Riverscapes are the main arteries of the world's largest cities, and have, for millennia, been the lifeblood of the urban communities that have developed around them. These human settlements - given life through the space of the local waterscape - soon developed into ritualised spaces that sought to harness the dynamism of the watercourse and create the local architectural landscape. Theorised via a sophisticated understanding of history, space, culture, and ecology, this collection of wonderful and deliberately wide-ranging case studies, from Early Modern Italy to the contemporary Bengal Delta, investigates the culture of human interaction with rivers and the nature of urban topography. Riverine explores the ways in which architecture and urban planning have imbued cultural landscapes with ritual and structural meaning.

This book summarizes the achievements and experience of the Yangtze River rehabilitation and protection, analyzes the new situation and requirements of the Yangtze River rehabilitation and protection, and discusses the main issues and their solution alternatives for the Yangtze River rehabilitation and protection efforts. The Yangtze River, respected as the mother river of the Chinese nation, contributes immensely toward the socioeconomic development of China and braces up the national strategies such as the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, etc. Whether the Yangtze River is under good stewardship has implications on not only the wellbeing of more than 400 million inhabitants in the basin, but also in broader sense the overall sustainability of socioeconomic development of the whole country. This book which has two parts, provides a multidirectional analysis of Yangtze River rehabilitation and protection. The first part explores the stages, achievements, and the future of the Yangtze rehabilitation and protection. Major issues existing in Yangtze River Basin rehabilitation and protection are discussed in the second part. Many pictures, charts, and diagrams are involved providing an understanding of the situation of Yangtze River Basin.

More than the lifeblood of our natural world, Texas rivers have nourished the human spirit for as long as people have gathered on their banks. A living bond has flowed between Texas writers and rivers ever since the 1960 publication of John Graves's classic journey along the Brazos, Goodbye to a River.Many of Texas' leading writers have had their hearts captured by a river, and they have created sparkling accounts of the waterways they love. Now, editors Steven L. Davis and Sam L. Pfiester have assembled the best of those works into a revelatory collection of diverse literary voices. Ranging from the desert canyonlands of the Rio Grande to the swampy Big Thicket, from crystal clear Hill Country streams to the Red River's treacherous quicksand, Viva Texas Rivers! showcases many classic writings along with brand new essays written for this volume. The literary nonfiction is complemented by flashes of poetry that brilliantly reflect these curving ribbons of light. Authoritative and expertly edited, Viva Texas Rivers! offers shimmering accounts of hidden paradises, as well as searing exposEs of abuse and despoliation. Yet even in the bleakest times, as these writers have found, Texas rivers can bestow a sacred grace -and unexpected redemption. Viva Texas Rivers! brings you as close to the living nirvana of a Texas River as you can get without launching yourself into a canoe and following a great blue heron as it glides just above the breaking rapids, leading you around the bend as the river flows onward toward the best places in our hearts.

The new edition of this established textbook, now with full colour illustration, has been extensively revised and continues to provide a comprehensive, stimulating, readable and authoritative coverage of freshwater habitats, their communities and their functioning, the world over. The work will be of great value to undergraduate and graduate students, fellow researchers and water managers, and the plain language and lack of jargon should make it accessible to anyone interested in the functioning and current state of lakes and rivers. Having taught and researched over fifty years and six continents, Professor Brian Moss makes here extensive use of his personal experience as well as the huge literature now available on freshwaters. This is the fifth edition of his textbook, which, since the first edition in 1980, has steadily evolved to reflect a rapidly changing science and environment. It places increasing emphasis on the role of people in damaging and managing freshwaters as we move into the Anthropocene epoch and face unprecedented levels of climate and other changes, whilst rejoicing in the fascination of what are left of near pristine freshwater ecosystems. Professor Moss retired from the University of Liverpool following a career in Africa, the USA and the UK. He was awarded medals by the International Society for Limnology, of which he was President from 2007 to 2013, and The Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management. He was given The Ecology Institute's Excellence in Ecology Prize in 2009 and the book written for that prize, Liberation Ecology, was awarded the British Ecological Society's best ecology book prize in 2013.

