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Occurrence of phthalates in water resources, bottled water, and tap water, and health risk of exposure to the phthalates through drinking water in Tehran, Iran, 2018 were studied. The six phthalates with the most health and environmental concerns, including di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP), di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), dimethyl phthalate (DMP), and di-n-octyl phthalate (DNOP) were monitored in drinking water and water resources. The average levels (±standard deviation: SD) of the total phthalates in drinking water from the water distribution system, bottled water, surface waters, and ground waters were determined to be 0.76 ± 0.19, 0.96 ± 0.10, 1.06 ± 0.23, and 0.77 ± 0.06 μg/L, respectively. The dominant compounds in the phthalates were DMP and DEHP causing a contribution to the total phthalate levels higher than 60% in all the water sources. The phthalate levels of drinking water significantly increased by contact of hot water with disposable plastic and paper cups and by sunlight exposure of bottled water (p value < 0.05). The hazard quotients (HQs) of DEHP, BBP, DBP, and DEP for all ages both sexes combined were determined to be 1.56 × 10−4, 1.01 × 10−5, 1.80 × 10−5, and 1.29 × 10−6, respectively that were much lower than the boundary value of 1.0. The disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and DALY rate (per 100,000 people) attributable to DEHP intake through drinking water for all ages both sexes combined were estimated to be 6.385 (uncertainty interval: UI 95% 1.892 to 22.133), and 0.073 (0.022–0.255), respectively. The proportion of mortality in the attributable DALYs was over 96%. The attributable DALY rate exhibited no significant difference by sex, but was considerably affected by age in a manner that the DALY rates ranged from 0.052 (0.015–0.175) in the age group 65 y plus to 0.099 (0.026–0.304) in the age group 5 to 9 y. Both the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks of the phthalates in drinking water were considered to be very low. The results can also be of importance in terms of developing frameworks to expand the domain of burden of disease study to the other environmental risks. • Health risk of phthalates in water environment in Tehran was evaluated. • The average level of the total phthalates in drinking water was 0.76 ± 0.19 μg/L. • The dominant phthalates were DMP and DEHP causing a share higher than 60%. • The HQs of all the phthalates were much lower than the boundary value of 1.0. • The attributable DALYs and DALY rate in Tehran were respectively 6.385 and 0.073. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a new methodology for quantifying the total resilience of water resources management scenarios. The climate change impacts on water supply and demand have been investigated using a calibrated soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) and a MODSIM water allocation model. Several criteria have been defined to measure five aspects of water resources systems resilience. The first aspect defines resilience as system strength against crossing a performance threshold (reliability). In the second aspect, if the system crosses the performance threshold, the recovery rate of the system after a disturbance is evaluated. The violation from the performance threshold has been measured as the third aspect (vulnerability), which considers the failure's severity. The fourth aspect is the resilience under extreme events with unknown occurrence probability, which includes four sub-criteria, namely rapidity, robustness, resourcefulness, and redundancy (4 R). Finally, the fifth criterion considers the ecological condition of the system (ecological index). To compare water resources management scenarios (alternatives), an analytical evidential reasoning-based (ER) approach has been used. To show the applicability of the proposed methodology, it has been applied to the Zarrinehrud river basin, which is the leading water supplier of Lake Urmia in Iran. As one of the largest saline lakes globally, this lake has been suffering from drastic desertification and salinization in the past two decades. The grade-based results of the performance criteria are synthesized into a grade-based total resilience criterion to facilitate the comparison of water resources management scenarios. It is shown that a scenario which results in 40% reduction in agricultural water demand until 2023 has the highest resilience and an acceptable construction and operational cost. • A total resilience criterion is proposed for assessing water resources systems. • This criterion can evaluate the resilience against events with known and unknown probability. • The grade-based values of performance criteria are estimated and combined using ER. • The previous resilience evaluations /have underestimated the critical conditions. • The total cost and resilience of the selected scenario are 1272.5 × 106 $ and 0.85. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the complexity and feedbacks among food, energy, and water (FEW) systems is key to making informed decisions about sustainable development. This paper presents qualitative representation and quantitative system dynamics simulation of the water resources system in the Qazvin Plain, Iran, taking into account the energy intensity of water supply and interconnected water use sectors (e.g., urban, industrial, and agricultural). Qazvin Plain faces water resources challenges that are common to arid/semi-arid areas, including frequent droughts, declining surface water and groundwater, and increased urban and agricultural water demand. A system dynamics model is developed using historical data (2006–2016) to investigate the effects of anticipated dynamics of integrated water and energy sectors in the next two decades. The results of policy scenarios (2020–2039) demonstrate that the continuation of the existing management policies will cause severe damage to the water and energy sectors, pushing the system towards water resources limits to growth. An annual groundwater table decline of nearly 1 m is anticipated, indicating significant overshoot of the plain's natural recharge capacity, which may lead to the depletion of recoverable groundwater in the plain within the next three decades. The groundwater table decline will cause energy consumption of water supply to increase by about 32% (i.e., 380 GWh) to maintain irrigated agriculture. It is critical to implement a combination of water demand and supply management policies (e.g., net agricultural water savings and recycling treated wastewater) to delay the problem of water limits to growth in the region. • We present a system dynamics of model integrated water and energy sectors in an agricultural region. • The model facilitates evaluation of water management policies using a food-energy water nexux approach. • Policies that facilitate net agricultural water savings and water reuse can delay groundwater depletion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, an increase in the drought and water shortage all around the world is a challengeable threat for different governments and international committees. Water supply chain aims to manage the water consumption and to control the water shortage. Contrary to most of previous studies focused on the forward directions of the water supply chain, this paper also considers the reverse logistics known as a Closed-Loop Supply Chain (CLSC). Hence, an integrated Water Supply and Wastewater Collection System (WSWCS) under uncertainty is proposed. Furthermore, regarding the trend of sustainable development, the environmental dimensions and social benefits of the integrated WSWCS are contributed. To meet the standards of the sustainable development in developing countries, a case study in Iran is applied to a novel multi-objective stochastic optimization model based on triple bottom lines of sustainability. Having already been employed to similar optimization problems, the Social Engineering Optimizer (SEO) has been never applied in this research area. Another innovation of this study is to introduce an improved multi-objective SEO to solve this complicated model. Eventually, with regards to an extensive comparison contributing to the Pareto-based metrics and different sensitivities, some managerial implications are concluded as the main findings. • Developing a novel multi-objective stochastic optimization model to design a sustainable water supply network. • Considering triple bottom lines of sustainability for an integrated water supply and wastewater collection system. • Applying the life cycle assessment method to estimate the sustainability aspects. • Solving the case study of Urmia Lake by an improved social engineering optimizer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]