مجله محیط زیست و مهندسی آب
سال هشتم شماره 2 (تابستان 1401)

Given the growing population of the world especially in countries with limited water resources, investigating and controlling the quantity and quality of water resources especially ground water resources which is the main source of drinking water supply, can help these communities in the face of the water crisis which will plague mankind in the near future. In this survey, first, 22 wells were selected from Birjand plain aquifer. Then the aquifer was studied using the Ground water chemical Pollution Index (PIG) and ecological hazard index (ERI) of heavy metals using zoning maps and final maps of PIG and ERI indices were prepared. According to PIG, 56.74% of the aquifer has a lot of Pollution, and according to ERI, 0.91% of the aquifer has a lot of Pollution. Then, new index of Pollution and Environmental Risk of Ground water (PERG) was introduced according to both Ground water chemical Pollution Index and heavy metals Environmental Risk Index. PERG detects chemical pollution and heavy metals in the aquifer, and leads to better summarization and decision making in order to collect water from ground water aquifers. In terms of PERG, aquifer pollution is 1.755% of the total area.

Since pharmaceutical residues are important pollutants that lead to producing serious hazards to humans, and other living organisms, their removal from the effluents is essential for environmental protection. This study was conducted to the evaluation of the removal efficacy of methotrexate from aqueous solutions using AC@Fe3O4@ZnO nanocomposite. In so doing, AC@Fe3O4@ZnO nanocomposite was synthesized by hydrothermal method and used as a novel adsorbent for the removal of methotrexate from an aqueous solution. AC@Fe3O4@ZnO nanocomposite characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), pHpzc, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller (BET) and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) analysis methods. The influence of pH, amount of adsorbent, temperature, and contact time on the removal efficacy were studied. Based on the results, the removal efficiency increased until 0.02 g adsorbent and 60 min contact time. The optimum pH for methotrexate removal was 7.0. In addition, under these conditions, the adsorption process followed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm with a correlation coefficient of 0.994 and a pseudo-second-order kinetic model with a correlation coefficient of 0.999. The maximum adsorption capacity of the synthesized adsorbent was 400 mg/g. In conclusion, the AC@Fe3O4@ZnO nanocomposite could be considered as an efficient adsorbent for the removal of methotrexate from pharmaceutical wastewater.

Among the methods used to remove heavy metals are membrane processes that, with less use of chemicals, are able to quickly produce high-quality penetration. In this study, a nanocomposite membrane with the ability to separate lead was used. The black titanium dioxide nanoparticle was synthesized using the pyrolysis method. Adsorption experiments were performed using a nanofiltration unit. The results of lead adsorption isotherms showed that the lead adsorption process using the membrane follows the Langmuir model with a correlation coefficient of 0.995. The results of the study of lead metal adsorption kinetics showed that the process of adsorption of lead by the adsorbent follows the quasi-second order kinetics so that the correlation coefficient of the second-order quasi-model is equal to 0.999 which is compared with the quasi-correlation coefficient. The maximum and minimum fluxes between different membranes were related to 0.1 mg/l of titanium dioxide nanoparticles in terms of time and pressure for 50 and 600 minutes and pressures of 45 and 145 bar, with increasing the initial concentration of pollutants, the percentage of adsorption decreases. This can be due to the delay in balancing the adsorbent and the contaminant.

With respect to the importance and considerable extent of the Kosar irrigation and drainage network, the environmental issues of the network are investigated. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the environmental effects of Kowsar irrigation and drainage network located in the central basin of Karkheh in Khuzestan province, using two methods conventional and modified ICOLD matrices. To study the environmental parameters, three physical, biological and socio-economic environments were used. Then, using two methods of conventional and modified ICOLD matrices, the effect of each of the project micro-activities on the environmental factors of the study area was measured in the operation phase separately for the three mentioned environments. Thus, a matrix was designed according to all three environments, which was completed by environmental experts and the average score of the evaluation criteria was considered. The results showed that the most positive effects are related to the socio-economic environment. It should be noted that the sum of positive values using conventional and modified ICOLD matrices was 793 and 458.9, respectively, and for negative values was 447 and 285.8, respectively. Therefore, both matrices showed reasonable and good fitness in estimating the impacts and thus the implementation of the Kawser irrigation and drainage network is verified.

