The use of agricultural waste materials to remove heavy metals from wastewater is attractive due to its simplicity and economic efficiency. In this study, the applicability of calcined eggshell waste materials (CES) for heavy metals removal from real wastewater were examined via transport column experiment preceded by coagulation/flocculation process.A column packed with granular activated carbon (GAC) is operated in parallel to CES column to evaluate the adsorptive attributes of CES. The findings are assessed from another set of column experiments consisting of sand followed by CES column to evaluate the effect of particulate matter (PM) on CES performance toward heavy metals removal. In coagulation experiment, alum addition at an optimum dose (3.0 g/L) reduced the total suspended solids (TSS) by 80%, whereas the Fe, Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni, and Cr were reduced by 80%, 77%, 76%, 73%, 56%, and 49%, respectively. Under the current applied hydrodynamic conditions, using sand column before CES column improved the removal efficiencies of Fe, Pb, Cu, Zn, Ni, and Cr from 50% to 92%, 55% to 93%, 60% to 87%, 53% to 76%, 45% to 65%, and 41% to 60%, respectively. The whole results illustrate that CES can be competitive to GAC for heavy metals removal from landfill leachate, mainly if applied after PM removal by sand filtration.

This paper presents a new dielectric sensor which could be used for assessment and evaluation of soil pollution in the field. The new device determines the dielectric properties of soil from the measured soil impedances. The dielectric properties used as indirect method to estimate type and pollution content in soil. The new device was calibrated and validated for accurate measurement of soil dielectric properties in the frequency range of 1 kHz to 30 MHz. The new proposed dielectric sensor was used to measure the dielectric properties of clean and contaminated soil. The measured dielectric properties of soil using the proposed sensor could be used to estimate soil moisture content, hydrocarbon diesel and salinity in sand soil. The results also show that the dielectric properties of clay soil were higher than the dielectric properties of san due to existing bound water in clay minerals. Further testing is necessary to evaluate the effects of other parameters such as temperature and various type of soil prior to adopt the sensor for field testing.

This article examines the short- and long-run effects of water price, system input, income, temperature on domestic water demand for Amman area over the period of 1980–2012. An empirical, dynamic autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model for water demand is developed on a yearly basis. This approach is capable of testing and analysing the dynamic relationship with time series data using a single equation regressions. Results show the ability of the model to predicting future trends (short- and long-run association). The main results indicate that water demand in limited water environment is partially captured in the long-run by the amount of water reaching the customer. The short- and long-run elasticities of water price (–0.061, –0.028) and high temperature (0.023, 0.054) indicate inelastic behaviour on water demand both in short- and long-run, while the lagged water price has a significant effect on demand. Income represented by gross domestic product (GDP) slightly affects water consumption in the long-run and insignificantly in the short-run (0.24, 0.24). Water consumption is strongly linked to consumption habits measured by lagged billed amount 0.35, and is strongly linked to amount of supplied water both in short- and long-run (0.47, 0.53). These results suggest that water needs should be satisfied first to allow controlling water demand through a good pricing system. Moreover, the association identified between demand and water system input, and the lesser elasticities of water price and other explanatory variables confirm the condition of water deficit in Amman area and Jordan. The results could be rolled out to similar cities suffering scarce water resources with arid and semi-arid weather conditions.

This study investigates the key factors that influence household water usage in Amman, Jordan, with the aim of improving water management practices in a region facing significant scarcity. The research focuses on factors such as temperature, water pricing, system input, and family size. The Vector Error Correction Model with Exogenous Variables (VECMX) is applied to data from 1980 to 2015 to provide insights into consumption patterns, both in the short-term and long-term. The results show that family size and marginal costs significantly impact long-term water demand, while system input and family size influence short-term water demand. The study also finds that water pricing has a limited impact on consumer behavior, indicating inelasticity. Temperature and income, however, did not emerge as significant determinants. These findings highlight the need for water management policies in arid areas like Amman to prioritize factors other than price, such as household size and water infrastructure, to establish more effective strategies for conserving water.

Modelling and optimization techniques for water resources allocation are proposed to identify the economic value of the unsatisfied municipal water demand against demands emerging from other sectors. While this is always an important step in integrated water resource management perspective, it became crucial for water scarce Countries. In fact, since the competition for the resource is high, they are in crucial need to trade values which will help them in satisfying their policies and needs. In this framework, hydro-economic, social equity and environmental constraints need to be satisfied. In the present study, a hydro-economic decision model based on optimization schemes has been developed for water resources allocation, that enable the evaluation of the economic cost of a deficiency in fulfilling the municipal demand. Moreover, the model enables efficient water resources management, satisfying the demand and proposing additional water resources options. The formulated model is designed to maximize the demand satisfaction and minimize water production cost subject to system priorities, preferences and constraints. The demand priorities are defined based on the effect of demand dissatisfaction, while hydrogeological and physical characteristics of the resources are embedded as constraints in the optimization problem. The application to the City of Amman is presented. Amman is the Capital City of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, a Country located in the south-eastern area of the Mediterranean, on the East Bank of the Jordan River. The main challenge for Jordan, that threat the development and prosperity of all sectors, is the extreme water scarcity. In fact, Jordan is classified as semi-arid to arid region with limited financial resources and unprecedented population growth. While the easy solution directly goes to the simple but expensive approach to cover the demand, case study results show that the proposed model plays a major role in providing directions to decision makers to orient their policies and strategies in order to achieve sustainability of scarce water resources, satisfaction of the minimum required demand as well as financial sustainability. In addition, results map out national needs and priorities that are crucial in understanding and controlling the complexity of Jordan's water sector, mainly for the city of Amman.