Describes the state-of-the-art techniques and the application of omics tools in wastewater treatment reactors (WWTRs) Includes both the theoretical and practical knowledge on the fundamental roles of microorganisms in WWTRs Discusses environmental microbial community proteomics Covers relating function and community structure of complex microbial systems using neural networks Reviews the economics of wastewater treatment and the development of suitable alternatives in terms of performance and cost effectiveness

Water scarcity is not simply the result of what nature has to offer but always involves power relations and political decisions. This volume discusses the politics of the freshwater crisis, specifically how access to water is determined in different regions and historical periods, how conflict is constructed and managed, and how identity and efforts to control water systems, through development, technologies, and institutions, shape one another. The book analyzes responses to the water crisis as efforts to mitigate water insecurity and as expressions of collective identity that legitimate, resist, or seek to transform existing inequalities. The chapters focus on different processes that contribute to freshwater scarcity, including land use decisions, pollution, privatization, damming, climate change, discrimination, water management institutions and technology. Case studies are included from North and South America, Africa, Asia, Europe and New Zealand.

Water Crises and Governance critically examines the relationship between water crises and governance in the face of challenges to provide water for growing human demand and environmental needs. Water crises threaten the assumptions and accepted management practices of water users, managers and policymakers. In developed and developing world contexts from North America and Australasia, to Latin America, Africa and China, existing institutions and governance arrangements have unintentionally provoked water crises while shaping diverse, often innovative responses to management dilemmas. This volume brings together original field-based studies by social scientists investigating water crises and their implications for governance. Contributors to this collection find that water crises degrade environments, place untenable burdens on stakeholders, and produce or exacerbate social conflict, undermining ecological and social conditions that sustain effective collaboration. At the same time, water crises can promote institutional change that "resets" governance, promoting unusual and creative responses appropriate for local contexts. The studies in this volume provide evidence that, while water crises pose serious threats to environments and societies, they also provide opportunities to learn from experience and recraft water governance with coherent visions of more ecologically and socially sustainable futures. This volume was originally published as a special issue of Society & Natural Resources.

Written by leading soil and ground-water remediation scientists, Handbook of Bioremediation presents information regarding the processes, application, and limitations of using remediation technologies to restore contaminated soil and ground water. It covers field-tested technologies, site characterization requirements for each remediation technology, and the costs associated with their implementation. In addition to discussions and examples of developed technologies, the book provides insights into technologies ranging from theoretical concepts to limited field-scale investigations. In situ remediation systems, air sparging and bioventing, the use of electron acceptors other than oxygen, natural bioremediation, and the introduction of organisms into the subsurface are among the specific topics covered in this invaluable handbook.

A review of the nation's new coverages serves as a ready reminder that drinking water safety is more than regional of local concern. In recent times, the print media alone has drawn attention to barium, bacteria, heavy metals, and increasingly organic contaminants, in public water supplies located in Florida, Rhode Island, Texas, Oregon, Illinois, Minnesota, North Carolina, Michigan, and California, to name a few. In an effort to address one of the major issues confronting the future of the nation's drinking water supplies, chemical contamination, the Drinking Water Research Foundation and the American Chemical Society presented the symposium, "Safe Drinking Water: the Impact of Chemicals on a Limited Resource." To add balance to the total presentation, two papers were included that were not part of the symposium.

This new book covers drinking water regulations such as disinfectant by-products, synthetic organics, inorganic chemicals, microbiological contaminants, volatile organic chemicals, radionuclides, fluoride, toxicological approaches to setting new national drinking water regulations, and trihalomethanes. In addition, organic and inorganic compounds scheduled to be regulated in 1989 and new candidates for the 1990s regulations are detailed.

River systems around the world are degraded and are being used unsustainably. Meeting this challenge requires the development of flexible regimes that have the potential to meet essential consumptive needs while restoring environmental flows. This book focuses on how water trading frameworks can be repurposed for environmental water recovery and aims to conceptualise the most appropriate role for law in supporting recovery through these frameworks. The author presents a comprehensive study of the legal frameworks in four jurisdictions: the States of Oregon and Colorado in the western United States; the province of Alberta in Canada; and the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia/Basin State of New South Wales. A close comparative analysis of these four jurisdictions reveals a variety of distinctive regulatory arrangements and collaborations between public and private actors. In all cases, the law has been deployed to steer and coordinate these water governance activities. The book argues that each regime is based on a particular regulatory strategy, with different conceptions of the appropriate roles for, and relationships between, various actors and institutions. Legal frameworks do not have the capacity to rationalise and provide an overarching and absolute solution to the complex environmental and governance issues that arise in the context of environmental water transactions. Rather, the role of law in this context needs to be reconceptualised within the paradigm of regulatory capitalism as establishing and maintaining the limits within which regulatory participants can operate, innovate and collaborate.

