Explore the vast range of titles available.

Efficient H₂ harvesting from wastewater instead of pure water can minimize fresh water consumption, which is expected to solve the problem of water shortage in H₂ production process and contribute to carbon neutrality in the environmental remediation, but the inevitable electron depletion caused by electron-consuming pollutants will result in an exhausted H₂ evolution reaction (HER) performance. In this paper, by coupling piezocatalysis and advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) by a MoS₂/Fe⁰/peroxymonosulfate (PMS) ternary system, extensive types of wastewater achieved considerable H₂ generation, which exceeded the yield in pure water with synchronous advanced degradation of organic pollutants. In addition, profiting from the crucial bridging role of PMS, the H₂ yield in nitrobenzene wastewater after the introduction of PMS-based AOPs increased 3.37-fold from 267.7 μmol·g−1·h−1 to 901.0 μmol·g−1·h−1 because the presence of PMS both thermodynamically benefited MoS₂ piezocatalytic H₂ evolution and eliminated the electron depletion caused by organic pollutants. By this way, the original repressed H₂ evolution performance in substrate of wastewater not only was regained but even showed a significant enhancement than that in pure water (505.7 μmol·g−1·h−1). Additionally, the cyclonic piezoelectric reactor was preliminarily designed for future industrialization. This strategy provided a valuable path for the recycling of actual wastewater by fuel production and synchronous advanced treatment.

Population growth and climate change will combine to pose substantial challenges for water management in the United States. Projections of water supply and demand over the 21st century show that in the absence of further adaptation efforts, serious water shortages are likely in some regions. Continued improvements in water use efficiency are likely but will be insufficient to avoid future shortages. Some adaptation measures that have been effective in the past, most importantly large additions to reservoir storage, have little promise. Other major adaptations commonly used in the past, especially instream flow removals and groundwater mining, can substantially lower shortages but have serious external costs. If those costs are to be avoided, transfers from irrigated agriculture probably will be needed and could be substantial. Plain Language Summary This study estimates the likelihood of water shortages over the remainder of the 21st century in 204 watersheds covering the contiguous United States. The estimates are based on monthly projections of water demand and renewable water supply in light of population growth and climate change, taking into account water storage and transbasin diversion capacities. The study then examines several possible adaptations to projected shortages, including water withdrawal efficiency improvements, reservoir storage enhancements, demand reductions, instream flow reductions, and groundwater depletions. Results provide a broad measure of the relative efficacy of the adaptation measures and show when and where the measures are likely to be helpful. Key Points Climate change and population growth will combine to increase the likelihood of water shortages in many areas of the United States Expected improvements in water use efficiency will be insufficient to avoid impending water shortages Reductions in agricultural irrigation will be essential to contain shortages in other water use sectors and avoid excess groundwater drawdown or environmental flow losses

Rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems are crucial for mitigating water scarcity in karst landscapes; however, their efficiency remains low even in high‐rainfall areas due to rapid infiltration and limited surface water retention. This study explores the potential of subsurface flow (SSF) at the soil‐bedrock interface as an underutilized water resource to enhance the efficiency of traditional surface flow (SF)‐based RWH systems. Over three hydrological years (2019–2022), we monitored 12 experimental plots on a humid karst hillslope across 159 rainfall events, comparing SSF and SF contributions to total runoff and their implications for RWH efficiency. Our results show that SSF significantly outperforms SF, especially during the rainy seasons. Incorporating SSF into RWH systems increased water collection efficiency from 2.2% in traditional SF‐based systems to 13.1%. Key structural factors influencing SSF generation include soil thickness and bedrock weathering degree, with shallow soils (<50 cm) and weakly weathered bedrock serving as hotspots for SSF. Rainfall intensity and antecedent rainfall events were the key meteorological drivers of SSF. This study highlights the need for SSF‐focused RWH designs in karst landscapes, offering a practical solution to enhance water availability where conventional cisterns fail. The findings have broader implications for water resource management in similar geological settings.

