The Palmiet wetlands located along the Kromrivier in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa have experienced severe degradation through gully erosion during the past decennia which has been threatening the water quality and water security of large towns in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan hub. Water scarcity is a growing problem in this region as a result of land degradation and growing erratic rainfall patterns. The main causes of wetland degradation are argued to be land use and land cover change. With the aim of protecting the wetlands along the Kromrivier a total of eleven large gabion and concrete erosion-control structures were constructed between the 2002 and 2013 by the government initiate Working for Wetlands. This study aims to map the groundwater table in order to derive how erosion-control structures and gully erosion affect groundwater dynamics along the Kromrivier. This was achieved by several steps. Firstly, water table elevations were measured along several transects by installing a series of piezometers which allowed do investigate how the structures affected the water table. This also allowed for a comparison in groundwater dynamics between eroded and non-eroded reaches so that effects of gully erosion could be identified and potential causes discussed. Secondly, the analysis of aerial images allowed for the development of the aerial extent of the Palmiet wetland and gullies to be seen over a ten year period and longitudinal profiles provided specific characteristics of the wetland and gullies. Lastly, particle size distribution and organic matter content were analyzed as groundwater flow and gully erosion can vary greatly depending on soil characteristics. The hydraulic gradient was highest in proximity to the structures as a result of the created potential induced by the drop in surface water elevation. The radius of influence to where the structures were affected the water table was estimated to be approximately 40 m from the channel. Further away from the channel, the gradual slope of the water table indicated that the porous gabion side walls of the structures did not affect the water table. The groundwater flow is determined by Darcy's Law and the relatively flat water table along the non-eroded reaches of site A displayed local drainage points, thereby indicating variations in the local flow direction. In May the water table along the non-eroded reaches was sloping away from the channel resulting in an area of groundwater discharge with respect to the channel. Not only was the water table generally higher during August, the regime had also changed, indicating a potentially large seasonal variability. Along the eroded reaches downstream from the structures the water table was above the gully bottom during both months resulting in an area of groundwater recharge with respect to the channel. Also here the regime had changed from an approximately constant hydraulic gradient sloping towards the channel during May to a water table with a divide in flow direction. Since their implementation in 2003, the structures have been effective with respect to preventing the headcut in the main channel from migrating further upstream. However, the gullies downstream of the structures had significantly increased in width between 2003 and 2013 and the Palmiet wetland had also slightly decreased in size during the same period. However, it was unclear whether this decrease was part of the longer term ongoing trend or part of a shorter term cycle and/or seasonal fluctuation. For a gully bank to collapse, the shear strength of the slip surface needs to be exceeded and this often occurs because of an increase in pore water pressurewhich causes a reduction in shear strength. A large gully height of up to 4 m with nearly vertical slopes, a water table above the gully bottom and an increase in moisture content between May and August indicated that it is not unlikely that a high pore water pressure. played a significant role in the slumping of the gully walls. The two structures together were responsible for an surface water elevation difference of 7.76 m. Through damming this resulted in an elevated water table in the upstream Palmiet wetland, thereby increasing the saturation and promoting diffuse flow across the wetland. However, the structures also trap most of the sediment in upstream direction which appears to have resulted in the de-stabilization of the downstream streambed at site A as these eroded reaches now receive a significantly lower sediment load. By increasing the retention volume in the wetland, the structures also facilitated in ensuring flood retention as the wetland could now hold more water during high flows, thereby cutting off the peak flow. As gully erosion is known to occur during periods of high flow it is not unreasonable to argue that slumping of the gully walls would have been more severe without the structures in place. In this sense the structures increase the water quality and decrease the flux of sediment where the latter leads to a decrease in the sedimentation rate of the downstream Churchill Dam. Consequently, this contributes to securing the fresh water supply to towns in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan hub. The discovery of Palmiet rests up to 2.6 m below the surface indicated that cycles of gully erosion followed by the re-establishment of Palmiet have been occurring in this valley for thousands of years. However, it seemed that land use and land cover changes had accelerated gully erosion during the past decades resulting in a loss of Palmiet wetland at a rate which was beyond 'natural'. Even though the structures could be seen as disruptions of long term natural cycles, they are in favor of the well-being of mankind as they protect the wetlands to a certain extent. The main results of this study provided a basic understanding of how the water table behaves in response to the structures and along eroded and non-eroded reaches of the Kromrivier. Furthermore, this study discussed the larger scale affects of the structures and showed how the gullies and the aerial extent of the Palmiet wetland have evolved since the implementation of the structures in 2003. In order to manage these Palmiet wetlands more effectively in the future, it is highly important that groundwater dynamics, gully erosion and the size and health of the wetland are annually monitored in order to get a more accurate idea of how effective these structures are. This new obtained knowledge could also assist in managing other peat lands in South Africa more effectively.

