AN INSTRUCTURAL SYSTEM MODEL OF COASTAL MANAGEMENT TO THE WATER RELATED HAZARDS IN CHINA

Coastal lowlands have large areas of hazard impact and relatively low capacity of prevention to the water related hazards,which have been indicated by the wide_spread flood hazards,high percentages of land with high flood vulnerability.Increasing population pressure and the shift of resources exploitation from land to sea will force more and more coastal lowlands to be developed in the future,further enhancing the danger of water_related hazards.In this paper,the coastal lowlands in the northern Jiangsu province,China,were selected as a case study.The Interpretation Structural Model (ISM) was employed to analyze the direct and indirect impacts among the elements within the system,and thereby,to identify the causal elements,middle linkages,their expressions,and relations.

Relationship between multi-scale climate factors and performance of ecological engineering on the Loess Plateau, China

The long-term “Grain-to-Green Program” (GGP) on China’s Loess Plateau is a major global ecological engineering project which has significantly boosted vegetation renewal. Some studies have found that the rate of restoration is quite rapid during the implementation of ecological engineering, however, the influence of multi-scale climatic conditions on the performance of ecological engineering is unclear. In this study, multiple sources of remote sensing data were used to estimate the dynamics of vegetation structural and functional indicators, water-related local climatic factors, and atmospheric circulation factors. These datasets were also used to detect possible causes for vegetation restoration on the Loess Plateau over the past 20 years. The results show that widespread increases in rates of normalized difference vegetation indexes (NDVI), leaf area indexes (LAI), gross primary production (GPP), and aboveground biomass carbon (ABC) during 2000–2016 were significantly higher than before 2000. GPP was significantly correlated with rainfall and surface runoff on a monthly scale, and there were significant positive correlations between GPP and atmospheric circulation. Our results demonstrate that both vegetation structural and functional indicators rapidly increase, and ecological engineering greatly accelerated vegetation restoration after 2000. Local climatic conditions and atmospheric circulation patterns enhance vegetation growth and impact of ecological engineering.

Infectious Disease Research—What Role Is There for Hydrologists?

Numerous virulent and widespread diseases are related to water. The transmission and outbreak of water-related diseases are closely coupled to their hydrological environment. Changes in this environment and the associated hydrological processes may affect the occurrence and virulence of water-related diseases. Environmental changes can be manifold, including e.g. climate and land use, agricultural management or urbanization. Water fluxes and storages play a dominant role in describing disease outbreak, transmission and transport. New land cover types often alter landscape scale water storages. If the effects of changes could be better understood, predictions about the distribution, emergence or outbreak of water-related diseases would be possible. Furthermore, the collaboration of experts from different disciplines is essential for accurate spatial and temporal prediction of water-related disease outbreaks. Here we review the current state of knowledge of water-related diseases and present a general classification of these diseases, followed by a discussion of their major drivers. This review focuses particularly on hydrologists and how they can contribute with their understanding of hydrological processes.

Water Source Quality in Northern and Central Tanzania: Implications for Rural Communities

Limited water availability coupled with the lack of hygienic and reliable water sources plague rural areas throughout the developing world. Tanzaniahas abundant fresh water sources, yet delivery, disinfection, and conservation outside of large towns is lacking or minimal at best. Here we examine drinking water sources in two climatologically distinct regions in Tanzania. We consider their chemical and microbiological characteristics specifically with respect to the potential for ultraviolet (UV) disinfection treatment. Interviews with local villagers provided information on collection means, frequency, storage, and incidences of water related illnesses. Total suspended solids, iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) concentrations, total bacterial abundances, presence of fecal coliforms, and evidence of Escherichia coli contamination were measured in 31 water sources. Total suspended solids exceeded 15 mg/L, the limit for effective UV treatment, in more than half the sources. Principal component analysis indicated a positive correlation of bacterial abundances with levels of Fe. Water with elevated levels of Mn was associated with greater incidences of diseases. Levels of both Fe and Mn appeared to be more dependent on water source than on climatic differences with the chemical composition of the source rock and redox conditions of the water source at time of collection likely contributing to measured concentrations. E. coli was detected more frequently in water sources in the drier Kondoa district than in the wetter Arusha region. Water quality and socio-economic conditions within villages were linked to incidences of water-borne diseases. The maximum risk of exposure to diarrhea-causing pathogens, for example was strongly related to household income level. Nonetheless, incidences of diarrhea were reduced by more than 40% when the average monthly household expenses increased from US $10 to $20. Finally, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study known to derive an empirical relationship between water-related diseases and poverty.

