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\"Advances in Hydrology and Climate Change: Historical Trends and New Approaches in Water Resources Management highlights recent trends in the water sector that employ a variety of different innovative management and conservation approaches. The volume provides an informative overview of the issues and challenges in water resources affected by climate change conditions, such as drought, flooding, glacier changes, and overbuilt-up urban areas. Focusing on surface and groundwater related issues and sustainable solutions, the chapters present a variety of methods, including morphometric assessment, parameter estimation, long-term trend analysis, sustainability indexes, storm water management models (SWMM), entropy-based measurement of long-term precipitation, etc. The volume focuses on providing a better understanding of climatic uncertainty through hydrometeorological data sets and their application in hydrological modeling. These analyses help to serve as the basis for the design of flood-control and water-usage management policies. The chapters discuss climatic variability that depends on several factors, i.e., its erratic distribution, topography, seasonal variation, land-use change, anthropogenic activities, etc., demonstrating the overall interconnection between different parameters of hydrological cycles to design modeling approaches that include using soft-computing applications, remote sensing and GIS-based techniques, artificial neural networks, and more. This book will be a standard reference work for disciplines in water resources, soil and water engineering, engineering hydrology, groundwater hydrology, climate change, agrometeorology, agriculture, lohani, anil ecology and environmental science, leading to a way forward for strategy formulation for combating hydrology and climate change\"-- Provided by publisher.

We report systematic measurements of bulk properties of the system created in Au+Au collisions at √SNN = 54.4 GeV recorded by the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The transverse momentum spectra of π±, K±, and p(p¯) are studied at mid-rapidity (|y| < 0.1) for different centrality classes. We also present mid-rapidity measurement of particle yields (dN/dy) and particle ratios in Au+Au collisions at √SNN = 54.4 GeV. The kinetic freeze-out parameters (Tkin and β>) are extracted from particle spectra using the blast-wave model, and all the results are compared with previously published experimental results.

Microplastics (MPs), an emerging contaminant in aquatic environments, are the cause of ecological and climatic risk and have thus become a hot topic for the global scientific community [...]

The hydrosphere although covering almost 70% of the Earth contributes only 3% of fresh water out of which groundwater covers almost 98%. The presence of some unwanted substance in this limited natural resource causes pollution when the substance causes serious harm to human beings and to the total ecosystem in a way. Arsenic is such a pollutant that is most naturally released in groundwater and long-term exposure to As-rich groundwater causes skin lesions and often leads to different types of cancers in humans. Rupnagar district in the Malwa region of Punjab is situated alongside the river Satluj which is one of the five important tributaries of Indus. The lowest reported concentration of As in this district is 10 µg/L and the highest is 91 µg/L. The higher values of As (> 50 µg/L) that are above the permissible limit of IS 10500, 2004 in drinking water, are dominantly found in the western and south-western parts of the district. The average hazard quotient (HQ) indicates high risk for the consumers of the As-polluted groundwater in the district. The present study deals with the major cause of high arsenic (As) concentration in groundwater and its correlation with intensive agriculture in the Rupnagar district. Owing to the large size of the district, GIS techniques like ArcGIS 10.4.1 and QGIS 3.22.8 software were used for analysis in this study. The study reveals that high As concentration (> 50 µg/L) is mostly found in agricultural lands and moderate concentration of As (10–50 µg/L) in groundwater is distributed all over the district and are mostly reported from the urbanised areas. Overall, the water table shows a declining trend but no such decline is observed in the western and south-western parts of the district. As pollution in groundwater can also be caused due to water level decline owing to intensive agriculture and rapid water abstraction though As is naturally sourced in groundwater. A detailed study using the geochemical analysis of groundwater in the district can be effective in clearing out the scenario in the study area.

