Search

In water-guided laser technology, the stability of water jets is crucial to ensure the efficient transmission of laser energy. However, the thermal effects generated when high-power lasers are coupled with water jets are bound to impact the stability of the water jets, thus becoming a critical issue that restricts the development of high-power water-guided laser technology. In addressing this issue, this paper establishes a temperature model for coupling high-power lasers with water jets. Subsequently, with validation of the model's effectiveness through experimental data, simulations are conducted to analyze the temperature distribution within the water jet. During the simulation process, lasers with different parameters were coupled with water jets to analyze the temperature variation law of the water jets. Additionally, the maximum laser power coupled with water jets of different lengths was solved. Based on the calculated temperature values of the water jet, simulate the evolution of its profile over time when it has an initial temperature gradient. Simultaneously, perform a three-dimensional reconstruction of the obtained perturbed profile and conduct ray tracing to analyze the laser's transmission losses within the perturbed profile. Finally, high-speed cameras are utilized to capture the profile of the water jet, validating the laser-induced fragmentation behavior in the water jet. The research findings will provide a significant reference value for selecting laser parameters and controlling thermal effects in water-guided high-power technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is of great significance to explore the ocean environment and strategic deployment under the polar ice layer. In this paper, the evolution laws of the water entry cavity of projectiles passing through ice holes with different shapes and sizes are studied, and the motion states of projectiles passing through holes are described. The case of zero-gap contact motion between a projectile and a hole is considered. The results show that the initial resistance drag of the projectile passing through the circular ice hole is the largest in the case of zero-gap contact, and the cavity collapse is serious, while almost no cavity appears at the shoulder of the projectile when passing through the square hole. The intersection of splash crowns is formed at the square and triangular ice holes as the hole size increases, a diffused cavity is formed at the bottom of the hole edge, and the formation of the jet appears multiple times at each stage. Some unique vortices appear near the hole when the projectile passes through the hole. The variations of force and velocity of the projectile passing through the triangular hole are stable, but the velocity drop is the largest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is expected to significantly alter hydrological regimes globally as well as locally. The impacts will encompass both long‐term changes in hydrological trends and short‐term extreme weather events. The need to anticipate and adapt to future changes will challenge legal rules and institutions, as these are bound to the past. This article analyses whether water law at international, EU and national (Finland) levels can deal with these hydrological changes. To this end, the analysis draws on a case study of the Finnish‐Russian transboundary Vuoksi River. We discuss the main substantive and procedural challenges of water law and outline some necessary legal changes. Our analysis shows that while water law at these levels includes some legal mechanisms for managing varying hydrological circumstances, these will prove insufficient in the light of the scale of anticipated hydrological changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interinstitutional interactions occur frequently and have led to important organisational developments. The purpose of this article is twofold. First, it attempts to clarify the legal basis of the interinstitutional duty to cooperate in international water law, by focusing on the river basin organisations (RBOs) of Europe and Southern Africa that coexist in the same transboundary basin. Second, it assesses the approaches used by RBOs in these two regions to operationalise the interinstitutional duty to cooperate. The article concludes that the interinstitutional duty to cooperate is far from complete and that subsequent practices of RBOs play a significant role in enriching and operationalising this duty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the shift in international water law from traditional nation-state governance to embracing hydrological units such as watersheds through the lens of scalar politics. It scrutinizes how the United Nations Water Conventions, by advocating various legal principles such as equity and no harm, have triggered rescaling in transboundary water governance globally. Through an extensive survey of legal documents, this paper further uncovers diverse scalar reconfigurations that permeate bilateral, multilateral and regional water treaties and interface with existing social, political and legal structures across different regions, highlighting the multiplicity of rescaling processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Institutional authority and responsibility for allocating water to ecosystems ("ecologically available water" [EAW]) is spread across local, state, and federal agencies, which operate under a range of statutes, mandates, and planning processes. We use a case study of the Upper Missouri Headwaters Basin in southwestern Montana, United States, to illustrate this fragmented institutional landscape. Our goals are to (a) describe the patchwork of agencies and institutional actors whose intersecting authorities and actions influence the EAW in the study basin; (b) describe the range of governance mechanisms these agencies use, including laws, policies, administrative programs, and planning processes; and (c) assess the extent to which the collective governance regime creates gaps in responsibility. We find the water governance regime includes a range of nested mechanisms that in various ways facilitate or hinder the governance of EAW. We conclude the current multilevel governance regime leaves certain aspects of EAW unaddressed and does not adequately account for the interconnections between water in different parts of the ecosystem, creating integrative gaps. We suggest that more intentional and robust coordination could provide a means to address these gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European continent is undergoing unprecedented drought. This drought has had ramifications already: reservoirs and rivers running dry, interruptions in electrical generation, and disruptions of river shipments. These ramifications will only get worse if the European Union does not act. The European Union lacks a centralized water law for quantitative water regulation. To weather the coming drought, the European Union must change