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Books > Earth & environment > Earth sciences > The hydrosphere > General
International experts have contributed key chapters to this major
work on groundwater contamination. Section 1: Methodology and
Modeling deals with both organic and inorganic contaminants,
including those from agricultural operations. Section 2: Case
Studies presents contamination scenarios with both inorganic and
organic chemicals including agriculturally-related constituents,
such as the nitrates.
Flooding can have devastating impacts on people's livelihood, economy and the environment. An important instrument in flood management is floodplain maps, which assist land planners and local authorities in identifying flood-prone areas, and provide useful information for rescue and relief agencies for their operations. Developing floodplain maps often involves flood inundation modeling. This typically requires precipitation and stream flow data, topographic information, building a hydraulic model and calibration of its parameters. Often however, floodplain maps are built on a single model outcome without an explicit consideration of all the sources of uncertainty in the modeling process. The research presented in this thesis addresses the uncertainty in flood inundation modeling, which may arise from input data and hydraulic modeling approach. The study area is the Sungai Johor basin in Johor, Malaysia, an agriculture-dominated area. The present study analyses the modelling uncertainties arising from estimations of design flow, terrain data sets, geometric description in hydraulic models and different modeling approaches, and develops recommendations for practitioners. Explicit account for uncertainties and studying their impact in flood inundation mapping allow for more informed and effective decision making.
Edited by experts at the leading edge of the development of causal assessment methods for more than two decades, Ecological Causal Assessment gives insight and expert guidance on how to identify cause-effect relationships in environmental systems. The book discusses the importance of asking the fundamental question "Why did this effect happen?" before moving on to "How can we fix it?" The book provides a deeper understanding of different philosophical and analytical approaches, and of cognitive tendencies that can lead to errors. It describes formal processes for causal assessment that are particularly helpful when the situation is complex or contentious. It also describes how to approach the analysis of available data and to optimize collection efforts. The text then details a transparent process that helps others replicate results and can be used to convince skeptics that the true cause has been identified. Several detailed case studies show how to apply the process to streams, watersheds, and a terrestrial wildlife population. Causal assessment is a challenging, but endlessly fascinating endeavor. Success requires the persistence to figure things out and solid strategies for using the information that you have and getting more of the right kind of information that you need. This book gives you just that: the skills, knowledge, and confidence needed to successfully unravel tough environmental problems and build the knowledge base for effective management solutions. Read interview about this book with author Sue Norton here: http://www.freshwater-science.org/Publications/Newsletter-In-The-Drift/ITD--Fall-2015.cfm#itdqna
Practical Channel Hydraulics is a technical guide for estimating flood water levels in rivers using the innovative software known as the Conveyance and Afflux Estimation System (CES-AES). The stand alone software is freely available at HR Wallingford's website www.river-conveyance.net. The conveyance engine has also been embedded within industry standard river modelling software such as InfoWorks RS and Flood Modeller Pro. This 2nd Edition has been greatly expanded through the addition of Chapters 6-8, which now supply the background to the Shiono and Knight Method (SKM), upon which the CES-AES is largely based. With the need to estimate river levels more accurately, computational methods are now frequently embedded in flood risk management procedures, as for example in ISO 18320 ('Determination of the stage-discharge relationship'), in which both the SKM and CES feature. The CES-AES incorporates five main components: A Roughness Adviser, A Conveyance Generator, an Uncertainty Estimator, a Backwater Module and an Afflux Estimator. The SKM provides an alternative approach, solving the governing equation analytically or numerically using Excel, or with the short FORTRAN program provided. Special attention is paid to calculating the distributions of boundary shear stress distributions in channels of different shape, and to appropriate formulations for resistance and drag forces, including those on trees in floodplains. Worked examples are given for flows in a wide range of channel types (size, shape, cover, sinuosity), ranging from small scale laboratory flumes (Q = 2.0 1s-1) to European rivers (~2,000 m3s-1), and large-scale world rivers (> 23,000 m3s-1), a ~ 107 range in discharge. Sites from rivers in the UK, France, China, New Zealand and Ecuador are considered. Topics are introduced initially at a simplified level, and get progressively more complex in later chapters. This book is intended for post graduate level students and practising engineers or hydrologists engaged in flood risk management, as well as those who may simply just wish to learn more about modelling flows in rivers.
