نشریه آب و توسعه پایدار
سال سوم شماره 2 (پیاپی 7، پاییز و زمستان 1395)

The present study aimed at investigating and estimating the amount of damage caused by waste water pollution of water desalinators in the South Pars special zone. The main reasons for conducting this study were to investigate the creation of environmental pollutants as a result of the development and expansion of different industries in the South Pars zone, as well as the ecological sensitivity of this zone. In recent years, the use of reverse osmosis water filteration system (RO) has increased, this is due to the lack of water supplies in some regions of the country and the industrial consumption. This study aimed to investigate, estimate, and analyze the amount of environmental damage caused by the Noor Vijeh water desalinator in the South Pars special zone, as well as determining effective variables on the usage of water desalinators in creating polluting of water ecosystem. Additionally, the damage caused by waste water pollutants of the aforementioned desalinator was estimated through damage assessment and estimation of external costs. To this end, samples of waste water from the Noor Vijeh water desalinator were collected in two seasons. Various physical and chemical parameters of the water (such as PH, TDS, Sulfate, Sodium, Calcium, Iron, Mercury, and Manganese) were tested. The results and their comparison with the National Standards indices, required for discharging into the Persian Gulf (Institute of Standards & Industrial Research of Iran) indicated that the density of TDS, Sulfate, Sodium parameters in both seasons were above the standard limits.

The price of water in agriculture plays an important role in the water allocation management. Therefore, the optimum strategies of cropping pattern could be designed when water price analysis are considered in a predetermined economic framework. In the present study, a programming model was developed using the genetic algorithm for optimal water allocation in the eastern north of Khuzestan province that is suffering from water deficit. Maximization of benefit per cost ratio was defined as the objective function by a linear equation and the feasible domain of the problem was limited to water resources, cultivated lands, irrigation systems, and economic parameter constraints. In the developed optimization scheduling, there is the set of solutions with the great potential to maximize the net income of cropping pattern in the water shortage condition. Three scenarios of water price including 0, 200, and 500 Rials/m3 have been considered to compare the allocated water, water use efficiency, and net benefit per drop indices for each crop. The results show that by imposing deficit irrigation and an increase in costs, the volume of allocated water together with the efficiency of water usage for tomatoes is increased by 7% and 0.07 Kg/m3, respectively. Furthermore, the same conditions lead to an increase in the cultivated area of wheat and maize. Analysis of evaluation indices indicated that by increasing the price of water, the model decreased the allocated water in vegetables and increased the water usage efficiency and benefit per cost ratio in beans.

The study of virtual water and water productivity in agricultural crops requires the establishment of relations where represent the actual amount of water in order to produce the respective crop. This feature presents a new approach in studies regarding agricultural ecology. This survey evaluates the virtual water, water productivity and ecological water footprint of wheat and corn fields in the Kouzaran region which is located in the center of Kermanshah province in the period of 2013 to 2014. Results showed that the amount of virtual water in wheat systems in the region with irrigation efficiency equal to 100, 40 and 32 percent were 2202, 3523 and 3699 m3/ton, respectively. For the aforementioned efficiencies, these numbers for corn were 2417, 3867 and 4060 ton/m3, respectively. The amount of water productivity for wheat systems were 0.454, 0.283 and 0.27 whilst for corn systems were 0.413 and 0.258 and 0.246 ton/m3. The ecological water footprint for irrigated wheat systems with 4851 hectares of cultivated land was 18251150 m3/year and for corn systems with 2523 hectares of cultivated land was 10550601 m3/year. According to the findings of the current study, is suggested that considering the severe water shortages in the region, cultivation of high-consuming crops such as corn must be stopped and alternative plants like saffron must be replaced in the Kouzaran's farmers’ agricultural planning. Improving productivity and efficiency of irrigation as well as decreasing irrigated wheat cultivation must be considered as main priorities in the region, simultaneously much more investments should be allocated to rain-fed wheat cultivation and supplementary irrigation in order to overcome current problems..

