Scientific Results

This catalogue is obtained by conducting a systematic literature review of scientific studies and reviews related to monitoring, forecasting, and simulating the inland water cycle. The analysis maps scientific expertise across research groups and classifies findings by the type of inland water studied, application focus, and geographical scope. A gap analysis will identify missing research areas and assess their relevance to policymaking.

ID â–² Type Year Authors Title Venue/Journal DOI Research type Water System Technical Focus Abstract Link with Projects Link with Tools Related policies ID
publications-3811 article 2012 Molinos-Senante, MarΓ­a and Molinos-Senante, MarΓ­a and HernΓ΅ndez-Sancho, Francesc and Sala-Garrido, RamΓ³n and HernΓ΅ndez-Sancho, Francesc and Sala-Garrido, RamΓ³n Economic feasibility study for new technological alternatives in wastewater treatment processes: a review Water Science and Technology 10.2166/wst.2012.936 The concept of sustainability involves the integration of economic, environmental, and social aspects and this also applies in the field of wastewater treatment. Economic feasibility studies are a key tool for selecting the most appropriate option from a set of technological proposals. Moreover, these studies are needed to assess the viability of transferring new technologies from pilot-scale to full-scale. In traditional economic feasibility studies, the benefits that have no market price, such as environmental benefits, are not considered and are therefore underestimated. To overcome this limitation, we propose a new methodology to assess the economic viability of wastewater treatment technologies that considers internal and external impacts. The estimation of the costs is based on the use of cost functions. To quantify the environmental benefits from wastewater treatment, the distance function methodology is proposed to estimate the shadow price of each pollutant removed in the wastewater treatment. The application of this methodological approach by decision makers enables the calculation of the true costs and benefits associated with each alternative technology. The proposed methodology is presented as a useful tool to support decision making.
publications-3812 article 2012 Hambly, Adam C. and Hambly, Adam and Henderson, Rita K. and Henderson, Rita K. and Baker, Andy and Baker, Andy and Stuetz, Richard M. and Stuetz, Richard M. and Khan, Stuart J. and Khan, Stuart J. Cross-connection detection in Australian dual reticulation systems by monitoring inherent fluorescent organic matter 10.1080/09593330.2012.696724 New housing developments are now commonly incorporating dual reticulation water systems for the redistribution of recycled water back to households for non-potable use. Within such distribution systems is the potential for cross-connections between recycled and drinking water pipelines, and a number of such events have been documented both in Australia and internationally. While many cross-connections are unlikely to present a source of health concern given the high level of recycled water treatment, they do have the potential to negatively impact public confidence in dual reticulation systems. A rapid and highly sensitive method of cross-connection detection is required to increase consumer confidence in the construction and maintenance of such recycled water distribution systems. This paper reviews a number of current and potential cross-connection detection methods, highlighting the use of fluorescence spectroscopy as a highly promising analytical tool for portable cross-connection detection.
publications-3813 article 2010 Pickering, Amy J. and Pickering, Amy J. and Boehm, Alexandria B. and Boehm, Alexandria B. and Mwanjali, Mathew and Mwanjali, Mathew and Davis, Jennifer and Davis, Jennifer Efficacy of waterless hand hygiene compared with handwashing with soap: a field study in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 10.4269/ajtmh.2010.09-0220 Effective handwashing with soap requires reliable access to water supplies. However, more than three billion persons do not have household-level access to piped water. This research addresses the challenge of improving hand hygiene within water-constrained environments. The antimicrobial efficacy of alcohol-based hand sanitizer, a waterless hand hygiene product, was evaluated and compared with handwashing with soap and water in field conditions in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Hand sanitizer use by mothers resulted in 0.66 and 0.64 log reductions per hand of Escherichia coli and fecal streptococci, respectively. In comparison, handwashing with soap resulted in 0.50 and 0.25 log reductions per hand of E. coli and fecal streptococci, respectively. Hand sanitizer was significantly better than handwashing with respect to reduction in levels of fecal streptococci (P = 0.01). The feasibility and health impacts of promoting hand sanitizer as an alternative hand hygiene option for water-constrained environments should be assessed.