Water resources are essential for human survival and development. Ensuring sufficient water supply to meet living, production, and ecological demands has emerged as a critical challenge for regions facing water scarcity. In response to the increasingly severe water shortage in Central Yunnan, the Chinese government has invested over 100 billion yuan in implementing the Central Yunnan Water Diversion Project (CYWDP). Accurately assessing and predicting the project’s impact on water shortage risk and its spatiotemporal imbalance in the receiving regions is crucial for fostering sustainable and high-quality regional development. In this study, we propose an integrated methodological framework that combines Copula functions with a concentration index to evaluate the effects of the CYWDP on water shortage risk and its spatiotemporal imbalance in the Yuxi water-receiving area. First, based on risk theory, we develop a water shortage risk assessment model by integrating Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) with Copula functions to evaluate water shortage risk under various scenarios. This model accounts for the heterogeneous importance of domestic, industrial, agricultural, and ecological water uses. Second, a simplified concentration index is introduced to quantify the spatiotemporal imbalance of water shortage risk. The results reveal that: (1) Water shortage risk in the Yuxi water-receiving area exhibits strong seasonality, with spring being the highest-risk period, in approximately 80% of years falling into moderate-risk zones. Interannual variability in risk is high and strongly negatively correlated with precipitation, and only in wet years can water supply security be effectively ensured. (2) Due to differences in precipitation, groundwater availability, and the number of water storage projects, sub-regions display heterogeneous distributions of water shortage risk, with significant spatial imbalance. Intra annual variations are also evident, and more pronounced in dry years compared with wet years. (3) Without considering the supplemental supply from the CYWDP, the receiving area is projected to enter a high-risk zone by 2030 and 2040. However, with the CYWDP, the overall risk is expected to decrease to a moderate level by 2030, and by 2040, increased water transfers could alleviate risks and mitigate spatial imbalances. This study provides critical insights for evaluating the socio-economic benefits of the CYWDP and offers guidance for water resource allocation strategies. Moreover, the proposed framework serves as a methodological reference for analogous studies.

While numerous studies have investigated demand management policies as a means of mitigating the impacts of climate change and population growth, little attention has been given to the interaction of spatial population patterns and water institutions that affect water shortages. In this article, we develop a methodology to evaluate how population location under alternative water institutions and climate scenarios impacts water demands, shortages, and derived economic values. We apply this methodology to the South Platte River Basin (SPRB) in Northeastern Colorado under three scenarios with ∼1,800 simulations. Results suggest that while water rights institutions have a negligible impact on total volumetric shortages relative to climate change, they have substantial distributional and economic implications. Results also suggest that continuous population growth in upstream cities yields the lowest water shortages if per capita use decreases with urbanization. However, if we assume that per capita demands do not decrease with population density, an equal distribution of population to upstream and downstream regions yields the lowest water shortage and highest economic value. These findings indicate the need that planning efforts must account for return flows and development patterns throughout a watershed in order to reduce water shortages and promote economic prosperity. Key Points Water institutions have little effect on basin‐wide water shortages, but clearly determine who experiences shortages The location and density of population have significant effects on water shortages and economic value Even distribution of population between regions in a basin provides lower shortages and higher values assuming constant per capita demand

This study aimed to explore the rich tapestry of studies on drought disasters, drought vulnerability, drought severity and water shortage (DDVS_WS), taking into account the critical situation and circumstance posed by drought in line with the shortage in water supplies. In total, 1117 original articles were downloaded in a BibTeX format for further analysis. The downloaded information included, but was not limited to authors, title, year of publication, citations, author keywords, keywords plus, countries of publications, institutions, journals, citations. Published studies on DDVS_WS obtained from the web of science (WOS) and Scopus databases on 20 May 2020 were used in this study. The field of DDVS_WS experienced a drastic increase with an annual growth of about 12.7% in terms of continued publications output during the years under assessment. Considering the country level, China ranked first with the highest number of publications, and the USA has great academic influence with most top articles’ citations emerging from the USA affiliated institutions and research centres. Based on the top keyword, drought and climate change are at the centre of issues related to drought and water shortage, this provides a hint on the relatedness of drought and climate change for further studies. This study offers a map to navigate the intellectual quandary of DDVS_WS research and guidance for further studies in this area of specialization. It is fundamental to stress that this study only covers the core area of DDVS_WS research, hence, it is expected that new empirical studies and potential solutions would offer new insight on drought and water shortage as new research evolves.

