The plantation forestry is economically a very important industry in South Africa because it promotes the upliftment of many rural South African communities. However, afforestation has significant impacts on water use and biodiversity in a catchment. Thus, understanding the effects of afforestation on water resources at the catchment level is fundamental for optimal water resource allocation, long-term sustainable use, development and conservation. Much of the Limpopo Province is climatically and physiographically suitable for plantation forestry but it only contains approximately 4.7 % of the total existing plantation area in South Africa. For example, the size of the Letaba Catchment of the Limpopo Province is 13 669 km² but only approximately 484 km² of it is currently afforested. This study aims to identify potential areas for further afforestation in the Letaba Catchment using the Water Resources Modelling Platform (WReMP) model to determine if afforestation can be expanded here to promote development in South Africa‟s poorest Province. / Geography / M. Sc. (Geography)

The birth of a non-racial democracy in South Africa brought many challenges such as the supply of potable water to all societies irrespective of their colour or even location. Migration of people from rural to urban has increased the demand of potable water supply in many areas that were previously neglected by the former Apartheid regime. The increase of the human population in urban or developing areas of South Africa will therefore imply that various public services such as potable water supply, proper housing, electricity supply, schooling and basic health facilities should be provided in an efficient, effective and economic manner. As the resident of Khuma Township, the researcher has a keen interest in the management of potable water supply in this area, inter alia, the nature and extent of the physical environment and the efficiency and effectiveness of a potable water supply as a means of improving service delivery by the Matlosana Local Municipality to Khuma Township. The area has the history of gold mining and the majority of the people from other rural areas and neighbouring states moved into this area and were later joined by their families. This resulted in an increase in the population to a point where people were placed in dangerous areas such as underlying dolomite and along the Koekemoer spruit. For example, extension 6 is known to experience sinkholes due to underground mining activities and the underline dolomite rock. The population has increased in Khuma Township to such an extent that a shortage of potable water supply is been experienced. Khuma Township had one water reservoir for the past 40 years and Matlosana Local Municipality did not improve or developed infrastructure related to potable water supply to be able to cater for the increasing population of this area. An empirical study was conducted in among the residents of Khuma Township, Matlosana Local Municipality and role-players in the management of potable water supply. From this study, it was evident that the supply of potable water in Khuma Township is insufficient, and there was poor communication, cooperation and participation between Matlosana Local Municipality and the residents of Khuma Township. The ineffective management of potable water supply in Khuma Township by the Matlosana Local Municipality as well as ignoring the significance of settling people in a safe area that is free from water pollution, sinkholes and underlying dolomite rock left a lot to be desired. The researcher arrived at logical conclusions and recommendations with regard to all aspects related to future management of potable water supply in Khuma Township. / M Development and Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Karst terrains, such as the Lost River Karst Ground-Water Basin, are extremely vulnerable to ground-water contamination. Seven physical factors: depth to water, recharge, aquifer media, soil media, topography, impact of the vadose zone, and hydraulic conductivity, are evaluated using the DRASTIC system to determine the ground-water pollution potential of the study area. A numerical value is calculated for each of the seven factors, and a map layer for each factor is produced. These layers are then “added” together to produce a DRASTIC ground-water pollution potential map. The effectiveness of each factor in evaluating the pollution potential of karst terrain is discussed. It was determined that small scale hydrogeologic features unique to karst areas provide significant influences on contaminant transport that are not addressed by the DRASTIC methodology. Therefore, it is recommended that modifications to the DRASTIC system be made by the users of the DRASTIC system when evaluating the pollution potential of a karst terrain.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional and Community Planning / Eric A. Bernard / The Kansas High Plains region is a key global agricultural production center (U.S. G.S, 2009). The High Plains physiography is ideal agricultural production landscape except for the semi-arid climate. Consequently, farmers mine vast groundwater resources from the High Plains Ogallala Aquifer formations to augment precipitation for crop production. Growing global population, current policy and subsidy programs, declining aquifer levels coupled with regional climatic changes call into question both short-term and long-term resilience of this agrarian landscape and food and water security. This project proposes a means to simulate future irrigated agriculture land use and crop cover patterns in the Kansas High Plains Aquifer region based on coupled modeling results from ongoing research at Kansas State University. A Cellular Automata (CA) modeling framework is used to simulate potential land use distribution, based on coupled modeling results from groundwater, economic, and crop models. The CA approach considers existing infrastructure resources, industrial and commercial systems, existing land use patterns, and suitability modeling results for agricultural production. The results of the distribution of irrigated land produced from the CA model provide necessary variable inputs for the next temporal coupled modeling iteration. For example, the groundwater model estimates water availability in saturated thickness and depth to water. The economic model projects which crops will be grown based on water availability and commodity prices at a county scale. The crop model estimates potential yield of a crop under specific soil, climate and growing conditions which further informs the economic model providing an estimate of profit, which informs regional economic and population models. Integrating the CA model into the coupled modeling system provides a key linkage to simulate spatial patterns of irrigated land use and crop type land cover based on coupled model results. Implementing the CA model in GIS offers visualization of coupled model components and results as well as the CA model land use and land cover. The project outcome hopes to afford decision-makers, including farmers, the ability to use the actual landscape data and the developed coupled modeling framework to strategically inform decisions with long-term resiliency.

