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Simulation, Prediction, and Protection of the Water Environment

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Water Science and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2022) | Viewed by 15523

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Yiping Li

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Guest Editor

College of Environment, Hohai University; Nanjing 210098, China
Interests: limnology and ecology of aquatic ecosystems; process of hydrologic cycle and pollutant transport; surface water and groundwater, nutrient cycling; wastewater treatment systems; lake management; integrated watershed model linking hydrodynamic, water quality, and ecology

Prof. Dr. Jingming Hou

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Guest Editor

School of Water Resources and Hydro-electric Engineering, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an 710048, China
Interests: hydrodynamic modeling; flood management; low-impact development measures; eco-hydraulics; environmental hydraulics; sediment transport
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Chunyan Tang

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Guest Editor

College of Environment, Hohai University; Nanjing 210098, China
Interests: hydrodynamic and water quality model; limnology and ecology of aquatic ecosystems; parametric uncertainty and sensitivity analysis of water quality model

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The management of surface water resources is critical for human and ecosystem health and social development. Surface water environmental models can be useful tools to simulate and predict the hydrodynamic process, distributions, and fate of chemical pollutants, and provide decision support in a given water body. The numerical models on surface water are firmly based on physical, chemical, biological, mathematical, social sciences, etc. In recent years, models have been rapidly developed and widely applied for all the major natural waters and sediments, including deep rivers, shallow streams, natural lakes, artificial impoundments, tidal rivers, estuaries, and the coastal zones of oceans and large lakes.

This Special Issue seeks research papers on various aspects of “Hydrodynamic and Water Quality Simulation and Prediction on Surface Water”, such as emerging approaches, kinetic and computational challenges, and research frontiers related to coupling and integration of modeling. We particularly encourage the submission of interdisciplinary work and multicountry collaborative research. We also encourage the submission of policy related to model normalization or modeling application to solve practical environmental issues. In addition, integrated model frameworks addressing future problems such as climate change and mega-urbanization would be of particular interest.

Prof. Dr. Yiping Li
Prof. Dr. Jingming Hou
Dr. Chunyan Tang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 7181 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Integrative Study on Flow Characteristics and Impact of Non-Submerged Double Spur Dikes on the River System

by Zhenghua Gu, Xiaomeng Cao, Minxiong Cao and Weizhen Lu

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(5), 4262; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph20054262 - 27 Feb 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 960

Abstract

The flow characteristics around non-submerged spur dikes continuously placed in the channel on the same side with orthogonal angle to the wall were investigated by numerical simulations and experimental measurements. Three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulations with the standard k−ε Model for incompressible viscous flow based on finite volume method and the rigid lid assumption for free surface treatment were conducted. A laboratory experiment was applied to verify the numerical simulation. The experimental data indicated that the developed mathematical model can effectively predict 3D flow around non-submerged double spur dikes (NDSDs). The flow structure and turbulent characteristics around them were analyzed and it was found that a distinct cumulative effect of turbulence exists between the dikes. By examining the interaction rules of NDSDs, the judgment criterion of spacing threshold was generalized as whether velocity distributions at the cross-sections of NDSDs along the main flow approximately coincided or not. It can be used to investigate the impact scale of the spur dike groups on the straight and prismatic channels and it is of great significance for artificial scientific river improvement and the assessment of river system health under human activities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Simulation, Prediction, and Protection of the Water Environment)

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16 pages, 3335 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of Empirical and Machine Learning Approaches for Estimating Monthly Reference Evapotranspiration with Limited Meteorological Data in the Jialing River Basin, China

by Jia Luo, Xianming Dou and Mingguo Ma

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(20), 13127; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph192013127 - 12 Oct 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1154

Abstract

The accurate estimation of reference evapotranspiration (ET₀) is crucial for water resource management and crop water requirements. This study aims to develop an efficient and accurate model to estimate the monthly ET₀ in the Jialing River Basin, China. For this purpose, a relevance vector machine, complex extreme learning machine (C-ELM), extremely randomized trees, and four empirical equations were developed. Monthly climatic data including mean air temperature, solar radiation, relative humidity, and wind speed from 1964 to 2014 were used as inputs for modeling. A total comparison was made between all constructed models using four statistical indicators, i.e., the coefficient of determination (R²), Nash efficiency coefficient (NSE), root mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE). The outcome of this study revealed that the Hargreaves equation (R² = 0.982, NSE = 0.957, RMSE = 7.047 mm month⁻¹, MAE = 5.946 mm month⁻¹) had better performance than the other empirical equations. All machine learning models generally outperformed the studied empirical equations. The C-ELM model (R² = 0.995, NSE = 0.995, RMSE = 2.517 mm month⁻¹, MAE = 1.966 mm month⁻¹) had the most accurate estimates among all generated models and can be recommended for monthly ET₀ estimation in the Jialing River Basin, China. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Simulation, Prediction, and Protection of the Water Environment)