Geothermal arsenic (As) and its inorganic species transformation in river systems are of global concern, since As has a potential negative impact on human health and ecosystems. Periods of increased precipitation may change As concentrations and As partitioning in streams, due to elevated water tables, increased runoff generation, dilution, and interactions with sediment.In this study we investigate hydrological conditions of Jemez River, located along the Jemez fault in NM, USA, during the monsoon months June, July and August of 2015. We aim at determining how different hydrological conditions in the Jemez River during the monsoon months might affect the concentrations and riverine mass flows of geothermally derived (total) As and As III discharging in a travertine- and hot spring area called Soda Dam. Water and sediment from the river and hot springs sites, as well as streamflow measurements along a 22 km river reach were collected. The chemical composition of water and sediment was determined using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry/Mass Spectrometry (ICP-OES/MS); and Ion Chromatography (IC) as well as a High Performance Liquid Chromatograph (HPLC) coupled to an ICP-MS for further water analysis. Discharge and mass flows as well as element inputs and outputs to/from Soda Dam was computed. The measurement months were characterized by a median discharge of 1642 L/s. During the measurement campaigns peak flows occurred with discharges of 2.5×104 to 6.1×104 L/s during the measurement campaigns. Arsenic concentrations were between 1.3 and 107 μg/L in river water, between 167.3 and 6707 μg/L in hot spring waters, and between 0.37 and 13.1 μg/kg in river bed sediment. Arsenic III was found in hot springs water and river water. Infiltration and subsurface flows induced by fault-associated fractures and permeability structures were found to be likely to divert water at Soda Dam, as reflected in large discharge differences along the reach (470 to 1305 L/s). These flows also had an impact on As concentrations in riverine and hot spring water since they mobilize As from bedrock and sediment. Changing mass flows of As can only in a few cases be explained by dilution processes by Jemez River, which has previously been assumed to be the main control on As mass flows along the stretch. Instead, our findings are likely to reflect changes in chemical composition of the mixed geothermal waters discharging at Soda Dam, due to changing mixing ratios of ground waters of different compositions. The present study hence provides a refined interpretation of the hydrological pathways in Soda Dam and Jemez River, and calls for more discharge and geochemical investigations during a longer study period, to properly investigate the driving forces behind the fate of the As from geothermal fluids.

During the summer of 2013 the environmental office at Lycksele Municipality received a complaint, regarding algal blooms at the stream outlet between the lakes Kalven and Byssträsket in the southern parts of Lycksele Municipality. No deeper studies were made to ensure what could have caused the bloom. The purpose of this report was to examine if there was a specific source contributing to high levels of nutrients in the stream, mainly focusing on clear-cuts and a small dam by the stream inlet, and if the nutrient status differed along the stream flow. Therefore, suitable sites were picked for examination, following the stream flow between the two lakes, and in a stream not affected by clear-cuts for reference. Water samples were picked at each site, determining the status of the parameters total-nitrogen, total-phosphorus, nitrate, ammonium, pH and conductivity. The result showed quite high levels of total-phosphorus (ranging from 40-50 µg/l) and total-nitrogen (ranging from 350-450 µg/l), but low levels of ammonium and nitrate. The results showed no sign of a nutrient input from a specific location. The conclusion of this study is that the present nutrient levels could be high enough to result in a bloom, though probably dependent on contributing factors, such as warmer weather and lower water levels. An alternative explanation is that the nutrient levels could have been higher 2013, deriving from new clear-cuts, but that these clear-cuts stopped leaching nutrients due to older age. Hence, due to lack of previous studies no exact assumption can be made

Lake Urmia, located in the north-west of Iran, is one of the largest hypersaline lakes in the world. In recent years, there has been a significant decrease in the lake’s area and volume by 88% and 80% respectively. An integrated water balance model of the Lake Urmia Drainage Basin (LUDB) and Lake Urmia was developed to identify these main drivers of the significant changes, and to investigate the possible future evolution of the lake under effects of projected climate change and land use change. We used an energy balance method to estimate the evaporation from the lake and the Turc-Langbein method to estimate the evapotranspiration from the drainage basin of the lake. Agricultural irrigation water was introduced to the model as an extra precipitation over the irrigated fields, after being subtracted from the surplus runoff (precipitation−evapotranspiration). The agricultural land development was assumed to be linear that changed from 300000 ha at 1979 to 500000 at 2010, which is consistent with the best available data on the actual irrigation development in the basin. We estimated the annual evaporation over the Lake Urmia and the evapotranspiration over its drainage basin as 932 mm and 287 mm respectively. Our results showed that decreased precipitation and increased temperature over the basin since 1995 could explain 68% of the observed lake level decrease. Irrigation developments during the last four decades were found to be responsible for 32% of the observed lake level decrease. Thus the future lake level of the Lake Urmia is very likely to continue to decrease unless the current climate condition will be followed by a period of increased precipitation. If the current climate conditions will prevail also in the future, even a 20% decrease in the irrigated land area, which is actually quite ambitious, will not make the lake recover to its ecological level at the end of 2020.