With water as one of the most critical resources of nature that is necessary for sustaining life for all living things, it has become very important for designing and using spatial informational techniques for understanding the root causes behind the degradation of our water resources. This volume discusses in detail a selection of geospatial approaches, tools, and techniques. The uses of geographical information science to measure and manage water resources are diverse. Satellite remote sensing provides essential data for mapping water resources, hydrology flux measurement, monitoring drought, and flood inundation. With an abundance of informative case studies, the chapters discuss the use of the satellite remote sensing and GIS-based systems for managing urban storm water; for flood and soil erosion management; for mapping groundwater zones; for crop production, including measuring soil moisture and aridity; for gauging the impact of climate change; for evaluating glacier change dynamics; for assessing the impact of urban growth on water resources; for measuring the degradation of rivers; and more. This peer-reviewed volume imparts important information on spatial information techniques that are used for understanding the root causes behind the degradation of our water resources. GIScience for the Sustainable Management of Water Resources will be a valuable resource for urban planners, environmentalists, policymakers, ecologists, researchers, academicians, students, and professionals in the fields of remote sensing, civil engineering, social science, computer science, and information technology.

This book focuses on mega-droughts of the past 20 years. Twelve cases from both developed and developing countries are elaborated in the book. Its intention is to draw lessons from the cases of extremely severe water shortages so that countries and stakeholders can be better prepared for extreme drought events in the future. Several recurrent themes emerge from the diverse case studies and descriptions of programs. For example, most chapters discuss the necessity to move from reactive (compensatory) to preventive policies. This theme has implications for use of insurance in developing countries, e.g. is insurance encouraging investments to help countries avoid disasters or is it acting mostly in a humanitarian way to compensate for losses to help people? Several authors point to the importance of risk assessment and to developing risk based policies for drought. This raises statistical issues of how such assessments of uncertainty and risks are done and how they relate to actual occurrence of events. Most chapters call for more inter-sectoral policies, policies which integrate water resources management approaches and to the necessity of raising public awareness of droughts in times of no drought. The issue of structural versus nonstructural is clear in most cases. While often cast as 'either/or' the message that emerges is more one of how do you integrate these approaches. Finally, a few chapters bring to light how prevention is needed for national security as well as water security. In Focus - a book series that showcases the latest accomplishments in water research. Each book focuses on a specialist area with papers from top experts in the field. It aims to be a vehicle for in-depth understanding and inspire further conversations in the sector.

Information-based decision-making during drought, often brings out some of the excellent practices that are prevalent in society / individuals. This book is designed to provide information on the drought process, meteorological, hydrological, agriculture, socio-economic aspects and available technologies such as satellite remote sensing data analysis and Geographical Information system for assessment. Assessment procedures utilising the various parameters of importance from various sources for micro level management that would enhance the effectiveness of management practice are dealt in detail. Resource availability and affected group determine the relief assistance for the present event and information that would help them in their realisation and preparedness for the forthcoming years by select countries is highlighted. This would help in the formulation of schemes for event mitigation and area development plans.

The readers would gain complete knowledge on drought. This book is expected to act as a guide in preparing people as effective natural resource utilizationist under drought situations.

Solar photo-voltaic (PV) and wind offer to bring both clean energy and clean water to remote regions and peri-urban areas in the world, outside the conventional electric grids. One out of seven people has no electric power available that would bring light to the home, cook the food, pump to access water and purify or re-use it. Off-grid systems are scalable and can be designed to any size, from household to village and community levels. The renewable energy cost development is remarkable and can make electric power affordable also for the poorest. Renewables promise an end to the era where energy security is closely related to geopolitics. The expenditure is up-front capital cost while "fuel" is free. With renewables, there is no geopolitical pressure where one country has deposits of a fossil fuel while another does not. This book aims to show how clean water and clean energy are reachable for all while contributing to both a better climate and a healthier life.