its course. The European Union must have a unified water rights regime. This Note argues that the strongest solution, in the face of Europe's unique history, is a composite regime of prior appropriations and riparianism. This regime would apply a baseline water law of riparianism, with prior appropriations applying to all future water users. This regime would allow Europe to gain both the benefits of the two regimes while mitigating the negatives. The possibility of a unified European regime of quantitative water law is largely unaddressed in the literature, and a unified regime is of paramount importance in the face of Europe's severe drought. This Note attacks the problem of the European drought by comparing existing water rights regimes, considering these regimes in the context of Europe's unique situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current groundwater challenges have made evident that national and international groundwater law needs a thorough revision. In this article, we explore earth system law (ESL) and rights of nature (RoN) as possible approaches to rethink groundwater law. Taking inspiration from ESL scholarship, RoN literature, Indigenous worldviews, and socio-ecological movements, we analyze law as a critical element of the human-political-social system, which creates regulatory institutions with the aim to provide a social order for humanity, an order that is being affected by deteriorating earth systems, including groundwater. Recognizing RoN and thinking law through the lenses of ESL involve a new understanding of what groundwater law could be and what the subject of the law could be. So far, little attention has been given to how these approaches can be used to redesign groundwater law, and what implications this could have on groundwater governance and sustainability. Therefore, this article explores the possibility of reforming groundwater law through the lenses of ESL and RoN. It investigates which legal mechanisms are being used to recognize RoN, and what their legal and practical implications have been so far. This article aims to contribute not only to advancing the academic debate on RoN and ESL but also to share light on different ways to reform groundwater law, which includes a new understanding of sustainability and socio-nature relations. This article is categorized under: Human Water > Rights to Water Human Water > Water Governance Science of Water > Water and Environmental Change [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physical model experiments are increasingly applied in the study of the water infiltration law in loess with roots. In the past, due to differences in study objects and the limitations of measuring techniques, the infiltration law in loess with roots is rarely evaluated by using appropriate indoor physical model experimental data. In order to investigate the law of water infiltration in loess with roots, we designed a new soil column experimental device that can automatically collect data and images. By comparing the soil column experiment data of loess, we analyzed variables in root contents (the ratio of root mass to dry soil mass) and root types. Roots with diameters of 0–2 mm, 2–5 mm, and 5–10 mm are defined as type I, type II, and type III, respectively. It was found that the water infiltration rate, water-holding capacity, and saturated permeability coefficient increase with the increase in root content. In loess containing different root types, the root types were found to improve the rate of water infiltration, water-holding capacity, and saturated permeability coefficient in the soil. The root types were ranked in descending order in terms of their impact: root type II had the highest improvement, followed by root type III, and then root type I. The phenomenon of circumferential flow existed when water infiltrated loess with roots. Root content and root type would affect the radius of circumferential flow, infiltration path, and cross-section. When calculating the saturated permeability coefficient of loess with roots, ignoring the effect of circumferential flow would lead to a higher result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To gain quantitative insight into how the overall strength of the hydrophobic interaction varies with the molecular size, we calculate osmotic second virial coefficients B for hydrophobic spherical molecules of different diameters σ in water based on molecular simulation with corrections to the finite-size and finite-concentration effects. It is shown that B (<0) changes by two orders of magnitude greater as σ increases twofold and its solute-size dependence is best fit by a power law B ∝ σα with the exponent α ≃ 6, which contrasts with the cubic power law that the second virial coefficients of gases obey. It is also found that values of B for the solutes in a nonpolar solvent are positive but they obey the same power law as in water. A thermodynamic identity for B derived earlier [K. Koga, V. Holten, and B. Widom, J. Phys. Chem. B 119, 13391 (2015)] indicates that if B is asymptotically proportional to a power of σ, the exponent α must be equal to or greater than 6. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydraulic transients are accelerated by the wicket gate closing in hydroelectric power plants. When the wicket gate is closed, there is a sudden change in velocity due to the closure. Therefore, a study has been carried out here, wherein water hammers on different hydropower components use optimum closure laws: Fast closure laws, slow closure laws, and instant load rejection. Hammer V10i software was used to investigate the phenomenon of pressure transient. The results show that the maximum transient pressure is strongly influenced by a very short closing time and was increased to 41.24% from the slow to the fast closure. Furthermore, the results from instant load rejections reveal that the transient pressure will be less than the fast and slow closure. So, the closing law selection can positively influence the entire hydropower plant system. Furthermore, the results show that there was a decrease in pressure near the turbine during the different load rejections, Fast closure, slow closure, and instant load rejection, where 57.7%, 15%, and 0.46%, respectively, and the decrease in turbine rotation speed were as 5.1%, 60%, and 24% respectively. Moreover, results reveal that maximum and minimum flow variation reached -29.75% and 41.2% during the fast closure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article proposes the International Atomic Energy Agency as a model to address water weaponization. Topics discussed include relationship between water and security and its implications for international relations, state of water scarcity in the Middle East and North Africa, analogy between atomic energy and water, legal instruments on water resource sharing such as international humanitarian law, international human rights law and transboundary water law, and diplomatic initiatives.

