S. Ghaseminejad, S. Soltani, A. Soffianian,
Volume 18, Issue 68 (9-2014)
Abstract
Drought is a one of the most important natural disasters that have high socio-economic and environmental impacts.
However, drought is more than a physical phenomenon or natural event. Its impact results from the relation between a natural event and demands on the water supply, and it is often exacerbated by human activities. The traditional approach to drought management has been reactive, relying on crisis management. Due to the drawbacks of crisis management, employing proper risk management techniques has been suggested. In order to move from crisis management to risk management, in this study, risk of drought in Isfahan province was evaluated. Drought hazard index and vulnerability index are components of the drought risk management. Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) was used as the index of drought hazard. For the calculation of SPI, the monthly rainfall data in 47 meteorological stations during the period of 1975-2007 were collected. The time series of rainfall data were prepared and for calculation of the standardized precipitation index in a 12 month timescale they were imported to SPI program. Percentage of drought occurrence in each severity was calculated and then the drought index map was obtained. Vulnerability index was calculated through socio-economic indicators (population density and percentage of people involved in agriculture), and physical indicators (available water capacity of soil and land use). Weighted Linear Combination (WLC) technique was applied for combination of vulnerability indicators. To assign weights to the criteria, an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used. After providing the maps, fuzzy membership functions for every criterion were used for their standardization. For the weighting of the criteria, a questionnaire was prepared and criteria comparison was done using the participatory approach by a group of experts. Finally, the drought risk index was calculated by multiplying the drought hazard index and vulnerability index. The results showed that hazard of very severe drought is mainly concentrated in the central part of province. The North and North East of Isfahan province could experience condition of severe drought. South West of Isfahan province is under moderate drought condition compared to the other parts of the province. Map of drought vulnerability index showed that the most vulnerability is in the West, South and North-East of province. Map of drought risk index showed that the Northern Province demonstrated high risk. To reduce the drought risk in Isfahan province, improving monitoring, early warning, increasing environmental awareness, and promoting water resource management practices should be considered.
H. Kheirabadi, M. Afyuni, S. Ayoubi, A. Soffianian,
Volume 19, Issue 74 (1-2016)
Abstract
Heavy metals are known to have deleterious effects on human health. The main route of human exposure to heavy metals is the daily intake of food. This study was designed to investigate the heavy metal concentrations (Cu, Zn, Mn, Fe, Cr, Ni and Cd) in soil and major food crops (wheat, potato and corn) and estimate the health risks of metals to humans via soil and the crops consumed in Hamedan Province, using the total non-cancer hazard quotient. Daily metal intakes were estimated for three receptor groups and then compared with health guideline values. The non-cancer risk estimations showed that chromium, manganese, cadmium, zinc, Iron, Nickel and copper have oral Hazard Quotient values less than a value of one. The Hazard Index values were greater than 1 for all age groups, suggesting that adults and children in the study area may experience a potential non-cancer risk due to diet of heavy metal via wheat, corn and potato consumption and soil ingestion. Consumption of plant foods particularly wheat was found to be the major route of human exposure to heavy metal. The soil ingestion route is also important.
A. Jamal, A. Parvan, D. Valizadeh,
Volume 23, Issue 4 (12-2019)
Abstract
Today, the preparation of flood zoning maps is one of the basic and important issues in the study of development projects in the world; it is considered before any investment by the related organizations. In this paper, flood zoning was performed using the two-dimensional model HEC-RAS and GIS in order to assess the risk of the construction of a railway station near the bank of the Iranshahr River, in a range of 2500 meters. Two-dimensional hydraulic application could create a more accurate flow pattern in comparison to the one-dimensional model used in the previous studies, especially in the flood plain areas. In this paper, due to the important role of the topography of the area in ensuring the accuracy of the calculation, a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) was used with very high precision (about 2 meters), as obtained from aerial photos. The results of this study indicated the onrush of flood, depth and flow velocity in different return periods. Based on the comparison of water surface profiles in the floodplains with the return period of 100 and 25 years, the maximum difference between the water levels was 0.5 m, which seemed to be reasonable by considering the low slope of the studied area. The results of this paper, therefore, showed that the location of the railway station was in medium risk and the outskirt of floodplain.
Z. Kolivand, A.r. Pardakhti,
Volume 26, Issue 2 (9-2022)
Abstract
In the past years, by increasing population and water consumption, as well as the high cost of developing surface water resources, the exploitation of groundwater resources has increased significantly. In the current situation, a significant part of the country's water consumption in all sectors of consumption is provided by groundwater sources. On the other hand, the development of industry and the entry of pollutants, including heavy metals, into the groundwater endanger the health of humans. The present research has investigated the non-cancerous risk caused by heavy metals in the groundwater of Urmia plain for both children and adults. This research is based on a descriptive-analytical method based on the available data, in which the concentration of polluting metals obtained from the studies conducted in the fall and winter of 2016 from the number of 12 wells supplying rural drinking water in the Urmia plain has been analyzed. Also, human health risk assessment was measured using the United States Environmental Protection Agency index. The results showed that there are six heavy metals including cadmium, copper, iron, manganese, nickel, and lead in the region's groundwater, among which two of the wells have cadmium and lead values higher than national and international standards. Also, the total non-cancer risk index through ingestion and skin absorption for both children and adults groups was found to be 0.23 and 0.096, respectively, which is less than one, and this indicates that the water quality of the region is suitable for drinking.