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15 pages, 23247 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Traceability and Emission Reduction of Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen in Minjiang Estuary, China

by Chenchen Fan, Peng Zhang, Gangfu Song, Huaru Wang and Bingyi Wang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(19), 10017; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph181910017 - 23 Sep 2021

Viewed by 1647

Abstract

The accumulation of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) in estuaries has become a global environmental problem. A two-dimensional, hydrodynamic water quality model was constructed in this study to investigate the sources of DIN pollution in the Minjiang Estuary. The concentration response field between the stream input and DIN in the estuary was established by using the surveyed source data of the study area. A sharing coefficient method was used to calculate the contribution percentage of each outfall to derive and propose a reasonable nitrogen reduction plan. The results showed that the input of land-based nitrogen into the Minjiang River contributed more than half of the DIN in the near-shore sea; the middle and upper reaches of the Minjiang River largely influenced the estuary area (38.57%). Conversely, the estuary and the coastline accounted for a smaller proportion of only 5.24%, indicating that an integrated DIN reduction should be implemented in the estuary area of the whole river basin. The model calculations showed that the reduction results, after remediation according to the current national standards for wastewater discharge in rivers, were not satisfactory. Thus, a new scheme is proposed in this paper—the total nitrogen (TN) input from land-based sources into the Minjiang Estuary and from the Shuikou Dam to the Min’an section should be reduced to below 31.64%; simultaneously, the DIN concentration discharged from the Shuikou Dam should be controlled and maintained below 0.5 mg·L⁻¹ (TN = 0.8 mg·L⁻¹). These results will provide guidelines for developing strategies for the improvement of DIN and water quality in similar estuaries. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Simulation, Prediction, and Protection of the Water Environment)

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13 pages, 22660 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Short Term Real-Time Rolling Forecast of Urban River Water Levels Based on LSTM: A Case Study in Fuzhou City, China

by Yu Liu, Hao Wang, Wenwen Feng and Haocheng Huang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(17), 9287; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph18179287 - 02 Sep 2021

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 2344

Abstract

Water level management is an important part of urban water system management. In flood season, the river should be controlled to ensure the ecological and landscape water level. In non-flood season, the water level should be lowered to ensure smooth drainage. In urban areas, the response of the river water level to rainfall and artificial regulation is relatively rapid and strong. Therefore, building a mathematical model to forecast the short-term trend of urban river water levels can provide a scientific basis for decision makers and is of great significance for the management of urban water systems. With a focus on the high uncertainty of urban river water level prediction, a real-time rolling forecast method for the short-term water levels of urban internal rivers and external rivers was constructed, based on long short-term memory (LSTM). Fuzhou City, China was used as the research area, and the forecast performance of LSTM was analyzed. The results confirm the feasibility of LSTM in real-time rolling forecasting of water levels. The absolute errors at different times in each forecast were compared, and the various characteristics and causes of the errors in the forecast process were analyzed. The forecast performance of LSTM under different rolling intervals and different forecast periods was compared, and the recommended values are provided as a reference for the construction of local operational forecast systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Simulation, Prediction, and Protection of the Water Environment)

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14 pages, 1625 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Bibliometric Analysis on Nonpoint Source Pollution: Current Status, Development, and Future

by Ping Lei, Ram Kumar Shrestha, Bing Zhu, Suju Han, Hongbin Yang, Shaojun Tan, Jiupai Ni and Deti Xie

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(15), 7723; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph18157723 - 21 Jul 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2917

Abstract

Nonpoint source pollution (NPS) has become the leading factor of global water quality problems, attracting great attention from governments and researchers in various countries. Based on this situation, understanding the current research status of NPS can help guide future research. However, most of the current reviews only describe the research status of some specific aspects but fail to quantify the research hotspots and development trends on the whole, which limits the overall understanding of NPS. In this paper, bibliometrics was used to study the current status, hotspots, and frontiers of NPS research during 1991–2015, and the future research development was predicted. Over the past 15 years, there has been a remarkable growth trend in publication output, and the participation of countries/territories has also increased. Journal of Environmental Quality, Journal of Hydrology, and Total Environmental Science were the top three journals. Sharpley AN and Arnold JG from the USA were the most productive authors with the best quality articles. The major author clusters and research regions are located in North America and Europe, followed by East Asia. The United States dominates this research field, with the largest number of independent and collaborative articles. Chinese authors gained more attention through international cooperation. Keyword analysis confirmed that water quality and nutrients were the main concerns of NPS pollution research, which mainly involved a number of research topics, such as pollutant emission reduction research and the evaluation and simulation of pollutants’ migration and their transformation under different situations, while pesticides were less of a concern, which suggests that the abuse of pesticides has come under control. Meanwhile, SWAT was the dominating model in the last decade partly because it satisfied the growing needs of watershed-scale management. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Simulation, Prediction, and Protection of the Water Environment)