More than half of America's waterbodies are unsafe for swimming, fishing, and as sources of drinking. Why? Because of unsustainable city building and poor farming practice. Beyond water quality problems, dysfunctional streams cause flooding and erosion of property, leading to neighbourhood blights. Not only can this be reversed, but repair of degraded urban streams can be a powerful agent for reinventing the physical environments of post-industrial cities. This requires trans-disciplinary collaboration between the fields of ecological engineering and urban design. The American city was uniquely premised on fusions of landscape and urbanism: a tradition with plenty of room for innovation. However, watershed plans remain data-and-policy-driven documents with a singular interest in repairing waterbodies. They have little to say about the city and urban design. Conversely, urban planning has not codified the value of healthy ecosystems within which cities are built. In this age of the Anthropocene, when most ecosystems are human-dominated, resilient urban design must account for biological processes. This book introduces watershed management into urban design with one simple demand: that every new development contribute to watershed stewardship, where infrastructure and building deliver ecological services in addition to urban services. The Conway Urban Watershed Framework Plan formulates a planning vocabulary for use among professionals and decision-makers to engage this new design market.

Water is one of the most precious and basic needs of life for all living beings, and a precious national asset. Without it, the existence of life cannot be imagined. Availability of pure water is decreasing day by day, and water scarcity has become a major problem that is faced by our society for the past few years. Hence, it is essential to find and disseminate the key solutions for water quality and scarcity issues. The inaccessibility and poor water quality continue to pose a major threat to human health worldwide. Around billions of people lacking to access drinkable water. The water contains the pathogenic impurities; which are responsible for water-borne diseases. The concept of water quality mainly depends on the chemical, physical, biological, and radiological measurement standards to evaluate the water quality and determine the concentration of all components, then compare the results of this concentration with the purpose for which this water is used. Therefore, awareness and a firm grounding in water science are the primary needs of readers, professionals, and researchers working in this research area. This book explores the basic concepts and applications of water science. It provides an in-depth look at water pollutants' classification, water recycling, qualitative and quantitative analysis, and efficient wastewater treatment methodologies. It also provides occurrence, human health risk assessment, strategies for removal of radionuclides and pharmaceuticals in aquatic systems. The book chapters are written by leading researchers throughout the world. This book is an invaluable guide to students, professors, scientists and R&D industrial specialists working in the field of environmental science, geoscience, water science, physics and chemistry.

Freshwater ecosystems have the greatest species diversity per unit area and many endangered species. This book shows that, rather than being a marginal part of terrestrial protected area management, freshwater conservation is central to sustaining biodiversity. It focuses on better practices for conserving inland aquatic ecosystems in protected areas, including rivers, wetlands, peatlands, other freshwater and brackish ecosystems, and estuaries. The authors define inland aquatic ecosystems, showing just how diverse and widespread they are. They examine the principles and processes that are essential for the conservation of freshwater ecosystems and aquatic species. Major categories of threats to freshwater ecosystems and the flow-on implications for protected area design are described. Practical case studies are used to illustrate principles and practices applied around the world. Specific management needs of the main types of freshwater ecosystems are considered, as well as the management of freshwaters in the broader landscape, showing how natural resource governance processes can be harnessed to better manage freshwater biodiversity. The book offers commentary on how to adapt freshwater conservation practices to climate change and ends with an insightful synthesis.

Unlike many other Georgia rivers that begin their journeys to the sea along the flanks of ridges in the relatively pristine confines of national forest lands, the Ocmulgee-a name that means "where water boils up" in Muskogee-rises inside Atlanta's I-285 perimeter highway as the South River in a jungle of asphalt and concrete. In fact, its very headwaters are buried beneath a hazardous waste site. Its other main tributaries-the Yellow and Alcovy-rise in Atlanta's fast-growing northeast suburbs of Gwinnett County, and they too have not escaped the impacts of city life. Yet the Ocmulgee also hosts one hundred species of fish, eighty-five of which are native to the river, as well as eighteen native freshwater mussel species, including seven species found nowhere else on the planet. In the Ocmulgee River User's Guide, both novice and experienced water sports enthusiasts will fi nd all the information required to enjoy the full length of the river through Macon to its confluence with the Altamaha near Lumber City. Author Joe Cook includes detailed maps, put in and take out suggestions, fishing and camping locations, mile-by-mile points of interest, and an illustrated guide to the animals and plants commonly seen in and around the river. Day-trippers will enjoy the guide's fascinating description of the cultural and natural heritage of this richly diverse waterway. FEATURES: An introduction and overview of the river Chapters describing each river section with detailed maps and notes on river access and points of interest A compact natural history guide featuring species of interest Notes on safety and boating etiquette A fishing primer Notes on organizations working to protect the river