The purpose of the present study was to assess the concentration of Cd, As, Cu, and Zn metals in water and sediments of rivers in the west of Mazandaran province, Iran. The number of water and sediment samples was 36 taken from four stations from April 2019 to March 2020 and analyzed with three replicates. Mean values of total environmental factors at the four stations during winter and summer seasons were as T=11.21-16.46 °C, salinity=3.58-6.47 g/l, pH=5.42-5.92, TDS=3.52-6.25 g/l, electrical conductivity=6.27-11.12 μmho/cm, nitrite=0.01-0.03 mg/l, and nitrate=1.37-3 mg/l respectively. The quality of environmental factors was found within the normal range for water quality in Iran for different types of land use: agricultural, industrial, recreational, and hot-and cold-water fish farming. Mean values of total adsorption of cadmium, arsenic, copper, and zinc were 0.25, 0.77, 11.44, and 11.02 mg/l respectively in water samples, and 0.2, 3.83, 20.91, and 59.27 μg/g in sediment samples. The adsorption of all metals was higher at the beginning of the cultivation season compared with the non-cultivation season both in water and sediment samples. Safarood river was the most polluted of all rivers. The concentration of metals was higher than the permissible limit in water, but lower in sediments (except for copper and arsenic) in all four rivers.

The presence of dyes in the aquatic environment can cause soil/water pollution, problems for human health, and abnormal plant growth behavior. In the present study, functionalized polyethersulfone nanofiltration membranes were prepared by ferroxane fumarate nanoparticles. Ferroxane fumarate nanoparticles were charecterized by SEM and FTIR analyzes. The effect of nanoparticles on the performance and properties of membranes was determined in terms of membrane pore size, porosity, hydrophilicity, and separation of milk powder solution by membranes. The hydrophilicity of the membranes was determined by studying the pure water flux and the contact angle of the water. Hydrophilicity increased significantly in membranes containing 0.5% wt. of ferrooxane fumarate nanoparticles. The results of measuring the pure water flux passing through the prepared membranes showed that after functionalization of the polysulfone nanofiltration membrane by ferroxane fumarate nanoparticles, the permeability of this membrane increased more than three times. The maximum flux recovery ratio and the minimum irreversible permeability decay rate obtained by M0.5 membrane were 95.20 and 4.8%, respectively.  Moreover, M0.5 showed the highest rejection for dyes of direct red 16 (99%) and methylene blue (98%). The related results proved that an antifouling fumarate ferroxane functionalized membrane can be efficiently applied for the removal of dyes.

Duck tip weirs have a higher flow rate and fewer upstream changes than conventional weirs. Since the geometry of these types of weirs will bring about the complexity of the problem for theoretical and practical issues, it is important to study the magnification and hydraulic flow changes on these weirs. In this study, the effect of these changes on the hydraulic and hydrodynamic properties of the flow was investigated by numerical simulation using FLOW3D software. Dimensional analysis extracted dimensionless ratios and the relationship between variables in the experiments was determined. The results of comparing the numerical model with the laboratory model showed that the maximum error obtained from numerical simulation for the overflow coefficient of weirs is 12%. The permeability coefficient in the linear overflow with magnification 1 had an increasing trend initially and then a decreasing trend. From a relative head >0.6, the permeability coefficient became constant: 0.7 for experimental data and 0.75 for simulation data. In the weir, with a magnification of 2 to a relative head of 0.4, there was an increasing trend and from a relative head >0.4, there was a decreasing trend. In the weir with magnification 3, the permeability coefficient always decreases with increasing the relative head.

In this research, the baseflow at the Gol Gol station, as a part of the Ilam dam watershed from 1991 to 2015, was separated from the entire river flow. For this purpose, WETSPRO methods, one-parameter and two-parameter numerical filters for continuous flow with porous and rocky aquifers, and using flow index and WHAT software with different filtration coefficients were used. To compare the methods and to select the most appropriate method, BFI index was used as an observational baseflow. Based on the results obtained, the baseflow occupies a major part of the total flow. The mean of the total flow rate was 1.945 m3/s and the mean of the baseflow index was 1.445 m3/s, which indicates the permeability of the watershed. RMSE, MAE, and Nash-Sutcliffe criteria were used to evaluate the efficiency of the methods. The results showed that the Lyne and Hollick method based on WHAT software had the best result and then followed by Eckhart for continuous flow with a porous aquifer with a significance level of 0.742, mean 1.250 m3/s, with a confidence level of more than 95%. Therefore, the Eckhart method can be considered suitable for continuous flow with a porous aquifer with a filter coefficient of 0.990 due to the proximity of the mean baseflow in it to the mean of the baseflow index.