Because of the uneven distribution of fresh water in time and space and the increasing human population, a large number of regions are experiencing water scarcity and stress. Membrane-based desalination technologies like reverse osmosis have the potential to solve the fresh water crisis in coastal areas. However, in many cases membrane performance is restricted by biofouling. Biofouling of Membrane Systems gives a comprehensive overview on the state of the art strategies to control biofouling in spiral wound reverse osmosis membrane systems and point to possible future research directions. Despite the fact that much research and development has been done to overcome biofouling in spiral wound membrane systems used for water treatment, biofouling is still a major practical problem causing performance decline and increased energy demand. Biofouling of Membrane Systems is divided into three sections including modelling and numerical analysis, non-destructive characterization and feed spacer geometry optimization. It focuses on the development of biomass in the feed channel of the membrane module and its effect on pressure drop and hydrodynamics. This book can be used to develop an integral strategy to control biofouling in spiral wound membrane systems. An overview of several potential complementary approaches to solve biofouling is given and an integrated approach for biofouling control and feed spacer design is proposed.

This book covers the topic of microplastics in water and wastewater. The chapters start with introductory issues related to the growing interest in the scientific community on microplastics and the human water cycle and point out where the microplastics could interact with water. The subsequent chapters examine evidence of the microplastic presence in freshwater, such as in both rivers and lakes, in freshwater biota, and hazardous chemicals associated with microplastics in such systems. Another set of chapters discuss the presence of microplastics in wastewater: their sources; their transfer through a wastewater treatment plant; the concentration of microplastics in effluents throughout the world; the plastic biomedia used in wastewater treatment plants and the effect on the surrounding environment of effluent wastewater pipes. These chapters also discuss the sampling methods, the sample treatment and analysis techniques used so far for microplastics in wastewater. Additionally, the presence of microplastics in sewage sludge and in soils irrigated with wastewater or fertilized with sludge are discussed. The possible impact of plastics and their additives on plants, microalgae, and humans are reviewed and presented in a critical way. Finally, a chapter summarizes all the relevant regulations and initiatives that point to the necessity of a global directive for the protection of the environment from plastic and microplastic pollution. The topic of microplastics in freshwater systems and in wastewater has scarcely been studied and requires more attention. Microplastics in Water and Wastewater aims to bring these initial findings to the attention of a broader audience and especially to operators and managers of freshwater and wastewater systems. It will also be helpful to people already aware of the marine debris problem to understand the sources of microplastics in the oceans, from freshwater systems and wastewater treatment plants.

Dr. Hossen carried out an exceptional program of research in Bangladesh which focused on water governance in relation to human rights, international water law and environmental sustainability. His major argument is that eco-agricultural system encounters major disruptions due to a number of factors including regional hydropolitics and neoliberal and highly centralized approaches to water resource management that follow the principles of "ecocracy." In this context, Dr. Hossen explores three major questions: (i) How can local ecological knowledge be incorporated into national water policy? (ii) What strategies and reforms are required at the international watershed governance level? and (iii) How can human rights principles, including the principle of water as a human right, be used to formulate more effective water policy and governance principles? To answer these questions, Dr. Hossen explores the effects of regional hydropolitics on water management, focusing on three large engineering projects, the Farakka Barrage built by India on the Ganges River, and the Ganges-Kobodak (GK) and Gorai River Restoration (GRR) Projects in Bangladesh. This analysis is based on his research into local knowledge and farming practices during a year of fieldwork in 2011-12, focus group discussions, in-depth case studies and social survey methods. In addition to this primary data, he looks at extensive secondary documents from the government of Bangladesh pertaining to water management, agricultural modernization and institutional structures. The arguments herein are applicable particularly to the Ganges-Brahmaputra Basin countries in South Asia but also to the river basins of other parts of the world.

This book focuses on sustainable use and protection of transboundary aquifers located along the eastern border of European Union starting from the Baltic Sea and end in the Black Sea. The groundwater resources in this region play a very important role not only as a source of clean and safe drinking water, but also for social, economic and safety reasons. This publication sheds light on a wide range of real problems related to the management of groundwater, problems that are characteristic for most countries situated in the East European region. It also identifies potential threats that may materialise in the absence of cooperation between countries and appropriate measures to jointly manage the shared water resources in the region. Experience from some ongoing projects towards integrated management of transboundary aquifers (research, monitoring and data analysis) is reported. The book is addressed, in particular, to groundwater academics, researchers and experts as well as water management specialists interested in solving environmental issues extended to more than one country territory. On the other hand presented knowledge and experience would be also useful for decision makers especially to support environmental decision processes in border areas and work on preparation of international agreements on groundwater management.