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19 pages, 5565 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Influence of Riverbed Incision and Hydrological Evolution on Water Quality and Water Age Based on Numerical Simulation: A Case Study of the Minjiang Estuary

by Peng Zhang, Lanyimin Li, Yishu Wang, Chengchun Shi and Chenchen Fan

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(11), 6138; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph18116138 - 06 Jun 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2451

Abstract

In recent years, problems such as water quality deterioration, saltwater invasion, and low oxygen have appeared in estuaries all over the world. The Minjiang River in Fujian, as a typical tidal estuary area, is facing these thorny problems. In this paper, the effects of topography and hydrologic evolution on the water age and water quality of the lower reaches of the Minjiang River were simulated by building a hydrodynamic and water quality model. The results show that: (1) It was found that the riverbed incision of the lower reaches of the Minjiang River led to the overall decline of river water level, the increase of river volume, and the increase of downstream water age, which eventually led to the decrease of dissolved oxygen (DO) and the deterioration of water quality in the downstream from Shuikou to Baiyantan. However, the decline of topography led to the increase of tidal volume in the estuary, the enhancement of the dilution effect of oxygen-rich water bodies in the open sea, and the increase of DO in the lower reaches of Baiyantan. (2) Under no tidal action, the concentration of pollutants in the water of the North Channel increased, the DO decreased, and the DO decreased from Baiyantan to the offshore water. After the enhancement of tidal action, the dilution of oxygen-enriched water from the offshore water increased, and the DO increased. (3) The hydrological and water quality characteristics of the upper part of the lower reaches of the Minjiang River were mainly controlled by topography, runoff, and pollutant discharge, which were more affected by the tidal current transport operation and pollutant discharge near the open sea. In recent decades, the deterioration of water quality and the aggravation of saltwater intrusion in the Minjiang River were closely related to the serious topographic downcutting. The results provide a scientific basis for revealing the deterioration of estuary water quality and long-term management of the estuary. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Simulation, Prediction, and Protection of the Water Environment)

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16 pages, 4072 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Simulation of the Parameters Effecting the Water Quality Evolution of Xuanwu Lake, China

by Min Pang, Weiwei Song, Yuan Liu and Yong Pang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(11), 5757; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph18115757 - 27 May 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2599

Abstract

After years of water environment improvement, China’s water quality has improved to some extent in recent years. However, different water areas have different characteristics of water pollution. The paper used mathematical models to investigate the influence of different parameters on the water quality of Xuanwu Lake, China. The predominant focus was on the nutrients concentration due to changing the amount of pollutants, degradation coefficient, water diversion discharge and diffusion coefficient. The results showed that the amount of pollutants had the most significant impact, followed by the degradation coefficient. The total phosphorus and total nitrogen concentrations of Xuanwu Lake increased with the increase of the amount of pollutants. The water quality of Xuanwu Lake decreased significantly with the increase of degradation coefficient. Increasing the water diversion discharge will not only make a big difference in water quality, but it will also worsen the water quality. The effect of the amount of pollutants on Xuanwu Lake total phosphorus and total nitrogen is 4.1 and 5.7 times that of water diversion discharge. The influence of total phosphorus and total nitrogen in the degradation coefficient scheme is 3.5 and 6.2 times that of the water diversion discharge scheme. The diffusion coefficient has almost no effect on the water quality of Xuanwu Lake. From the practical difficulty and implementation effect of water environment improvement, the order of water quality improvement effect from good to bad is as follows: the amount of pollutants scheme, degradation coefficient scheme, water diversion scheme, diffusion coefficient scheme. Under the circumstance of limited water diversion, the lake will effectively improve the water quality. Reducing the discharge of pollutants is the fundamental measure to control water environment problems, and water diversion is an auxiliary measure to improve the water ecology. It will become a trend to combine the reduction of pollutant discharge and water transfer for water environment improvement. This paper is of significance for improving the water quality of Xuanwu Lake, and it also provides a scientific method for water environment improvement of water diversion projects. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Simulation, Prediction, and Protection of the Water Environment)

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