This study takes water patterns and cloud patterns as examples to explore the evolution and contemporary performance of traditional Chinese patterns. Firstly, the background and importance of traditional Chinese patterns in the field of cultural pedagogy are introduced. Subsequently, the purpose and significance of the research are expounded, in order to deeply understand and excavate the development and contemporary expression of traditional Chinese patterns. According to the purpose of the study, the two main research methods of this study were analysis of literature and field research. Through the study of the evolution process of water pattern and cloud pattern, the changes and evolution laws of water pattern and cloud pattern in different historical periods and regions are found. The results show that the water pattern and the cloud pattern have the same material matrix, different modeling structure, and different dyeing materials, which are graphics evolved from traditional patterns, representing the meaning of heart, chest, belly and auspiciousness, respectively. Therefore, traditional patterns can provide inspiration for modern design, extend the role and use of traditional patterns, and provide reference and reference for archaeological pattern research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the relationship between rivers and territory in Chile, emphasizing the importance of recognizing the social, political, cultural, and spiritual aspects of water. The current institutional framework in Chile treats water as a tradable resource, leading to conflicts over water rights, particularly for indigenous communities. The article discusses two legal reforms as opportunities to adopt a relational approach to rivers, but also acknowledges the challenges and limitations of the current legislation. It concludes by highlighting the need for a more comprehensive and inclusive approach to water governance in Chile, one that recognizes the interdependence between water, land, and human relationships. The article also mentions the Whanganui iwi's relationship with Te Awa Tupua, which aims to resist the division of the river ecosystem by Western legal frameworks and promote open dialogue. The recent reforms to the Water Code recognize the integration of land and water for indigenous peoples, but further mechanisms are needed to ensure concrete progress in these areas. [Extracted from the article]

In establishing an equitable and reasonable use of a transboundary watercourse, States are to take into consideration a variety of factors, including the availability of alternative uses. This article seeks to provide a framework for assessing such alternative uses by first exploring treaty practice and relevant cases across the fields of international environmental law and international water law. Three key components are identified: comparable feasibility, practicality and cost‐effectiveness of alternatives. These components are then explored through a case study of Central Asian transboundary waters. The results demonstrate that the use of alternatives after analysing key components would help reduce the hidden cost of low efficiency and assist in finding optimal water use solutions in transboundary water cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is of great significance for ecological environment protection to clarify the regional evolution characteristics of shallow water under the disturbance of multi-working face mining. In this paper, the catastrophe theory method, GIS spatial analysis function and FEFLOW numerical calculation method were comprehensively used to study the instability risk and evolution law of shallow water systems in the Zhuan Longwan Coal Mine. The results show that: the Zhuan Longwan Coal Mine is divided into five areas (small risk area, light risk area, middle risk area, heavy risk area and special risk area) based on catastrophe theory, among which the middle risk area has the largest area of 16,616,880 m2, and the special risk area has the smallest area of 1,769,488 m2. Based on the results of catastrophe zoning, the evolution law of shallow water under multi-surface disturbance in different zones is expounded. In the middle-risk area, the water level drop at measuring point 4 is the largest, which is 0.525 m, and the water level drop at measuring point 5 is the smallest, which is 0.116 m. The study aims to provide a basis for regional coal development planning and research on the method of water-retaining coal mining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Water Code historically regulated industry sector matters, avoiding major issues associated with human consumption, sanitation and subsistence domestic use (subsistence function). It was classed as a productivist regulation, developed largely under the auspices of agriculture and focused mainly on granting and exercising water use rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the impacts of Ecuador's 2014 water law on comunas ancestrales (traditional communal Andean villages), highlighting a disconnect between formal legal frameworks and day-to-day implementation. We focused on the case of Oyacoto, a peri-urban, Indigenous and Mestizo comuna struggling to maintain water management practices and identity while updating critical infrastructure. Using a qualitative approach, we studied the political and gender dimensions of responding to new water policy. Our findings highlight the challenges that small agricultural communities face to preserve community-based water planning within the constraints of centralized national policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the role of judges in resolving environmental conflicts, specifically in the context of water rights and the environment. It discusses the challenges that judges face in adjudicating environmental cases, such as defining who represents all public and private interests in environmental litigation outcomes. It also highlights the NJC's programs on environmental law, including its Dividing the Waters program and its new Western Judicial Consortium on Water Law.

Ren, J.; Zhuang, T.; Wang, D., and Dai, J., 2023. Water flow and heat transport in the hyporheic zone of island riparian: A field experiment and numerical simulation. Journal of Coastal Research, 39(5), 848–861. Charlotte (North Carolina), ISSN 0749-0208. Water-level fluctuation is an important factor affecting the island riparian's surface water–groundwater interaction. An island riparian section in the Yueyang section of Dongting Lake downstream of the Three Gorges Dam was selected as the research object. The dimensional transient analysis method and the numerical simulation method of temperature tracing were used to study the water exchange characteristics of the island riparian hyporheic zone. The accuracy of the flow-heat coupling model is verified by the measured data, and the influence of water-level fluctuation on the dynamic change of water and heat in the island riparian was further analyzed. Four analytical models were compared and analyzed. The results show that the dynamic change process of island riparian temperature can be accurately depicted. The vertical temperature stratification of the island riparian is obvious, and the temperature field distribution of the island riparian is affected by various factors such as water-level change, temperature change, and depth. Compared with the numerical model and the four analytical models, the vertical seepage velocity of the island riparian was calculated by the amplitude method, which conformed to the law of groundwater fluctuation and had little difference. It is found that the time period for river water to recharge the groundwater of the island riparian is much larger than the time period for the recharge of the groundwater of the island riparian; the amount of groundwater recharged by the river is larger than that of the groundwater recharge of the island riparian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How is international water law able to stabilize expectations amid uncertain conditions? We use modern systems theory to hypothesize using the Lancang–Mekong River context. We propose: Hypothesis 1: Equitable utilization norms incorporate variant possibilities to solve the problem of contingency; Hypothesis 2: No significant harm norms select expectations worth protecting to solve the problem of confidence; Hypothesis 3: Cooperation norms retain learning opportunities to solve the problem of trust. Our aim is not to test correspondence with reality, but to stimulate understanding of international water law. Specifically, we evaluate how system problems of contingency, confidence and trust shape laws' function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the benefits for Australia of adopting U.S. law in resolving interstate groundwater dispute resolution. It explains interstate litigation in the U.S. and the role of groundwater within it. It examines interstate disputes in Australia and the role of groundwater in the future. It explores the Australian High Court's adoption of ideas from other countries and the constitutional basis under which it can adopt U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence in interstate water disputes.

