Integrated water and sanitation risk assessment and modeling in the Upper Sonora River Basin (Northwest,Mexico).

详细信息   

• 作者：Robles-Morua ; Agustin.
• 学历：Doctor
• 年：2010
• 导师：Mayer, Alex S.,eadvisorHalvorsen, Kathleen E.,eadvisorAuer, Martin T.ecommittee memberVivoni, Enrique R.ecommittee member
• 毕业院校：Michigan Technological University
• Department：Civil & Environmental Engineering
• ISBN：9781124438047
• CBH：3439133
• Country：USA
• 语种：English
• FileSize：6250245
• Pages：223

文摘

The specific focus of my research has been on examining water quality and quantity issues occurring in a semiarid rural basin in northwest Mexico (Sonora River) and consists of four parts. First, a risk perception study that I conducted assessed the perceptions of risks associated with wastewater contamination of water resources. Results from this study indicate that there is an underestimation of the problems related to water related risks in this region. This study contributes to the risk perception literature by demonstrating that chronic exposure to non-catastrophic risk within a low resource environment can reduce perceptions that the risk is serious even when professionals deeply involved in reducing it believe that it is serious. Additionally, the study enhanced our understanding of how risk is constructed within less developed countries where few risk-related studies have been conducted. Second, a fully distributed hydrologic model was used to make streamflow predictions in space and time in the same un-gauged river basin. The results of this hydrology model were used to evaluate pollutant transport processes associated with wastewater loadings to the Sonora River. The hydrology model was also used to evaluate data requirements for the application of distributed hydrological models in regions with sparse data. Specifically, we evaluated the use of traditional rainfall gauges versus the use of a newly developed reanalysis product known as the North American land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS). Third, a surface water quality model was used to illustrate the impact of wastewater discharges and develop pathogen contamination indicators in two sites along the Sonora River. To parameterize this water quality model, pathogenic indicator loadings and overall pathogen removal rates along with their uncertainty were estimated. Furthermore, we evaluated the seasonal dilution effects caused by streamflow spatiotemporal variability and we compared this variability with the uncertainty associated with pathogen removal rates. Results from this study provide important information regarding pollutant concentrations and describe regions in the watershed that may be continuously exceeding pathogenic standards. Finally, a stakeholder workshop was conducted to explore the application of participatory modeling frameworks in a less developed region. In addition we assessed whether modeling results presented in this workshop resulted in changes in perceptions regarding water quantity and quality problems. The results indicate that respondents agreed strongly with the modeling methodologies presented and considered the modeling results useful. Our results also show that participatory modeling approaches can have short term impacts as seen in the changes in water-related risk perceptions. In summary this study integrated methodologies from social and natural sciences in order to develop indicators that would be relevant and useful for environmental policy in less developed regions. This study also provided important information to assist water quantity and quality management in the regions of influence of the North American Monsoon (NAM).