Analyzing the Association between ENSO and Groundwater Rise in the South Atlantic-Gulf Region in the Southeastern United States

The primary goal of this study is to comprehend the effects of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate pattern on groundwater storage (GWS) in the South Atlantic-Gulf Region. Groundwater issues are complex and different studies focused on groundwater depletion while few emphasized “groundwater rise”. The current research is designed to develop an outline for assessing how climate patterns can affect groundwater fluctuation, which might lead to groundwater rise. The study assessed the effect of ENSO phases on spatiotemporal variability of groundwater using Spearman Rank Correlation. A significant positive correlation between ENSO and GWS was observed. An increasing trend was detected in GWS where most grids were observed in Florida by utilizing the non-parametric Mann–Kendall test. A positive trend magnitude was also detected by utilizing Theil–Sen’s Slope method with a high magnitude in the mid-Florida region. The highest GWS anomalies were observed in the peak of El Niño events and the lowermost GWS was observed during La Niña events. Furthermore, most of the stations were above normal groundwater conditions. This study provides a better insight on the research gap among groundwater rise and ENSO.

Heritage in the Street: Megawra | BEC’s Athar Lina Initiative in Historic Cairo

Based in al-Khalifa in Historic Cairo and run by the Megawra-Built Environment Collective, Athar Lina is a participatory initiative to establish modalities of citizen participation in heritage conservation based on a vision of heritage as a resource not a burden. Since its inception in 2012, Athar Lina has worked on conservation, heritage education, urban revitalization and heritage industries. It has conserved four domes from the 12th and 14th century and is currently working on the conservation of two other monuments including al-Imam al-Shafi’i shrine. It runs an Open-Spaces Program focusing on improving infrastructure and services to upgrade quality of open spaces. This is directly linked to Athar Lina’s Ground Water Research Project which seeks to resolve problems of groundwater-rise in heritage sites by extracting water and reusing it for the benefit of the community for purposes such as irrigation and cleaning. In addition to its Heritage Education Program and the Heritage Summer School it runs for al-Khalifa’s children, it runs the Athar Lina Heritage Design Thinking School which explores the potential of heritage for income-generation. Finally, through its research and advocacy project, Citizen Participation in Historic Cairo, Athar Lina is working on conservation, revitalization and management plans for al-Khalifa.

Effectiveness Analysis of Canal Blocking in Sub-peatland Hydrological Unit 5 and 6 Kahayan Sebangau, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

The height of canal blocking has a significant influence on re-wetting peatland, depending on the canal’s distance. An effective canal in good condition has to raise the groundwater table to -0.4 m below ground level according to the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MENLHK). The effectiveness of different canal blockings was modeled by Freewat software with variation of canal distance (200 m, 250 m, 300 m, 350 m, and 400 m) and blocking height (0.2 m, 0.3 m, 0.4 m, 0.5 m, 0.6 m). This simulation was carried out using recharge and evapotranspiration data covering 20 years. The input of the conductivity value was done using 50 m/day according to the calibration. From the modeling, 0.6 m high canal blockings give a satisfactory result at every canal distance. The study took place during the annual dry season, when recharge was almost zero and average evapotranspiration was 6 mm/day. Adjusting the canal blocking to a maximum of 0.6 m and the canal distance to 400 m, the groundwater table slowly rose 0.38 m and it took 30 days to reach full-re-wetting capacity. This study revealed that the effectiveness of canal blocking is directly related to evapotranspiration and recharge, which has a positive correlation with the groundwater rise and the re-wetting period.

Predicting groundwater rise in historical centres of Eastern Siberian cities

The purpose of the research work is to develop a procedure for on-line prediction of the groundwater hydrodynamic mode change caused by the barrage effect of deep foundation structure construction. The main method used is the development of an analytical model as a result of variant solutions of the Laplace equation. The solutions have been elaborated in the course of studies conducted in historical centers of Irkutsk and other cities of Eastern Siberia. As a result, diagrams predicting the formation depth of groundwater level have been created, and the territories have been assessed according to their flooding conditions. An analytical model has been developed for backwater prediction. The model is rather simple, universal and can be applied for predictive calculations on the territories of historical cities located in similar geological and hydrogeological conditions. The available material analyzed, it is concluded that preliminary vertical planning of the territory, correct approach to foundation type selection as well as seasonal rise of underground water play a significant role in the formation of a new headwater elevation.

Compound Inundation Impacts of Coastal Climate Change: Sea-Level Rise, Groundwater Rise, and Coastal Precipitation

The importance of considering the compound effects of multiple hazards has increased in recent years due to their catastrophic impacts on human lives and property. Compound effects correspond to events with multiple concurrent or consecutive drivers, e.g., heavy storms, coastal flooding, high tides, and sea level rise (SLR). There is a recent evidence on inundation caused by SLR-driven groundwater rise, and there is a distinct knowledge gap in understanding the compound inundation effects of this phenomenon considering the important hydrologic and hydraulic considerations under compound events. To fill this knowledge gap, we developed a novel analytical framework to understand the movements of the surface flow under typical precipitation events considering their interaction with uprising groundwater and SLR in a coastal watershed located in Oakland Flatlands, CA, USA, home to several disadvantaged communities. This modelling approach simulates the dynamics of compound flooding in two dimensions of the earth surface in a fine resolution, which is critical for devising proper flood management strategies. The reason to focus on disadvantaged coastal communities is that such communities typically encounter disproportionate environmental injustices due to the lack of sufficient drainage capacity in their infrastructure. Our results show that by considering the compound effect of SLR, groundwater inundation and precipitation flooding, the drainage capacity of infrastructure will be substantially exceeded, such that over 700 acres of the built infrastructure could be flooded. This is a considerable increase compared to scenarios that do not consider compound effect, or scenarios that consider inappropriate combinations of driving factors. In sum, our results highlight the significance of considering compound effects in the coastal inundation analyses, with a particular emphasis on the role of groundwater rise.

