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This study examines the influence of human activities and climate variability on 86 dams and hydropower across Iran. The term 'mirage water' is introduced to estimate the impact of these factors on inflow. Data analysis shows that out of 1729 m3s−1 of mirage water, 705 m3s−1 are contributed by anthropogenic activities and 1024 m3s−1 by precipitation deficits. This indicates that some parts of Iran's strategic investments in water resources management over the past 60 years have failed. The study underscores the necessity for enhanced management practices and infrastructure investments to ensure sustainable water resources in arid and semi-arid regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a numerical model for depth-averaged Reynolds equations (shallow-water equations) to investigate a dam-break problem, based upon a two-dimensional (2D) second-order upwind cell-centre finite volume method. The transportation terms were modelled using a modified approximate HLLC Riemann solver with the first-order accuracy. The proposed 2D model was assessed and validated through experimental data and analytical solutions for several dam-break cases on a wet and dry bed. The results showed that the error values of the model are lower than those of existing numerical methods at different points. Our findings also revealed that the dimensionless error parameters decrease as the wave propagates downstream. In general, the new model can model the dam-break problem and captures the shock wave superbly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to assess contamination status of water and sediment in Sabalan dam reservoir (SDR) and evaluate the impact of water withdrawal depths on the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks of metals for exposed people. Results of metal pollution indices revealed some degree of pollution in water and sediment of the reservoir, especially associated with arsenic. Risk assessment of metals in water of the SDR for non-carcinogenic materials through different scenarios of water withdrawal depth revealed that consuming water from the depth of 10 m can be somewhat troublesome to human health. The carcinogenic risk of arsenic from depth of 10 m of the reservoir was about four times greater than that from water surface. Minimum carcinogenic risk of consuming water in the reservoir was found to be 1.69 × 10E-4, which is higher than the maximum limit proposed by the U.S. EPA, indicating the water consumption from the SDR can result in harmful effects on human health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arvandroud river (also known as Shatt-al-Arab) and its estuary have been degraded due to the changing river flow regime in the Tigris and Euphrates. This study assessed changes in flow from the major rivers and the impacts on the estuary. To assess the river flow changes, three major flow regime attributes were computed: timing (TIF), magnitude (MIF), and variability (VIF). By combining these indices, the total flow regime impact factor (IF) was scaled between 0 and 1, and classified into five groups: Low (0.80

Summary When the number of computational grids increases, water quality simulation complexities arise. Therefore, using a reduced order framework to express the variations of the objective parameter may facilitate the simulation task and also the interpretation of computational results. In this regard, a new reduced-order approach was proposed to link a water quality simulator model (CE-QUAL-W2, W2) with a data reduction technique (proper orthogonal decomposition, POD). The W2 model simulated spatio-temporal variations of nitrate in the Karkheh Reservoir, Iran. Thereafter, the POD model reduced the dimensions of simulated nitrate in the computational grids. The performance of the developed reduced-order model (ROM) results was evaluated through the comparison of the regenerated nitrate data by the model, and the simulated ones by W2. Findings indicated that the first four modes among 1825 computed ones by ROM conserved approximately over 91% of the nitrate variations. It means that the ROM was capable of showing the spatio-temporal variations of nitrate in the reservoir using the first few modes. Finally, confirmation of ROM indicated that the error of order of magnitude was less than 0.001, for nitrate ROM to regenerate nitrate data using 100 basis functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]