publications-3814 article 2011 DolniΔ_x008d_ar, Sara and Dolnicar, Sara and Hurlimann, Anna and Hurlimann, Anna and GrΓΌn, Bettina and GrΓΌn, Bettina What affects public acceptance of recycled and desalinated water Water Research 10.1016/j.watres.2010.09.030 This paper identifies factors that are associated with higher levels of public acceptance for recycled and desalinated water. For the first time, a wide range of hypothesized factors, both of socio-demographic and psychographic nature, are included simultaneously. The key results, based on a survey study of about 3000 respondents are that: (1) drivers of the stated likelihood of using desalinated water differ somewhat from drivers of the stated likelihood of using recycled water; (2) positive perceptions of, and knowledge about, the respective water source are key drivers for the stated likelihood of usage; and (3) awareness of water scarcity, as well as prior experience with using water from alternative sources, increases the stated likelihood of use. Practical recommendations for public policy makers, such as key messages to be communicated to the public, are derived.
publications-3815 article 2013 Zechman, Emily M. and Zechman, Emily M. Integrating evolution strategies and genetic algorithms with agent-based modeling for flushing a contaminated water distribution system Journal of Hydroinformatics 10.2166/hydro.2013.102 Water utilities can prepare for water distribution hazards, such as the presence of contaminants in the pipe network and failure of physical components. In contamination events, the complex interactions among managers9 operational decisions, consumers9 water consumption choices, and the hydraulics and contaminant transport in the water distribution system may influence the contaminant plume so that a typical engineering model may not properly predict public health consequences. A complex adaptive system (CAS) approach couples engineering models of a water distribution system with agent-based models of consumers and public officials. Development of threat management strategies, which prescribe a set of actions to mitigate public health consequences, is enabled through a simulation–optimization framework that couples evolutionary algorithms with the CAS model. Evolution strategies and genetic algorithm-based approaches are developed and compared for an illustrative case study to identify a flushing strategy for opening hydrants to minimize the number of exposed consumers and maintain acceptable levels of service in the network.
publications-3816 article 2014 Grimm, Volker and Grimm, Volker and Augusiak, Jacqueline and Augusiak, Jacqueline and Focks, Andreas and Focks, Andreas and Frank, BΓ©atrice and Frank, BΓ©atrice and Gabsi, Faten and Gabsi, Faten and Johnston, Alice S.A. and Johnston, Alice S.A. and Chun, Liu and Liu, Chun and Martin, Benjamin T. and Martin, Benjamin T. and Meli, Mattia and Meli, Mattia and Radchuk, Viktoriia and Radchuk, Viktoriia and Thorbek, Pernille and Thorbek, Pernille and Railsback, Steven F. and Railsback, Steven F. Towards better modelling and decision support: Documenting model development, testing, and analysis using TRACE Ecological Modelling 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2014.01.018
publications-3817 article 2014 Nteli, Charalampia and Nteli, Charalampia and Galanis, Petros and Galanis, Petros and Koumpagioti, Despoina and Koumpagioti, Despoina and Poursanidis, Georgios and Poursanidis, Georgios and Panagiotopoulou, Eleni and Panagiotopoulou, Eleni and Matziou, Vasiliki and Matziou, Vasiliki Assessing the Effectiveness of an Educational Program on Compliance with Hand Hygiene in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit 10.1155/2014/704232 Objective. To identify the impact of an educational intervention on compliance of health professionals with hand hygiene. Method. The survey involved nurses, doctors, and physiotherapists who work in pediatric intensive care unit of a pediatric hospital. A multifaceted hand hygiene educational program was introduced with compliance assessed during successive observational surveys. Results. The total healthcare professionals’ compliance increased from 31.8\% in the baseline period to 51.5\% immediately after the first educational intervention, and it remained at improved levels (45.9\%) six months later, while after the completion of the second educational intervention it increased to 67.7\%. The nurses’ and doctors’ compliance increased from 30.4\% and 28.3\% at baseline period to 71.5\% and 60.2\%, respectively, during the study phases. Finally, physiotherapists’ compliance increased from 37.5\% at baseline period to 73.9\% after the completion of the second educational intervention. Conclusion. The degree of the staff’s compliance with hand hygiene in the pediatric intensive care unit after the educational program increased substantially. The continuing education and training of health professionals contribute to increasing the degree of compliance with the international recommendations for hand hygiene.