A governança da água apresenta-se como caminho e paradigma na implementação de uma gestão descentralizada e participativa capaz de permear, com estes princípios, todas as instâncias e instrumentos de gestão. A outorga de direito de uso da água é um dos instrumentos previstos nas legislações federal e estadual (SP) cuja utilização permite controlar o acesso quantitativo e qualitativo a estes recursos. Concedida em consonância com as normas, critérios e diretrizes previamente estabelecidas, é a outorga que concede o direito e autoriza o uso privativo de bem público de uso comum do povo por particular, isto é, o uso da água. É também por meio da outorga que são disciplinados os usos considerados prioritários, insignificantes e orientada a alocação da água nas Bacias Hidrográficas. Especificamente quanto às diretrizes que orientam sua alocação, destaca-se a função do Plano de Bacia. Elaborado no âmbito dos Comitês de Bacias Hidrográficas, cabe ao Plano de Bacia, também chamado de Plano de Recursos Hídricos, oferecer as bases para a alocação da água, por meio das outorgas de direito, determinando seu parâmetro e comportamento nos diferentes regimes hídricos, incluindo os de agravamento de escassez hídrica. Diante deste contexto, o presente trabalho aprofunda as discussões e busca avaliar as restrições impostas às outorgas na Bacia Hidrográfica dos rios Piracicaba, Capivari e Jundiaí (PCJ) entre 2014 e 2017, seus fundamentos e observância aos princípios da descentralização e da participação. A partir dos elementos que compõe o conceito de governança da água e da contextualização da água no ordenamento jurídico brasileiro, o trabalho analisa, com apoio nas normas vigentes, os elementos e características da outorga de direito de uso da água, bem como sua relação com o Plano e com o Comitê de Bacia. Em seguida, analisa-se o Plano vigente durante o período escolhido em três diferentes dimensões: quanto à composição do Comitê e das Câmaras Técnicas atuantes em sua elaboração, quanto ao processo de contratação, elaboração e aprovação e quanto ao seu conteúdo, especialmente na constatação de diretrizes aplicáveis às restrições incidentes sobre as outorgas em períodos de agravamento da escassez. São também analisadas as atuações da Agência Nacional de Águas (ANA) e do Departamento de Águas e Energia Elétrica do Estado de São Paulo (DAEE) e as restrições estabelecidas, por meio de atos normativos, e que incidiram sobre outorgas entre os anos de 2014 e 2017. Constata-se, ao fim, o pequeno envolvimento do Comitê na elaboração do Plano de Bacia vigente à época, a lacuna de seu conteúdo no tratamento de situações críticas e emergenciais e a centralização da concepção das medidas de restrição das outorgas de direitos de uso na bacia dos rios PCJ, restrições estas que se mostram incompatíveis com as diretrizes do quadro normativo vigente. / Water governance presents itself as a path and paradigm in the implementation of a decentralized and participative management that is capable to permeate, with these principles, all the instances and instruments. The water grant is one of the instruments provided by the federal and state (SP) laws, which allows to control quantitative and qualitatively the access to these resources. When granted in accordance to the regulatory standards, criteria and guidelines previously established, the water grant guarantees the right and authorizes the private use of a commonweal by particular, that is, the use of water. It is also through the water grant that uses are disciplined according to its priority, meaningless and the water allocation is oriented in the River Basins. Specifically regarding the guidelines that lead its allocation, the function of the Basin Plan is highlighted. Being repared in the scope of the River Basins Committees, it is the responsibility of the Basin Plan, also called as Water Resources Plan, to provide the basis for the water allocation, by the water grant, defining its parameters and behavior in the different water polities, including those of water shortage aggravation. In the view of this context, the current research deepens the discussions and seeks to evaluate the restrictions imposed