Though not traditionally thought of as key natural resource, glaciers are a crucial part of both our global ecosystem and the sustaining of life around the world. Comprising three quarters of the worlds fresh water, they freeze in the winter and melt in the summer, supplying water that is plentiful enough for agriculture and clean enough to drink. Without them, many of the planets rivers would run dry shortly after the winter snow-melt. In fact, a single mid-sized glacier in regions like California, Argentina, India, Kyrgyzstan, or Chile can provide an entire community with drinking water for generations. On the other hand, when global temperatures rise not only does glacier ice wither away into the oceans, but these massive ice bodies can become unstable and cause severe natural events like glacier tsunamis. But glaciers often exist well outside our environmental consciousness, and they are mostly unprotected from atmospheric impacts from transportation emissions, or from industrial threats such as the mining industry, which seeks the precious metals that lie beneath them. Glaciers: The Politics of Ice is a scientific, cultural, and political examination of the cryospherethe earths iceand the environmental policies that aim to protect it. Jorge Daniel Taillant discusses the debates and negotiations behind the passing of the worlds first glacier-protection law in the mid-2000s, and reveals the tension between the industry experts, politicians, and glacier conservationists. The book provides the basic environmental science behind glaciers, outlines current and future risks to their preservation, and reveals the intriguing politics behind the debate over glacier policies and laws. Taillant also makes suggestions on what can be done to preserve these crucial sources of fresh water, from both a scientific and policymaking standpoint.

The Antarctic continent carries the greatest diversity of lake environments on the planet: freshwater and saline lakes, tidal freshwater epishelf lakes, lakes on ice shelves and glacier surfaces, and over three hundred subglacial lakes; extraordinary ecosystems that have been separated from the atmosphere for up to millions of years. This book provides a unique and cutting edge synthesis of Antarctic limnology, drawing together current knowledge on geomorphology, morphometry, chemistry, community structure and function. It emphasises throughout the value of these near-pristine ecosystems as barometers of climate change, showing how responsive and vulnerable they are to the indirect impacts of anthropogenic activity. Antarctic Lakes begins with an introduction to their physical, chemical, and biological characteristics, providing a basis for understanding the subsequent detailed chapters on different lake types, and ends with a chapter considering the application of new technologies to polar limnology as well as identifying future research directions. This accessible text is suitable for both senior undergraduate and graduate students taking courses in Antarctic and polar limnology, and will also be of broad interest to researchers working in the areas of polar science, microbial ecology (and extremophiles), climatology, glaciology, and astrobiology.

The third edition of Fundamentals of Hydrology provides an absorbing and comprehensive introduction to the understanding of how fresh water moves on and around the planet and how humans affect and manage the freshwater resources available to them. The book consists of three parts, each of fundamental importance in the understanding of hydrology: The first section deals with processes within the hydrological cycle, our understanding of them, and how to measure and estimate the amount of water within each process. This also includes an analysis of how each process impacts upon water quality issues. The second section is concerned with the measurement and analytical assessment of important hydrological parameters such as streamflow and water quality. It describes analytical and modelling techniques used by practising hydrologists in the assessment of water resources. The final section of the book draws together the first two parts to discuss the management of freshwater with respect to both water quality and quantity in a changing world. Fundamentals of Hydrology is a lively and accessible introduction to the study of hydrology at university level. It gives undergraduates a thorough understanding of hydrological processes, knowledge of the techniques used to assess water resources, and an up-to-date overview of water resource management. Throughout the text, examples and case studies from all around the world are used to clearly explain ideas and techniques. Essay questions, guides to further reading, and website links are also included.

New scientific discoveries in the Congo Basin as a result of international collaborations The Congo is the world's second largest river basin and home to 120 million people. Understanding the cycling of water, sediments, and nutrients is important as the region faces climatic and anthropogenic change. Congo Basin Hydrology, Climate, and Biogeochemistry: A Foundation for the Future explores variations in and influences on rainfall, hydrology and hydraulics, and sediment and carbon dynamics. It features contributions from experts in the region and their international collaborators. Volume highlights include: New in-situ and remotely sensed measurements and model results Use of historic data to assess precipitation and hydrologic changes Exploration of water exchange between wetlands and rivers Biogeochemical processes in the Congo's forests and wetlands A scientific foundation for hydrologic resource management in the region Studies from different parts of the Congo river and its adjoining basins This book is available in English and French. The American Geophysical Union promotes discovery in Earth and space science for the benefit of humanity. Its publications disseminate scientific knowledge and provide resources for researchers, students, and professionals. Find out more about this book in this short video and this article.

