This book is the first to systematically explore experimental erosion by integrating theory, erosion observations, and conservation applications. Although numerous books have been published on soil erosion both in English and in Chinese, none has concentrated on experimental studies on the Loess Plateau of China, in an attempt to establish a new sub-discipline: experimental erosion. One main objective of this book is to highlight monitoring and modeling methods for soil scientists who design and conduct experimental studies on soil loss. Another objective, and the most important one, is to make the results of these experiments more generally available. Accordingly, we have gathered and integrated a broad range of experimental results, both published and unpublished. In-depth discussions of the experimental data and new data processing methods are also included. The work covered here represents exemplary studies in the field of soil erosion and conservation, while the new methods and findings presented will provide practical guidance for controlling soil erosion. Hence the book offers a valuable resource for graduate students, soil erosion scientists and engineers, and soil and water conservationists.

One of the main problems confronting the world of the 21st Century is a shortage of water. There is already severe scarcity in many regions of the world, causing tremendous problems for local populations and indeed entire societies. There is insufficient water available for the production of food to alleviate poverty and starvation; the lack of water hampers industrial, urban and tourism development, forcing restrictions on other sectors, especially agriculture; health problems arise as the deterioration of ground and surface waters favours water-borne diseases, which flourish in the absence of decent water distribution and sewerage systems. Water conflicts still arise in areas under stress, while water for nature has become a vanishing priority in such zones.

This book is a guide to the establishment of regional and/or local guidelines for developing and implementing new ideas for coping with water scarcity. The basic premise underlying the book is that water scarcity will persist, so personal, human and society-wide skills will be needed to cope with it while living in harmony with the necessary environmental constraints. The book provides basic information to assist decision makers, water managers, engineers, agronomists, social scientists and other professions (and their students) in formulating coherent, hopefully harmonious and consolidated views on the issue. Guidelines are also given for introducing the general public to the concept of water scarcity and how to deal with it.

Water is the most every day of substances. It pours from our taps and falls from the sky. We drink it, wash with it, and couldn't live without it. Yet, on closer examination it is also a very strange substance (it is one of only a very small number of molecules which expand when cooled). Look closer again and water reveals itself as a key to a scientific story on the biggest of canvases. Water is crucial to our survival - life depends on it - but it was also fundamental in the origins of life on Earth. The millions of gallons of water which make up our rivers, lakes and oceans, originated in outer space. How it arrived here and how those molecules of water were formed, is a story which takes us back to the beginning of the universe. Indeed, we know more about the depths of space than we do about the furthest reaches of the oceans. Water has also shaped the world we live in. Whether it is by gently carving the Grand Canyon over millennia, or in shaping how civilisations were built; we have settled our cities along rivers and coasts. Scientific studies show how we feel calmer and more relaxed when next to water. We holiday by the seas and lakes. Yet one day soon wars may be fought over access to water. The Water Book will change the way you look at water. After reading it you will be able to hold a glass of water up to the light and see within it a strange molecule that connects you to the origins of life, the birth (and death) of the universe, and to everyone who ever lived.

This open access book provides methods for the estimation of Biomass Water Equivalent (BEW), an essential step for improving the accuracy of area-wide soil moisture by cosmic-ray neutron sensors (CRNS). Three techniques are explained in detail: (i) traditional in-situ destructive sampling, (ii) satellite based remote sensing of plant surfaces, and (iii) biomass estimation via the use of the CRNS itself. The advantages and disadvantages of each method are discussed along with step by step instructions on proper procedures and implementation.

Over the past several decades, analyses of solute migration in aquifers have widely adopted the classical advection-dispersion equation. However, misunderstandings over advection-dispersion concepts, their relationship with the scales of heterogeneity, our observation and interest, and their ensemble mean nature have created furious debates about the concepts' validity. This book provides a unified and comprehensive overview and lucid explanations of the stochastic nature of solute transport processes at different scales. It also presents tools for analyzing solute transport and its uncertainty to meet our needs at different scales. Easy-to-understand physical explanations without complex mathematics make this book an invaluable resource for students, researchers, and professionals performing groundwater quality evaluations, management, and remediation.

For centuries, people have understood that forests, and our utilisation of them, influence the climate. With modern environmental concerns, there is now scientific, governmental, and popular interest in planting trees for climate protection. This book examines the historical origins of the idea that forests influence climate, the bitter controversy that ended the science, and its modern rebirth. Spanning the 1500s to the present, it provides a broad perspective across the physical and biological sciences, as well as the humanities, to explain the many ways forests influence climate. It describes their use in climate-smart forestry and as a natural climate solution, and demonstrates that in the forest-climate question, human and sylvan fates are linked. Accessibly written with minimal mathematics, it is ideal for students in environmental and related sciences, as well as anyone with an interest in understanding the environmental workings of forests and their interactions with climate.