publications-3818 article 2001 Vikesland, Peter J. and Vikesland, Peter J. and Ozekin, Kenan and Ozekin, Kenan and Valentine, Richard L. and Valentine, Richard L. Monochloramine decay in model and distribution system waters. Water Research 10.1016/s0043-1354(00)00406-1
publications-3819 article 2014 Friedman, Kenneth and Friedman, Kenneth and Heaney, James P. and Heaney, James P. and Morales, Miguel and Morales, Miguel and Palenchar, John and Palenchar, John Analytical optimization of demand management strategies across all urban water use sectors Water Resources Research 10.1002/2013wr014261 An effective urban water demand management program can greatly influence both peak and average demand and therefore long-term water supply and infrastructure planning. Although a theoretical framework for evaluating residential indoor demand management has been well established, little has been done to evaluate other water use sectors such as residential irrigation in a compatible manner for integrating these results into an overall solution. This paper presents a systematic procedure to evaluate the optimal blend of single family residential irrigation demand management strategies to achieve a specified goal based on performance functions derived from parcel level tax assessor's data linked to customer level monthly water billing data. This framework is then generalized to apply to any urban water sector, as exponential functions can be fit to all resulting cumulative water savings functions. Two alternative formulations are presented: maximize net benefits, or minimize total costs subject to satisfying a target water savings. Explicit analytical solutions are presented for both formulations based on appropriate exponential best fits of performance functions. A direct result of this solution is the dual variable which represents the marginal cost of water saved at a specified target water savings goal. A case study of 16,303 single family irrigators in Gainesville Regional Utilities utilizing high quality tax assessor and monthly billing data along with parcel level GIS data provide an illustrative example of these techniques. Spatial clustering of targeted homes can be easily performed in GIS to identify priority demand management areas.
publications-3820 article 2015 Kanta, Lufthansa and Kanta, Lufthansa and Berglund, Emily Zechman and Berglund, Emily Zechman Exploring Tradeoffs in Demand-Side and Supply-Side Management of Urban Water Resources Using Agent-Based Modeling and Evolutionary Computation System 10.3390/systems3040287 Urban water supply systems may be managed through supply-side and demand-side strategies, which focus on water source expansion and demand reductions, respectively. Supply-side strategies bear infrastructure and energy costs, while demand-side strategies bear costs of implementation and inconvenience to consumers. To evaluate the performance of demand-side strategies, the participation and water use adaptations of consumers should be simulated. In this study, a Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) framework is developed to simulate consumer agents that change their consumption to affect the withdrawal from the water supply system, which, in turn influences operational policies and long-term resource planning. Agent-based models are encoded to represent consumers and a policy maker agent and are coupled with water resources system simulation models. The CAS framework is coupled with an evolutionary computation-based multi-objective methodology to explore tradeoffs in cost, inconvenience to consumers, and environmental impacts for both supply-side and demand-side strategies. Decisions are identified to specify storage levels in a reservoir that trigger: (1) increases in the volume of water pumped through inter-basin transfers from an external reservoir; and (2) drought stages, which restrict the volume of water that is allowed for residential outdoor uses. The proposed methodology is demonstrated for Arlington, Texas, water supply system to identify non-dominated strategies for an historic drought decade. Results demonstrate that pumping costs associated with maximizing environmental reliability exceed pumping costs associated with minimizing restrictions on consumer water use.