People are increasingly aware of the role that water has in shaping society and how it impacts quality of life. This is the first book to provide a holistic perspective on water, capturing the full breadth of the science, technology, policy, history, and future outlook for the most important substance on earth - written at a level accessible to non-experts in each of these areas.Water is shockingly bizarre in its properties and of unsurpassed importance throughout human history, yet so mundane as to often be invisible in our daily lives. In Water Is ..., the two Seths (Darling and Snyder) walk the reader through all of the diverse perspectives on water. The journey begins with an exploration of the mysteries of water's properties on the molecular level, zooming out through its central role at biological and geological scales. Next, the Seths travel through the history of human civilization, highlighting the fundamental part water has played throughout, including the complexities of water policy, privatization, and pricing in today's world. Attention then turns to technology and innovation, emphasizing the daunting challenges dictated by increasing water stress and a changing climate as well as the enticing opportunities to achieve a secure global water future.Water is arguably the single most interdisciplinary topic. Students in business, policy, history, science, and engineering can best position themselves to make an impact by learning about the entire range of diverse, unexpected, and fascinating angles on water.Related Link(s)

People are increasingly aware of the role that water has in shaping society and how it impacts quality of life. This is the first book to provide a holistic perspective on water, capturing the full breadth of the science, technology, policy, history, and future outlook for the most important substance on earth - written at a level accessible to non-experts in each of these areas.Water is shockingly bizarre in its properties and of unsurpassed importance throughout human history, yet so mundane as to often be invisible in our daily lives. In Water Is ..., the two Seths (Darling and Snyder) walk the reader through all of the diverse perspectives on water. The journey begins with an exploration of the mysteries of water's properties on the molecular level, zooming out through its central role at biological and geological scales. Next, the Seths travel through the history of human civilization, highlighting the fundamental part water has played throughout, including the complexities of water policy, privatization, and pricing in today's world. Attention then turns to technology and innovation, emphasizing the daunting challenges dictated by increasing water stress and a changing climate as well as the enticing opportunities to achieve a secure global water future.Water is arguably the single most interdisciplinary topic. Students in business, policy, history, science, and engineering can best position themselves to make an impact by learning about the entire range of diverse, unexpected, and fascinating angles on water.Related Link(s)

Approximately 80 per cent of the population of Latin America is concentrated in urban centres. Pressure on water resources and water management in cities therefore provide major challenges. Despite the importance of the issues, there has been little systematic coverage of the topic in book form. This work fills a gap in the literature by providing both thematic overviews and case study chapters. It reviews key aspects of why water matters in cities and presents case studies on topics such as groundwater management, green growth and water services, inequalities in water supply, the financing of water services and flood management. Detailed examples are described from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru, and there is also a chapter comparing lessons which might be learnt from US cities. Contributing authors are drawn from both within and outside the region, including from the Inter-American Development Bank, OECD and World Bank to set the issues in a global context.

This book is based on the discussions and papers prepared for the NATO Advanced Research Workshop that took place under the auspices of the NATO Security Through Science Programme and addressed urban water management problems. The workshop sought to critically assess the existing knowledge on Xenobiotics in urban water cycle, with respect to diverse conditions in participating countries, and promote close co-operation among scientists with different professional experience.

Water conflicts in India have now percolated to every level. They are aggravated by the relative paucity of frameworks, policies and mechanisms to govern the use of water resources. Based on the premise that understanding and documenting different types of water conflict cases in all their complexity would contribute to informed public debate and facilitate their resolution, Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India, a collaborative initiative of the WWF project 'Dialogue on Water, Food and Environment', documented a number of such case studies. One of its kind in India, this book brings together an impressive sixty-three case studies - summarized status of the conflicts, the issues involved and their current position - and gives us a glimpse into 'the million revolts' that are brewing around water. While recognizing that each conflict is a microcosm of wider conflicts, the editors have classified these cases into eight broad themes that try to capture the dominant aspect of the conflict. These are: contending water uses; dams and displacement; equity-access-allocations; micro-level conflicts; water quality; trans-boundary conflicts; privatization; sand excavation and mining. With a mix of academics and activists as contributors, the book makes an important contribution to a new discourse on water in general, and water conflicts and conflict resolution in particular.