Why is the bread basket of Arabia importing more water via grain than is pumped locally by all sectors and why does nobody notice? How can the same water be sold to different users at prices varying by five orders of magnitude? How can the biggest names in development throw millions of dollars at supplying water to a city and not an extra drop has emerged? Why do some of the wealthiest companies in the Middle East and their multinational associates get away with polluting water resources? This book presents the complex and fascinating account of Ta'iz, Yemen, a city embroiled in severe water stress as a consequence of environmental degradation, political facades, conflicting legal systems, military intervention and institutional incompetence. The result is a remarkable, compelling and controversial book which will be essential reading for academics, development agencies and NGOs around the world.

Designed for undergraduate and graduate students interested in learning basic soil physics and its application to environment, soil health, water quality and productivity, this book provides readers with a clear coverage of the basic principles of water and solute transport through vadose zone, the theory behind transport and step-by-step guidance on how to use current computer models in the public domain along with soil erosion and contaminant remediation. Students will develop a deeper understanding of the fundamental processes within the soil profile that control water infiltration, redistribution, evapotranspiration, drainage, and erosion. The updated second edition features two new chapters, highlighting new problems, new computer models, and remediation. Features Serves as the most up-to-date textbook on soil physics available. Includes two new chapters and many new numerical examples. Offers mathematical descriptions supported by simplified explanations. Provides case studies and step-by-step guidance on how to use public domain computer models. Covers all principles and processes in an easy-to-understand format with numerous illustrations and sample problems. Students studying in the fields of Soil Science, Environment Science, Natural Resources, Agriculture Engineering, Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Range Sciences, Horticulture, Crop Sciences, and Forestry, will find this book provides a solid foundation for their studies. Professionals, researchers, academicians, and companies working in fields related to Environmental Science, Soil Physics, Hydrology, and irrigation, will find this book is a great reference tool as it is the most up to date in its field.

-Written by the authors of key spatial R packages -Makes spatial data analysis more robust -Integrates with the tidyverse and comparable approaches -Includes many easily reproducible examples

Written for a one-semester course in hydraulics, this concise textbook is rooted in the fundamental principles of fluid mechanics and aims to promote sound hydraulic engineering practice. Basic methods are presented to underline the theory and engineering applications, and examples and problems build in complexity as students work their way through the textbook. Abundant worked examples and calculations, real-world case studies, and revision exercises, as well as precisely crafted end-of-chapter exercises ensure students learn exactly what they need in order to consolidate their knowledge and progress in their career. Students learn to solve pipe networks, optimize pumping systems, design pumps and turbines, solve differential equations for gradually-varied flow and unsteady flow, and gain knowledge of hydraulic structures like spillways, gates, valves, and culverts. An essential textbook for intermediate to advanced undergraduate and graduate students in civil and environmental engineering.

A multitude of processes in hydrology and environmental engineering are either random or entail random components which are characterized by random variables. These variables are described by frequency distributions. This book provides an overview of different systems of frequency distributions, their properties, and applications to the fields of water resources and environmental engineering. A variety of systems are covered, including the Pearson system, Burr system, and systems commonly applied in economics, such as the D'Addario, Dagum, Stoppa, and Esteban systems. The latter chapters focus on the Singh system and the frequency distributions deduced from Bessel functions, maximum entropy theory, and the transformations of random variables. The final chapter introduces the genetic theory of frequency distributions. Using real-world data, this book provides a valuable reference for researchers, graduate students, and professionals interested in frequency analysis.

The Water Quality Act of 1987 ushered in a new era of clean water policy to the US. The Act stands today as the longest-lived example of national water quality policy. It included a then-revolutionary funding model for wastewater infrastructure - the Clean Water State Revolving Fund - which gave states much greater authority to allocate clean water infrastructure resources. Significant differences between states exist in terms of their ability to provide adequate resources for the program, as well as their ability (or willingness) to meet the wishes of Congress to serve environmental needs and communities. This book examines the patterns of state program resource distribution using case studies and analysis of state and national program data. This book is important for researchers from a range of disciplines, including water, environmental and infrastructure policy, federalism/intergovernmental relations, intergovernmental administration, and natural resource management, as well as policy makers and policy advocates.

Authored by world-class scientists and scholars, The Handbook of Natural Resources, Second Edition, is an excellent reference for understanding the consequences of changing natural resources to the degradation of ecological integrity and the sustainability of life. Based on the content of the bestselling and CHOICE-awarded Encyclopedia of Natural Resources, this new edition demonstrates the major challenges that the society is facing for the sustainability of all well-being on the planet Earth. The experience, evidence, methods, and models used in studying natural resources are presented in six stand-alone volumes, arranged along the main systems of land, water, and air. It reviews state-of-the-art knowledge, highlights advances made in different areas, and provides guidance for the appropriate use of remote sensing and geospatial data with field-based measurements in the study of natural resources. Volume 5, Coastal and Marine Environments, discusses marine and coastal ecosystems, their biodiversity, conservation, and integrated marine management plans. It provides fundamental information on coastal and estuarine systems and includes discussions on coastal erosion and shoreline change, natural disasters, evaporation and energy balance, fisheries and marine resource management, and more. New in this edition are discussions on sea level rise, renewable energy, coral reef restoration, fishery resource economics, and coastal remote sensing. This volume demonstrates the key processes, methods, and models used through many case studies from around the world. Written in an easy-to-reference manner, The Handbook of Natural Resources, Second Edition, as individual volumes or as a complete set, is an essential reading for anyone looking for a deeper understanding of the science and management of natural resources. Public and private libraries, educational and research institutions, scientists, scholars, and resource managers will benefit enormously from this set. Individual volumes and chapters can also be used in a wide variety of both graduate and undergraduate courses in environmental science and natural science at different levels and disciplines, such as biology, geography, earth system science, and ecology.

