Assessment of Long-Term Watershed Management on Reservoir Phosphorus Concentrations and Export Fluxes

Rapid detection of Chattonella marina by PCR combined with dot lateral flow strip

In this study a novel technique referred to as PCR combined with dot lateral flow strip (PCDS) is proposed and its application to the detection of harmful microalgae was explored. For this purpose, using Chattonella marina as a test algal species, PCR targeting the D1-D2 region of large subunit ribosomal gene of this alga was performed with the tagged specific primers. The amplicons were then analyzed with the manually prepared dot lateral flow strip, and the strip could produce a test dot and a control dot that are naked-eye detectable, indicating the successful establishment of PCDS. The established PCDS assay does not require expensive instruments for the detection, and the results can be observed visually after adding 7.5 μL of PCR amplicons in combination with 92.5 μL of chromatography buffer to the sample pad of the strip for about 10 min. The PCR conditions were optimized to enhance the effectiveness of detection. The cross-reactivity test with 23 microalgae species, including Chattonella marina, showed good specificity of the PCDS. The detection limit of PCDS was 1.25 × 10^-2 ng µL^-1 for genomic DNA and 10¹ cells mL^-1 for crude cell extracts, which can meet the detection needs. In summary, the PCDS proposed in this study has low cost, clear, and intuitive detection results and good specificity and sensitivity, providing a novel detection method for C. marina.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10811-021-02667-x.

A water quality management methodology for optimizing best management practices considering changes in long-term efficiency

Optimizing long-term best management practices (BMPs) is of vital importance for water quality management, especially for nonpoint source (NPS) pollution. However, changes in the efficiency of BMPs over time have not been incorporated and a proper method for determining long-term BMP configuration strategies is still lacking. In this study, the long-term BMP optimization method (LBMP-OM) was developed for recommending the BMP maintenance-replacement strategies and optimizing the BMP configuration. This new method was then tested in the Daning Watershed, Three Gorges Reservoir Region, China. Based on the results, a 1-year maintenance period and a 3-year replacement period was recommended for a filter strip by considering a changing BMP effectiveness rather than a constant effectiveness and by discussing the rationality of experts' suggestions for maintenance and replacement strategies regarding the regulation of NPS pollution. At the watershed scale, the total cost dropped by 57.36% by introducing the LBMP-OM method compare to the original method. This new method extended the long-term management and configuration of BMPs.

Nutrient Pollutants in Surface Water—Assessing Trends in Drinking Water Resource Quality for a Regional City in Central Europe

This paper presents the changes in concentration of seven biogenic indices in the Wisłok River water and determines the water treatment processes required in order to obtain water fit for consumption. The investigations were conducted during 2004–2013, and water samples were collected at a measuring-control point was situated at 67.9 km on the river at the surface water intake for the water supply to the Rzeszów city dwellers. Analysis of the research results allows for the forecasting of technological and organizational changes in the treatment processes of the abstracted water. It was found that only the mean concentration of Kjeldahl nitrogen exceeded the value admissible for class I, which allowed the Wisłok River water to be classified as class II with good potential and determined the water quality category as A2, which indicates the necessity for typical performance physical and chemical treatment. Downward trends in the contents of the tested nutrients occurred during the period of investigation, except for nitrite nitrogen. Statistically significant downward trends were registered for ammonium nitrogen, Kjeldahl nitrogen, total nitrogen and phosphates. The decline in nutrient concentrations in the water of Wisłok is a tangible result of the introduction of new standards of water resource management in the catchment, compliant with the European Union legislation.

Sustainable Water Resource Management of Regulated Rivers under Uncertain Inflow Conditions Using a Noisy Genetic Algorithm

Ecofriendly reservoir operation is an important tool for sustainable water resource management in regulated rivers. Optimization of reservoir operation is potentially affected by the stochastic characteristics of inflows. However, inflow stochastics are not widely incorporated in ecofriendly reservoir operation optimization. The reasons might be that computational cost and unsatisfactory performance are two key issues for reservoir operation under uncertainty inflows, since traditional simulation methods are usually needed to evaluate over many realizations and the results vary between different realizations. To solve this problem, a noisy genetic algorithm (NGA) is adopted in this study. The NGA uses an improved type of fitness function called sampling fitness function to reduce the noise of fitness assessment. Meanwhile, the Monte Carlo method, which is a commonly used approach to handle the stochastic problem, is also adopted here to compare the effectiveness of the NGA. Degree of hydrologic alteration and water supply reliability, are used to indicate satisfaction of environmental flow requirements and human needs. Using the Tanghe Reservoir in China as an example, the results of this study showed that the NGA can be a useful tool for ecofriendly reservoir operation under stochastic inflow conditions. Compared with the Monte Carlo method, the NGA reduces ~90% of the computational time and obtains higher water supply reliability in the optimization.