In southwestern Virginia, adequate sources of public water for small isolated communities are difficult to find. While many alternatives exist, one of the largest sources of water in this region is flooded abandoned coal mines. One such coal mine aquifer was chosen for a sustainability study in Dickenson County, Virginia. A flowrate monitoring system was installed at the point of discharge from the mine, and the flow records from three months of data collection were analyzed. The recording period included one of the driest periods in recent years, and the flowrate data recorded provided useful information regarding the sustainability of the system. After a study of the geology and groundwater flow patterns in the region, it was determined that a coal mine aquifer is very similar to the extremely heterogeneous system seen in karst landscapes. Thus, techniques common to karst phenomenon were used to analyze the spring hydrograph. A spring recession analysis was performed upon five storm recessions, and the coefficients for each recession compared and discussed in light of known geologic information. It was discovered that the recession coefficients described the flow from the mine very adequately and that the mine response to a rainfall pulse was very similar to the response of certain types of karst aquifers. This information was used to predict a sustainable flow from the mine. A cross-correlation analysis was performed in an attempt to fit a "black box" model to the flow data, as well as to verify the results of the spring recession analysis. The correlation analysis proved that one rainfall event produced many separate reactions in the flowrate at the mine discharge point. This strengthened results concluded by the recession analysis. It was found that the flow record was not long enough to adequately create a statistical model, but a procedure was described that could be used to model flows once a larger flow record was available. / Master of Science

Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning Systems (HVAC) are not only one of the most energy consuming components in buildings but also contribute to green house gas emissions. As a result often environmental design strategies are focused on the performance of these systems. New HVAC technologies such as Geothermal Heat Pump systems have relatively high performance efficiencies when compared to typical systems and therefore could be part of whole-building performance design strategies. In collaboration with the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center, Inc., this research studies the energy consumption and cost benefits of the Geothermal Heat Pump System that has been integrated and operated in the KnowledgeWorks I and II buildings located on the Virginia Tech campus. The purpose of this thesis is to understand the energy and cost benefits of the Geothermal Heat Pumps System when compared to the conventional package variable air volume (VAV) with hot water coil heating and air-source heat pump systems using computer simulation and statistical models. The quantitative methods of building energy performance and life-cycle cost analyses are applied to evaluate the results of simulation models, the in-situ monitoring data, and the associated documents. This understanding can be expanded to the higher level of architectural systems integration. / Master of Science

Construído nos primeiros anos do século XX, o Reservatório do Guarapiranga, apesar de ter sido pensado e concebido com vistas a produção energética, devido a uma conjunção de fatores, logo teve o uso de suas águas destinado ao abastecimento da população paulistana. Apesar disso, praticamente desde sua construção, a bacia do Guarapiranga sofre pressão pela ocupação de suas margens. Tal ocupação, especialmente a ocorrida a partir da década de 1960 com a extrema expansão da mancha urbana da metrópole, impactou negativamente a qualidade das águas, tanto dos rios e córregos, quanto do próprio reservatório. Para o combate desses impactos, foi instituída a Lei de Proteção aos Mananciais da década de 1970, que criou severas restrições à ocupação da bacia na tentativa de se equilibrar o uso do solo à função de produção hídrica a que a bacia estava sujeita. A legislação, entretanto, não conseguiu atingir seus objetivos sendo a área da bacia cada vez mais ocupada. No início da década de 1990, ocorreu uma revisão do instrumento legal (Lei nº 9866/97), assumindo a irreversibilidade da ocupação da bacia e prevendo não apenas a proteção da área, mas também sua recuperação, utilizando, para tanto, mecanismos adequados à nova situação político-administrativa a que o país estava inserido. Nesse contexto nasceu a Lei Específica da Bacia Hidrográfica do Guarapiranga (Lei nº 12233/06), instrumento legal vinculado à legislação de proteção dos mananciais da década de 1990. Esta Lei é relativamente recente e trata especificamente da bacia hidrográfica em questão, trazendo em seu texto alguns instrumentos inovadores para a gestão compartilhada e participativa do seu território. Este trabalho faz uma avaliação desta Lei sob o aspecto das dificuldades de sua efetiva implementação, principalmente