This study utilizes geophysical investigations, combining both surface and subsurface methods, assessing quality and mapping aquifers in Haryana’s Mewat district, India. The primary objectives are to delineate the interface between freshwater and saline water, both horizontally and vertically and to perform a quality and sustainability analysis. It has been observed that topsoil, approximately 12 m thick, has resistivity values ranging from 11 to 35 ohm-m, where higher values indicate lower soil saturation. Resistivity exceeding 15 ohm-m correlates with granular zones housing fresh groundwater, while values below 15 ohm-m signal saline to brackish groundwater. Approximately 55% of the region features saline groundwater, mainly in central, western, and southern areas. Freshwater resources within a depth of 30 m cover 26–30% of the area, mainly in the northwest and southwest parts. Beyond 40 m, freshwater availability drops significantly, with depths exceeding 100 m likely encountering hard rock or saline horizons. This study also highlights low freshwater yield challenges due to thin granular zones and variable bedrock depths, some as shallow as 90 m. Additionally, the research examines infiltration rates, ranging from 90 mm/h to 660 mm/h initially and 5 mm/h to 164 mm/h ultimately, with an average rate of 151 mm/h, highlighting sandy soils with some clay limitations. Utilizing available data, a three-dimensional hydrogeological model was constructed, shedding light on groundwater-related issues, such as depletion, waterlogging, water quality, and excess salinity. Groundwater development reached ~80%, categorized as semi-critical. Depletion affects areas with fresh groundwater, and waterlogging is a concern in central and north-eastern regions. In addition to salinity, other water quality issues are higher nitrate, sodium, and chloride concentrations, leading to salt-affected soils in specific blocks like Nuh and Nagina. In summary, this study offers a comprehensive assessment of groundwater resources in Mewat, Haryana, emphasizing sustainable utilization and tailored management of localized challenges. This underscores the importance of integrated water resource management to ensure prudent use while preserving the environment for future generations.

In recent decades, due to rapid increases in water demand and greater usage of water for irrigation from surface canals, waterlogging problems have been created in the southwest zone of Punjab, coupled with a stagnation in saline zone formation due to salinity ingression. To understand these salinity issues, the present study has been conducted in three districts (Muktsar, Fazilka, and Faridkot) of Punjab to understand the root cause. To this end, groundwater samples were collected from 142 piezometers developed at 40 sites. Electrical conductivity (EC) observations were taken in the field, and collected samples were analyzed for isotopes in the laboratory. Results found that salinity in groundwater arises from the combination of evaporation enrichment and salt dissolution. The dissolved salts may be acquired due to salts from aquifer materials or salts from surface soils dissolving and leaching down with the recharging water. Besides, the zone of interaction is mapped using stable isotopic composition. The study suggests that zone of interaction between aquifers can be effectively used in groundwater augmentation, management, and contamination control at regional and/or global scales to curb water demand in the future.

Agriculture is a major sector in India which contributes around 14% of country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Being an agriculture-based country, good quality of water for irrigation has been a prime requisite. Highly growing population and accelerated industrial development are causing anthropogenic pollution to both surface and groundwater on one side and geogenic contamination like arsenic, fluoride, high dissolved solids, sodicity, and iron in groundwater on other side. As a result, ensuring safe water quality for the irrigation has become a major challenge to both the central and state governments. The present irrigation water quality standards being followed in India have been set by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) in the year 2000. These standards are solely based on four parameters, namely electrical conductivity, sodium percentage, sodium absorption ratio, and residual sodium carbonate, which are quite subjective and many times are not capable to exactly decide the quality of irrigation water particularly when there are large variations in the source water quality. Therefore, in the present paper, an indices-based approach is presented for categorization of irrigation water quality. These indices are mathematical equations that transform water quality data into a numeric value, which describes the quality of irrigation water. The proposed irrigation water quality index (IWQI), which is based on 12 parameters, classifies the water into five categories, viz. excellent, good, medium, bad, and very bad in the same manner as given by the CPCB and CGWB. In order to give proper rating to various parameters of the index, weights are computed using Saaty’s analytic hierarchy process (AHP)-based multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) approach. This approach minimizes the subjectivity in assessment of weights and improves understanding of water quality issues by generating an overall index to describe the status of water quality. The proposed index will be beneficial for the water management authorities in ensuring safe water to the stakeholders.