Modeling of eutrophication and strategies for improvement of water quality in reservoirs.

The purpose of this study is to survey the thermal regime and eutrophication states in Ilam reservoir in Iran as the case study. For this purpose and to find solutions for improving the water's quality in the reservoir, two general strategies for reducing the entering pollution loads and water depletions from the reservoir's outlets were analyzed by use of the CE-QUAL-W2 model. Results of the simulation of the present situation show the existence of thermal stratification during summer, which results in the qualitative stratification in the reservoir. According to the qualitative criteria, the Ilam reservoir's state is between mesotrophic and eutrophic. Results of the scenarios of reduction of the nutrients show that in the scenario of 50% reduction of the phosphorus and nitrogen loads into the reservoir, the state of the reservoir would recover from eutrophic to semi-eutrophic. Also, release of water from the reservoir during September, October and November would cause the restoration of the quality of water in the reservoir. To avoid the occurrence of critical eutrophication in the reservoir, reducing the ponding time in the reservoir by fast depletion, preventing entrance of the upstream villages' sewage and agricultural drained waters, which are sources of nitrate and phosphate contamination into the rivers, and also management of the usage of agricultural fertilizers have been suggested.

Projections of meteorological drought severity-duration variations based on CMIP6.

This research utilized the outputs from three models of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6), specifically CanESM5, GFDL-ESM4, and IPSL-CM6A-LR. These models were used under the SSP1-2.6 and SSP5-8.5 scenarios, along with the SPI and SPEI, to assess the impacts of climate change on drought in Iran. The results indicated that the average annual precipitation will increase under some scenarios and decrease under others in the near future (2022-2050). In the distant future (2051-2100), the average annual precipitation will increase in all states by 8-115 mm. The average minimum and maximum temperature will increase by up to 4.85 â„ƒ and 4.9 â„ƒ, respectively in all states except for G2S1. The results suggest that severe droughts are anticipated across Iran, with Cluster 5 expected to experience the longest and most severe drought, lasting 6 years with a severity index of 85 according to the SPI index. Climate change is projected to amplify drought severity, particularly in central and eastern Iran. The SPEI analysis confirms that drought conditions will worsen in the future, with southeastern Iran projected to face the most severe drought lasting 20 years. Climate change is expected to extend drought durations and increase severity, posing significant challenges to water management in Iran.

Intelligent Energy Management and Multi-Objective Power Distribution Control in Hybrid Micro-grids based on the Advanced Fuzzy-PSO Method.

A micro-grid consisting of distributed generation resources (DGRs) with a hybrid energy storage system (HESS) composed of batteries and super-capacitors was studied. A control strategy based on the particle swarm optimization (PSO) and energy management algorithms was proposed to facilitate power distribution in the micro-grid and to improve the reliability, control levels, and penetration of micro-grids in the current electrical grids. The proposed operational strategy is based on the power predicted using the load profile and power generation resources. Energy management strategies were then presented by solving a multi-objective problem by the PSO algorithm and submitting the optimization results to the fuzzy controller and power distribution management (PDM) unit. The optimizer, the PDM unit, and the fuzzy controller provide a comprehensive operating procedure for the islanded and grid-connected micro-grids, taking into account their stability against grid fluctuations. In another part of this strategy, an auxiliary power control unit (APCU) was proposed for supporting the HESS and increasing the reliable performance of this unit. The proposed structure was applied to the net power (Pnet) of the islanded and grid-connected micro-grids. The net power was divided into high-frequency (super-capacitor) and low-frequency (battery and APCU) components. The proposed algorithm and simulation results were analyzed using MATLAB/Simulink.

Effects of dynamic land use/land cover change on water resources and sediment yield in the Anzali wetland catchment, Gilan, Iran.

Land use/land cover (LULC) changes strongly affect catchment hydrology and sediment yields. The current study aims at analyzing the hydrological consequences of dynamic LULC changes in the Anzali wetland catchment, Iran. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT 2012) model was used to assess impacts on evapotranspiration, water yield, and sediment yield. Two model runs were performed using static and dynamic LULC inputs to evaluate the effects of LULC change between 1990 and 2013. For the static model, the LULC map of 1990 was used, whereas for the dynamic model, a gradual change of the LULC distribution was interpolated from 1990, 2000, and 2013 LULC data. The major LULC changes were identified as an increase of agricultural area by 7% of the catchment area and a decrease of forest coverage by 6.8% between 1990 and 2013. At the catchment scale, the differences in the long-term mean annual values for the main water balance components and sediment yield were smaller than 10 mm (<2.8%) and 3 t/km2 (<2.6%), respectively. However, at the sub-basin scale the increase of agricultural land use resulted in an increase of evapotranspiration, water yield, and sediment yield by up to 8.3%, 7%, and 169%, respectively, whereas urban expansion led to a decrease of evapotranspiration, water yield, and sediment yield by up to -3.5%, -2.3%, and -9.4%. According to the results of the monthly time scale analysis, the most significant impact of LULC changes occurs during the dry season months, when the increase of irrigation agriculture results in an increase in water discharge and sediment loads to the Anzali wetland. Overall, the results showed that the implementation of dynamic LULC change into the SWAT model could be adopted as a planning tool to manage LULC change of the Anzali wetland catchment in the future.