This book deals with the water policy and management in Canada. It discusses various problems and risks in the fresh and drinking water supply in the second largest country in the world. Mohammed Dore argues that water is underpriced and used wastefully in Canada. In selected case studies, he illustrates the major threats from human activity to Canadian freshwaters and drinking water resources, including manufacturing, mining, oil sands production, animal farming and agricultural use. Selected case studies include reviews of even dramatic incidences, e.g. the Walkerton tragedy of 2000, when 7 people were killed and 200 went onto permanent dialysis treatment because of water contamination with harmful pathogens. The book warns that wastewater treatment standards are often not sufficient, so that many drinking water resources are in peril of wastewater contamination. As most of the water resources are provincial responsibility, the book discusses the water management policies in the different provinces separately. Through a detailed discussion and statistical analyses, it can define water policy and management lessons that emerge from the investigated case studies. It ends by contrasting water policy and practice in Canada with the practice in some European countries.

WATER RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT provides a detailed introduction to the full range of advanced, multidisciplinary techniques used in the study of water resources from understanding individual aquifers to the protection and management of water in a sustainable way, compatible with the preservation of the environment. Based on a masters course from UNESCO’s International Hydrological Program, this textbook is accompanied by color figures and graphics, illustrating clearly the content of the text and showing real examples from the field. Each chapter also contains a list of exercises and practical activities as well as case studies.

This book examines the role of The International Maritime Organization (IMO) in the prevention and control of pollution of the marine environment from vessels with a particular reference to the current north-south tensions regarding the strategy for combating climate change in the maritime sector as well as the prevention of marine pollution from the ship-breaking industry. The IMO, a United Nations specialized agency, has been entrusted with the duty to provide machinery for cooperation among governments for the prevention and control of pollution of the marine environment from vessels. The organization is responsible for drafting legal instruments as well as for facilitating technical cooperation for the protection of the marine environment. Although IMO legal instruments are mainly targeted at the prevention of pollution of the marine environment from vessels, there is a trend towards a liberal interpretation of this, and the organization has expanded its work to areas like shipbreaking, which is essentially a land-based industry.

The various safety organizations working on drinking water all warn about unhealthy constituents, as well as elements that can cause corrosion or scaling on pipes and installations. However, drinking water may also provide a substantial portion of the daily mineral intake, especially for the elderly and children, or those at risk of deficiencies due to unhealthy eating habits or starvation. Thus, a holistic approach to drinking water is presented in this book and the scope is extended from standards for undesirable substances to the basic mineral composition of water, examining 22 nutrient elements and ions and 21 toxic substances. The function of the nutrients in the body, symptoms of deficiency and overload, and advantages of the minerals from drinking water are presented, as well as symptoms of toxic elements from drinking water. The authors also suggest healthy ranges of minerals and mineral ratios for drinking water. The book offers a valuable resource for the health evaluation of drinking waters, for private well owners, public water producers and safety organizations alike.

This book discusses the natural and anthropogenic determinants of the environment and their impact on human health. It throws light on the perspectives of climate change with case studies from Australia, India, Italy, and Latin America. Themes covered are ecology of antibiotic resistant microorganisms, pesticide and heavy metal (arsenic) problems in natural environment; molecular advances in understanding of microbial interactions; ecological studies of human/animal health and diseases; food security, technological developments and more. The various chapters incorporate both theoretical and applied aspects and may serve as baseline information for future research through which significant development is possible.

This volume presents the outcome of an Agriculture Workshop organized by the Gulf Research Centre Cambridge (GRCC) and held at Cambridge University, UK during the Gulf Research Meeting 11-14 July 2012. Co-directed by the editors, the workshop, entitled "Environmental Cost and Changing Face of Agriculture in the Gulf States" was attended by participants from Australia, Bahrain, India, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, UAE, UK and Morocco. These scientists, educators, researchers, policy makers and managers share their experience in agriculture in the Gulf States, with the aim of helping to improve agriculture production and thus bridge the gap between local production and the food import. The papers gathered here were presented at the workshop and have all passed through rigorous peer review by renowned scientists. The diverse papers present various aspects of agriculture production in the evolving face of climate change and dwindling water resources in the region. The book covers topics such as the prospects of agriculture in a changing climate; the potential of climate-smart agriculture; the impact of food prices, income and income distribution on food security; improved efficiency in water use; challenges in using treated wastewater in agriculture; investment in foreign agriculture and agricultural research and development. The papers span the nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council, with specific case studies set in Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait.

