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Books > Earth & environment > Earth sciences > The hydrosphere > General
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.
This book addresses groundwater governance, a subject internationally recognized as crucial and topical for enhancing and safeguarding the benefits of groundwater and groundwater-dependent ecosystems to humanity, while ensuring water and food security under global change. The multiple and complex dimensions of groundwater governance are captured in 28 chapters, written by a team of leading experts from different parts of the world and with a variety of relevant professional backgrounds. The book aims to describe the state-of-the-art and latest developments regarding each of the themes addressed, paying attention to the wide variation of conditions observed around the globe. The book consists of four parts. The first part sets the stage by defining groundwater governance, exploring its emergence and evolution, framing it through a socio-ecological lens and describing groundwater policy and planning approaches. The second part discusses selected key aspects of groundwater governance. The third part zooms in on the increasingly important linkages between groundwater and other resources or sectors, and between local groundwater systems and phenomena or actions at the international or even global level. The fourth part, finally, presents a number of interesting case studies that illustrate contemporary practice in groundwater governance. In one volume, this highly accessible text not only familiarizes water professionals, decision-makers and local stakeholders with groundwater governance, but also provides them with ideas and inspiration for improving groundwater governance in their own environment.
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.
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.
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.
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 discusses the environmental impact of water resources projects. Information from literature related to the implementation of studies on water resources projects such as dams and reservoirs, channelization, and dredging are summarized. Other topics covered are methodologies, transport, and decision-making.
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.
In the Eastern corridor of Northern region of Ghana, presence of high fluoride concentration in the groundwater has made many drilled boreholes unusable for drinking. Little is, however, known about the factors contributing to the occurrence of high fluoride in this part of Ghana and it's spatial distribution. Treatment of the fluoride-contaminated groundwater by adsorption is also hampered by the lack of suitable adsorbents that are locally available. Based on principal component analysis, and saturation indices calculations, this thesis highlights that, the predominant mechanisms controlling the fluoride enrichment probably include calcite precipitation and Na/Ca exchange processes, both of which deplete Ca from the groundwater, and promote the dissolution of fluorite. The mechanisms also include F-/OH- anion exchange processes, as well as evapotranspiration processes which concentrate the fluoride ions, hence increasing its concentration in the groundwater. Spatial mapping showed that the high fluoride groundwaters occur predominantly in the Saboba, Cheriponi and Yendi districts. The thesis further highlights that, modifying the surface of indigenous materials by an aluminium coating process, is a very promising approach to develop a suitable fluoride adsorbent. Aluminum oxide coated media reduced fluoride in water from 5. 0 +/- 0.2 mg/L to 1.5 mg/L (which is the WHO health based guideline for fluoride), in both batch and continuous flow column experiments in the laboratory. Kinetic and isotherm studies, thermodynamic calculations, as well as analytical results from Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy, suggest the mechanism of fluoride adsorption onto aluminium oxide coated media involved both physisorption and chemisorption processes. Field testing in a fluoritic community in Northern Ghana showed that the adsorbent is also capable of treating fluoride-contaminated groundwater in field conditions, suggesting it is a promising defluoridation adsorbent. The adsorbent also showed good regenerability potential that would allow re-use, which could make it practically and economically viable. Additional research is, however, required to further increase the fluoride adsorption capacity of developed adsorbent.
The role of small hydropower is becoming increasingly important on a global level. Increasing energy demand and environmental awareness has further triggered research and development into sustainable low-cost technologies. In developing countries, particularly in rural areas, the possibility of local power generation could considerably improve living conditions. With this in mind, the development of a next generation low-head hydropower machines was subject of investigation in the EU-project HYLOW. Being part of the research lines of that project, this thesis presents a numerical modelling approach to improve the design of machines like water wheels for increased hydraulic efficiency. Nowadays, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) enables numerical models to be quite accurate and incorporate physical complexities like free surfaces and rotating machines. The results of the CFD simulations carried out in this research show that a change in blade geometry can result in higher torque levels, thereby increasing performance. Numerical simulations also enabled to determine the optimal wheel-width to channel-width ratio and further improve performance by modifying the channel bed conditions upstream and downstream of the water wheel. With a power rating in the low kilowatt range, low-head hydropower machines like optimised water wheels seem to have a clear potential for small-scale energy generation, thereby contributing to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by providing local energy solutions.
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.
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.
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.
The efficient use of natural resources is key to a sustainable economy, and yet the complexities of the physical aspects of resource efficiency are poorly understood. In this challenging book, the author proposes a major advance in our understanding of this topic by analysing resource efficiency and efficiency gains from the perspective of common pool resources, applying this idea particularly to water resources and its use in irrigated agriculture. The author proposes a novel concept of "the paracommons", through which the savings of increased resource efficiency can be viewed. In effect he asks; "who gets the gain of an efficiency gain?" By reusing, economising and avoiding losses, wastes and wastages, freed up resources are available for further use by four 'destinations'; the same user, parties directly connected to that user, the wider economy or returned to the common pool. The paracommons is thus a commons of - and competition for - resources salvaged by changes to the efficiency of natural resource systems. The idea can be applied to a range of resources such as water, energy, forests and high-seas fisheries. Five issues are explored: the complexity of resource use efficiency; the uncertainty of efficiency interventions and outcomes; destinations of freed up losses, wastes and wastages; implications for resource conservation; and the interconnectedness of users and systems brought about by efficiency changes. The book shows how these ideas put efficiency on a par with other dimensions of resource governance and sustainability such as equity, justice, resilience and access.
The demand on land to produce food, for urban development such as housing, industry, shopping areas, infrastructure and also for recreation has increased during the history of mankind. This has resulted in such activities as the reclamation of swamps, flood plains, tidal areas and even lakes by impoldering. Model simulations can be use to gain insight into the system behaviour of different land use and soil composition under temperate humid and humid tropic conditions, The existing package OPOL, based on a non steady model, was further developed to the version OPOL5 for the simulation of hydrological conditions and optimization of the main components of water management systems in polder areas in the temperate humid and humid tropical zone. This model reveals a system's behaviour as well as the effects of variation in the main components of the systems to the overall costs. For example, the designs of pumped drainage systems in polder areas can be optimized
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.
Throughout the ages, people have experienced the life-giving and healing forces in water. Water is integral to life, and surrounds us in nature and in our own bodies. But not all water is the same. Water can carry good energies, and bad energies. How can we understand water enough to know the difference? Theodor Schwenk, the renowned author of Sensitive Chaos, founded an institute for water research in the Black Forest in Germany. He developed the Drop Picture Method, which displays the characteristics of water clearly for the non-specialist. Today, the Institute continues his work and here presents momentous findings about the quality of our drinking water, groundwater, spring water and river water. Stunningly illustrated in colour, this book offers a unique insight into the world of water.
The International Conference on Hydrodynamics is an increasingly important event at which academics, researchers and practitioners can exchange new ideas and their research findings. This volume contains papers from the 2004 conference covering a wide range of subjects within hydrodynamics, including traditional engineering, architectural and mechanical issues as well as significant new technologies and methodologies such as bio-fluid mechanics and computational fluid mechanics. |
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