Surface irrigation models are tools for evaluating and designing surface irrigation methods. Using it, all stages of complete irrigation can be simulated and designed, and by changing the input factors, which are in fact design factors, a high-efficiency system can be achieved. The purpose of this study is to investigate the parameters of the infiltration equation, the depth of infiltrated water in the field, and the field evaluation parameters including water use efficiency in the field, percentage of runoff losses, uniformity efficiency, and deep infiltration by SIRMOD software. In this study, first, the required data were collected from the farm located in Kaboudar Ahang plain of Tasaran village with field measurements, then the existing models in SIRMOD software were evaluated and simulated which includes hydrodynamic model, zero-inertia, and kinematic wave. The results showed that the data estimated by the model were consistent with the advanced time data observed in the field. The best simulation results for infiltrated volume were predicted with an average error of 5.5%, and runoff volume was predicted with an average error of 0.8%. In general, based on the results of this study, the SIRMOD software has performed a good simulation of the furrow irrigation system.

Iran is located in the arid and semi-arid belt of the world, which is characterized by low rainfall, thunderstorms, flood flows, and high evapotranspiration. Therefore, quantitative evaluation of evapotranspiration on a regional scale is necessary for water resources management, crop production, and environmental assessments in irrigated lands. In this study, to estimate ETo in four synoptic stations with arid, semi-arid, humid, and semi-humid climates, meteorological data such as temperature, net radiation, relative humidity, and wind speed were used for 1990-2010. Potational evapotranspiration was calculated using 5 different methods, including Hargreaves-Samani, Blaney-Criddle, Priestly-Tailor, Turc, and Makkink, besides, the standard FAO-56 was used (because there was no Lysimetric regionally data) to evaluate the applied formulas. In order to evaluate these methods, were used the mean absolute error (MAE), root mean squared error (RMSE), mean bias error (MBE), correlation coefficient (r), Nash -Satclif index (N.S). Based on these indices, Blaney-Criddle method, after the FAO-56 method, which was used as the basis, was selected as the superior method for the four climates in Iran.

Urbanization and land use changes in urban environments have led to the development of impermeable lands in urban areas. the risk of floods in urban basins compared to non-urban basins has increased and has caused a lot of damage to urban infrastructure, it is necessary to use approaches that, preventing the detrimental effects on the urban environment, provide maximum efficiency in runoff management projects at the source. , in the present study, the combination of structural and non-structural methods of flood management and technical-economic comparison of these methods have been Studied. Bentley StormCAD software has been used as a hydraulic model for structural design and modern LID-BMP approaches have been used as non-structural methods for surface runoff management in Islamic Azad University of Najafabad. Modern approaches have included soakaway, infiltration trench, rain gardens, temporary dry detention basin and vegetated swale. The analysis of results and technical-economic evaluation is based on structural, non-structural scenarios and integrated approach. The results of hydraulic analysis have shown that the average flow rate in the network is 370 lit/s and the minimum flow rate is equal to 10 lit /s, which justifies the possibility of using non-structural methods. Comparison of methods has shown that the use of an integrated approach to a structural approach has reduced costs by 48% and runoff by 90% over a 2 to 10 year return period. During the 50- and 100-year return periods, it also reduced surface runoff at the outlet points of the basin by 74% and 59%, respectively.

In this research, the effect of forming a loop layout by connecting the lateral ends in a tape irrigation system and magnetic water on yield and water use efficiency of maize cv. Maxima was investigated. The research was done as split plots on completely randomized blocks in three replications. Tube wires and an AC to DC converter were used to create a magnetic field. Maize water requirement was calculated using real-time meteorological parameters data of Zanjan synoptic station and FAO-56 method. Results showed loop connection compared with no-loop increased means of the system discharge by 13%, decreased coefficient of variation by 1.98%, and increased emission uniformity and Christiansen’s Uniformity coefficient by 2.2 and 1.5% (respectively). Magnetic water increased the means of the system discharge by 4.2% and decreased the coefficient of variation by 0.98% compared with no-magnetic water. Results of the measured plant traits showed that, compared with the conventional layout of the system, looping of the irrigation system increased means of the fresh plant weight, water use efficiency based on fresh plant weight, plant dry weight, and stem diameter by 27, 27, 32, and 13% respectively. Compared with non-magnetic water irrigation, magnetic water irrigation increased means of the fresh plant weight, water use efficiency based on fresh plant weight, plant dry weight, and leaf area by 9, 9.5, 1.4, and 17% respectively.