to the water grant on Piracicaba, Capivari and Jundiaí (PCJ) the River Basin between 2014 and 2017, its foundations and compliance with the principles of decentralization and establishment. Based on the elements that make up the concept of water governance and the contextualization of water in the Brazilian legal system, the research analyzes, with the support of current regulatory standards, the elements and characteristics of water grant, as well as its relation with the Plan and Basin Committee. Afterwards, the current Plan is analyzed according to the selected period in three different dimensions: in regards of composition of the Committee and the Technical Chambers involved in its elaboration, contracting process, elaboration and approval and its content, especially in the verification of the applicable guidelines to restrictions on concessions of water grant in times of shortages aggravation. It is also analyzed the actions taken by the National Water Agency (ANA) and the Department of Water and Electric Energy of the State of São Paulo (DAEE) and the restrictions established, through normative acts, and that affects the water grants between 2014 and 2017. Finally, it is possible to verify the little involvement of the Committee in the Basin Plan elaboration in force at the time, lacks of its content in the treatment of critical and emergency situations, and the centralization in the conception of the restricting measures of the water grant in the PCJ river basins, restrictions that are shown incompatible with the guidelines of the current regulatory framework.

The effects of system pressure on the performance stability of flow-through capacitive deionization (CDI) cells was investigated. Initial data showed that the highly porous carbon electrodes possessed air/oxygen in the micropores, and the increased system pressure boosts the gases solubility in saline solution and carries them out of the cell in the effluent. Upon applying a potential difference to the electrodes, capacitive-based ion adsorption occurs in competition with faradaic reactions that consume oxygen. Through the addition of backpressure, the rate of degradation decreases, allowing the cell to maintain its salt adsorption capacity (SAC) longer. The removal of oxygen from the pore space of the electrodes makes it no longer immediately accessible to faradaic reactions, thus hindering the rate of reactions and giving the competing ion adsorption an advantage that is progressively seen throughout the life of the cell. A quick calculation shows that the energy penalty to power the pump is fairly insignificant, especially in comparison to the cost of replacing the electrodes in the cell. Thus, operating at elevated pressures is shown to be cost effective for continuous operation through the reduced electrode replenishment costs.

In this work, we design a linear, two step implicit finite difference method to approximate the solutions of a biological system that describes the interaction between a microbial colony and a surrounding substrate. Three separate models are analyzed, all of which can be described as systems of partial differential equations (PDE)s with nonlinear diffusion and reaction, where the biological colony grows and decays based on the substrate bioavailability. The systems under investigation are all complex models describing the dynamics of biological films. In view of the difficulties to calculate analytical solutions of the models, we design here a numerical technique to consistently approximate the system evolution dynamics, guaranteeing that nonnegative initial conditions will evolve uniquely into new, nonnegative approximations. This property of our technique is established using the theory of M-matrices, which are nonsingular matrices where all the entries of their inverses are positive numbers. We provide numerical simulations to evince the preservation of the nonnegative character of solutions under homogeneous Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions. The computational results suggest that the method proposed in this work is stable, and that it also preserves the bounded character of the discrete solutions.