no que se refere à aplicação dos instrumentos previstos em seu texto pelo poder público, em suas diferentes esferas. Verificou-se que, apesar dos sensíveis avanços quanto às premissas e o conteúdo da Lei, a maturidade de sua aplicação ainda é relativamente baixa, isso devido a dificuldades tanto nas áreas técnicas, de caráter mais específico, mas, especialmente, no campo institucional, estruturante, em que a Lei se apoia. Como resultado, destaca-se que o fortalecimento da integração entre as diversas esferas do poder público tem dimensão preponderante para o sucesso de aplicação da Lei, sendo a centralização da gestão da bacia a principal proposta na busca pela melhoria do desempenho dos processos. Como potencialidades ainda a serem mais bem exploradas, salienta-se a necessidade de melhoria da aplicação dos instrumentos e mecanismos de compensação às iniciativas de proteção de áreas verdes e o incentivo ao desenvolvimento de atividades compatíveis com a proteção dos mananciais como medidas essenciais à manutenção e recuperação da bacia com vistas à produção hídrica. / Initially created for energy production in the first years of the 20th century, the Guarapiranga reservoir soon became water supply for the population of São Paulo. Although the area should be protected, since its creation the Guarapiranga basin has been pressured by the human occupation of its margins. This occupation, intensified in the 1960s as the urban sprawl of the metropolis expanded, negatively impacted on the quality of the waters of the rivers, streams and the reservoir itself. In order to oppose this impact, the Law of Watershed Protection was created in the 1970s, establishing strict restrictions to human occupation in the basin area, in an attempt to balance the land use and the water production. The law, however, did not prevent the land occupation. In the early 1990s the law was reviewed (law number 9866/97), admitting the irreversibility of the basin occupation and foreseeing not only the protection of the area but also its recuperation making use of the new political situation of the country. In that context the Specific Law of the Guarapiranga Hydrographic Basin was created, based on the 1990s watershed protection legislation. This law is relatively new and brings some innovative instruments to a shared and participative management of its limits. This study aims to evaluate this law considering the difficulty of its effective implementation especially in the use of the instruments by the public power in its different levels. It was seen that despite the improvement of the assumptions and the law content, the level of its applicability is relatively low because of specific technical areas but mainly on the institutional and structuring field where the law is backed up. The conclusion was that despite great advancements regarding the assumptions and content of the law, the maturity of its enforcement is still relatively low because of difficulties on specific technical areas but mainly on the institutional field where the law is backed up. As a result, what stands out is the strengthening of the integration among different levels of government that has a key role on the success of the law enforcement where the centralization of the basin management is the main purpose in the search for the process development. As potentialities yet to be developed, the need to improve the instruments and mechanisms of compensations for protected areas and the development of activities compatible to the protection of the water sources are stressed as essential measures to the maintenance and protection of the basin in order to enhance the hydro production.

The following project aims to create a decentralised heat network development methodology which makes best use of heat sources and loads and can be widely applied to evaluate the energy economics of a heat network scheme and energy centre. As the energy transition takes shape, the key is connectivity and the potential now, or in the future to aid progressive development of energy systems and technologies rather than traditional models that consider schemes individually in isolation and not holistically; where with the latter we’re more likely to end up with robust, future-proof solutions.   A methodology was formulated which encompassed various elements of decentralised energy masterplanning approaches and enabled heat demand loads and associated profiles to be simulated. The development of an optimisation model enabled strategies to be devised (maximisation of energy generation and revenue independently) over a set technology lifetime for the energy centre.   The results have concluded that the maximisation of revenue optimisation strategy is the most viable economically. An energy generation optimisation for the energy centre produced optimal results in terms of its heat generation profile, however, the scheme was not economically viable due to significantly high capital costs associated with piping connections to multiple clusters.   