Treatment of water inflow from flooded underground mines

The study focuses on the adverse effect exerted on the environment by temporary shutdown and closure of underground mines by means of flooding. Closure of underground mines only terminates the structural and technological transformation of geological rock mass while detrimental effect on the natural environment of underground mines remains and even becomes more severe sometimes. Some hazards are revealed, which initiate new phenomena and processes, and are mainly connected with flooding of underground mines. Such hazards are groundwater rise, flow of water from flooded mines to operating mines, ground surface deformation due to subsidence and entry of pollutants in underground aquifers and surface water bodies. In terms of a flooded mine in East Donbass, the method of catchment of water outlet from the flooded mine and dispersion to a man-made biological pond is described. The biological pond is split into zones. First, there is a shallow place with planting for activation of growth of iron bacteria; here, removal of iron ions from mine water takes place. Then, water flows to the pond for the further bio-oxidation and treatment of water up to the standard MAC. The article offers recommendations on making of the biological pond and a trench for water flow from mine. The required volumes and sizes of the biological pond, trench and activation zone for iron bacteria are calculated. Treated mine water, via a dam, will be fed to a water storage reservoir.

Reclamation Efficiency of Subsurface Drainage in Zardab Zone of Strip Kura Region of Shirvan Steppe

Article is devoted to the analysis of land reclamation, drainage and desalination action of closed tubular drainage. Parameters: depth — 3 m, distance between the strips — 200 m. The system was built according to the project “Improvement of the reclamation state of the lands of the Zardab zone of strip Kura region of Shirvan steppe”. The data on water supply, drainage flow, drainage module during the flushing period, a change in the level of groundwater (rise-fall), the desalting effect of the flushing process on the degree of salinity of drainage and groundwater, as well as hydrochemical parameters of soil are presented.

A Framework for Introducing Climate-Change Adaptation in Pavement Management

Greenhouse gas emissions have caused global temperatures to rise since the mid-20th century accompanied by sea-level rise (SLR). Temperature increases and SLR-induced groundwater rise have been shown to cause premature pavement failure in many roadway structures. Hybrid bottom-up/top-down (hybrid) adaptation approaches have shown promise by initially investigating an asset’s response to incremental environmental change and then identifying the timing of critical effects for budgetary planning. This improves practitioners’ understanding of the asset’s climate resiliency and informs adaptation-plan development to minimize both cost and risk. In this study, a hybrid approach to pavement adaptation with climate-change-induced temperature and groundwater rise is demonstrated at a case-study site in coastal New Hampshire. The hot-mix-asphalt (HMA) thickness that achieves a minimum of 85% reliability is calculated for 70 combinations of incremental temperature and groundwater rise. Increasing the base-layer thickness improves resiliency against rising temperatures, but rising groundwater diminishes this improvement demonstrating that both HMA and base-layer thickness increases are needed. Thirteen adaptation pathways are evaluated for pavement performance, life-cycle costs, and road-surface inundation over a 60-year pavement management period. A stepwise and flexible adaptation plan is developed that includes HMA overlays with prescribed thickness and application timing, base-layer rehabilitation options, and re-evaluation opportunities.

Assessment of the Ortachala HPP low head dam abutment deformation and seepage regime

During Ortachala HPP operation period cracks were formed in the right-bank of foundation, where is located underground fish-way sections. Right bank dam-foundation contact opened only in the horizontal direction, that caused 5.5 cm gap development, while there were no changes in the vertical direction. Visual researches showed that cracks (size is 4–5 cm) developed in fish-way construction. Mathematical models: fish-drainage-foundation, retaining wall-drainage-foundation, with the use of the finite element scheme, allowed us to finalize the suffusion-deformation process developed during the operation, namely: in the cracking zones of fish-way developed high gradients of seepage pressure, causing suffusion; under the influence of the weight of the soil and transport, shrinkage of the soil developed, which for the foundation of the right bank, created bending deformations causing the rotation of the soil in the vertical plane; bending deformation of the foundation at the contact of the concrete structure and the embankment caused a horizontal opening, spread out – at a depth of 4m. In connection with this, the retaining wall, leaning against the ground, loses support and, under the influence of hydrostatic pressure, tensile stress develops in it. In the case of crack formation in the wall, concentrated seepage will develop, which will cause groundwater rise in the main road and various unfavourable processes. Having established the reason for opening the contact, the fish was closed, as a result of which above mentioned process was stopped. Thus, the waterproofing of the fish-way is a necessary measure for the normal operation of the waterworks.