This book provides an essential overview of ecotechnologies (also known as green infrastructure or nature-based solutions) which are considered to be relatively resilient to variations in stormwater and wastewater inflow. In particular, it focuses on various types of constructed wetlands, biofilters and ponds. Stormwater flows are inherently variable, due to rainfall events and fluctuations in loading. This variability has significant effects on the performance of treatment systems, but has rarely been specifically addressed in design manuals, performance assessments or modelling. The book's respective chapters cover the main contaminant categories of interest (nutrients, faecal microbes, metals and emerging contaminants) and their removal processes using ecotechnologies, addressing urban, industrial and agricultural applications. In addition, they review modelling tools with the potential to improve our understanding of flow variability and the ability to simulate and predict responses to it.

This book focuses on land and disaster governance in Asian countries. The Asian region has become increasingly vulnerable to natural disasters, including floods, cyclones, storms, earthquakes, drought, typhoons and tsunamis. Further, as a result of unsustainable changes being made in patterns of land use, catchment and coastal zones, increasing population density, migration patterns, and the spread of consumer culture across countries, the impact of natural disasters has increased manifold. The book addresses two major concerns in this field. Firstly, it discusses topics intended to raise awareness among all stakeholders of the critical aspects of disaster management in the context of Asia. Secondly, it calls upon policymakers, researchers, academics, practitioners, private enterprises and civil society organizations, as well as all those who have been, are and will be affected by natural disasters to search for innovative and novel approaches to reducing risk and managing disasters.

This book pursues a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach in order to analyze the relationship between water and food security. It demonstrates that most of the world’s economies lack sufficient water resources to secure their populations’ food requirements and are thus virtual importers of water. One of the most inspiring cases, which this book is rooted in, is Italy: the third largest net virtual water importer on earth. The book also shows that the sustainability of water depends on the extent to which societies recognize and take into account its value and contribution to agricultural production. Due to the large volumes of water required for food production, water and food security are in fact inextricably linked. Contributions from leading international experts and scholars in the field use the concepts of virtual water and water footprints to explain this relationship, with an eye to the empirical examples of wine, tomato and pasta production in Italy. This book provides a valuable resource for all researchers, professionals, policymakers and everyone else interested in water and food security.

Contamination of the different components of environment through industrial and anthropogenic activities have guided new eras of research. This has lead to development of strategies/methodologies to curtail/minimize environmental contamination. Research studies conducted all over the globe established that bioremediation play a promising role in minimizing environmental contamination. In the last decade, phytoremediation studies have been conducted on a vast scale. Initial research in this scenario focused on screening terrestrial plant species that remove contaminants from soil and air. Later, scientific community realized that water is a basic necessity for sustaining life on earth and quality of which is getting deteriorated day by day. This initiated studies on phytoremediation using aquatic plants. Role of aquatic plant species in cleaning water bodies was also explored. Many of the aquatic plant species showed potential to treat domestic, municipal and industrial wastewaters and hence their use in constructed wetlands for treating wastewaters was emphasized. The present book contains five chapters. First two chapters provide information about types of contaminants commonly reported in wastewaters and enlists some important and well studied aquatic plant species known for their potential to remove various contaminants from wastewater. Subsequent chapters deal with mechanisms involved in contaminant removal by aquatic plant species, and also provide detailed information about role of aquatic plant species in wetlands. Potential of constructed wetlands in cleaning domestic and industrial wastewaters has also been discussed in detail. The strategy for enhancing phytoremediation capacity of plants by different means and effectiveness of phytoremediation technology in terms of monitory benefits has been discussed in last chapter. Last chapter also emphasizes the future aspects of this technology.  