Water has always been the most valuable resource on our little blue planet. Since the dawn of civilization, water has been at the center of human economic, military, and technological advancement. It has long been known that whoever controls access to water holds the reins of power. The modern era of outer space exploration is certainly no exception to water centrality. As space resource exploitation becomes an increasingly viable and lucrative sector of the globalized economy, both private and public entities have set their eyes on the vast water resources situated on and within celestial bodies, such as asteroids, planets, and moons. The incalculable value of water has resulted in nations around the world creating domestic and international rules governing water rights on Earth. The field of space law, however, has not fully reckoned with the implications of the seemingly limitless celestial water resources ripe for exploitation. The current legal regimes governing celestial water resource collection and allocation are largely inadequate to guide those looking to harness celestial water. As climate change threatens Earth's dwindling freshwater reserves, the importance of regulating celestial water increases. Without forward-looking international consensus on how to regulate and manage water resources, humankind stands wholly unprepared to peacefully and efficiently utilize celestial water resources. This Note acts as a guide for lawmakers and legal thinkers who seek to preemptively fill the legal gaps in current celestial water law. The unique environment of outer space further serves to complicate the issue, lowering the usefulness of mapping Earth-based water law blindly onto space law. The special properties of water set it apart from other celestial resources. Water not only provides life-sustaining nourishment for spacefarers but also presents additional scientific and economic use in outer space as rocket fuel. Moreover, the stark difference between developed and developing nations who seek access to harvested celestial water provides an additional hurdle on what a "fair" framework would entail. These challenges necessitate a thoughtful, comprehensive international treaty regulating celestial water rights and use as soon as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is increasing support, in international legal theory and advocacy, for water governance approaches that go beyond the technocratic, and recognise the reciprocal relatedness of water peoples and water places. Such an approach may seem logical within certain Indigenous law and belief systems, but can Western legal frameworks become more 'relational'? How can they evolve to be capable of meaningfully relating with Indigenous systems of law and governance for water? This article draws on a comprehensive survey of comparative legal developments affecting water across seven settler-colonial countries in Australasia and Latin America that attempt (or profess) to be relational. I critically evaluate these attempts against the 'yardstick' of relationality. In each jurisdiction there are unresolved calls for a social, cultural and constitutional transformation of some sort, in which Indigenous and environmental justice are key. The analysis here reveals the potential for constitutional law to drive relational water laws, although without place-based specificity and supporting institutions, resources and redistributions of power, constitutional approaches risk having little practical impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia's Murray – Darling Basin (MDB), the law explicitly requires strategies for managing risks to water quality and quantity. In this paper, we analyse water governance in the Basin, identifying inadequate governance standards and practices. Current arrangements in the MDB demonstrate deficiencies and vulnerabilities that limit capabilities for dealing with known or emerging risks and erode the legitimacy of governing institutions. Our analysis of the problems and opportunities for reform is informed by the OECD's principles of good water governance and the legal concept of the rule of law. We conclude that ignoring opportunities to adopt better-practice water governance is a severe risk to the MDB's shared waters. To overcome reactionary crisis-reaction reform, we propose reforms that empower critical evaluations of governance structures, rules, practices and participation. Therefore, proposed reforms of policy, institutions and legislation do not simply attempt one-off changes to enhance transparency and accountability but instead seek to enshrine processes of continuous, ongoing improvements to water governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses legal issues concerning the access of the American public to safe drinking water, with particular focus on the social and economic challenges to the public water systems access of peri-urban communities in Mebane, North Carolina.