A CO2 emission analysis was carried out for a selection of energy technologies (CHP, heat pumps and gas boilers) for the heat network energy centre. An evaluation of the results has concluded that the optimal selection of technology for the energy centre for the minimisation of CO2 emissions is heat pumps. When selecting combinations of technologies for peak and base loads within the energy centre, heat pumps (base load) and gas boilers (peak load) are optimal when aiming to maximise revenue generation whilst minimising CO2 emissions. In this case, reductions in associated CO2 emissions have been calculated to achieve up to 89.07% when compared to a base case gas boiler technology (energy centre) scenario alone.   The methodology and models developed in this project can be widely applied to decentralised heat network projects in London in order to identify optimal development and expansion strategies and evaluate the energy economics of schemes.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:31:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 3761.pdf: 2678039 bytes, checksum: f4460b15c2e18f389860f699420e9ded (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-06-01 / Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais / The unplanned development of urban communities strongly contributes to degradation of water resources, jeopardazing the quality of the water and the integrity of aquatic environments. The objetive of the present study was to evaluate the environmental quality of the water sources of River Monjolinho, located upstream the Water Pumping Station of Espraiado. Samplings were carried out in springs and afluent streams to Monjolinho River during two opposite climatic seasons, the rainy and the dry periods between 2009 and 2010. Physical and chemical analyses of water and sediment, ecotoxicological tests with Ceriodaphnia silvestrii and Hyalella meinerti were performed for these two compartments. The benthic macroinvertebrates and diatom communities were analysed in order to evaluate the environmental quality of all these sites. These data were used in different approaches: diversity indices, the biotic index BMWP, multivariate analyses and the Environmental Quality Triad. The water from São Rafael Stream, and the sediments of Cascavel, Middle Monjolinho, Ponte de Tábua and São Rafael streams collected at different sites and sampling periods were toxic to the aquatic biota. The benthic macroinvertebrates community and diatoms analyses evidenced that there are strong differences in the environmental quality between springs and affluents from left margin and those from right margin of Monjolinho River as a result of riparian forest removal or due to the type of soil use: urbanization or agriculture. Restoration measures in the headwaters of São Rafael Stream started by the Municipal Prefecture of São Carlos did not result in better environment quality and rather evidenced a strong contamination. Besides this site, the springs of Belvedere and Ponte de Tábua streams are the river stretches where the strongest impacts swere verified, however, all springs and streams upstream the Espraiado Water Supply Pumping Station need special attention from local government due to the low quality of its waters, exception of the Espraiado Stream. / O crescimento desordenado das cidades contribui fortemente para a degradação dos recursos hídricos, comprometendo a qualidade da água e a integridade desses ambientes. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a qualidade ambiental das nascentes do rio Monjolinho situadas à montante da Estação de Captação de água do Espraiado. Para isso, foram feitas coletas nos córregos afluentes e no rio Monjolinho, em dois períodos climáticos contrastantes: chuvoso e seco entre 2009 e 2010. Foram feitas análises físicas e químicas da água e do sedimento e testes ecotoxicológicos com Ceriodaphnia silvestrii e Hyalella meinerti nesses dois compartimentos. As comunidades de macroinvertebrados bentônicos e de diatomáceas foram analisadas visando avaliar a qualidade ambiental de todos os pontos de coleta. Esses dados foram utilizados para compor diversas abordagens: índices de diversidade, o índice biótico BMWP, análises multivariadas, e a Tríade de Qualidade Ambiental. A água do Córrego São Rafael e o sedimento dos córregos Cascavel, Monjolinho médio, Ponte de Tábua e São Rafael em diferentes pontos e períodos foram tóxicos à biota aquática. As comunidades de macroinvertebrados bentônicos e de diatomáceas evidenciaram diferenças marcantes na qualidade ambiental entre as nascentes e afluentes das margens direita e esquerda do rio Monjolinho em decorrência da remoção da mata ciliar ou dos tipos de ocupação do solo: urbanização ou agro-pecuária. As ações de recuperação da nascente do Córrego São Rafael empreendidas pela Prefeitura Municipal de São Carlos não resultaram em maior qualidade ambiental, evidenciando ainda um elevado grau de contaminação. Além deste ponto, as nascentes dos córregos Belvedere e Ponte de Tábua, bem como a foz desse último córrego foram os locais onde se registrou maior grau de impacto, porém toda a sub-bacia necessita de especial atenção do poder público, devido às intensas pressões antrópicas nesses mananciais e da baixa qualidade de suas águas, exceto a do Córrego do Espraiado.