At the end of the 20th century, the combination of climatic and anthropogenic events resulted in hyper salinity conditions in the coastal wetland Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta (CGSM), Colombia. Although salinity concentrations are generally related to the type and quantity of water entering and exiting a wetland and to its internal hydrological dynamics, there have been no up to date hydrological studies on the CGSM. Here we show how a water budget can be used as a first-order of approximation to describe the CGSM's hydrology, despite data limitations. We collected hydroclimatic data to calculate and analyze the fluxes of water entering and exiting CGSM and their corresponding uncertainties. We find that the water budget is mostly affected by the precipitation regime, a result connected to studies of regional El Niño/La Niña effects. Scenario analyses show that contribution of freshwater from the streams coming down from the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range on the eastern side of CGSM is currently larger than that of the channels draining from Magdalena River to the west, in contrast to the general focus on the western side. However, Monte Carlo simulations suggest that the eastern freshwater inflow is insignificant in affecting the hydrological response of CGSM. These results outline the need to (1) increase understanding of the internal connectivity and circulation of CGSM and (2) further investigate the effect of agriculture on the eastern side of CGSM.

Groundwater level models have an important role in the development and application of water management and policies. Understanding the temporal and spatial variations of groundwater levels in the Gorran water protection area in Nynäshamn is important for developing management strategies. Geostatistical analysis with several different methods was used to compare groundwater level records for 13 observation wells in Gorran from 1994 to 2012. The performance of the different methods was evaluated by using mean absolute error (MAE) and root mean square error (RMSE) metrics. The results showed that geostatistical methods had a higher general accuracy when utilizing the Empirical Bayesian kriging (EBK) method in Gorran. EBK was the best method with highest precision and lowest mean absolute error. Cross-validation was also applied to evaluate the best (smallest) root mean square error (RMSE). A predicted potentiometric groundwater level was estimated from the basis of the available digital elevation model to extend the observation area within the same geological specification. / Grundvattennivåns modeller har en viktig roll i utvecklingen och tillämpningen av vattenförvaltning och politik. Genom att förstå de tidsmässiga och geografiska variationer grundvattennivån i Gorran skyddat område är viktigt för att utveckla hanteringens strategier.Geostatistical analys med olika modeller som Inverse Distanse Weighted, Radial Basic Funktion och kriging modeller användes för att jämföra grundvattennivåns rekord under 13 observations brunnar 1994 till 2012. Prestandan hos metoder utvärderades med hjälp av medelabsolutfelet (MAE) och rot medelkvadratfelet (RMSE). Resultatet visade att geostatistiska metoder hade högre noggrannhet och Empirical Bayesian kriging (EBK) var den bästa metoden med högsta precision och lägst medelabsolutfel. Cross-validering applicerades också för att utvärdera de bästa minsta kvadratiska medelvärdet (RMSE). Förutsatt potentiometrisk grundvattennivå genomfördes från digital höjdmodell för att förlänga observations område inom samma geologiska specifikation.

Akviferlager är en form av geoenergi där solenergi lagrad i grundvattnet används för att värma och kyla byggnader. Inför anläggandet av ett akviferlager är det viktigt med grundläggande geologiska och hydrogeologiska utredningar för att säkerställa funktion och kapacitet hos akviferlagret, samt minimera eventuell miljöpåverkan. I denna studie utvecklas en tredimensionell geologisk modell för att öka kunskapen om rullstensåsens geologiska uppbyggnad samt bedöma hur geologin kan komma att påverka det planerade akviferlagret. För att undersöka vilken påverkan manuella justeringar och tolkningar av geologin har, togs två geologiska modeller fram för jämförelse. Utifrån de geologiska modellerna uppskattades effektiv hydraulisk konduktivitet för åsen, d.v.s. sammanlagd konduktivitet för hela akviferens mäktighet, samt transporttid mellan akviferlagrets brunnspoler. Studien visar att akviferen består av sammanhängande jordlager med hög hydraulisk konduktivitet. Beroende på tolkningar och justeringar i modelleringsprocessen visar de två olika modellerna på skillnader vad gäller jordlagrens utbredning och mäktighet. Detta medför skillnader i effektiv hydraulisk konduktivitet mellan modellerna, vilket resulterar i relativt stora skillnader vad gäller transporttider mellan brunnspolerna. Tredimensionella geologiska modeller bedöms bidra till förbättrade hydrogeologiska utredningar då det är ett enkelt och effektivt sätt att bygga upp ett områdes geologi för översikt, tolkning och vidare studier i form av exempelvis grundvattenmodellering.

