Hydraulic engineering

River damming can harness hydropower, control flooding and store water, but can also alter biogeochemistry in reservoirs and downstream environments. In this Review, the impacts of dams on nutrient cycling and greenhouse production are discussed, emphasizing the need to consider biogeochemical cycling at all stages of dam lifespan.

Towards optimizing the conjunctive operation of surface and groundwater resources in arid and semi-arid regions, here the authors propose a hybrid method involving moth-swarm and symbiotic organism search algorithms and artificial neural networks and demonstrate it for the HalīlRood basin.

Managed realignment is more effective at mitigating coastal flood risk than raising dike heights according to hydrodynamic models of the German Baltic sea coast, but neither will be able to maintain current levels of flood risk under future sea level scenarios

Recharge net metering is an adaptable, performance-based incentive for groundwater recharge. It costs less than most methods, supports distributed recharge and imparts substantial benefits to both groundwater basins and programme participants.

Open-source sensors are becoming increasingly popular and accurate for river science, but widespread adoption is limited by the knowledge required to use them. This study presents an open-source optical backscatter sensor and water pressure sensor that can be ordered almost fully assembled, requires no coding to deploy and costs approximately 50 USD.

The potential for enhanced sediment delivery to the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta exists, but it alone is insufficient to sustain the system. The delta may be resilient to climate change, but only in the absence of dam construction and water diversions.

Aerial imaging of underwater environments is challenging, even more so in the presence of surface waves. Fitzpatrick et al. develop and perform lab-scale proof of principle demonstrations of a sensor fusion framework which couples airborne sonar imaging and water surface mapping to overcome ocean waves.

Coastal flood risk to transit infrastructure in Boston, USA, has more than doubled in terms of annual economic losses since 2008 and will double again by 2030, according to a cost estimation framework based on Monte Carlo simulations.

At depths of over 500 m, deep groundwater has long residence times and likely contributes less than 0.1% to global streamflow and only sporadically connects with the surface terrestrial water cycle on geological timescales, according to estimates derived from the chloride mass balance approach.

The time and magnitude of flood crests in rivers can be forecast using direct streamflow measurements alone, according to an index-velocity forecasting algorithm applied to in situ data from the Illinois River, USA

Hydraulic transmissivity under the 1km-thick Greenland Ice Sheet was inferred by ice-sheet uplift relaxation after rapid lake drainage events. A two-order-of-magnitude increase in hydraulic transmissivity was found throughout the melt season.

Drinking water distribution systems are commonly being used to deliver new-quality water after decades of service, and monitoring the occurrence of transition effects is critical for both water utilities and customers. This 2 year longitudinal study offers an exceptional opportunity to explore transition effects when a distribution system receives new-quality water.

Effective urban water management requires technological solutions that enable system-wide gains via a holistic approach. Here, authors propose an integrated system where an iron-oxidising electrochemical cell upgrades biogas while producing FeCO₃ and subsequently uses the salt in wastewater treatment.

This study showcases that balancing-oriented hydropower operation supporting variable renewable energy integration provides a more affordable and water-saving clean energy transition than the conventional peak-shaving-oriented operation.

This article tells the story of the earliest ceramic drainage system unearthed at the Pingliangtai site on the Central Plains of China, which represents an unprecedented social and environmental manipulation as societies faced surging environmental crises in the Late Holocene East Asian Monsoon region.

Over much of Africa, the potential for groundwater pumping with the help of photovoltaic energy is constrained by aquifer conditions, and not irradiance, according to continent-wide simulations to map the performance of photovoltaic water pumping systems.

A multi-objective optimization water–energy model explores the effect of dam re-operation strategies to minimize hydrological alterations in the Lower Mekong. Dam re-operation provides a feasible opportunity for the restoration of key elements of hydrological variability without hindering hydropower production.

India’s plan to link several rivers to divert water for irrigation could change climate systems in the area. Plus: A look at Canada's unparalleled season of wildfires.