surplus in the short term, and progressively attain complete sustainability with regard to the utilization of its water resources.

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Assessment of Eco-Economic Effects of Urban Water System Connectivity Project

10.21203/rs.3.rs-1081748/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Cuimei Lv ◽

Huali Liao ◽

Minghua Ling ◽

Zening Wu ◽

Denghua Yan

Keyword(s):

Urban Landscape ◽

Economic Effect ◽

Water System ◽

Urban Ecosystem ◽

Economic Effects ◽

Ecological Effect ◽

Urban Water ◽

Land Value ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Urban Water System

Abstract As one of the large ecological infrastructures, urban water system connectivity project is an important part of urban ecosystem construction. It has a variety of effects, such as conserving biodiversity, enriching urban landscape and increasing land value. It is helpful for the scientific planning and construction of the project to systematically evaluate the effects. However, due to the complex and various effects of urban water system connectivity project, there is no complete effect system and quantitative method. In this paper, the composition and mechanism of positive and negative effects of ecological economics of urban water system connectivity project were deeply analyzed to improve the composition system of eco-economic effects. At the same time, the emergy theory was used to put forward the quantification method of eco-economic effect system. Taking the urban water system connectivity project in Xuchang as an example, it’s ecological, social and economic effects were evaluated. The result showed that the average eco-economic effect of the project is 57.8 million dollars/year. Economic effect and ecological effect are significant, accounting for 88.83% and 9.77% of total effect, respectively. The former is mainly due to land value increment, and the latter is principally owing to biodiversity conservation. It showed that the water system connectivity project in Xuchang can promote the economic development of the surrounding areas and create a good ecological environment, which will bring huge eco-economic effect to the region.

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Cross-taxon relationships in Mediterranean urban ecosystem: A case study from the city of Trieste

Ecological Indicators ◽

10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.107538 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 125 ◽

pp. 107538

Author(s):

Laura Zara ◽

Enrico Tordoni ◽

Silvia Castro-Delgado ◽

Andrea Colla ◽

Simona Maccherini ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Urban Ecosystem ◽

The City

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Natural and anthropogenic impacts on the composition of lake sediments

Mineralogical Magazine ◽

10.1180/minmag.2008.072.1.411 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 72 (1) ◽

pp. 411-413 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

T. Eskola ◽

V. Peuraniemi

Keyword(s):

World War Ii ◽

Lake Sediments ◽

Human Impact ◽

Catchment Area ◽

Anthropogenic Impacts ◽

Heavy Traffic ◽

World War ◽

Small Lakes ◽

Anthropogenic Effect ◽

The City

AbstractLake sediments were studied from four lakes in environmentally different areas in northern Finland. Lakes Pyykösjärvi and Kuivasjärvi are situated near roads with heavy traffic and the city of Oulu. Lakes Martinlampi and Umpilampi are small lakes in a forest area with no immediate human impact nearby. The concentration of Pb increases in the upper parts of the sedimentary columns of Lake Kuivasjärvi and Lake Pyykösjärvi. This is interpreted as being an anthropogenic effect related to heavy traffic in the area and use of Lake Pyykösjärvi as an airport during World War II. High Ni and Zn concentrations in the Lake Umpilampi sediments are caused by weathered black schists. Sediments in Lake Martinlampi show high Pb and Zn contents with increasing Pb concentrations up through the sedimentary column. The sources of these elements are probably Pb-Zn mineralization in the bedrock, Pb-Zn-rich boulders and anomalous Pb and Zn contents in till in the catchment area of the lake.