Construído nos primeiros anos do século XX, o Reservatório do Guarapiranga, apesar de ter sido pensado e concebido com vistas a produção energética, devido a uma conjunção de fatores, logo teve o uso de suas águas destinado ao abastecimento da população paulistana. Apesar disso, praticamente desde sua construção, a bacia do Guarapiranga sofre pressão pela ocupação de suas margens. Tal ocupação, especialmente a ocorrida a partir da década de 1960 com a extrema expansão da mancha urbana da metrópole, impactou negativamente a qualidade das águas, tanto dos rios e córregos, quanto do próprio reservatório. Para o combate desses impactos, foi instituída a Lei de Proteção aos Mananciais da década de 1970, que criou severas restrições à ocupação da bacia na tentativa de se equilibrar o uso do solo à função de produção hídrica a que a bacia estava sujeita. A legislação, entretanto, não conseguiu atingir seus objetivos sendo a área da bacia cada vez mais ocupada. No início da década de 1990, ocorreu uma revisão do instrumento legal (Lei nº 9866/97), assumindo a irreversibilidade da ocupação da bacia e prevendo não apenas a proteção da área, mas também sua recuperação, utilizando, para tanto, mecanismos adequados à nova situação político-administrativa a que o país estava inserido. Nesse contexto nasceu a Lei Específica da Bacia Hidrográfica do Guarapiranga (Lei nº 12233/06), instrumento legal vinculado à legislação de proteção dos mananciais da década de 1990. Esta Lei é relativamente recente e trata especificamente da bacia hidrográfica em questão, trazendo em seu texto alguns instrumentos inovadores para a gestão compartilhada e participativa do seu território. Este trabalho faz uma avaliação desta Lei sob o aspecto das dificuldades de sua efetiva implementação, principalmente no que se refere à aplicação dos instrumentos previstos em seu texto pelo poder público, em suas diferentes esferas. Verificou-se que, apesar dos sensíveis avanços quanto às premissas e o conteúdo da Lei, a maturidade de sua aplicação ainda é relativamente baixa, isso devido a dificuldades tanto nas áreas técnicas, de caráter mais específico, mas, especialmente, no campo institucional, estruturante, em que a Lei se apoia. Como resultado, destaca-se que o fortalecimento da integração entre as diversas esferas do poder público tem dimensão preponderante para o sucesso de aplicação da Lei, sendo a centralização da gestão da bacia a principal proposta na busca pela melhoria do desempenho dos processos. Como potencialidades ainda a serem mais bem exploradas, salienta-se a necessidade de melhoria da aplicação dos instrumentos e mecanismos de compensação às iniciativas de proteção de áreas verdes e o incentivo ao desenvolvimento de atividades compatíveis com a proteção dos mananciais como medidas essenciais à manutenção e recuperação da bacia com vistas à produção hídrica. / Initially created for energy production in the first years of the 20th century, the Guarapiranga reservoir soon became water supply for the population of São Paulo. Although the area should be protected, since its creation the Guarapiranga basin has been pressured by the human occupation of its margins. This occupation, intensified in the 1960s as the urban sprawl of the metropolis expanded, negatively impacted on the quality of the waters of the rivers, streams and the reservoir itself. In order to oppose this impact, the Law of Watershed Protection was created in the 1970s, establishing strict restrictions to human occupation in the basin area, in an attempt to balance the land use and the water production. The law, however, did not prevent the land occupation. In the early 1990s the law was reviewed (law number 9866/97), admitting the irreversibility of the basin occupation and foreseeing not only the protection of the area but also its recuperation making use of the new political situation of the country. In that context the Specific Law of the Guarapiranga Hydrographic Basin was created, based on the 1990s watershed protection legislation. This law is relatively new and brings some innovative instruments to a shared and participative management of its limits. This study aims to evaluate this law considering the difficulty of its effective implementation especially in the use of the instruments by the public power in its different levels. It was seen that despite the improvement of the assumptions and the law content, the level of its applicability is relatively low because of specific technical areas but mainly on the institutional and structuring field where the law is backed up. The conclusion was that despite great advancements regarding the assumptions and content of the law, the maturity of its enforcement is still relatively low because of difficulties on specific technical areas but mainly on the institutional field where the law is backed up. As a result, what stands out is the strengthening of the integration among different levels of government that has a key role on the success of the law enforcement where the centralization of the basin management is the main purpose in the search for the process development. As potentialities yet to be developed, the need to improve the instruments and mechanisms of compensations for protected areas and the development of activities compatible to the protection of the water sources are stressed as essential measures to the maintenance and protection of the basin in order to enhance the hydro production.