Scholarship on the right to water has proliferated in interesting and unexpected ways in recent years. This book broadens existing discussions on the right to water in order to shed critical light on the pathways, pitfalls, prospects, and constraints that exist in achieving global goals, as well as advancing debates around water governance and water justice. The book shows how both discourses and struggles around the right to water have opened new perspectives, and possibilities in water governance, fostering new collective and moral claims for water justice, while effecting changes in laws and policies around the world. In light of the 2010 UN ratification on the human right to water and sanitation, shifts have taken place in policy, legal frameworks, local implementation, as well as in national dialogues. Chapters in the book illustrate the novel ways in which the right to water has been taken up in locations drawn globally, highlighting the material politics that are enabled and negotiated through this framework in order to address ongoing water insecurities. This book reflects the urgent need to take stock of debates in light of new concerns around post-neoliberal political developments, the challenges of the Anthropocene and climate change, the transition from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as the mobilizations around the right to water in the global North. This book is essential reading for scholars and students of water governance, environmental policy, politics, geography, and law. It will be of great interest to policymakers and practitioners working in water governance, as well as the human right to water and sanitation.

"Wetland Restoration: Shanghai Dalian Lake Project" introduces the whole Shanghai DaLian wetland restoration project, including the background investigation of the wetland, the overall planning of wetland restoration, its detailed design, engineering construction and engineering effects. This book appeals to readers especially due to its detailed data on wetland restoration. Readers can carry out a similar project step by step from the initial investigation to the last assessment by following the structure presented in this work. Through this book, we can get first-hand information on a wetland restoration, but it can also be valuable for other projects. Professor Shuqing An works at Nanjing University, China.

Using renewable fuels and materials, drinking clean water and food, and breathing safe air are major issues for a sustainable world. This book reviews biodiesel production from microalgae, a promising energy source that does not compete with food production. Several advanced techniques to clean polluted waters, such as electrochemistry, ferrites photocatalysis and low-cost filtration are presented. Chapters also show various living organisms used as bioindicators of toxic metals. Decreasing ecotoxicity of pesticides using suitable surfactants is reviewed. The last chapter evidences new pollutants in urban soils, halogenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Urban water and wastewater systems have an inherent vulnerability to both manmade and natural threats and disasters including droughts, earthquakes and terrorist attacks. It is well established that natural disasters including major storms, such as hurricanes and flooding, can effect water supply security and integrity. Earthquakes and terrorist attacks have many characteristics in common because they are almost impossible to predict and can cause major devastation and confusion. Terrorism is also a major threat to water security and recent attention has turned to the potential that these attacks have for disrupting urban water supplies. There is a need to introduce the related concept of Integrated Water Resources Management which emphasizes linkages between land-use change and hydrological systems, between ecosystems and human health, and between political and scientific aspects of water management. An expanded water security agenda should include a conceptual focus on vulnerability, risk, and resilience; an emphasis on threats, shocks, and tipping points; and a related emphasis on adaptive management given limited predictability. Internationally, concerns about water have often taken a different focus and there is also a growing awareness, including in the US, that water security should include issues related to quantity, climate change, and biodiversity impacts, in addition to terrorism. This presents contributions from a group of internationally recognized experts that attempt to address the four areas listed above and includes suggestions as to how to deal with related problems. It also addresses the new and potentially growing issue of cyber attacks against water and waste water infrastructure including descriptions of actual attacks, making it of interest to scholars and policy-makers concerned with protecting the water supply.

The recent European Council Directive 114/08 requested the EU Member States to perform an assessment aimed at the identification and designation of the so-called European Critical Infrastructures (ECI). Every analysis of the results of the "first round" of identifications and designations has only taken into account the numbers of ECIs effectively designated, consequently leaving aside all of the other elements related to this important path towards a harmonized vision of the "European Security". This work, with its unprecedented approach, focuses on the elements that have maximized or frustrated the ambitious European objectives and on the issues that might have prevented the directive reaching its full potential. Furthermore, the study offers an in-depth perspective on the lessons learned - including those that can be learned from the US pre-post 9/11 CIP policies - as well as an assessment of the state of play of the Member States after the implementation of the directive, together with predictions for future challenges.