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Urban Water System Dynamics and Conflict Resolution

Urban Water Engineering and Management ◽

10.1201/b15857-11 ◽

2010 ◽

pp. 427-461

Keyword(s):

Conflict Resolution ◽

System Dynamics ◽

Water System ◽

Urban Water ◽

Urban Water System

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Building The Tree Inventory Application for City of East Jakarta

10.31224/osf.io/a5d3z ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Bambang Sulistyantara ◽

Imawan W. Hidayat ◽

A. Nasirudin Taher ◽

Hendrawan

Keyword(s):

Urban Space ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Urban Ecosystem ◽

Essential Elements ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Easy Access ◽

Fundamental Function ◽

Tree Inventory ◽

The Impact ◽

The City

Trees are essential elements of an urban space. The presence of trees in urban areas is not only appreciated as physical attribute, but beyond this, it serves a fundamental function in balancing and conserving urban ecosystem. Especially in tropical countries like Indonesia which receive high levels of solar radiation, trees contribute to the protection of urban areas from the impact of excessive micro-climatic conditions. But, the presence of trees sometimes resulted in the accidents for the residences because of broken branches and human injuries. This situation leads the city to prepare a tree inventory system, which is beneficial in giving the information about tree conditions and thus the information that would be useful for tree maintenance activities. The tree inventory on application for the city of East Jakarta was built for this purpose, comprising a tree inventory and easy access to the database. The application connects the database source with the GIS map, so that the users could retrieve information for each kind of data.

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Managing Apparent Loss and Real Loss from the Nexus Perspective Using System Dynamics

Water ◽

10.3390/w14020231 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 231

Author(s):

Seo Hyung Choi ◽

Bongwoo Shin ◽

Eunher Shin

Keyword(s):

System Dynamics ◽

Water Loss ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Water System ◽

Economic Feasibility ◽

Water Utilities ◽

Urban Water ◽

Water Losses ◽

Urban Water System ◽

Apparent Loss

When water utilities establish water loss control programs, they traditionally focus on apparent loss rather than real loss when considering economic feasibility in the water sector. There is an urgent need for new management approaches that can address complex relationships and ensure the sustainability of natural resources among different sectors. This study suggests a novel approach for water utilities to manage water losses from the water-energy (WE) Nexus perspective. The Nexus model uses system dynamics to simulate twelve scenarios with the differing status of water loss and energy intensities. This analysis identifies real loss as one of the main causes of resource waste and an essential factor from the Nexus perspective. It also demonstrates that the energy intensity of each process in the urban water system has a significant impact on resource use and transfer. The consumption and movement of resources can be quantified in each process involved in the urban water system to distinguish central and vulnerable processes. This study suggests that the Nexus approach can strongly contribute to quantifying the use and movement of resources between water and energy sectors and the strategic formulation of sustainable and systematic water loss management strategies from the Nexus perspective.

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Stress-Testing Framework for Urban Water Systems: A Source to Tap Approach for Stochastic Resilience Assessment

Water ◽

10.3390/w14020154 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 154

Author(s):

Dionysios Nikolopoulos ◽

Panagiotis Kossieris ◽

Ioannis Tsoukalas ◽

Christos Makropoulos

Keyword(s):

Water Distribution ◽

Stress Testing ◽

Water Cycle ◽

Water System ◽

Operating Conditions ◽

Distribution Model ◽

Generation Model ◽

Urban Water ◽

Testing Framework ◽

Urban Water System

Optimizing the design and operation of an Urban Water System (UWS) faces significant challenges over its lifespan to account for the uncertainties of important stressors that arise from population growth rates, climate change factors, or shifting demand patterns. The analysis of a UWS’s performance across interdependent subsystems benefits from a multi-model approach where different designs are tested against a variety of metrics and in different times scales for each subsystem. In this work, we present a stress-testing framework for UWSs that assesses the system’s resilience, i.e., the degree to which a UWS continues to perform under progressively increasing disturbance (deviation from normal operating conditions). The framework is underpinned by a modeling chain that covers the entire water cycle, in a source-to-tap manner, coupling a water resources management model, a hydraulic water distribution model, and a water demand generation model. An additional stochastic simulation module enables the representation and modeling of uncertainty throughout the water cycle. We demonstrate the framework by “stress-testing” a synthetic UWS case study with an ensemble of scenarios whose parameters are stochastically changing within the UWS simulation timeframe and quantify the uncertainty in the estimation of the system’s resilience.

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