The majority of people in Limpopo river basin depend on rainfed agriculture. Unfortunately the Limpopo is water scarce, and parts of the basin, such as Zimbabwe's Mzingwane catchment, are under stress in terms of agro-ecological and socio-politicoeconomic conditions. Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) has been adopted in the river basin in an attempt to improve water resources management. However, it is not known whether, or how, IWRM has improved practices in water resources management and contributed towards improved livelihoods.This study used a bottom-up approach to analyse water management practices and livelihoods in the river basin. The objective of the study was to understand practices in water resources management at the local level, and what drives those practices. Specifically the study analysed: practices in access to water for domestic and productive uses, efforts at sustaining livelihoods and the environment, water management for agriculture, contestations over urban water services, and river basin planning. The study showed the importance of context as a driver of practices in water resources management. The demonstrated influence of local level drivers on water resources management and livelihoods suggest that the challenges in water resources management cannot be solved outside of the wider socio-politico-economic realm.
The world's fresh water supplies are dwindling rapidly-even wastewater is now considered an asset. By 2025, most of the world's population will be facing serious water stresses and shortages. Aquananotechnology: Global Prospects breaks new ground with its informative and innovative introduction of the application of nanotechnology to the remediation of contaminated water for drinking and industrial use. It provides a comprehensive overview, from a global perspective, of the latest research and developments in the use of nanotechnology for water purification and desalination methods. The book also covers approaches to remediation such as high surface area nanoscale media for adsorption of toxic species, UV treatment of pathogens, and regeneration of saturated media with applications in municipal water supplies, produced water from fracking, ballast water, and more. It also discusses membranes, desalination, sensing, engineered polymers, magnetic nanomaterials, electrospun nanofibers, photocatalysis, endocrine disruptors, and Al13 clusters. It explores physics-based phenomena such as subcritical water and cavitation-induced sonoluminescence, and fog harvesting. With contributions from experts in developed and developing countries, including those with severe contamination, such as China, India, and Pakistan, the book's content spans a wide range of the subject areas that fall under the aquananotechnology banner, either squarely or tangentially. The book strongly emphasizes sorption media, with broad application to a myriad of contaminants-both geogenic and anthropogenic-keeping in mind that it is not enough for water to be potable, it must also be palatable.
The Ning-Meng reach of the Yellow River basin is located in the Inner Mongolia region at the Northern part of the Yellow River. Due to the special geographical conditions, the river flow direction is towards the North causing the Ning-Meng reach to freeze up every year in wintertime. Both during the freeze-up and break-up period, unfavourable conditions occur which may cause ice jamming and ice dam formation leading to dike breaching and overtopping of the embankment. Throughout history this has often led to considerable casualties and property loss. Enhanced economic development and human activities in the region have altered the characteristics of the ice regime in recent decades, leading to several ice disasters during freezing or breaking-up periods. The integrated water resources management plan developed by the Yellow River Conservancy Commission (YRCC) outlines the requirements for water regulation in the upper Yellow River during ice flood periods. YRCC is developing measures that not only safeguard against ice floods, but also assure the availability of adequate water resources. These provide the overall requirements for developing an ice regime forecasting system including lead-time prediction and required accuracy. In order to develop such a system, numerical modelling of ice floods is an essential component of current research at the YRCC, together with field observations and laboratory experiments. In order to properly model river ice processes it is necessary to adjust the hydrodynamic equations to account for thermodynamic effects. In this research, hydrological and meteorological data from 1950 to 2010 were used to analyse the characteristics of ice regimes in the past. Also, additional field observations were carried out for ice flood model calibration and validation. By combining meteorological forecasting models with statistical models, a medium to short range air temperature forecasting model for the Ning-Meng reach was established. These results were used to improve ice formation modelling and prolong lead-time prediction. The numerical ice flood model developed in this thesis for the Ning-Meng reach allows better forecasting of the ice regime and improved decision support for upstream reservoir regulation and taking appropriate measures for disaster risk reduction.
Conventional services, such as water, energy and waste services, have been for a long time physically networked and centrally managed. Today, this delivery model appears increasingly inefficient in two respects. It often fails in guaranteeing its financial viability and equitable service access, and and it generally draws heavily on the natural resources conveyed by these services. The book aims thus at exploring how service coproduction, based on public-community collaborations, can represent a valuable alternative to the conventional service provision model. Contributions in this book look into service coproduction and its relationship with the conventional service model both in the Global North (Germany) and Global South (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, India, Tanzania). They also address a variety of different perspectives in coproducing conventional services, such as the role of service modernisation, the variety of non-networked solutions, the relationship with the commons, just to cite some of them. Eventually, this book provides a first comprehensive exploration of the service coproduction theory in relation to conventional services, such as water, energy and waste. The chapters originally published as a special issue in Urban Research & Practice.