No description available.

A bacia hidrográfica do Rio Grande de Ubatuba (26Km2) encontra-se quase que totalmente recoberta com vegetação nativa da Mata Atlântica, e grande parte está inserida no interior do Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar. O Rio Grande é um manancial estratégico para o município, pois abastece 88% da população, que recebe água tratada de serviço público. Com o propósito de conhecer a potencialidade hídrica do manancial de forma a subsidiar tecnicamente a elaboração do Plano de Manejo para a bacia, o presente estudo foi conduzido para gerar a série histórica de vazão, usando o Modelo SMAP (Soil Moisture Accounting Procedure) e analisar o balanço entre a disponibilidade e a demanda de água. Com apenas quatro anos incompletos de dados fluviométricos e com a série histórica de 67 anos de dados de precipitação, foi possível calibrar os parâmetros e validar o modelo com uma correlação de 0,838 entre as vazões estimada e observada e por último gerar a serie histórica de vazão. Com a série histórica de vazão gerada foi feita a análise temporal do balanço entre a disponibilidade e demanda que permitiram identificar a insuficiência hídrica para atender a demanda para abastecimento público ou para manutenção dos processos ecológicos do manancial, considerando três aspectos: a flutuação da população, a ocorrência de anos hídricos secos e, mesmo nos anos hídricos normais, ocorrência de períodos de meses secos prolongados. Com base na análise conjunta dos resultados, algumas ações consideradas compatíveis para a prevenção de possível escassez de água no futuro foram formuladas, visando proporcionar melhor qualidade de vida à população. / The Rio Grande Watershed of Ubatuba (26km2 ) is almost completely covered with native Atlantic Rainforest vegetation, and a large part is within the bounds of the Serra do Mar State Park. The Rio Grande is a strategic water source for the municipality, supplying 88% of the population demand with treated water via a public service. In order to analyse the water potential of the source and to acquire technical information for the preparation of the Watershed Management Plan, this study was carried generate streamflow historic data, using the SMAP (Soil Moisture Accounting Procedure) model. This, in turn, permitted to analyse the balance between demand and availability of water.With only 4 years of incomplete streamflow data and 67 years of rainfall data, it was possible to calibrate the parameters and validate the model with a correlation of 0.838 between the estimated and observed flows, and finally produce a streamflow history.To produce the streamflow history, a time analysis was carried out with the balance between availability and demand, which allowed the identification of water shortages for public supply, as well as for the maintenance of the stream ecological processes, considering the following three aspects: population fluctuations, the occurrence of drought years and, even in normal years, the occurrence of extended periods of drought.

Water is a vital resource for species inhabiting arid and semi-arid regions and can shape the biotic communities that we observe. Because water is considered a limiting resource for many species in desert environments, there is the potential for competitive interactions between species to occur at or around water sources. For this dissertation I tested hypotheses related to resource competition among different species of wildlife in the Great Basin and Mojave Deserts of western Utah. Chapter one evaluated the influence of feral horses (Equus caballus) on patterns of water use by communities of native birds and mammals. Chapter two determined if feral horses competed with pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) for access to water. In chapters one and two, we found evidence that horses compete with native wildlife for water. In chapter one, horses were associated with decreased richness and diversity of native species at water sources. Native species also had fewer visits and spent less time at water sources frequented by horses. In chapter two, we found that pronghorn and mule deer used water sources less often where horse activity was high. There were also significant differences in temporal activity for pronghorn, but not mule deer, at horse-occupied sites versus sites where horses were absent or uncommon. Our results indicated that horses spatially and temporally displaced other species at water sources providing evidence of a negative influence on how communities of native wildlife access a limited resource in an arid environment. Chapter three assessed whether dominant carnivores (coyote (Canis latrans) and bobcat (Lynx rufus)) negatively influenced the spatial use of water sources by the subordinate kit fox (Vulpes macrotis). Our results did not reveal strong negative associations between kit fox visits to water sources and visits by dominant carnivores; in fact, dominant carnivores contributed very little to the use of water by kit foxes. Instead, kit fox visits were more closely associated with habitat features at water sources. Our findings indicate that dominant carnivores are not the primary driver of use of water sources by subordinate carnivores. Chapter four evaluated whether a simulated loss of water due to climate change/increased human use would differentially affect desert bats based on flight morphology and maneuverability. When we experimentally reduced surface area of water sources, larger, less-maneuverable bats experienced a 69% decrease in drinking success and increased competition with smaller, maneuverable bats. Anticipated reductions in the sizes of water sources due to climate change may lead to species with less maneuverability being unable to access water efficiently and facing increased competition from more agile bats.