This new edition of a well-established textbook covers the environmental and engineering aspects of the management of rainwater and wastewater in areas of human development. Urban Drainage deals comprehensively not only with the design of new systems, but also the analysis and upgrading of existing infrastructure. Keeping its balance of principles, practice and research, this new edition has significant new material on modelling, resilience, smart systems, and the global and local context. The two new authors bring further research and practice-based experience. This is an essential text for undergraduate and graduate students, lecturers and researchers in water engineering, environmental engineering, public health engineering, engineering hydrology, and related non-engineering disciplines. It also serves as a dependable reference for drainage engineers in water service providers, local authorities, and for consulting engineers. Extensive examples are used to support and demonstrate the key issues throughout the text.

Over the past two decades a quiet revolution has been taking place in the countryside of China where hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of poverty. This book focuses on some of the practical actions and clever use of appropriate technologies which have been at the heart of this positive grassroots-driven change in rural Gansu Province. Key to this has been mobilizing the population and their expeditious use of rainwater harvesting both to dramatically improve crop yields and provide households with reliable domestic water supplies. Since Gansu is semi-arid and stored rainwater a scarce resource, ingenious systems of providing crops with just the right amount of supplementary irrigation at critical periods have been developed. Challenges such as lack of fuelwood have been overcome by the development of simple low-cost solar cookers, which by focusing the sun s rays using tiny mirrors can boil a kettle in minutes. These affordable units are now being produced at hundreds of small rural factories. The construction of low-cost greenhouses using plastic sheeting allows for the collection of rainwater and its use in efficient drip irrigation systems. By supplying vegetables and cash crops to local markets farmers have been able to repay their initial investment in under two years. The real significance of this case study is that most of the approaches described are based on universal principles of sustainable development. "Every Last Drop" is recommended reading for engineers, planners, staff of NGOs, academics and students in the water, energy, and agriculture sectors."

Urban Hydroinformatics: Data, Models and Decision Support for Integrated Urban Water Management is an introduction to hydroinformatics applied to urban water management. It shows how to make the best use of information and communication technologies for manipulating information to manage water in the urban environment. The book covers the acquisition and analysis of data from urban water systems to instantiate mathematical models or calculations, which describe identified physical processes. The models are operated within prescribed management procedures to inform decision makers, who are responsible to recognized stakeholders. The application is to the major components of the urban water environment, namely water supply, treatment and distribution, wastewater and storm water collection, treatment and impact on receiving waters and groundwater, and urban flooding. Urban Hydroinformatics pays particular attention to modeling, decision support through procedures, economics and management, and implementation in developing countries. The book is written with Post-graduate students, researchers and practicing engineers in all aspects of urban water management in mind. Visit the IWA WaterWiki to read an article by the authors: http://www.iwawaterwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Articles/Urbanhydroinformatics This title is now available in Hardback: please note change of ISBN from 9781843392743 to 9781780401362.

Agriculture is expected to face increasing water risks that will impact production, markets, trade and food security - risks that can be mitigated with targeted policy actions on water hotspots. This report develops the hotspot approach, provides an application at the global scale, and presents a mitigation policy action plan. The People's Republic of China, India and the United States are identified as countries facing the greatest water risks for agriculture production globally. A global simulation shows that, in the absence of action, water risks in Northeast China, Northwest India and the Southwest United States in particular could have significant production, price and trade consequences. Agriculture water risks could also result in broader socio-economic and food security concerns. Farmers, agro food companies, and governments can all play a role in responding to water risks at hotspot locations. A three-tier policy action plan is proposed to confront water risk hotspots, encompassing targeted responses, adapted national policies, strengthened market integration and international collaboration.

The report, building on a policy dialogue with a range of stakeholders in Korea, analyses how economic policy instruments under the responsibility of the Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport can be adjusted to contribute to water policy objectives. It also investigates how Smart Water Management Korea, an initiative by K-water that combines information and communication technology with water technology, can be harnessed to better contribute to water management in the country. Finally, it identifies some of the limitations of prevalent water allocation regimes which need to be addressed to make the best use of available water resources. Since 1965, the Korean Government has invested heavily in quantitative development strategies to meet water needs, and despite highly variable water availability, this has allowed for and facilitated rapid urbanisation and economic growth. However, several long-term trends are expected to affect the capacity of the current water management system to adequately respond to current and future water risks, such as rapid ageing of the population, fiscal consolidation and climate change. These call for a renewed emphasis on water use efficiency.