Water is a precious resource essential for all forms of life, and although there is plenty of water to meet the demand for the present population - and even for a projected population of 9 billion - there is significant spatial and temporal variation in its distribution. This results in water rich and water poor countries, water-related conflicts, and unsafe drinking water, a major killer identified by the World Health Organization (WHO). Water for Life: Drinking Water, Health, Food, Energy Nexus covers these issues, highlighting the multi-facted uses and importance of water in life: water resources, chemistry of water, drinking water, and the links between water and health, food, irrigation, soil, energy, transport, industry, recreation, disasters, and conflicts. The book is accessible and clear, with technical elements. It is ideal as a background supplementary text to support more specialist study across civil engineering, geography, and social sciences, and will guide readers to see the big picture of environmentally sustainable water management for all human and other biotic lives.

This book explores the many dimensions of water quality problems in different parts of the globe, with focus on problems of governance, from legal frameworks to social discourses and compensation measures. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.3 on Water and Sanitation emphasizes the centrality of improving water quality to attain sustainable development. Yet the obstacles to achieving this goal are significant. This book explores the variety of difficult, possibly intractable "wicked" problems of water quality governance around the world. Cases include the challenge of managing water from source to sea, exploring why attempts to do so have come up short in limiting harm to the Great Barrier Reef; differing social discourses on market based instruments in Canada; efforts to bring to closure the human legacies of Minamata methyl mercury poisoning half a century ago in Japan; current problems of mercury use in Andean mining; misalignment of established Eastern European water laws with those of the EU; water quality markets in China; the impacts of service coverage and quality on low income households in countries from New Zealand to Bangladesh and Malawi; the importance of perceptions, ranging from the use of treated wastewater by farmers in the MENA region to consumers in Fukushima and to users of the artificial river in Beijing's Olympic Park; and finally the confluence of wicked problems in refugee camps facing COVID. The chapters in this book were originally published in the journal, Water International.

Current models of groundwater governance focus principally on the allocation of water, rather than taking a holistic approach incorporating valuable storage space in the aquifer, as well as the transformative changes in managed recharge of manufactured water, storm water, and carbon. Effective implementation of a more modern approach now calls for rethink of both scale and jurisdictional boundaries. This involves linking public and private aspects of water quantity, water quality, geothermal regulation, property rights, subsurface storage rights, water marketing, water banking, legal jurisdictions, and other components into a single governance document. This style of agreement stands in contrast to the siloed approach currently applied to aquifer resources. Using case studies, and an activity inspired by gaming concepts to explore the incentives, and challenges to aquifer governance approaches, this book demonstrates how application of the principles of unitization agreements to aquifers could provide a new approach to aquifer governance models.

The second edition of this book presents an up-to-date account of the transfer of energy, matter, and momentum between the atmosphere and the ocean. The expository style of the book will be welcomed by students and professionals alike, within the fields of meteorology, oceanography, and physics. Topics covered include surface wind waves, the planetary boundary layer, and radiation.

This illustrated notebook highlights the need for a change of paradigm in current flood management practices, one that acknowledges the wide-ranging and interdisciplinary benefits brought by public space design. Reassessing and improving established flood management methods, public spaces are faced with a new and enhanced role as mediators of flood adaptation able to integrate infrastructure and communities together in the management of flood water as an ultimate resource for urban resilience. The book specifically introduces a path towards a new perspective on flood adaptation through public space design, stressing the importance of local, bottom up, approaches. Deriving from a solution-directed investigation, which is particularly attentive to design, the book offers a wide range of systematized conceptual solutions of flood adaptation measures applicable in the design of public spaces. Through a commonly used vocabulary and simple technical notions, the book facilitates and accelerates the initial brainstorm phases of a public space project with flood adaptation capacities, enabling a direct application in contemporary practice. Furthermore, it offers a significant sample of real-case examples that may further assist the decision-making throughout design processes. Overall, the book envisions to challenge established professionals, such as engineers, architects or urban planners, to work and design with uncertainty in an era of an unprecedented climate.

How much water does the world need to support growing human populations? What are the potential effects of climate change on the world's water resources? These questions and more are discussed in this thoroughly updated and expanded new edition. Written at the undergraduate level, this accessible textbook covers the fundamentals of water resources, water law, allocation, quality and quantity, health issues, and provides examples of potential personal actions and solutions. There is a keener focus on climate change, as many of the predictions made in the first edition have now come to pass. This new edition features improved artwork, more active learning prompts, more positive examples of beneficial changes, basic introductions to scientific approaches and a discussion of emerging contaminants and LiDAR technology. It contains strong teaching features, with new 'In Depth' and 'Think About It' sections to encourage class discussion, and homework questions to test students' understanding.