Longitudinal Chemical Gradients and the Functional Responses of Nutrients, Organic Matter, and Other Parameters to the Land Use Pattern and Monsoon Intensity

River water quality degradation is one of the hottest environmental issues worldwide. Therefore, monitoring water quality longitudinally and temporally is crucial for effective water management and contamination control. The main aim of this study was to assess the longitudinal variations in water quality in the mainstream of the Han River, Korea, from 2015 to 2019. The trophic state classification (TSC), microbial pollution indicator (MPI), and river pollution index (RPI) were calculated to characterize river water quality and revealed more serious pollution toward the downstream zone (Dz) due to agricultural and urban-dominated areas. The biodegradability index (BI) indicated that non-biodegradable organic pollutants are increasing in the water body from the urban and animal wastewater treatment plants. Nutrients, organic matter contents, total suspended solids, ionic factors, and algal chlorophyll were higher in the Dz than in any other zones and were markedly influenced by the summer monsoon. Empirical analysis showed that nutrients and organic matter had positive linear functional relations with agricultural and urban coverage and negative linear relations with forest coverage. The pollutant-transport function suggested that suspended solids act as TP and TN carriers. Regression analysis indicated that TP (R2 = 0.47) has more positive functional relations with algal growth than TN (R2 = 0.22). Our findings suggest that a combination of empirical models and pollution indices might be utilized to assess river water quality and that the resulting information could aid policymakers in managing the Han River.

Achieving Electrochemical-Sustainable-Based Solutions for Monitoring and Treating Hydroxychloroquine in Real Water Matrix

Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) has been extensively consumed due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Therefore, it is increasingly found in different water matrices. For this reason, the concentration of HCQ in water should be monitored and the treatment of contaminated water matrices with HCQ is a key issue to overcome immediately. Thus, in this study, the development of technologies and smart water solutions to reach the Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6) is the main objective. To do that, the integration of electrochemical technologies for their environmental application on HCQ detection, quantification and degradation was performed. Firstly, an electrochemical cork-graphite sensor was prepared to identify/quantify HCQ in river water matrices by differential pulse voltammetric (DPV) method. Subsequently, an HCQ-polluted river water sample was electrochemically treated with BDD electrode by applying 15, 30 and 45 mA cm−2. The HCQ decay and organic matter removal was monitored by DPV with composite sensor and chemical oxygen demand (COD) measurements, respectively. Results clearly confirmed that, on the one hand, the cork-graphite sensor exhibited good current response to quantify of HCQ in the river water matrix, with limit of detection and quantification of 1.46 mg L−1 (≈3.36 µM) and 4.42 mg L−1 (≈10.19 µM), respectively. On the other hand, the electrochemical oxidation (EO) efficiently removed HCQ from real river water sample using BDD electrodes. Complete HCQ removal was achieved at all applied current densities; whereas in terms of COD, significant removals (68%, 71% and 84% at 15, 30 and 45 mA cm−2, respectively) were achieved. Based on the achieved results, the offline integration of electrochemical SDG6 technologies in order to monitor and remove HCQ is an efficient and effective strategy.

Ge/Si Ratio of River Water in the Yarlung Tsangpo: Implications for Hydrothermal Input and Chemical Weathering

Germanium/Silicon (Ge/Si) ratio is a common proxy for primary mineral dissolution and secondary clay formation yet could be affected by hydrothermal and anthropogenic activities. To decipher the main controls of riverine Ge/Si ratios and evaluate the validity of the Ge/Si ratio as a weathering proxy in the Tibetan Plateau, a detailed study was presented on Ge/Si ratios in the Yarlung Tsangpo River, southern Tibetan Plateau. River water and hydrothermal water were collected across different climatic and tectonic zones, with altitudes ranging from 800 m to 5000 m. The correlations between TDS (total dissolved solids) and the Ge/Si ratio and Si and Ge concentrations of river water, combined with the spatial and temporal variations of the Ge/Si ratio, indicate that the contribution of hydrothermal water significantly affects the Ge/Si ratio of the Yarlung Tsangpo River water, especially in the upper and middle reaches. Based on the mass balance calculation, a significant amount of Ge (11–88%) has been lost during its transportation from hydrothermal water to the river system; these could result from the incorporation of Ge on/into clays, iron hydroxide, and sulfate mineral. In comparison, due to the hydrothermal input, the average Ge/Si ratio in the Yarlung Tsangpo River is a magnitude order higher than the majority of rivers over the world. Therefore, evaluation of the contribution of hydrothermal sources should be considered when using the Ge/Si ratio to trace silicate weathering in rivers around the Tibetan Plateau.