Erosional issues in the Brahmaputra River in the eastern Himalayas pose increasing pressure on the nearby societies and ecosystems. With a proceeding climate change and increasing anthropogenic disturbance, predictive models are needed to evaluate the effect on sediment transport. Especially in braided rivers, like the Brahmaputra, sediment transport processes imply high demands on numerical models. The objective is therefore to assess the sensitivity of sediment transport on changed river characteristics in the Brahmaputra River, in order to qualitatively evaluate future possible dynamics. Through the one-dimensional steady state model, HEC-RAS 4.1, the braided river was simplified into a single straight channel to enable an extensive reach (700 km) to be modelled. Since little comparative data were at hand, a literature review gathered independent estimates of each parameter. Their natural variability was applied in the sensitivity analysis, and the model produced a suspended sediment load representing approximately 35% of observed data. The sensitivity analysis showed that the channel bathymetry form had a large impact on the model results, whereas the amount of lateral inflow (both surface and subsurface waters) to the main channel flow had a very small impact. Overall, the suspended sediment load were interpreted to be increasing from a future climate change, while further river regulation could counteract such elevation. Further studies are required concerning the river bathymetry in large scale modelling and to address transport of finer cohesive sediments. This methodology proposes a novel approach on how to analyze sediment transport at a large scale that could be used as a tool to interpret future possible changes and ultimately contribute to a better understanding of sediment transport modelling in the area.

Since many diseases in Kenya arise from low quality drinking water, new effective cleaning systems and techniques, which can be deployed without extensive infrastructure investments, are needed. Solar-powered titanium dioxide (TiO2) photocatalysis could be one promising candidate, which can meet these demands. In the present project photocatalytic water cleaning technologies were evaluate at the University of Eldoret in Kenya.A portable photocatalysis reactor, suitable for field work, which was developed by researchers at the Divison of Solid state physics, Dept. Engineering Sciences at Uppsala University, was used for performing water cleaning studies on-site and for educational purposes. Evaluation of photocatalytic performance was also evaluated in Petri dishes by degrading dye and bacteria from various water samples.Results showed clear photocatalytic activity in Petri dishes with certain dye concentration and bacteria abundance was lower after water treatment. The initial tests of the photocatalytic reactor were not satisfactory, but nevertheless indicated that dye degradation may be possible to monitor with additional improvements of the reactor. We see good potential, from a practical and long term sustainability perspective, to further develop photocatalysis competence at University of Eldoret. / Minor Field Study

The purpose of this essay is to investigate the origin of the large amount of precipitation that is present in the northern Ethiopian Highlands. With Moisture transport into the Ethiopian Highlands by Ellen Viste and Asgeir Sorteberg as a base, this essays intents to compare the same data but by focusing on a much smaller time scale. This frame was chosen to see if the data would deviate (i.e. a small and specific time scale versus a large and general time scale). Whilst the investigation by Viste and Sorteberg focuses on the two most rain rich months, July and August during 1998-2008, this essay focuses on only July during 2008.                       To investigate where the precipitation originates from, this essay has analyzed different meteorological parameters such as horizontal and vertical winds at different altitudes and the moisture content of these winds.                       This essay has like Viste’s and Sorteberg’s paper used ERA-Interim data as a basis. However the course of action has differed. This essay has made conclusions by visually drawing conclusions by studying the data images while Viste and Asgeir have drawn their conclusions by backtracking the wind to its origin.                       This investigations results showed that great amounts of moisture were transported into the highlands from the south-west, and to some extent also from the north. While the moisture transport from the south-west was large due to the level of moist in the air, these winds where fairly small and at low altitudes. The winds from the north were visible at higher altitudes and were stronger, however they carried much less water vapor. However, exactly how much each of these winds actually contributed to producing rain is more difficult to say.                       The results from Viste and Asgeir (2011) showed that the amount of moist that was transported into the highlands were about 46 percent more from the north compared to from the south. The contribution to moisture release within the area was however almost equally great from north and south.                       Both investigations thus showed that the largest amount of moist was transported from the south and north. What this study did however not address was how large amount of the entire moist that had contributed to rain.                       One anomaly of large amounts of precipitation was registered on the 20th of July 2008. This study looked closer into this which showed that large winds were registered this date as well as an upwind cell. One can presume that these winds carried large amounts of moisture, which previous results has shown, and that this might be an explanation to the large amount of precipitation that was measured on the 20th of July.