In Sistan and Baluchestan Province, the rivers are prone to flooding, but few studies have assessed the floods in these rivers. Given the substantial importance of the border rivers in this province, flood hydraulics for four border rivers, namely Mashkil, Surin, Gezo, and Biraban, were studied in this research. To this end, hydraulic modeling of floods and preparation of flood zone maps with 2- and 50-year return periods were performed using the HEC-RAS model, ArcGIS software, and HEC GeoRAS extension. According to the calculation and comparison of various hydraulic parameters, in 2-year return period discharge or dominant discharge, the Mashkil river had the highest depth and extent of floods, and the Gozo river had the highest average flood velocity among the studied rivers. In the 50-year return period discharge, Mashkil and Gozo rivers had a greater potential for flooding. Finally, comparing the ratio of changes in different hydraulic parameters with the change of flood return period from 2 to 50 years indicated that the increase of discharge (5.8-28.3 times) in the studied rivers had greater effects on the flood volume (3.3-7.8 times) and its extent (2.3-4.5 times).

Data driven models are proposed as an alternative to hydrological methods in sediment estimation calculations. The aim of this study was to compare the performance and accuracy of hydrological and data-based methods in estimating the amount of suspended sediment. For this purpose, discharge and sediment data were collected in the period of 20 yr (2001-2011) and then the amount of suspended sediment of Bagh Kalayeh hydrometric station on Alamut River in Qazvin province was estimated. In this study hydrological methods including Smearing, FAO and Sediment Rating Curves versus data driven methods including Gene Expression Programming, Instance-Based Learning with parameter K and Linear Regression methods were used. The model performances were compared using two statistical methods of RRMSE and NS. The results showed that two techniques such as IBK model with evaluation criteria of (R = 0.94, RRMSE = 0.29 and NS = 0.24) and the GEP model with (R = 0.85, RRMSE = 0.59 and NS = 0.65) estimated suspended sediment in more accurate way than other studies methods. Thus, the superiority of data-driven methods in estimating the amount of suspended sediment in the study area was proved. Therefore, the use of data-based techniques as a competitor and alternative to hydrological methods to estimate the amount of suspended sediment in areas similar to the study area is recommended.

Fresh water shortage has become one of the major challenges for societies worldwide. Polluted water treatment and brackish water desalination could be a correct defense mechanism in this situation. In the present study, Microbial Desalination Cell (MDC) performance were tested in laboratory scale to investigate the desalination process and waste water treatment. The experiments where designed in a three chamber reactor using activated sludge as bio-catholyte and synthetic wastewater in four different hydraulic retention times and 35 g/l NaCl Concentration in two functional mods (batch & continuous). According to the results maximal salt removal and EC reduction rate of about Was obtained in continuously fed mode, respectively. The anolyte PH in both batch and continues modes dropped from 7 to 6.47 & 6.48 Respectively. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal value in the Continuous mode were %61 & %65 in the anolyte and catholyte respectively, higher than those of fed-batch MDC. Also the result of examining the statistical relationship between system efficiency (salt removal, COD removal and EC reduction rate) and hydraulic retention time and also between system efficiency and hydraulic flow and indicated that there is significance level (Sig< 0.05) so significant direct relationship between the above parameters.

Contamination in sewage systems and dumping them in the environment is amongst the biggest concerns for the World Community for which some solutions have been proposed. In this paper, a greywater treatment system in a Shiraz residential building using the aerobic method was evaluated and 10 intake and exhaust samples were acquired under normal lab conditions. Sampling was done in approximately four-month period in 5-day intervals. The results revealed that output values for pH, Turbidity, COD, BOD5, Nitrate, Total Coliform, and Fecal Coliform were 6.88, 26.5, 111.6, 29.7, 5.65, 184.9 and 670.2 respectively. All the amounts are within the legal limits of Ministry of Health and Medical Education’s Article 5 of Code of Water Pollution. This technology is able to purify turbidity up to 99.11 percent, COD up to 93.92 percent, BOD5 up to 96.23 percent and nitrate up to 99.96 percent. Therefore, scientific and principled treatment of greywater can reduce more than 90% of pollutants in wastewater and set the level of pollution to the standard of use in agriculture and irrigation. The use of this valuable water source can be useful in the development of urban green space and the promotion of the urban ecosystem.