Climate change and water-related ecosystem services:impacts of drought in California,USA

We investigated the potential impacts of climate change on water-related ecosystem services(WES).Based on the review of the recent literature,we concluded that climate change will have substantial effects on provisioning,regulating,and cultural WES via changes in the distribution and value of water over space and time.However,the effects of climate change on specific WES will be different depending on the extent of the impact of such changes in the distribution of water and the adaptive capacity of the region’s biophysical and social system.The 2015 California drought provides an excellent example of the cascading effects of climate change on multiple WES.Declining streamflow and the concomitant rising stream temperatures have immediately threatened the provision of drinking water and hydropower generation and threatened the health of ecosystems that rely on water.The secondary effects of drought on WES are widespread across different water-dependent industries,including water-based recreation.The findings of our study also show that the impacts of climate change will differ by location,suggesting a need for a place-based flexible climate adaptation strategy.We also suggest that future research directions include the examination of:(1)the multiple cascading effects of climate change on potential synergies and tradeoffs among different WES,(2)the specific effects of changing climate and the connectivity of WES from upstream to downstream WES users,(3)the changing value of WES over space and time under changing climates,and(4)the effectiveness of various climate adaptation measures on the whole suite of WES。

COMPARISON OF THE HYDRO-CLIMATOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS FOR THE EXTRA-ORDINARY FLOOD INDUCED BY TROPICAL CYCLONE IN THE SELECTED RIVER BASINS

As the increased interesting on global warming and extreme water-related disasters, there are many countries which have been suffering from the extreme floods induced by tropical cyclones in East Asia. Therefore, in this study, the geographical and hydrometeolorogical characteristics and flood forecasting and warning systems in the selected basins from Thailand, Philippines, and South Korea are compared. Chao Phraya river basin, Pampanga river basin and Nakdong river basin are selected from Thailand, Philippines, and South Korea, respectively. As the results from the comparison, it was discovered that the different geographical and hydrometeolorogical characteristics delivers the different types of flood forecasting and warning systems in each basin. Due to the different geographical characteristics, the damage caused by the similar amount of monthly rainfall is different according to the historical records. This difference is expected to be caused by the different river regime coefficient and soil structures. The flood forecasting and warning systems in three basins are also different. South Korea has the centralized control system for the flood forecasting and warning, while the other basins have the more localized monitoring, forecasting, and warning procedures. In addition to the flood forecasting and warning system, according to the geographical characteristics, the density of the gauging stations is also different. The analyzed results might help the policy makers in the basins develop the adaptive flood forecasting and warning system considering the basin characteristics. In the further study, more investigation has to be done for the quantified results from the three basins.

Is resilience socially emerging or embedded?A review of“resilience”under climate change in Sri Lanka

Since the advent of a new academic regime that examines the nexus of humans and water,resilience studies of the coevolution of human-water systems have advanced rapidly because of the climate change.However,the concept of resilience poses a new social challenge.This study analyzes the gap in resilience studies through a Sri Lankan water-related disaster research review.Moreover,the authors discuss the potential and challenges for resilience evolution under climate change in Sri Lanka.Analyzing the nuance of resilience,the review showed that resilience is complementarily emerging and embedded in culture and society,such as traditional knowledge and local history,and from scientific research-oriented translation and wide international policy view in both.Resilience is the accumulation of stable states and supporting mechanisms found in the interaction between normal phases and emergencies in elements unique to the region.This study suggests that it is critical to support the resilience and mechanisms of the whole and each layer,leveraging the diverse and sustainable livelihoods in the Sri Lankan context against climate change.