Groundwater is an essential water source for millions of Americans, and it is invaluable for those in the western United States. It is stored in underground aquifers, geological formations of permeable rock and pore space, which lie under every state in the country. But states have no uniform standard for how they manage the withdrawal of groundwater, and even states with somewhat similar legal regimes for water use allow users to extract groundwater differently. These disparities create a resource-use environment that is ripe for conflict. An interstate groundwater dispute, however, had never been decided in the U.S. Supreme Court until November 2021. For the aquifer at issue in Mississippi v. Tennessee, the Court endorsed equitable apportionment—a legal doctrine that it had historically applied only to interstate surface water disputes—in a myopic decision. The doctrine is illsuited to emerging groundwater conflicts in the West not only because it is less feasible for a hard-to-measure resource like aquifers, but also because its emphasis on total consumption is unsustainable for the region’s arid future. The more suitable doctrine of interstate nuisance focuses on current use and works backward to determine how states can sustainably use a water resource while doing minimal harm to each other. Current and emerging conflicts in the West, including those involving the Snake Valley and Ogallala Aquifers, would benefit from the application of interstate nuisance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States lacks any meaningful interstate groundwater regulation. Without regulation, users of groundwater will continue to deplete precious aquifers. As aquifers get further depleted, overall water security diminishes, overuse becomes more entrenched, and the adverse effects from overuse become increasingly dangerous. Climate change induced drought and the over appropriation of surface waters will intensify interstate groundwater disputes going forward. The Supreme Court recently considered one of these conflicts in Mississippi v. Tennessee. The Court held that its doctrine of equitable apportionment applied to interstate groundwater disputes. Previously, the Court had only applied equitable apportionment to interstate surface waters and border-crossing anadromous fish. The Court ultimately dismissed the case on procedural grounds, leaving open how it would equitably apportion groundwater. This Note demonstrates that the Court's surface water equitable apportionment doctrine, which primarily protects established uses, is insufficient to protect interstate groundwater resources. Protecting established uses of an overused aquifer ensures further depletion. Instead of relying on its surface water doctrine, the Court should create a new equitable apportionment doctrine for groundwater that uses proportional sustainable yield as its guiding beacon. Proportional sustainable yield allows each state to use the amount of groundwater that it contributes to the aquifer each year. In addition, Congress and federal agencies should step in to incentivize interstate groundwater compacts by offering to fund groundwater-related projects, but only after the relevant states successfully negotiate a sustainable groundwater compact. Since the problem of aquifer depletion becomes more insidious with each passing year, prompt action must be taken to bring groundwater use into balance with the rate of aquifer recharge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water resources have evolved into a major tool for expanding a country's regional influence. The dynamic interactions of hydraulics strategies have thus been regarded as critical factors in Middle Eastern politics. As Turkey controls upstream water resources in the region, this study attempts to answer this question: What goals does Turkey pursue with its water‐control policy? The article demonstrates that Turkey is seeking to become the dominant power in the Middle East by regulating hydropolitics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the water inrush disaster that was easy to occur during tunnel construction, the internal law of tunnel water inrush was analyzed through the statistics cases of tunnel water inrush. The water inflow in tunnels during construction was predicted by using the methods of long short-term memory neural network (LSTM), Elman neural network and multiple linear regression based on partial least square respectively, and compared with the actual water inflow, then the optimal method for predicting the tunnel water inflow was obtained. The results showed that water inrush accidents were more likely to occur in shallow-buried, long tunnels and extra-long tunnels, and in fault, karst and soluble rock strata. By comparing the prediction results of three different models with the water inflow during tunnel construction, the LSTM model had higher accuracy in predicting the water inflow in tunnels during construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water inrush and mud inrush pose a serious threat to safe construction in underground engineering, but it is very difficult to determine the safe distance of outburst prevention rock mass. Based on deep-buried tunnel engineering, this paper proposes a method to determine the safe distance from water inrush disaster between the tunnel and the fault fracture zone. This method combines numerical modeling and backpropagation (BP) neural network. By means of numerical simulation, the internal influence law of the water pressure, lateral pressure coefficient, fault fracture zone width, and tunnel burial depth on the surrounding rock is analyzed. The evolution law of the minimum safe strata thickness under a single variable and the correlation degree between minimum safe strata thickness and various disaster factors are revealed. Based on the BP neural network analysis of the simulation results and the measured data of Wulaofeng Tunnel, the calculated values of safe strata thicknesses of fault fracture zone (F10) were determined. The results show that the thickness of the safe rock strata increases with increasing water pressure, lateral pressure coefficient, fault fracture zone width, and tunnel burial depth. The minimum safe thickness of F10 of the tunnel ranges from 7.1 m to 7.4 m, and 10 m is reserved in the actual project. The calculated results are consistent with the reserved thickness value in the construction. This conclusion can provide a reference for similar projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water flooding is a commonly used method in oilfield development, and the water flooding process is essentially the process of oil-water movement in porous media. Pore-scale flow law in water flooding process can guide the oilfield development plan, to improve the oil recovery efficiency. In this paper, the computational domain is constructed from the CT scan images of real cores. The oil-water flow process of the water flooding in the pore structure is simulated using the interFoam solver in OpenFOAM. The influence of the displacement process and the distribution of the remaining oil is analyzed in three aspects: the water cut curve, the state of the same water injection amount, and the final displacement state. The flow rate velocity affects the water flooding swept range, and the recovery factor increases gradually with the increase of the flow rate. With different injection velocity, the sweeping sequence of pores is different, and the location and shape of remaining oil are very different. Due to the different dominant forces under different wettability states, the swept patterns of the core are also different. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the hydration characteristics and early strength evolution of classified fine tailings cemented backfill (CFTCB), a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis and a volume resistivity test were performed on classified fine tailings filling slurry (CFTFS). The early hydration products of CFTCB were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) phase analysis. Uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) test was carried out, and the microscopic characteristics and strength rules of the hydration reaction of CFTCB were analyzed. Based on the experiment, we found the law of water content change and porosity evolution. The early hydration reaction can be divided into the dissolution, setting, and hardening stages. The volume resistivity test results show that the volume resistance of filling slurry increases slowly at first then decreases, and finally increases rapidly. The variation trend of volume resistivity is related to the degree of hydration reaction. When combined with the hydration characteristics of backfill materials, the hydration reaction rate determines the growth rate of early strength of backfill, and the formation of hydration products is the reason for the early strength increase in backfill. The research conclusion has an important theoretical guiding value and engineering significance in mine filling production organization and filling ratio parameter optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite an open border, shared culture, religious ties and strong people-to-people connectivity, governance of transboundary water resources has often led to diplomatic conflicts between India and Nepal. It is not unusual for hydro-development projects between the two to run into delays or opposition, despite great domestic need for water and electricity in both countries. Using fieldwork in Delhi and Kathmandu, this paper illustrates the factors that impede cooperation between the two sides on shared rivers and how the inadequacies of international water laws manifest themselves in bilateral negotiations on water governance. The paper locates the benefit-sharing framework in international water law using the case studies of the Pancheshwar and the SaptaKoshi–SunKoshi Project in the Mahakali and Koshi basins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We formulate the thrust and lift coefficients using scaling laws to develop a guideline for the lateral maneuverability of a pitching foil in a periodic freestream. The scaling laws for thrust and lift coefficients of two-dimensional pitching foil in a periodic freestream are derived by considering added mass and circulatory forces. We examined the validity of scaling laws by conducting water tunnel experiments at a Reynolds number of 4.2 × 103. The key parameters are the pitch amplitude and phase difference between the periodic freestream and pitching foil. The pitch amplitude was changed from 4° to 24° with 4° increments, and the phase difference was changed from 0 to 2π with 0.25π increments. It was discovered that our scaling laws were consistent with experimental data for small pitch amplitude. By using scaling laws, we proposed guidelines to control the thrust and lift coefficients for lateral maneuver. Our guideline demonstrates that pitch amplitude can be employed to control the thrust coefficient to cancel out drag, and the phase difference is useful to control the lift coefficient without changing the adjusted thrust coefficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Almost exactly a hundred years after the Permanent Settlement of 1793 revolutionized property relations in Bengal, a far less studied legislation would subtly extend the rule of property to include the province's waters. Bengal's Private Fisheries Protection Act 1889, which is usually regarded as having been motivated by conservationist or economic concerns, was in fact an attempt to resolve intractable legal problems surrounding the status of flowing waters and fish that had confounded judges and colonial officials in India for decades. Could water be owned like land? And could fish swimming in open waters be claimed as property? These questions would give rise to a number of important disputes in colonial India in the late nineteenth century, during a time associated with unprecedented changes in the agrarian economy. Coinciding with other legal manoeuvres that increasingly helped to render water as property in other parts of the world, the Private Fisheries Protection Act and important judgments that preceded it helped to create exceptional private rights over flowing waters in colonial India. Turning to these developments, this article examines the ways in which judges attempted to resolve contradictions generated by water's very materiality in an economy that rested so heavily on property. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to identify and examine the different perception of benefit sharing in the sharing of international rivers in China, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Using the Q-Method, this study undertakes an in-depth analysis of the views of 35 experts of the field on hydrodiplomacy, international water law, benefit sharing and ecological benefits compensation. The results of the quantitative and qualitative analysis help to innovatively identify three streams of views among the participants, respectively described as supporters, idealists and pragmatists, each displaying strong geographical association to the three Asian regions. Supporters from Southeast Asia and pragmatists from China share much common ground on issues such as the types of benefits to share in international rivers, potentially providing the conceptual foundation for international cooperation. Idealists from South Asia prioritize and emphasise the role and importance of environmental benefits and ecological protection, yet differ greatly from the others on practical issues such as the inclusion of direct economic benefits and ecological compensation for using resources. This study contributes to the understanding of the theory and practice of benefit sharing in international rivers, as well as providing new perspectives to the interpretation and practice of hydrodiplomacy in Asian regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Permeable asphalt mixtures are widely used to achieve good permeability of the pavements used for urban road surfaces. Based on the law of water migration in permeable road structures, the water-holding performance of permeable asphalt mixtures was analyzed and the evaluation indexes were determined. Open-graded asphalt friction course (OGFC-13) permeable asphalt mixture was selected, and the changes in the saturation, water retention, and water-holding rate of OGFC-13 permeable asphalt mixtures with different porosities were compared using water-holding equipment. The water-holding characteristics of permeable pavement materials under different