Considering that the sewage collection network project started in Mashhad a couple of years ago, due to its prolongation the public opinion is negative and dissatisfied. Thus, it was vital that the citizens of Mashhad get acquainted with the construction process and its difficulties, as well as being informed of the privileges of having a comprehensive network which will result in discontents reduction and further collaboration of citizens for the rest of the project. In this respect, the main target of the current study is to identify the examples of successful public awareness cases and defining methods to increase public awareness regarding the benefits of a sewage collection network. Categorizing the methods in this study is based on professional criterion aiming to improve the defined methods. In the current study, three stages were considered which define the awareness improvement. Stage one was to use existing literature such as books, articles, etc. to familiarize the researcher with common awareness methods across the world. In this stage, initially 19 methods were raised which during the meetings with the Mashhad ABFA public relations experts were reduced to 9 methods. Stage two was to interview the Mashhad ABFA experts in construction and operation departments and filling questionnaires in order to define the public awareness contents. The results of these interviews categorized the public awareness contents into three categories of: reportorial contents, awareness contents to reduce construction and operation difficulties, and Contents regarding the benefits of sewage collection network and the disadvantages when it is lacking. Stage three was to interview the Mashhad ABFA experts to prioritize the 9 methods of public awareness. The aforementioned methods were prioritized, using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method, and the Expert Choice software using four criterion (cost, effectiveness, impact time, easiness). The results showed that face-to-face methods, especially question-answer, must be put in higher priorities. Visits by students of the equipment and treatment facilities were the number one priority. Training a group of society such as intellectual leaders, in order to inform other people, were considered as the second priority. Finally, suggestions were made to make this study practical.

Evaluating the quality and quantity of water resources is crucial for a sustainable development. One of the simplest methods that is able to indicate the conditions of water quality in a short period and at a low cost, compared with the physicochemical methods, is by using the biological water quality indices. Identifying the contamination of water resources using biomarkers, especially indices based on macroinvertebrates provides the necessary information for the assessment of the aquatic ecosystems. In this study, five conventional biological indices (BMWP, HFBI, ASPT, EPT and Shannon-Wiener) in the river water quality assessment are discussed. According to the conducted survey, the HFBI and ASPT indices, which are able to score the water quality based on the strength of benthos in addition to considering the quantitative data population, have better ability to assess the quality of rivers.

Mechanical, hydraulic, and chemical washing methods are the most common methods for sewer line cleaning. Each of these methods includes several sub methods. Rodding and bucket machine are the two most important of mechanical cleaning methods, whereas high-speed and flushing are the most important hydraulic cleaning methods. Acids, alkalis, surfactants, and enzymes are widely used materials in sewer line chemical cleaning. When choosing the appropriate cleaning procedure, the network conditions must be considered. Studies indicate that, in general, the hydraulic method is the best cleaning method among the reviewed procedures. Studies have shown that more than 90% of cities in the USA use hydraulic method to clean their sewer systems. Whilst mechanical and chemical methods are employed 50% and 3%, respectively. In Iran, there is no information about the comparison of sewer system cleaning methods, and it can only be said that due to the limitation of equipment, high-velocity cleaning using a water-jet machine, conventional, and empirical methods are used more. The hydraulic cleaning method in spite of its low cost has a high efficiency and uses minimum manpower.

This study investigates the amount of suspended solid particles in three drinking water wells, conducted several times per day in the city of Mashhad. The results have also been used for the review and optimization of tested hydro-cyclones. For this purpose, 18 different hydro-cyclones, based on the experimental design process of the Taguchi method, were designed and the affecting factors were investigated. These factors include inlet diameter, overflow diameter, apex diameter, body diameter of the hydro-cyclone, the cylindrical height, and the total height of the hydro-cyclone. For the optimization process, the maximum concentration observed within all samples from the Mashhad wells, equating to 100 mg per liter was used. The results of the laboratory study, for two repeats, showed that in optimum conditions, the mass removal efficiency of the suspended solids was up to 97.2 ± 1.1 percent. In these circumstances, the ratio of inlet and overflow diameter size to the hydro-cyclone diameter size was similar and equivalent to 0.225, and the apex diameter size ratio to the hydro-cyclone diameter size was 0.15. Also, the ratio of cylindrical and overflow height to the total height of the hydro-cyclone were 0.12 and 0.08 respectively.

Millions of dollars are being spent worldwide on the repair and maintenance of sewer networks and wastewater treatment plants every year. The production and emission of hydrogen Sulfide has been identified as a major cause of corrosion and odor problems in sewer networks. Prediction of hydrogen sulfide production in the sewer system helps the engineers and manager to obtain a proper strategy for their optimal management and for an analysis of reassurance. The purpose of this study is to review the selected models of predicting sulfide generation in sewerage that in this study the Equations of predicting sulfide generation are discussed. The status of any operational sewerage can be assessed, and the critical points can be recognized by using such equations. The results of this research show that sulfide buildup in sewerage is a function of hydraulic characteristics and qualitative. In most of the proposed models in this study the density of organic materials (BOD & COD) was considered as the main parameter in determining the amount of hydrogen sulfide creation in sewerage. It is notable that ORP and pH can also be used as an index in assessing sulfide creation in sewerage systems. Real time Decision-making is of great importance in the operationalization and management of the sewerage systems; therefore, the COD-based and BOD- based models are mostly suitable for technical studies and ORP-based models are of prime importance for operationalization. Finally, a study conducted in west of Mashhad on the accurate models show that Boon, Nielsen and Hvitved models provide a better prediction as compared with other models that used in this paper.