This book addresses most of the environmental impacts of sand mining from small rivers The problems and solutions addressed in this book are applicable to all rivers that drain through densely populated tropical coasts undergoing rapid economic growth. Many rivers in the world are drastically being altered to levels often beyond their natural resilience capability. Among the different types of human interventions, mining of sand and gravel is the most disastrous one, as the activity threatens the very existence of river ecosystem. A better understanding of sand budget is necessary if the problems of river and coastal environments are to be solved.

This book, Advances in Water Resources Engineering, Volume 14, covers the topics on watershed sediment dynamics and modeling, integrated simulation of interactive surface water and groundwater systems, river channel stabilization with submerged vanes, non-equilibrium sediment transport, reservoir sedimentation, and fluvial processes, minimum energy dissipation rate theory and applications, hydraulic modeling development and application, geophysical methods for assessment of earthen dams, soil erosion on upland areas by rainfall and overland flow, geofluvial modeling methodologies and applications, and environmental water engineering glossary.

This book discusses different drinking water treatment technologies and what contaminants each treatment method can remove, and at what costs. The production of drinking water requires adequate management. This book attempts to fill the existing knowlegde gap about (a) water treatment technologies and their costs, (b) risk assessment methods, (c) adverse health effects of chemical contaminants, (d) management protocols, and varying regulatory practices in different jurisdictions, and what successes are possible even with small financial outlays. Addressing water consulting engineers, politicians, water managers, ecosystem and environmental activists, and water policy researchers, and being clearly structured through a division in four parts, this book considers theoretical aspects, technologies, chemical contaminants and their possible elimination, and illustrates all aspects in selected international case studies.Source-water protection, water treatment technology, and the water distribution network are critically reviewed and discussed. The book suggests improvements for the management of risks and financial viability of the treatment infrastructure, as well as ways toward an optimal management of the distribution network through the risk-based management of all infrastructure assets.

This book offers a concise description of the environment and water resources in Turkmenistan. The focus is on the water bodies of Turkmenistan - the Caspian Sea, Kara-Bogaz-Gol Bay, Sarykamysh Lake, Amu Darya River, and the Karakum Canal. Respected experts from six different countries cover the landscape-geographical features, the Karakum Desert, biodiversity (especially of birds and fishes) and ecosystems, as well as regional climate change. Special attention is paid to the Altyn Asyr Lake water reclamation project, to the morphometric characteristics of the Karashor Depression, and to the four-year-long satellite monitoring of the construction area in the vicinity of the Karashor Depression. The information presented is based on observational data and scientific literature, mainly published in Russian. This is the first English book on the Altyn Asyr Project. It addresses specialists working in various fields of environmental problems and ecology, water resources and management, land reclamation and agriculture, regional climate change, and international cooperation in the water sector in Turkmenistan and Central Asia.

Nowadays, textile units utilize a number of dyes, chemicals, reagents, and solvents to impart the desired quality to fabrics, and generate a substantial quantity of effluents/contaminants, which cause severe environmental problems if disposed of without proper treatment. In view of several surveys carried out through research papers, books, technical articles, and general reports published in high-repute academic societies, Handbook of Textile Effluent Remediation provides a detailed narration of the acceptable methods of treating textile wastewater, such as active ozonation, membrane filtration, and adsorption. The book discusses emerging and suitable treatment systems that are viable, efficient, and economical. In this context, it provides an array of several traditional as well as advanced treatment practices for textile effluents. It covers research-oriented descriptions of textile wastewater treatment that can be adopted by scientific communities, academicians, and undergraduate and postgraduate students of industrial engineering, materials science and engineering, physics, and chemistry. It offers several interesting methodologies and aspects of current dimensional research through user-friendly content, tables, and figures and provides up-to-date literature on important and useful information for textile effluents, their impact on the environment, and advanced remediation processes. Needless to say, this book is of immense use to global researchers, academicians, and consultants engaged in various streams of wastewater treatment science.