Quantifying the impacts of climate variation, damming, and flow regulation on river thermal dynamics: a case study of the Włocławek Reservoir in the Vistula River, Poland

Background River damming inevitably reshapes water thermal conditions that are important to the general health of river ecosystems. Although a lot of studies have addressed the damming’s thermal impacts, most of them just assess the overall effects of climate variation and human activities on river thermal dynamics. Less attention has been given to quantifying the impact of climate variation, damming and flow regulation, respectively. In addition, for rivers that have already faced an erosion problem in downstream channels, an adjustment of the hydroelectric power plant operation manner is expected, which reinforces the need for understanding of flow regulation’s thermal impact. To fill this gap, an air2stream-based approach is proposed and applied at the Włocławek Reservoir in the Vistula River in Poland. Results In the years of 1952–1983, downstream river water temperature rose by 0.31 ℃ after damming. Meanwhile, the construction of dam increased the average annual water temperature by 0.55 ℃, while climate change oppositely made it decreased by 0.26 ℃. In addition, for the seasonal impact of damming, autumn was the most affected season with the warming reached 1.14 ℃, and the least affected season was winter when water temperature experienced a warming of 0.1 ℃. The absolute values of seasonal average temperature changes due to flow regulation were less than 0.1 ℃ for all the seasons. Conclusions The impacts of climate variation, damming, and flow regulation on river water temperatures can be evaluated reasonably on the strength of the proposed methodology. Climate variation and damming led to general opposite impacts on the downstream water temperature at the Włocławek Reservoir before 1980s. It is noted that the climate variation impact showed an opposite trend compared to that after 1980s. Besides, flow regulation below dam hardly affected downstream river water temperature variation. This study extends the current knowledge about impacts of climate variation and hydromorphological conditions on river water temperature, with a study area where river water temperature is higher than air temperature throughout a year.

Numerical Study on Water Sealing Effect of Freeze-Sealing Pipe-Roof Method Applied in Underwater Shallow-Buried Tunnel

The freezing-sealing pipe-roof method is a new presupporting technique, which fully combines the advantages of pipe-roof method and artificial ground-freezing method, and can adapt to the construction needs of underground projects in complex and sensitive strata. After the Gongbei Tunnel of Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge, this method will be applied for the first time in an underwater shallow-buried railroad tunnel, and there are still many urgent problems to be solved. In this article, based on the field situation and the preliminary design scheme, a convective heat transfer model under complex boundary conditions was first established. Then, the development of frozen wall thickness during the active freezing period was solved by numerical simulation for three different pipe filling modes, and the cloud map of temperature distribution in the whole section is analyzed. After that, the moving state of river water was characterized by different heat transfer coefficients, and the weakening effect of flow velocity on the top freezing wall was studied. Finally, six critical water sealing paths were selected, and the temperature differences of the frozen curtain were calculated. The results show that the mode with interval concrete filling can form a reliable frozen curtain within the scheduled time, whereas the nonfilling mode cannot achieve the water sealing requirement. River water has a large effect on the temperature at the boundary of jacking pipe and almost no effect on the center of the jacked pipe. It takes approximately 15 days from the frozen soil covering the pipe wall to reach the designed thickness, and the freezing effect of empty pipe lags approximately 28 days compared with that of solid pipe, which requires targeted enhancement measures in field projects.

Assessment of contamination level of a Tanzanian river system with respect to trace metallic elements and their fate in the environment

The quality of water and sediments from a marginally-studied river was investigated with respect to As, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn including their fractionation behavior and environmental risk. Samples were collected along the Kou River that flows across two districts in the Manyara region of Tanzania. The leaching behavior of Fe was studied using sequential extraction fractionation and kinetics approach. The Kou water failed to meet the irrigation, aquatic, and biological life standards with respect to one of more trace metallic elements (TMEs). Fe concentration in the river water ranged from 4.1 to 5.38 mg/L exceeding all the three standards. Six pollution indices were applied to assess the contamination and ecological risks of the nine trace metallic elements in the sediments. Overall, the metals were found to moderately contaminate the sediments. Cr, Fe, and Mn fell under the ‘severely polluted’ sediment quality class. Fe was the only metal that was found to significantly pollute both the river water and sediments. The Fe fractions in the sediments were in the order of residuals>Fe-Mn bound>organic bound>carbonate bound>water soluble>ion exchangeable. 7.8% of the total Fe content was bioavailable with a low potential to leach from the sediments. Under natural conditions, the sharpest release of the non-residual mobile fractions of Fe were identified to occur within the first 24 hours with the maximum Fe leached being 0.14% on the 12th day. None of the metals in the sediments were found with a potential to pose ecological risk.