We have identified a need to draw together knowledge of physiochemical and biological aspects of pollution in tropical aquatic systems. This book results from this and we hope will assist in providing management strategies to protect these systems from pollution effects. In organising the book we have, as far as possible, attempted to cover the range of topics important in understanding pollution in tropical areas. Authors who are expert in their particular fields have been invited to contribute. We recognise that many topics remain uncovered but we hope will serve to assist in identifying these and stimulate interest in this area.
This book provides an overview of facts, theories and methods from hydrology, geology, geophysics, law, ethics, economics, ecology, engineering, sociology, diplomacy and many other disciplines with relevance for concepts and practice of water resources management. It provides comprehensive, but also critical reading material for all communities involved in the ongoing water discourses and debates. The book refers to case studies in the form of boxes, sections, or as entire chapters. They illustrate success stories, but also lessons to be remembered, to avoid repeating the same mistakes. Based on consolidated state-of-the-art knowledge, it has been conceived and written to attract a multidisciplinary audience. The aim of this handbook is to facilitate understanding between the participants of the international water discourse and multi-level decision making processes. Knowing more about water, but also about concepts, methods and aspirations of different professional, disciplinary communities and stakeholders professionalizes the debate and enhances the decision making.
The thermal use of the shallow subsurface is increasingly being promoted and implemented as one of many promising measures for saving energy. A series of questions arises concerning the design and management of underground and groundwater heat extraction systems, such as the sharing of the thermal resource and the assessment of its long-term potential. For the proper design of thermal systems it is necessary to assess their impact on underground and groundwater temperatures. Thermal Use of Shallow Groundwater introduces the theoretical fundamentals of heat transport in groundwater systems, and discusses the essential thermal properties. It presents a complete overview of analytical and numerical subsurface heat transport modeling, providing a series of mathematical tools and simulation models based on analytical and numerical solutions of the heat transport equation. It is illustrated with case studies from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland of urban thermal energy use, and heat storage and cooling.This book gives a complete set of analytical solutions together with MATLAB (R) computer codes ready for immediate application or design. It offers a comprehensive overview of the state of the art of analytical and numerical subsurface heat transport modeling for students in civil or environmental engineering, engineering geology, and hydrogeology, and also serves as a reference for industry professionals.
Wetlands are, by their very nature, ephemeral and transitional, which makes them challenging to characterize. Yet the need for characterizing wetlands continues to grow, particularly as we develop a better understanding of the wealth of ecosystem services that they provide. Wetland Landscape Characterization: Practical Tools, Methods, and Approaches for Landscape Ecology, Second Edition shows how wetland characterization tools, methods, and approaches can be integrated to more effectively address twenty-first-century wetland issues. A Practical Toolbox for Integrated Wetland Landscape Characterization The book explains how to locate, identify, and map the extent of wetlands to learn more about their importance to society and the larger landscape. It examines jurisdictional, regulatory, and practical applications from the scientific, engineering, and lay perspectives. Fully updated, the second edition reflects an emerging infrastructural, ecosystem goods-and-services perspective to better assist readers who may encounter these concepts and challenges as they assess and characterize wetlands. Examples and case studies illustrate a variety of situations and solutions, highlighting the use of current techniques to assess, inventory, and monitor natural resources under changing conditions. These examples offer lessons and ideas for the issues encountered every day by wetland landscape ecology practitioners. The book also refers readers to additional resources to help them solve specific challenges. New in This Edition Updates of practical geospatial methods More project-driven examples A description of the pitfalls of using ecological data at landscape scales, along with solutions Alternative techniques for a variety of practitioners Linkages between field and landscape ecological practices Online resources for practitioners New illustrations This book helps readers develop the concepts, skills, and understanding of how to best achieve project goals in the rapidly changing disciplines of landscape science and wetland ecology and management. A valuable resource, it provides practical tools, methods, and approaches for conceptualizing, designing, and implementing broad-scale wetland projects that take into account critical societal linkages.
This book is devoted to exploring the mechanism of pesticide movement into groundwater. It describes how pesticides enter ground water/drinking water systems and how regulatory decisions based on these mechanisms will affect the use of pesticides. Experimental results, models, and industry and regulatory perspectives are covered.