Currently, a considerable amount of water usage in various sectors of the Khorasan Razavi province: agriculture and industry etc., is supplied through the restricted underground water resources. However, the current trend of water usage in the various sectors, including agriculture, is a cause for serious concerns regarding the durability of quantity and quality of available water to meet future. To achieve an approach for reducing water consumption in the agricultural sector of the province, and to determine the effects of changing the planting date on production potential of wheat, barley, and rapeseed, as the most important autumn crop in province, a study was carried out in the agriculture and natural resources research and education center of Khorasan Razavi. During the years that this study targets, replicated trials for all crops were carried out as split plots in a randomized complete block design with three replications, So that planting dates as main plots and a diversity of varieties of these crops were studied through subplots. Results indicate that grain yield potential is considerable, with respect to the shortening of growth season for the aforementioned grains. However, compared to favorable grain yields a reduction in crop output was identified. However, it seems that a reduction in the growth season of wheat, barley, and rapeseed along with elimination of autumn irrigations is possible. In general, the outcome of the trial years results show that the optimal choice for the planting date of wheat, barley, and rapeseed, by eliminating irrigation in Mashhad, is the Pending Culture (i.e., when a decrease in temperature stops the seeds from germinating and the seeds sprout after the passage of the winter cold). But for wheat and barley this period may continue until 20th of February, although the optimum planting date is still recommended.

Sufficient measurements of effective parameters with suitable temporal and spatial distributions for all phenomena are needed. However, providing the data and informations are difficult and costly. So, temporal and/or spatial downscaling is of prime importance. By downscaling, one can generate data from available ones. There are diffent downscaling methods in literature but they are not compared with each other yet. In this research, the performance of three different downscaling methods of self similar fractal, piecewise self similar fractal, and periodic regression are compared. Three-hour temperature data of Mashhad synoptic station were considered for 1992-2009 period. Modeling was done for daily data and was downscaled to three-hour perid, the results were compared with measured data. Similar fractal method was superior over the other two methods, based on two criteria of Root Mean Square Error, and Akaike Information Criteria.

The program Menyanthes combines a variety of functions for managing, editing, visualizing, analyzing, and modeling hydrogeologic time series. The primary aim of the software is the integration of data-driven and physics-based methods for modeling time series of groundwater heads. Within Menyanthes, time series can be modeled using both the ARMA and PIRFICT methods. The PIRFICT method is a new method of time series analysis that has practical advantages as well as facilitating the physical interpretation and implementation of knowledge on the physical behavior. The analytical solutions for specific hydrogeologic problems may be used as the response function, along with their physics-based parameters. The PIRFICT model may be fitted with a large number of time series in batch. Spatial patterns that emerge from the results provide useful information which adds a new dimension to the time series analysis. The Menyathes software provides spatial visualization and analysis tools for their interpretation. The PIRFICT method also facilitates the integration of time series and spatially-distributed models. The PIRFICT method may prove to be of use for other types of time series as well, both within and outside the realm of environmental sciences.

According to the current state of water resources and the increasing demand for water, the supply of future needs will be faced with serious constraints. On the one hand, the failure to supply sometimes causes social and political problems. On the other hand, improper exploitation of water resources will lead to irreparable damages. Therefore, the use of optimization models for the planning of current and future supply needs is an efficient tool. Today, with the development of information technology, several heuristic algorithms have been developed which are able to be effective in the management and sustainable development of water resources. A management and development which can achieve the three goals of economic, social, and ecological sustainability. This study compares the most complete heuristic algorithms, where the performance, advantages, and disadvantages of these algorithms are evaluated and discussed. To this end, applied studies have been reported in each section. The results of this study show that heuristic algorithms are capable of effectively solving complex multi-restriction optimization problems for the optimal water resources planning and development in the future.

Green water and blue water; Renewable and nonrenewable water resources; Water allocation and water allocation