seepage conditions were analyzed. A model of the relationship governing the water-holding capacity of the permeable asphalt mixture, water action conditions, and material porosity was established by a linear fitting method, and the reliability of the model was verified by comparison with laboratory test results, providing a foundation for related research on the water-holding and cooling behavior of permeable pavements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article links optimization algorithms in US southwestern water management to equitable apportionment and prior appropriation water policies in the 1950–1990 period. I argue that quantitative water law and algorithmic water management are coconstitutive historical processes, as they derive from the same formulation of settler colonial space and time—a practice I call settler computing. Settler computing clarifies how the settler theft of Indigenous natural resources is formalized within projects of data-driven resource management. I engage this history by reflecting on a major water planning project led by the Bureau of Reclamation called the Central Utah Project (CUP), which was formally enacted in 1956. When tech developers appropriated the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation's water and land during the development of CUP, this appropriation was simultaneously encoded in linear optimization frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Mexico passed a Greenbelt law (N.M. Stat. § 7-36-20) in 1967 offering tax subsidies to agricultural landowners. The law represents a disconnect between land and water policy in that it has serious water policy implications but has never been discussed accordingly. We estimate that in 2020, Rio Grande surface flows were used to irrigate 4,388 acres of land in Bernalillo County, the state's largest urban area, that received the agricultural valuation. This represents an estimated water use of nearly 11,000 acre-feet, on many properties not utilizing the program as originally intended, in a region where agriculture is largely noncommercial. This is equivalent to nearly a quarter of the county's entire 2020 municipal water use, enough for approximately 40,000 homes. The Greenbelt law lacks cooperative oversight, and no system exists to track its water usage. The law is not accomplishing what it was originally enacted to accomplish, and multiple attempts to update it have been unsuccessful. Re-thinking institutional arrangements is critical to improving water resilience in an era of increasing aridification and unreliable water supplies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The drought-limited water level (flow) of a river section is an important indicator of drought in the basin. This can be used as the key basis for starting an emergency response and guiding drought-relief dispatch in water conservancy projects. In this paper, with the aim to examine the related concepts and technical problems of the drought limit water level in the river section, the connotation of the drought limit water level (flow) of the river section is improved. It is the threshold that characterizes the dry state of the river, to determine the water shortage risk and its effect on the social economy and ecological environment. Considering the different degrees of drought and the laws on water use in drought periods, a method for determining the drought limit water level (flow) that is suitable for different types of river sections is proposed from the perspective of grading and staging. The applicability and sustainability of the algorithm for resource use and otherwise constrained river sections are verified with examples from the Lintong section of the Weihe River and the Liaojiawan section of the Fuhe River. This study provides a general algorithm to support flood and drought disaster prevention departments in setting drought limit water level (flow) in river sections and can provide a scientific basis and technical support for drought warning decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aimed to examine the problem of the abandoned mine water and harmful gas downflow from the overlying Jurassic of Tongxin coal mine in the Datong mine area, China. A theoretical analysis, physically similar simulation, and field measurement were used. A fracture aperture mechanical model based on key stratum fracture was used to analyze the main influencing factors of high key stratum fracture and rotation. We also compared the fracture characteristics, displacement changes, and fracture development of the high‐key stratum. The results showed that: (1) the main influencing factors affecting the fracture characteristics of high key stratum are the thickness of coal seam mining, the thickness of high key stratum, and the distance between high key stratum and 3–5# coal seam. (2) When both 8309 and 8207 working faces reached critical mining, the high key stratum was fractured and the mining‐induced fracture was developed to the 14# coal seam goaf, which coincided with the field tracer gas measurement results of the 8309 working face, indicating that when the distance between 3 and 5# coal seam and the overlying 14# coal seam goaf is less than 220.9 m, 8309 and 8207 working faces will form the channel for water and gas inrush. (3) The fracture length of the high key stratum above the working face of 8207 is smaller than that of 8309, and the pipeline of water and gas transport channel formed after the critical mining of its working face is larger and wider, which makes it more prone to the disaster of water and gas inrush. Before mining the extra‐thick coal seam, it is necessary to detect and pump the water and gas in the 14# coal seam goaf, so as to avoid the water and gas inrush hazard during the coal seam mining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coral reefs are experiencing severe decline, and urgent action is required at local and global scales to curb ecosystem loss. Establishing new regulations to protect corals, however, can be time consuming and costly, and it is therefore necessary to leverage existing legal instruments, such as policies originally designed to address terrestrial rather than marine activities, to prevent coral reef degradation. Focusing on the United States, but drawing on successful examples worldwide, we present actionable pathways to increase coral protections under legislation that was originally designed to advance clean freshwater, safe drinking water, and emergency management. We identify specific legal policies and procedures (e.g., industrial permit limits, nonpoint source management incentives, and floodplain restoration programs) that can curb coral reef pollution and can be extended to other countries with similar regulations in place. Coral reef practitioners should consider a broad array of currently underused, actionable, and intersecting environmental policies that can be applied to mitigate coral stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the drying efficiency and quality of Cistanche, the effects of far‐infrared vacuum drying on drying rate, active component content and microstructure of Cistanche slices were studied with drying temperature, slice thickness and irradiation height as experimental indexes. The results showed that the drying process of Cistanche was