This study was conducted with the aim of calculating the water footprint of the major agricultural products of Isfahan city and determining the optimal cultivation pattern from the perspective of water footprint and virtual water. To conduct the research, the water requirement of major agricultural products in Isfahan was calculated using CropWat 8 software. Then, the average volume of water consumption, virtual water, water footprint, and water use efficiency of these products for the statistical period 2011-2017 was calculated.) The results showed that oilseeds and legumes had the highest water footprint. Forage plants, summer crops, and vegetables had the highest water use efficiency and the lowest water footprint, respectively. Accordingly, the cultivation of oilseeds in Isfahan is not recommended. In the group of wheat grains, in the group of plants, fodder, corn, forage, in the group of vegetables, onions, and in the group of summer vegetables, watermelon with 1815.52, 1720.5, 127949 and 2621,63 m3/ha respectively is recommended for cultivation in Isfahan region due to having less water footprint. Due to recent droughts and water shortages, available water resources should be used in the best way, and crops with lower water requirements and higher yields should be planned.

This study evaluated the quality of groundwater resources in the Abdullah Gio area, southwest of Quchan, Khorasan Razavi province, Iran in 2020. According to the type of geological formations, discharge, and location of water resources in the region, 10 groundwater sources were analyzed for qualitative analysis and evaluation. Physical parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and total dissolved solids (TDS) were measured at the sampling site with a multimeter. Hydrogeochemical analysis of data in the laboratory was performed by induction plasma method and statistical analysis and modeling were performed in SPSS, Chemistry, and AqQA software. Findings showed that most of the sources are suitable in terms of drinking quality, and GQI quality index was acceptable in these sources. In terms of exploitation in the agricultural sector, the alkalinity of all water resources was based on the Wilcox classification in S2 and S4 classes and in terms of salinity in C2 and C3 classes and showed that most of the resources are not suitable in terms of agriculture. In all resources, the amount of bicarbonate was higher and the amount of nitrate was lower than the world standard. Finally, the study of geological formations showed their effect on water quality, and nitrate concentration was detected due to human activities.

The importance of regulating the supply and demand regime shows the need for planning in the exploitation of surface water resources. The aim of the present study is to compare the performance of two Bayesian BN network models with a probabilistic approach and MLP neural network for flow prediction. Then selecting the best structural model is another goal of the present study. Monthly meteorological data including precipitation, monthly average temperature, evaporation, and also the volume of water transferred from five hydrometric stations were introduced as input data to the models and runoff to the dam was considered as predictable. Then, with the aim of estimating the best prediction pattern structure, input data with different layouts were introduced to the models. The results of comparing the selected pattern were performed according to the criteria of the index, Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient (NS), mean square error (MSE), root mean square error (RMSE), and mean absolute prediction error (MAPE). The best model in BN model with 43.3% similarity and index criteria were estimated to be -3.98, 300, 17.3, and 0.06, respectively. MLP model with 80% similarity and index criteria were introduced as -10.3, 8266, 23.9, and 122.3 in the best model, respectively. As a result, both models performed well in runoff estimation, but the accurate BN model is much better at being prefabricated. Finally, a structural pattern with acceptable results was identified in both BN and MLP models.

There is an increasing concern over environmental pollution because, over the course of the recent decades. Among the heavy metals lead, chrome and arsenic are more toxic to humans. Because of heavy metals’ toxicity to the environment and humans, they are considered important environmental pollutants. These pollutants due to their non-biodegradable, high toxicity are regarded as custodians of the health of the society. Heavy metals are systemic poisons and by a specific effect on the nerves, carcinogenesis can cause death. These poison by disrupting in the nervous system and interfere with neurotransmitters; the immune system can cause horrible effects on human health. The aim of this study was to determine the health and environmental effects of heavy metals with an emphasis on cadmium, lead, and arsenic. To do this review study, previous research conducted by the authors and a review of texts from other authoritative scientific sources have been used. Due to the destructive and harmful effects of toxic elements of heavy metals on humans and other living organisms, their removal from wastewater is inevitable. For this reason, in order to implement the regulations, it is necessary that before discharging sewage into the environment, their heavy metals treated to the standard limit.