This study addresses the challenges of urban flood risk assessment using a holistic flood risk assessment methodology for the catchment area of the Garyllis River (Cyprus). This advanced methodology integrates hydraulic modeling, earth observation and geospatial information analysis, as well as socioeconomic data for risk-informed emergency planning. Two-dimensional hydraulic simulations have been conducted under three different return period scenarios (50, 100 and 1000 years). For the worst-case scenario, the highest water depth reached 6.2 m, most significantly affecting the urban regions in the southern part of the basin. Flood hazard was assessed and combined with both demographic vulnerability indicators (population density and age distribution) and economic exposure data (land economic value). To quantify flood risk, a risk matrix was developed in which hazard, vulnerability and exposure values were synthesized and classified into five risk categories. The results revealed that the highest risk levels are associated with the urban areas, since these areas are characterized by flat terrains, low surface permeability, dense population, and high land economic value. The resulting flood risk maps were used to identify safe emergency shelters and design optimal evacuation routes in the existing road network with adequate traffic capacity. The selection of emergency shelters was focused on public buildings located in zero-to-low risk zones, prioritizing accessibility for vulnerable and at-risk people. In this context, this study delivers a replicable decision-support framework that links hydraulic modeling and Earth Observation with actionable civil protection-oriented strategies, thus enhancing urban flood resilience and disaster preparedness.

Abstract Water scarcity threatens global health and development, prompting increased adoption of recycled water. However, recycled water introduces potential health risks due to pathogenic microorganisms. Aerosol-generating applications of recycled water are particularly concerning yet understudied. This systematic literature review examined the human health risks associated with aerosols generated from non-potable applications of recycled water. Ten peer-reviewed articles from the United States, France, China, and Israel assessed infection risk using quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA). These studies focused on aerosolised exposure to four pathogens: Legionella pneumophila , Escherichia coli , Staphylococcus aureus , and norovirus genogroup I and II through inhalation and dermal contact. Infection risks for L. pneumophila and E. coli from toilet flushing ranged from 2.95 × 10 −6 to 8.52 × 10 −5 and 8.8 × 10 –15 to 8.3 × 10 –11 infections per person-year (ippy), respectively, all within the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) limit of 10 −4 ippy. For irrigation, risks for L. pneumophila ranged from 1 × 10 –12 to 1.3 × 10 −2 ippy and for norovirus from 1 × 10 −3 to 8.1 × 10 −3 ippy. Other applications included fountains (≥ 7.96 × 10 −4 ), cooling towers (1 × 10 −4 − 1 × 10 −2 ), dust control (1.71 × 10 −5 − 8.78 × 10 −4 ), and S. aureus through dermal contact (2.7 × 10 −7 ). Most studies estimated aerosol dose indirectly using source water pathogen concentrations and exposure scenarios, contributing to variability in predicted risks. These findings highlight the need for microbial risk assessment models incorporating direct exposure measurements to estimate pathogen concentrations in aerosols across applications.

Abstract Soil structure is the predominant factor of water, gases, and nutrients movement within the unsaturated zone. Despite the growing interest in the influence of structured soil media on soil-water dynamics, there is a gap in explicit technical documentation on monitoring soil hydraulic properties in undisturbed soil samples. This study proposes a new framework to measure and monitor soil hydraulic properties in undisturbed soil samples, in parallel optimizing falling head and centrifuge method for structured soil samples. Both unimodal and bimodal soil hydraulic functions are used to describe Soil Water Retention Curve (SWRC) data derived from laboratory experiments, and a modified one is introduced to integrate all the possible distinct pore domains of the soil matrix. The description SWRC data by the modified soil hydraulic equation coincides with Durner equation, while provides important insights on the saturated water content of each sub-pore domain. Water flow models in the unsaturated zone have been developed in Hydrus 1D, applying hydraulic parameters that correspond to soil hydraulic properties obtained from experimental data and the Rosetta Pedotransfer function. The combined used of optimized methods on undisturbed soil samples provided an insightful description of soil hydraulic properties, while water flow models with conceptualized soil hydraulic properties and data assimilation (DA) outperformed every other method. Water flow models using bimodal hydraulic function achieved the greater accuracy in each observation node of the soil column (10 cm: 0.074 cm 3 cm −3 , 50 cm: 0.0756 cm 3 cm −3 ).