a U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, Champaign, Illinois, USA b U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, National Soil Dynamics Laboratory, Auburn, Alabama, USA c Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, USA d Department of Crop Sciences, University of...

Urban rainwater reuse preserves water resources and promotes sustainable development in rapidly growing urban areas. The efficiency of a large number of urban water reuse systems, operating under different climate and demand conditions, is evaluated here on the base of a new risk analysis approach. Results obtained by probability analysis (PA) indicate that maximum efficiency in low demanding s...

The agriculture sector is highly exposed to climate change and, consequently, to its risks. The climate risk is capable of altering other risks such as asset depletion (damage and loss to assets as a result of extreme climate events), price risks (risk of falling or rising prices) and financial risk (from possible increase of interest rates). Based on the assumption that climate changes indirec...

How to feed the world without loosing what is left of biodiversity? Two answers for this question are found in the literature. On the one hand, the “Land Sparing” paradigm suggests that increasing yield by means of intensive agricultural systems would fulfill the needs of human population and save natural landscapes. On the other hand, “Biodiversity Friendly Farming” argues that agricultural in...

Irrigation is widely criticised as a profligate and wasteful user of water, especially in watershort areas. Improvements to irrigation management are proposed as a way of increasing agricultural production and reducing the demand for water. The terminology for this debate is often flawed, failing to clarify the actual disposition of water used in irrigation into evaporation, transpiration, and ...

In the present study, the amount of nitrate and phosphate leaching from agricultural lands into the Zanjanrood River in Iran was simulated using the Soil & Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model. The measured average monthly discharges at the Sarcham station were used to calibrate and validate the SWAT model, and the SWAT Calibration and Uncertainty Program (SWAT-CUP) model was applied to perform t...

Nitrate is a major contributor to water contamination, which can affect humans' and animals' health. Due to increased sewage production, growth of agricultural activities, and development of urbanization, recent years have seen an increase of Nitrate in water resources. Drinking water resources in both rural and urban areas of Jiroft City are supplied by water wells, scattered throughout the re...

The main content of the new European Water Framework Directive is presented. Within its river basin management approach, a special mention of coastal waters status is made. Among the issues at stake are the setting up of river basin management plans, including coastal waters, and water quality assessment system leading to an harmonized definition of quality objectives and their appropriate indi...

Drought is a complex and highly destructive natural phenomenon that affects portions of the United States almost every year, and severe water deficiencies can often become catastrophic for agricultural production. Evapotranspiration (ET) by crops is an important component in the agricultural water budget; thus, it is advantageous to include ET in agricultural drought monitoring. The main object...

The management of running waters is of great importance for the life of our society and one of the challenges to be met by future generations. The sustainable use of water resources for their exploitation in different aspects is essential. Also, the maintenance of good water quality, both sanitary and environmental, is essential, since it depends largely on the conservation of biodiversity (Fer...