The Bandon Marsh is a large marsh restoration project located in southwest Oregon. The land has been previously used for dairy farms and much of the marsh was used for cattle grazing. The goal of the restoration is to recreate a natural habitat for shorebirds and fish. The purpose of this thesis is to gather and analyze data on the geology of the marsh and both ground and surface water quality to evaluate its ability to support biology. The US Fish and Wildlife Service began restoration on the Bandon marsh in 2005. Research on the Ni-les'tun Unit began in that same year with Geoprobe coring, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), piezometer well installation, and surface water analysis. Twelve cores were taken with the Geoprobe in 2006 and later analyzed for this thesis. A total of 50 GPR lines were run across the marsh ranging from ~25 m to 1,200 m in length for a total of about 9,700 meters (9.7 km). The ten piezometer wells were sampled to collect groundwater pH, oxidation-reduction potential, salinity, temperature, and well water elevation. Twelve channel sampling sites were chosen to be sampled in three field runs taking place in winter 2011, summer 2011, and winter 2012. The summer 2011 and winter 2012 sampling runs were done after tide gates had been removed from the marsh. The Geoprobe core samples were retrieved for extensive lab analysis. Analyses included; bulk density, porosity, permeability, and grain size studies. Lab results revealed a low permeability fine grained upper sedimentary unit ranging from ~0.5 to ~2.5 meters depth with a coarser grained higher permeability lower unit. GPR lines were analyzed for groundwater surface depths and buried channel cut and fill features (Peterson et. al., 2004). GPR results showed a fairly shallow groundwater surface around 0.5 meters in the north down to 2.0 meters in the south. The piezometer wells showed a seasonal variation in well water elevation with higher elevations in the winter and lower in the summer. Well water chemistry showed both seasonal and spatial variations. Values for pH and dissolved oxygen were lower in the north side of the marsh and higher in the south side, and pH was higher in the summer than in the winter. Wells that were more proximal (within ~400 m) to the Coquille River Estuary showed higher conductivity (salinity) values than those that were more distal (greater than ~400 m). Channel sampling results showed similar trends as the groundwater results. The lower pH values tended to be in the north side of the marsh as well as lower dissolved oxygen values. Again, there was a spatial variability in conductivity with the higher values found closer to the Coquille River. Conductivity in the channel water showed a great seasonal variability with the highest values occurring in the summer time and much lower values in the winter. As expected, channel water increased about 10°C on average from winter to summer. The results of all of these observations and analyses are combined to put together a generalized flow model showing the different water inputs into the channel waters on the Ni-les'tun Unit. Once these inputs were derived, conclusions can be made on the quality of the water and its ability to support small aquatic life.

The Chehalis River Basin is located in the southwest region of Washington State, originating in the Olympic Mountains and flowing to Grays Harbor and the Pacific Ocean. The Chehalis River is over 125 miles, exists within five counties, and flows through agricultural, residential, industrial, and forest land areas. Four major rivers discharge to the Chehalis River, as well as many smaller creeks, five wastewater treatment plants, and groundwater flows. Flooding is a major problem in the relatively flat areas surrounding the cities of Chehalis and Centralia, with severe consequences for property, safety and transportation. As a result, construction of a flood-control dam in the upper basin has been proposed. One major concern of constructing a dam is the potentially severe impacts to fish health and habitat. The Chehalis River has routinely violated water quality standards for primarily temperature and dissolved oxygen, and has had multiple water quality and Total Maximum Daily Load studies beginning in 1990. CE-QUAL-W2, a two-dimensional (longitudinal and vertical) hydrodynamic and water quality model, was used to simulate the Chehalis River, including free flowing river stretches and stratified (in summer) lake-like stretches. The goals of this research were to assess the flood retention structure's impacts to water quality, as well as river responses to potential climate change scenarios. In order to use the model to achieve these goals, calibration to field data for flow, temperature, and water quality constituents was performed. This involved developing meteorological data, riparian shading data, and flow, temperature, water quality records for all tributaries during the calibration period of January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2014. System cross-sectional geometry data were also required for the model grid. Because of the short travel time in the river, the model was sensitive to boundary condition data, wind speed, bathymetry, nutrient kinetics, and algae, epiphyton, and zooplankton kinetics. Future conditions showed predictions of