mainly concentrated in the deceleration stage. When the drying temperature was 55°C, the slice thickness was 4 mm, the irradiation height was 150 mm, and the time to reach the safe water content (10% w.b.) of Cistanche was the shortest. With the increase in drying temperature, slice thickness and irradiation height, the contents of phenylethanoid glycosides, iridoids, polysaccharides, total phenols and total flavonoids in dried products increased first and then decreased. Compared with natural drying, the samples dried by far‐infrared vacuum have more pores and better structural integrity. Phenylethanol glycosides and iridoid compounds, such as echinacoside and verbascoside, in Cistanche have significant effects in anti‐inflammatory and analgesic, tonifying kidney yang, anti‐Alzheimer's disease and protecting various organs and systems of the body. In this study, the slices of Cistanche were processed by far infrared vacuum drying, and the effects of different drying conditions on drying rate, effective moisture diffusion coefficient, active ingredient content, antioxidant activity, color and microstructure of dried Cistanche were studied. The drying process was fitted by a drying model, in order to obtain dried Cistanche products with better quality, and provide theoretical basis and technical support for the actual production of Cistanche. Novelty impact statement: Midilli model could better describe the variation law of water content in the drying process of Cistanche.Compared with natural drying, the surface samples dried by far‐infrared vacuum have no cracks and good boundary integrity.The optimal process parameters (55°C, 4 mm, 310 mm) for far‐infrared vacuum drying of Cistanche slices were determined by the entropy value method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims at the situation that the influence of the seepage water pressure of the surrounding rock on the stress and displacement of the surrounding rock of the deep-buried tunnel is not clear, based on the spatial mobilized plane (SMP) strength yield criterion and non-correlated flow law, the elastic-brittle-plastic analytical solutions of tunnel surrounding rock stress and displacement under seepage water pressure were derived, and the effect laws of seepage water pressure and shear dilatation on the displacement and stress of tunnel surrounding rock were analyzed. Results showed that, the infiltration water pressure had a significant effect on the stress and displacement of the surrounding rock. With the increase of the infiltration water pressure, the stress and displacement of each point of the tunnel and the radius of the plastic zone increased, and the greater difference between the water head inside and outside the tunnel, the greater change of the stress, displacement and the plastic zone radius, among these, the plastic zone radius and the infiltrating water pressure had a linear positive correlation. The results of this research are of great significance for accurately determining the seepage water pressure of surrounding rock around the tunnel and ensuring the stability of the surrounding rock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Harrison's decision to downplay those connections and separate regional water sources with an immutable partition seems to be motivated by his belief that the hydrological problems in Las Vegas are legal rather than ecological in nature. Harrison's approach to water issues in Las Vegas also creates an artificial boundary between groundwater and surface water. [Extracted from the article]

The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of steam temperature, sludge thickness, and steam flow on the drying characteristics and drying kinetics of sludge superheated steam and optimize the process parameters of sludge superheated steam drying by using the response surface method and taking relative unit energy consumption as the response value. Single-factor test of superheated steam drying of sludge was conducted under different drying conditions of steam temperature (180, 195, 220, and 260°C), sludge thickness (2, 3.5, 6, and 10 mm), and steam flow rate (22, 29, 36, and 40 m3/h). Taking relative unit energy consumption as the response value and steam temperature, sludge mass (corresponding to sludge thickness), and steam flow as the test factors, the three-factor and five-level response surface test was conducted on the sludge. The experimental results show that steam temperature and sludge thickness had a significant influence on the drying characteristics of superheated sludge steam (p < 0.05). With the increase of steam temperature, the decrease of sludge thickness, and the increase of steam flow, the drying time of sludge will be shortened, the drying efficiency of sludge will be improved, and the maximum condensation amount and recovery time will be reduced. The quadratic polynomials, linear equation, and logarithmic model can better fit the change law of water variation of the sludge of superheated steam condensation section, recovery section, and drying section. With the increase of steam temperature, sludge thickness, and steam flow rate, the effective diffusion coefficient also increases. The activation energy of sludge superheated steam drying was 13.42 kJ/mol at a sludge thickness of 6 mm, steam flow rate of 22 m3/h, and different steam temperatures. The order of influence degree of three test factors on relative unit energy consumption is as follows: sludge mass (corresponding to sludge thickness) > steam flow rate > steam temperature. According to response surface test analysis, the optimal drying process with relative unit energy consumption is steam temperature of 215°C, sludge mass of 25 g (corresponding sludge thickness of 8 mm), and steam flow of 30 m3/h. Under this drying process parameter, the minimum energy consumption of sludge superheated steam drying is 284.61 kJ/g. Compared with the relative unit energy consumption value obtained in the verification test, the relative error is 1.65%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water resources are essential for life on earth. It has already been proven that although it is a resource renewable, water is a limited natural resource. Countries like Brazil, Angola and the United States of America, despite being on different continents and having economic development indices very different, are privileged in this regard, and that is why they were chosen to be objects of this search. But the lack of preservation of this natural resource in all of them, combined with poor water distribution, triggered important warnings in these nations. Consequently, it was necessary to implement regulation for water protection and its correct distribution. From this delimitation, the object of this article is to investigate the main foundations and instruments existing in the Water Laws edited in the Brazil, Angola and the United States. With the use of the deductive method and from research bibliographical and legislative of each of the countries, it is concluded by the need of adequate use of the water resources from the principle of sustainability and the constitutional principles governing the environmental and urban policy, as it is a limited and fundamental resource for the survival of humanity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]