<p>Bornsjön är Stockholms viktigaste reservvattentäkt och kan tillgodose staden med dricksvatten i flera månader om Mälaren skulle slås ut. Det är därför viktigt att Bornsjön håller en god vattenkvalitet. Under de senaste åren har vattenkvaliteten avseende totalfosfor i Bornsjön försämrats. Hög belastning av fosfor kan leda till övergödning i en sjö. När en sjö är övergödd uppstår ökad syreförbrukning som kan leda till syrebrist. Vid syrebrist frigörs fosfor från sediment och det blir större näringstillgång som bidrar till mer övergödning. Övergödning beror ofta på utsläpp från punktkällor, till exempel från avloppsvattenutsläpp, men kan även bero på diffusa utsläpp från jordbruksmark och skog inom avrinningsområdet.</p><p>Syftet med examensarbetet var att förstå vilka fosforprocesser som är viktiga för Bornsjönsom ekosystem och med den dynamiska massbalansmodellen LakeMab utvärdera olika realistiska åtgärder för att minska belastningen av totalfosfor. Marken runt Bornsjön ägs av Stockholm Vatten och med resultaten från detta arbete ska Stockholm Vatten få olika förslag på vilka åtgärder som bör prioriteras. Resultat från andra kända modeller har även jämförts med LakeMabs resultat.</p><p>Studien visade att det är möjligt att reglera belastningen av totalfosfor på Bornsjön genom till exempel införande av vallodling, minskning av åkerareal och genom minskade utsläpp från enskilda avlopp. Dessa olika åtgärder kan kombineras för ökad effekt. Det är även möjligt att sänka totalfosforkoncentrationen i sjön genom att sänka sjöns pH-värde. Detta är dock en åtgärd som inte rekommenderas på grund av att en förändring av det naturliga pH-värdet påverkar ekosystemet.</p><p>För att i framtiden kunna göra liknande studier med mer tillförlitliga resultat bör provtagningsprogrammet i dikena utökas, speciellt vid kraftig nederbörd då fosforläckaget från marken är större.</p> / <p>Lake Bornsjön is Stockholm’s most important reserve water source and can supply the city with drinking water for several months in case Mälaren would be polluted. Thus it is important to maintain the water quality of Bornsjön. In the last years the quality of the drinking water has in reference to total phosphorus in Bornsjön degraded. High load of phosphorus leads to eutrophication in lakes. When a lake is eutrophicated the respiration increases, which may lead to a lack of oxygen in the water. At reduced conditions of oxygen, phosphorus will be released from the sediments which lead to an increased eutrophication. Eutrophication is often the result of anthropogenic point sources, for example waste water treatment plants, but can also be due to diffuse sources like agricultural and forests within the catchment area.</p><p>The purpose with this Master degree project was to understand which phosphorus processesare important for Bornsjön as an ecosystem and with the dynamic mass balance model LakeMab evaluate different realistic actions to decrease the load of total phosphorus. Most of the catchment area around Bornsjön is owned by Stockholm Vatten and the aim of this project is to recommend Stockholm Vatten which actions should be prioritized. Also, results from other models have been compared with the results from LakeMab.</p><p>This study showed that it is possible to regulate the load of total phosphorus to Bornsjön, for example with ley farming, less agricultural area and decreased load from individual sewage systems. These different actions can be combined for an increased effect. It is even possible to lower the concentration of the total phosphorus in the lake by decreasing its pH-value. However, this action is not recommended because a change of the natural pH will affect the ecosystem.</p><p>To make similar studies in the future with more reliable results it is important to extend the sample scheme for the ditches, especially at occasions with high precipitation which leads to increased phosphorus leakage from the soil.</p>