warmer water temperatures and slight changes to water quality conditions on the river. As fish in the area prefer cooler water temperatures, this could pose a threat to fish health and habitat. Flood retention structures also showed impacts to river temperature and water quality. Structures with the purpose of flood retention only (only operating during times of flooding) gave model predictions for daily maximum temperature higher than structures that employed flood retention and flow augmentation (operating during all times of the year). This suggested the management of flow passage or retention by the dam is important for water quality on the river. As this research continues improvements will be made, particularly to temperature and water quality constituents. Additional data for the system would be beneficial to this process. Model predictions of temperature were sensitive to meteorological data, including cloud cover, which were largely estimated based on solar radiation. Additional meteorological data throughout the basin would be useful to temperature results. Temperature results were also sensitive to the model bathymetry, and additional investigations into segments widths and water depths may improve temperature predictions. Water quality constituent data were largely lacking for the system. Many estimation techniques and approximations were used for input water quality constituents for the model upstream boundary and tributaries when little or no data were available, introducing uncertainty to the model. It was not possible to calibrate pH to field data because alkalinity data were essentially unavailable. However, other constituents had good agreement between model predictions and field data, including dissolved oxygen, nitrates, total phosphorus, and total suspended solids.

Contaminants such as pharmaceuticals are of increasing concern due to their ubiquitous use and persistence in surface waters worldwide. Limited attention has been paid to the effects of pharmaceuticals on marine life, despite widespread detection of these contaminants in the marine environment. Of the existing studies, the majority assess the negative effects of pharmaceuticals over an exposure period of 30 days or less and focus on cellular and subcellular biomarkers. Longer studies are required to determine if chronic contaminant exposure poses risks to marine life at environmentally relevant concentrations. Also scarce in the literature is examination of whole organism effects to identify potential community-level consequences. Two long-term studies with the antidepressant pharmaceutical, fluoxetine (the active constituent in Prozac®) were conducted to determine whether nominal concentrations detected in estuarine and coastal environments affect organism health and interactions. First, we measured whole organism metrics in the California mussel, Mytilus californianus over a period of 107 days. Specifically, we measured algal clearance rates, growth, and condition indices for both reproductive and overall health. We found that fluoxetine negatively affects all measured characteristics, however many effects are mediated by length of exposure. Perhaps the most notable result was that mussels spiked with fluoxetine cleared less algae after 30 days of exposure. Reduced growth and condition indices likely are a consequence of improper nutrition among fluoxetine-treated mussels. Any level of fluoxetine significantly affected the gonadosomatic index after 47 days. The results from this study on mussels fill an important data gap, highlighting organism-level effects of chronic exposure periods; such data more explicitly identify the impacts of pharmaceuticals and other contaminants on marine communities and ecosystems. Fluoxetine has also been documented to affect the behavior of fish and invertebrates, including freshwater and marine bivalves, crustaceans, and fish. Given that other crustaceans exhibited increased activity levels under fluoxetine exposure, we hypothesized that this would subject them to greater predation risk. In our second exposure study, we assessed whether a similar range of fluoxetine concentrations used in the mussel study altered the risk behavior of the Oregon mud crab, Hemigrapsus oregonensis, in response to a common predator, the red rock crab, Cancer productus. We conducted this study for 60 days, conducting day and night behavioral trials (with and without predators) four times a week. We found that crabs exposed to any amount of fluoxetine (3 or 30 ng/L) had increased activity levels relative to controls; however behaviors of 3 ng/L-spiked crabs were not always significantly different from controls. Among control crabs, day and night trials yielded similar results, where a clear response to the addition of the predator was observed. Crabs dosed with fluoxetine exhibited more foraging and active behaviors in the presence of the predator. Additionally, crabs spiked with fluoxetine at 30 ng/L had the greatest risk of mortality either by predation by red rock crabs or due to more aggressive behaviors among conspecifics. The results of this study shed light on a particularly unexplored area of contaminants research: how do psychoactive pharmaceuticals affect animal behavior when exposed to the low concentrations persisting in the aquatic environment for a prolonged period of time?