This book explores the industrial use of secure, permanent storage technologies for carbon dioxide (CO2), especially geological CO2 storage. Readers are invited to discover how this greenhouse gas could be spared from permanent release into the atmosphere through storage in deep rock formations. Themes explored here include CO2 reservoir management, caprock formation, bio-chemical processes and fluid migration. Particular attention is given to groundwater protection, the improvement of sensor technology, borehole seals and cement quality. A collaborative work by scientists and industrial partners, this volume presents original research, it investigates several aspects of innovative technologies for medium-term use and it includes a detailed risk analysis. Coal-based power generation, energy consuming industrial processes (such as steel and cement) and the burning of biomass all result in carbon dioxide. Those involved in such industries who are considering geological storage of CO2, as well as earth scientists and engineers will value this book and the innovative monitoring methods described. Researchers in the field of computer imaging and pattern recognition will also find something of interest in these chapters.

This book provides comprehensive research findings related to the environmental monitoring of radiation, levels of radioactive nuclides in various environments and dose estimation in residents after the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident caused severe environmental contamination with radioactive nuclides. At the beginning of the book, a technical review written by a leading researcher of nuclear reactor technology explains what happened at the power plant. The review is followed by a commentary from a former member of the International Commission on Radiological Protection, providing the reader with easily understandable information about the concept of radiation dosage. In the main part of the book, a series of scientific reports presents valuable data on the radiation surveys of the environment, environmental radioactivity, transfer models and parameters of radioactive nuclides and dose assessment among residents. These reports present a wide range of findings from the research carried out in a variety of activities by large governmental organizations as well as by small private groups and individuals. The reader thus will find a large collection of valuable and interesting data related to the environmental contamination by radioactive nuclides after the Fukushima accident. Although earlier reports on this issue have been made public, this book is the only publication to fully depict the actual situation by providing comprehensive data obtained by diverse organizations and individuals.

This comprehensive volume describes how ecosystem services-based approaches can assist in addressing major global and regional water challenges, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and water security in the developing world, by integrating scientific knowledge from different disciplines, such as hydrological modelling, environmental economics, psychology and international law. Empirical assessments at the national, catchment and regional levels are used to critically appraise this systemic approach, and the merits and potential limitations are presented. The practicalities of this approach with regard to water resources management, nature conservation, and sustainable business practices are discussed, and the role of society in underpinning the concept of ecosystem services is explored. Presenting new insights and perspectives on how to shape future strategies, this contributory volume is a valuable reference for researchers, academics, students and policy makers, in environmental studies, hydrology, water resource management, ecology, environmental law, policy and economics, and conservation biology.

The increase in GHG gases in the atmosphere due to expansions in industrial and vehicular concentration is attributed to warming of the climate world wide. The resultant change in climatic pattern can induce abnormalities in the hydrological cycle. As a result, the regular functionality of river watersheds will also be affected. This Brief highlights a new methodology to rank the watersheds in terms of its vulnerability to change in climate. This Brief introduces a Vulnerability Index which will be directly proportional to the climatic impacts of the watersheds. Analytical Hierarchy Process and Artificial Neural Networks are used in a cascading manner to develop the model for prediction of the vulnerability index.

Design a rainwater harvesting system for any home in any climate.

Water is a crucial resource increasingly under stress. Yet rainfall, even in arid climates, can make up a sizable portion of any home, acreage, or farm’s water requirements if harvested and utilized with care. The key is appropriate planning and high-quality site- and climate-specific design.

Essential Rainwater Harvesting is a comprehensive manual for designing, building, and maintaining water harvesting systems for the warm and cold climates of the world. Presenting design considerations and approaches for the most common household rainwater supply scenarios – primary, supplemental, and off-grid supply – this step-by-step approach covers:

- Considerations for full-property water security

- Demand planning and conservation strategies

- Supply calculations and design implications for extreme rainfall and drought

- Materials selection and water quality

- System and site assessment

- Sizing and design of gutters, conveyance, tanks, and pumps

- Pre-filtration, filtration, and disinfection options

- System maintenance and upkeep

This practical resource provides DIYers, trades, and rainwater practitioners with the essential tools, methods, and technical know-how to design, build, and maintain rainwater harvesting systems anywhere.