Extreme climatic events, including drought, are predicted to increase in intensity, frequency, and geographic extent as a consequence of global climate change. In general, to grow crops successfully in the future, growers will need to adapt to less available water and to take better advantage of the positive effects of drought. Fortunately, there are positive effects associated with drought. Drought stimulates the secondary metabolism, thereby potentially increasing plant defences and the concentrations of compounds involved in plant quality, particularly taste and health benefits. The role of drought on the production of secondary metabolites is of paramount importance for fruit crops. However, to manage crops effectively under conditions of limited water supply, for example by applying deficit irrigation, growers must consider not only the impact of drought on productivity but also on how plants manage the primary and secondary metabolisms. This question is obviously complex because during water deficit, trade-offs among productivity, defence, and quality depend upon the intensity, duration, and repetition of events of water deficit. The stage of plant development during the period of water deficit is also crucial, as are the effects of other stressors. In addition, growers must rely on relevant indicators of water status, i.e. parameters involved in the relevant metabolic processes, including those affecting quality. Although many reports on the effects of drought on plant function and crop productivity have been published, these issues have not been reviewed thus far. Here, we provide an up-to-date review of current knowledge of the effects of different forms of drought on fruit quality relative to the primary and secondary metabolisms and their interactions. We also review conventional and less conventional indicators of water status that could be used for monitoring purposes, such as volatile compounds. We focus on fruit crops owing to the importance of secondary metabolism in fruit quality and the importance of fruits in the human diet. The issue of defence is also briefly discussed.

In this letter we analyse the temporal development of physical population-driven water scarcity, i.e.water shortage, over the period 0 AD to 2005 AD. This was done using population data derived from the HYDE dataset, and water resource availability based on the WaterGAP model results for the period 1961–90. Changes in historical water resources availability were simulated with the STREAM model, forced by climate output data of the ECBilt–CLIO–VECODE climate model. The water crowding index, i.e.Falkenmark water stress indicator, was used to identify water shortage in 284 sub-basins. Although our results show a few areas with moderate water shortage (1000–1700 m3/capita/yr) around the year 1800, water shortage began in earnest at around 1900, when 2% of the world population was under chronic water shortage (<1000m3/capita/yr). By 1960, this percentage had risen to 9%. From then on, the number of people under water shortage increased rapidly to the year 2005, by which time 35% of the world population lived in areas with chronic water shortage. In this study, the effects of changes in population on water shortage are roughly four times more important than changes in water availability as a result of long-term climatic change. Global trends in adaptation measures to cope with reduced water resources per capita, such as irrigated area, reservoir storage, groundwater abstraction, and global trade of agricultural products, closely follow the recent increase in global water shortage.

Reducing the negative impacts of water shortages is the primary concern of water supply reservoir operation. This study aims to propose a theoretical framework of water shortage probabilities and distributions of various future lead times for a water supply reservoir based on the supply–demand relationship. Reservoir supply ability is represented by the water availability, which is the sum of storage and inflow. The water availability distribution is obtained by the convolution of storage and inflow distributions since both are random variables. The water shortage probability is thus the probability that the water availability is insufficient to meet the known demand. The water shortage distribution is a flip of the water availability distribution with a right-shifted amount of demand and truncating the infeasible negative water shortage. The Nanhua Reservoir located in southern Taiwan is used as an example to illustrate the proposed methodology. The water shortage probabilities and distributions of various initial storage amounts in any month for future 1- to 6-month lead times are constructed based on the fitted inflow distribution and known monthly demand. Apparently different water shortage probabilities in various months are attributed to the initial storage and inherently different inflow distributions in low- or high-inflow months. Low initial storage induces greater water shortage probabilities in low-inflow months, but approximate null probabilities are noted in high-inflow months due to abundant inflow. The effects of future lead times on water shortage probabilities and distribution also reflect the characteristics of inflow distributions of the current and lead-time months under consideration.

The projection of climate change impacts can be very crucial for water resources planning and management. Hashtgerd plain is an immigrant destination due to socio-economic development and its proximity to the Tehran metropolis. The population growth has led to more water demand, resulting in excessive utilization of groundwater resources and water shortages in the agricultural sector. The water shortage and climate change in Hashtgerd plain could lead to more severe water crisis in the future. Therefore, this study aimed to provide adaptation strategies for minimizing the negative effects of climate change by taking into account the interaction between different sub-systems in Hashtgerd plain during 2020–2049 period. In order to assess the climate change impacts, the output of 19 AOGCMs models was used under RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 emission scenarios. A comprehensive model was developed based on the system dynamics theory to investigate the interactions of water resources, agriculture, and socio-economic sub-systems and were used to investigate the impacts of climate change and evaluate various adaptation strategies on different sub-systems of the region. The simulation results showed the negative effects of climate change will intensify the water shortage in Hashtgerd Plain. The agricultural sector will be more vulnerable to climate change than the domestic and industrial sectors. The results of various policies showed that improving water use efficiency coupled with reducing the cultivation of high-consumption crops and changing the cropping pattern towards lower water requirement plants can effectively minimize the adverse impacts of climate change on water shortages in agriculture.