Search results for "water system"
showing 9 items of 19 documents
Mapping and assessing ecosystem services in the EU:Lessons learned from the ESMERALDA approach of integration
2018
The European Union (EU) Horizon 2020 Coordination and Support Action ESMERALDA aimed at developing guidance and a flexible methodology for Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) to support the EU member states in the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy's Target 2 Action 5. ESMERALDA's key tasks included network creation, stakeholder engagement, enhancing ecosystem services mapping and assessment methods across various spatial scales and value domains, work in case studies and support of EU member states in MAES implementation. Thus ESMERALDA aimed at integrating various project outcomes around four major strands: i) Networking, ii) Policy, iii) Research an…
Energy, water and environmental balance of a complex water supply system
2015
The present paper describes the analysis of water and energy balance in a complex urban water supply system. The analysis was carried out employing Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) methodologies. The LCA approach was integrated with the analysis of the system energy and water balance. For a real size water supply system, based on the results of the individual LCAs, the current baseline was constructed highlighting the water, energy and environmental (in terms of CO2eq emissions in the atmosphere) costs of supplied water. Then, three different mitigation measures have been evaluated: the first is based on energy production by installation of photovoltaic systems; the second is based on energy recov…
Low-Head Hydropower for Energy Recovery in Wastewater Systems
2022
Hydraulic turbines for energy recovery in wastewater treatment plants, with relatively large discharges values and small head jumps, are usually screw Archimedes or Kaplan types. In the specific case of a small head jump (about 3 m) underlying a rectangular weir in the major Palermo (Italy) water treatment plant, a traditional Kaplan solution is compared with two other new proposals: a Hydrostatic Pressure Machine (HPM) located at the upstream channel and a cross-flow turbine (CFT) located in a specific underground room downstream of the same channel. The fluid mechanical formulations of the flow through these turbines are analyzed and the characteristic parameters are stated. Numerical ana…
Investigation and control of a Norovirus outbreak of probable waterborne transmission through a municipal groundwater system
2014
During March 2011 an outbreak of gastroenteritis occurred in Santo Stefano di Quisquina, Agrigento, Sicily, Italy. Within two weeks 156 cases were identified among the 4,965 people living in the municipality. An epidemiological investigation was conducted to characterize the outbreak and target the control measures. A case was defined as a person developing diarrhea or vomiting during February 27–March 13, 2011. Stool specimens were collected from 12 cases. Norovirus (NoV) genotype GII.4 variant New Orleans 2009 was identified in stool samples from 11 of 12 cases tested (91.7%). Epidemiological investigations suggested a possible association with municipal drinking water consumption. Water …
How important are terrestrial organic carbon inputs for secondary production in freshwater ecosystems?
2017
Article
Natural isotopes support groundwater origin as a driver of mire type and biodiversity in Slitere National Park, Latvia
2020
Slitere National Park in Latvia is home to rich fens with many endangered and threatened plant species. This study aims to address how the hydrological systems affect vegetation biodiversity (cf. Wolejko et al. 2019) in the mire systems of the National Park: the base-rich inter-dune mires and extremely base-rich calcareous fens. Groundwater samples from these areas were collected for measurements of ion composition and natural isotopes of C, H and O. Also, we simulated groundwater flow paths from the highest local topographical point (a nearby sandy plateau) to the sea, and calculated the residence times of these groundwater flows. The results show that the inter-dune mires are supplied by …
Parametric uncertainty or hydrological changes?
2014
Abstract. The model calibration is the way of hydrologists for searching also a physical interpretation of complex interactions acting within a basin. Actually, it can be frequently noticed how model calibration performed on a given time-window may converge to a point in the parameter space that could be distant from another obtainable calibration of the model in the same basin but considering a different time window. Is that again parametric uncertainty or does the trajectory in the parametric space relate about to a slow hydrological basin change? This paper depicts a possible path for detecting changes' signatures in a streamflow time series. In particular, the paper seeks to draw a way …
Qanāts and historical irrigated landscapes in Palermo’s suburban area (Sicily)
2020
La città di Palermo e la sua valle circostante sono un importante paesaggio storico irriguo, caratterizzato da strutture idrauliche sotterranee e da una lunga tradizione di sistemi di irrigazione ereditati dalla presenza islamica in Sicilia nel medioevo (IX-XI secolo). La “rivo- luzione verde” islamica ha radicalmente innovato i sistemi di irrigazione siciliani e questo portò all’introduzione e alla diffusione di nuove specie coltivate. Nell’area suburbana di Pa- lermo sono stati indagati 63 infrastrutture idrauliche e tunnel di scolo, classificati in 4 ca- tegorie: 1) qanāts; 2) qanāts ciechi; 3) pozzi collegati; 4) gallerie di scolo emergenti. Que- ste strutture, nonostante alcuni dubbi c…
Water and Energy Saving in Urban Water Systems: The ALADIN Project
2016
The ALADIN project was aimed at contributing to environmental and energy sustainability of the urban water system by means of a decision support tool able to allow an evaluation of the energy impact related to each different macro-sectors of urban water cycle highlighting the main energy flows and to assess the system energy balance and identify the possible energy-efficient solutions. Moreover the tool suggests the most efficient actions in reducing water losses. In the present paper the main features of the developed tool are presented. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.