New Publication Involving Soil Resource Management
Four Conservation Agricultural Practices to Manage Organic Soil Loss
By Noel Manirakiza, Suraj Melkani, Xue Bai, Yang Lin, and Jehangir H. Bhadha.
This factsheet highlights four common conservation agricultural practices that can be implemented to limit organic soil loss. Organic soils (Histosol) are the most important soils that play a crucial role in mitigating global warming by acting as a repository for terrestrial carbon. Within south Florida, nearly 450,000 acres of Histosols are at risk from soil loss via oxidation. Growers would like to know the best soil resource management practices that may limit soil loss. Using the USDA-NRCS framework, we have identified four conservation practices that can be implemented to address organic matter loss within the region. They are cover cropping, crop rotation, organic amendments, and conservation tillage.
New Publications Involving Water Resource Management
Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Water Resources Forecasting
By Golmar Golmohammadi, Seyed Mostafa Biazar, Rohith Reddy Nedhunuri, and Nikolaos Tziolas.
The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning has permeated every aspect of our lives. Water resource management is becoming increasingly important due to the impacts of climate change and human activities. This publication provides examples of how AI can potentially improve the forecasting of water resource variables at both the field and regional levels. The main goal is to introduce new AI techniques for forecasting key environmental factors related to water resources in Florida. The results demonstrate how deep learning models performed consistently well and established their superiority in capturing the temporal dynamics of river discharge and groundwater in the region. The results also show a dramatic groundwater level drawdown in certain areas, which could jeopardize the ability to meet water demands for agricultural purposes. The increase in river discharge and high groundwater levels might be related to flooding in those areas.
Desalination Systems and Their Environmental Impacts
By Golmar Golmohammadi, Seyed Mostafa Biazar, and Maxwell Naah.
Developed technologies for the desalination of seawater and brackish groundwater supplies have been demonstrated to be technically feasible, economically viable, and reliable means of water resource management. Meanwhile, emerging technologies are still in the pilot or small-scale stages. The total installed capacity of desalination plants in the United States has expanded from around 302 million gallons per day (MGD) in 2009 to about 479 MGD in 2022. Florida leads the nation in desalination capacity, having more than 130 desalination plants. Environmental issues related to desalination are a significant factor in designing and implementing desalination technologies. Their projects require an environmental impact assessment (EIA) study to determine how the project can affect the air, land, and marine environments. The study considers impacts on source water, impacts from concentration, issues with desalinated water products, and impacts from gas emissions. The EIA also proposes measures to mitigate environmental impacts.
New Publication Involving Water Resource Quality
Water Quality Notes: What are concentrations and loads, and why do they matter?
By Alexander J. Reisinger, Andrea Albertin, Eban Bean, Ashley Smyth, and P. Christopher Wilson.
This publication defines general terminology and approaches used to describe water quality. It is targeted toward individuals who have an interest in water quality issues but may not have training in specific details of these issues. The publication provides a baseline introduction to these terms for a non-expert. However, it may also be useful as a review for individuals working in water quality regulation or monitoring. This publication focuses on chemical pollutants dissolved in water, but keep in mind that other types of pollutants also exist. Ultimately, this publication will allow the reader to have a deeper understanding of specific water quality issues. It also provides the terminology that is needed to engage in these topics.
0