Multi-channel estuaries, such as the Mekong Delta in Vietnam and the Scheldt in the Netherlands, have characteristics of both the river and the sea, forming a unique environment influenced by tidal movements of the sea and freshwater flow of the river. This study addresses a number of knowledge gaps in multi-channel estuaries by developing a predictive analytical approach for salinity intrusion and discharge estimate in multi-channel estuaries. The new approach agrees well with 1-D hydrodynamic models and observations, indicating its applicability in practice. Most importantly, the study has successfully developed a new theory and a new equation to quantify tidal pumping due to ebb-flood channel residual circulation and the related salt dispersion.
China and its neighbours face a series of water security issues, in which international law plays a vital role. Paramount to both policymakers and researchers in the field of water law, the current status of transboundary water cooperation schemes and how these operate in China is of global significance. Grounded in international experience, this comprehensive volume provides readers with an up-to-date overview of current international transboundary water resource sharing policies and practices, including detailed case studies at both domestic and international levels. The authors discuss existing international laws, treaties, and principles that may stimulate transboundary water cooperation and dialogue, and then analyse a number of international experiences with treaties in North America, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. They take stock of China's water resource issues, legal practices and options, examine case studies of China's southern shared rivers, and explore some innovative approaches to cooperative management of shared waters within China. The articles in this book were originally published in the journal Water International.
Spellman's Standard Handbook for Wastewater Operators is a three-volume study guide and readily accessible source of information for review in preparing wastewater personnel for operator certification and licensure. These handbooks are resource manuals and troubleshooting guides that contain a compilation of wastewater treatment information, data, operational material, process control procedures and problem solving, safety and health information, new trends in wastewater treatment administration and technology, and numerous sample problem-solving practice sets, many based on actual tests. The Handbook volumes review the wastewater operator's job-related knowledge as job requirements identified by the examination developers as essential for a minimally competent Class IV through Class I or Grade I through Grade V wastewater treatment plant operator. Every attempt has been made to make the three Handbook volumes as comprehensive as possible, while maintaining their compact, practical format.
This book presents an overview of current research problems and advances in theoretical and applied aspects of environmental hydraulics. The rapid development of this branch of water studies in recent years has contributed to our fundamental understanding of processes in natural aquatic systems and helped provide solutions for civil engineering and water resources management. The book features comprehensively reviewed versions of invited lectures and regular presentations given at the 38th International School of Hydraulics, held May 21-24, 2019, in Lack, Poland. With papers by leading international experts as well as young researchers from around the globe, it covers recent findings from laboratory and field studies, numerical modeling related to sediment and pollutant transport processes in rivers, fluvial morphodynamics, flow in vegetated channels and hydraulic structures in rivers and estuaries.
Traditionally, wetlands were considered separately from river basin systems. However, nowadays it is becoming common practice to follow an integrated approach in wetland-riverine watershed analysis and management. Such approach requires not only adequate representations of all relevant bio-physical parameters, but also of socio-political and economic indicators. Data scarcity, an endemic problem in developing countries, hampers this global process. In this study, both conventional methods and state-of-the-art techniques and data sources are explored. A modelling framework is developed which includes rainfall-runoff processes, river hydrodynamics and water allocation models, seeking a balance between sophistication and simplicity, in view of data availability conditions. The framework was used to evaluate a number of scenarios, including potential effects of climatic variations and of the major hydraulic works that are planned by the national water authority. Several management options were assessed through this tool. In addition, special indicators were developed to remedy the lack of sufficient quantitative information by using a qualitative approach based on expert elicitation and stakeholder involvement. A decision support framework was applied to achieve a final ranking of the various management solutions that are in compliance with the national policies, facilitating the further development of management guidelines for wetlands across the Ecuadorian lowlands. The book will be of interest to water managers, hydro-informaticians/water modellers, people working at river basin authorities and Ministries of the environment.
Growing scarcity of freshwater worldwide brings to light the need for sound water resource modeling and policy analysis. While a solid foundation has been established for many specific water management problems, combining those methods and principles in a unified framework remains an ongoing challenge. This Handbook aims to expand the scope of efficient water use to include allocation of sources and quantities across uses and time, as well as integrating demand-management with supply-side substitutes. Socially efficient water use does not generally coincide with private decisions in the real world, however. Examples of mechanisms designed to incentivize efficient behavior are drawn from agricultural water use, municipal water regulation, and externalities linked to water resources. Water management is further complicated when information is costly and/or imperfect. Standard optimization frameworks are extended to allow for coordination costs, games and cooperation, and risk allocation. When operating efficiently, water markets are often viewed as a desirable means of allocation because a market price incentivizes users to move resources from low to high value activities. However, early attempts at water trading have run into many obstacles. Case studies from the United States, Australia, Europe, and Canada highlight the successes and remaining challenges of establishing efficient water markets.
