Arshad Ashraf

By Arshad Ashraf and Zulfiqar Ahmad

Part of the book: Water Resources Management and Modeling

By Zulfiqar Ahmad, Arshad Ashraf, Gulraiz Akhter and Iftikhar Ahmad

Part of the book: Current Perspectives in Contaminant Hydrology and Water Resources Sustainability

By Arshad Ashraf

Part of the book: Current Perspectives in Contaminant Hydrology and Water Resources Sustainability

By Arshad Ashraf, Muhammad Saleem Pomee, Muhammad Munir Ahmad, Muhammad Yasir Waqar and Bashir Ahmad

The development of a reliable decision support system and predictions for water quantity and quality often require a reasonable level of environmental and hydrological simulations at various geographic scales. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model offers distributed parameter and continuous time simulation, and flexible watershed configuration and with the adoption of geographic information system (GIS) technology, a user-friendly and interactive decision support system can be developed for wastewater management. In this chapter, we evaluated the spatio-temporal evolution of wastewater contaminants in an environmentally degraded watershed through integrated field-based investigations and modeling approach. Later, management options were identified to improve the watershed health and agro-environment. The results of the modeling study exhibited variable responses of surface runoff and water quality to different scenarios of land use change. Temporal wastewater analysis indicated a significant impact of seasonality on the contaminants’ population levels. The adopted approach would prove effective in evaluating better management options to reduce negative impacts of wastewater and contaminants for sustainable agro-environment in future.

Part of the book: Wastewater Treatment Engineering

By Arshad Ashraf, Manshad Rustam, Shaista Ijaz Khan, Muhammad Adnan and Rozina Naz

Remote sensing-based observations prove to be critical for the monitoring and assessment of cryosphere in the Himalayan region, where routine data collection in mountainous regions is often hampered by highly inaccessible terrain and harsh climatic conditions. The glacierized region of High Asia is also facing the effects of climate change in the form of rapid melting of glacial ice, creation of new lakes, and expansion of the existing ones, which eventually result in hazardous glacial floods downstream. Multisensor remote sensing (RS) data, e.g., MODIS, Landsat-7 & 8, and SPOT-5 XS, coupled with Google Earth and digital elevation model (DEM) data were used to investigate the snow/glacier resources and their dynamics in the Karakoram–Himalaya basins adopting variable image interpretation and modeling techniques. Minimum numbers of large-sized glaciers were identified in the Himalaya range, which points toward higher rates of glacial ice melting in this range. On the contrary, the presence of relatively higher numbers of medium- to large-sized glaciers in the Karakoram range provides an evidence of favorable climate conditions for the glaciers' existence at higher altitudes. A significant gain in snow cover was observed in Hunza basin during the 2001–2011 period, which may feed high-altitude zone resulting in net expansion of the snow cover and ice mass gain in the Karakoram. The integrated use of RS and geographical information systems (GIS) techniques with sparse in situ data is found to be helpful in analyzing the glacial environment in the context of changing climate in the high-altitude Himalayan region.

Part of the book: Environmental Applications of Remote Sensing

By Zulfiqar Ahmad, Arshad Ashraf and Mohsin Hafeez

Numerical modeling of an aquifer is increasingly used as a power tool for monitoring and management of groundwater. This paper focuses on conceptualizing hydrogeological condition and establishing numerical simulation model using Visual MODFLOW to simulate the continuous depletion of groundwater in the southwestern part of the Soan watershed in Pakistan. An integrated groundwater modeling and management approach was adopted to provide suitable alternatives for water management in different hydro-environments. Geospatial techniques were employed for spatial database development, integration with a remote sensing (RS), and numerical groundwater flow modeling capabilities to simulate groundwater flow behavior. The calibration results indicated a reasonable agreement between the calculated and observed heads. The calibrated heads were used as initial conditions in the transient-state modeling. The modeling approach facilitated in identifying potential groundwater regime besides providing artificial recharge options for sustainable groundwater development.

Part of the book: Groundwater