India's Waters: Advances in Development and Management is a critical study of the development and management of India's waters. Its central theme is that the current methods in use are an extension of the colonial-era system, which, despite vast growth, has remained essentially the same in terms of developmental concepts, technological activities, and performance. A revolution on several fronts is possible, and this book details the author's own plans for these advancements. First the book briefly addresses both the physiographic and hydrologic characteristics of India and its waters, and the current official proposals for their development. Next, the author presents new concepts and policies for development of India's waters, followed by his proposed technological revolution. The author illustrates how India's aforementioned unique characteristics enable use of some novel technologies that are unique globally. This fact is key to his proposed revolution, which asserts that water availability can be more than doubled. Even more importantly, water can be placed in the hands of the farmer. On the subject of hydroelectric development, the author explores a novel technology of interspatial intertemporal pumped storage development that would increase both hydroelectric potential and peaking power almost five times over. On a related note, the book explains advances in water resource developmental planning in terms of a new societal environmental systems management that far surpasses the much vaunted integrated water resources development. The author also talks about the challenges of climate change, demonstrating how his revolutionary technological proposals could be applied to deal with this serious issue.
Hands-On Maintenance for Water/Wastewater Equipment deals with equipment maintenance as individual components, not as complete machines. This allows more information about the design, application and maintenance requirements of machinery to be presented. The text covers basic operating characteristics of machinery components, making it a valuable reference source as well as a training and maintenance manual. Written in easy-to-understand language, without complex formulas or technical theories, this text provides you with basic information to help you acquire a general understanding of how components function and how to keep equipment operating properly.
Experience has shown that when maintenance operators can understand and properly use blueprints and schematics they have little difficulty in correctly interpreting and using plant unit process drawings. Blueprint Reading bridges the gap between available training materials and the information water and wastewater maintenance operators need to know. It covers basic principles of blueprint reading and deals with principles and applications of schematics and symbols. Each chapter presents essential, practical knowledge vital to understanding and interpreting plant operations and that enhances the reader's ability to properly maintain plant systems.
Does participatory governance benefit the environment? The European Water Framework Directive (WFD), which came into force in 2000 with the aim of revolutionizing European water governance, mandates participatory river basin management planning across the European Union. The belief of European policymakers and the European Commission is that participation will deliver better policy outputs and implementation. This book examines a range of approaches to participatory river basin management planning, and considers whether and how participation impacted on the environmental standard of planning documents, quality of implementation, and social outcomes. It draws on evidence from WFD implementation in eight case studies from Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom on the basis of a matched comparative case study design. The Directive sets common timeframes and procedural requirements, which provides a perfect test-bed and unique opportunity to study the effects of participation on implementation and outcomes in comparative perspective.
A hydroinformatics system represents an electronic knowledge encapsulator that models part of the real world and can be used for the simulation and analysis of physical, chemical and biological processes in water systems, in order to achieve a better management of the aquatic environment. Thus, modelling is at the heart of hydroinformatics. The theory of nonlinear dynamics and chaos, and the extent to which recent improvements in the understanding of inherently nonlinear natural processes present challenges to the use of mathematical models in the analysis of water and environmental systems, are elaborated in this work. In particular, it demonstrates that the deterministic chaos present in many nonlinear systems can impose fundamental limitations on our ability to predict behaviour, even when well-defined mathematical models exist. On the other hand, methodologies and tools from the theory of nonlinear dynamics and chaos can provide means for a better accuracy of short-term predictions as demonstrated through the practical applications in this work.
This monograph provides a comprehensive state-of-the-art description of the work carried out in the UK and Japan on "Flow and Sediment Transport in Compound Channels". It therefore describes research which has been conducted, primarily over the last two decades, and which has yielded a fairly detailed picture of the important behaviours of compound channels and produced a number of engineering prediction methods which ought to be widely adopted in practice. The text will inevitably highlight areas where our knowledge is sparse and it will spur others on in the task of filling in such gaps.The concept of bi-national groups of researchers meeting together intermittently over period of some years, though not new, has drawn both inspiration and experience and the interaction has produced tangible outcomes in the form of this useful publication. |
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