This book contains both practical and theoretical aspects of groundwater resources relating to geochemistry. Focusing on recent research in groundwater resources, this book helps readers to understand the hydrogeochemistry of groundwater resources. Dealing primarily with the sources of ions in groundwater, the book describes geogenic and anthropogenic input of ions into water. Different organic, inorganic and emerging contamination and salinity problems are described, along with pollution-related issues affecting groundwater. New trends in groundwater contamination remediation measures are included, which will be particularly useful to researchers working in the field of water conservation. The book also contains diverse groundwater modelling examples, enabling a better understanding of water-related issues and their management. Groundwater Geochemistry: Pollution and Remediation offers the reader: An understanding of the quantitative and qualitative challenges of groundwater resources An introduction to the environmental geochemistry of groundwater resources A survey of groundwater pollution-related issues Recent trends in groundwater conservation and remediation Mathematical and statistical modeling related to groundwater resources Students, lecturers and researchers working in the fields of hydrogeochemistry, water pollution and groundwater will find Groundwater Geochemistry an essential companion.

This is the first book to describe the ecology of high latitude lakes, rivers and glacial environments in both the North and South polar regions. From the lake-rich floodplains of the Arctic to the deep, enigmatic waters of Lake Vostok, Antarctica, these regions contain some of the most extraordinary aquatic ecosystems on Earth. They provide a fascinating diversity of habitats for plant, animal and microbial communities, and are proving to be valuable model systems for exploring many ecological themes including landscape-lake interactions, adaptation of life to environmental extremes, and controls on the structure and functioning of aquatic ecosystems. Some of these waters also have direct global implications, including permafrost thaw lakes as sources of greenhouse gases, subglacial aquatic environments as a storehouse of ancient microbes, and Arctic rivers as major inputs of freshwater and organic carbon to the World Ocean. Given that many polar areas are experiencing greater climate warming than at lower latitudes, these ecosystems can also be viewed as sentinels of global change.
This timely volume brings together many of the world's leading researchers in polar limnology to describe these diverse aquatic environments and their ecology. It introduces each major ecosystem type, examines the similarities and differences between Arctic and Antarctic systems as well as their responses to environmental change, and describes new frontiers for future research. A glossary of terms is provided for non-specialists, and a set of colour plates introduces the ecosystems and their biota.
Polar Lakes and Rivers will be of value to students and specialist researchers alike, as well as tothose with a more general interest in aquatic ecology, polar environments or global change who require an authoritative overview of this fast emerging topic.

Several years ago, Debbie Bentley visited the Salton Sea for the first time. The area was an oddity, full of dilapidated houses, rotting fish, and horrible smells. In spite of this, she found the lake itself beautiful, vast, and haunting. Such a dangerous beauty. Even though large amounts of the playa are currently exposed, the Salton Sea is still so large that from some vantage points, the earth's curvature hides the opposite shore. Currently the dust from the playa fills the air and causes health issues and crop damage - more exposed lakebed is certainly a public health crisis in the making. At the end of 2017, California mandated water transfers to the Sea ended. From this point forward, playa exposure will increase at an accelerated rate. This body of work is a portrait of the Salton Sea in 2018. The lake will never be as it was at that moment in time, nor will the remediation efforts woefully behind schedule to deal with the increasing dust.

From Lake Coeur d'Alene to its confluence with the Columbia, the Spokane River travels 111 miles of varied and often spectacular terrain-rural, urban, in places wild. The river has been a trading and gathering place for Indigenous peoples for thousands of years. With bountiful trout, accessible swimming holes, and challenging rapids, it is a recreational magnet for residents and tourists alike. The Spokane also bears the legacy of industrial growth and remains caught amid interests competing over natural resources. The contributors to this collection profile this living river through personal reflection, history, science, and poetry. They bring a keen environmental awareness of resource scarcity, climate change, and cultural survival tied to the river's fate.

Viktor Schauberger (1885-1958) combined precise observation of nature and intuition with hard science and engineering. He researched into the real nature of water. Natural water, says Schauberger, is a living organism, akin to blood in the human body. It is the most important life-giving and energy-empowering substance on the planet. It nourishes the whole biosphere and, when it becomes corrupted, the ecosystem becomes sick. Through the tireless study of mountain streams and rivers, Schauberger was able to show the importance of energy in water, and how nature uses this to create life. He engaged contemporary scientists in heated debates about where he saw they were going wrong. Sadly, the same extractive and water-management policies which brought devastation in his day have even greater consequences today, and the world will reject at its peril Schauberger's pleas to rediscover how to work with nature. This is the first volume of "Eco-Technology", a series based on the writings and discussions of Viktor Schauberger. The other volumes will cover Schauberger's research on trees, soils and the atmosphere and his practical applications for working with nature. In public, Schauberger

Temporary waters are found throughout the world, and include intermittent streams and ponds, episodic rain puddles, seasonal limestone lakes, the water-retaining structures of plants, such as bromeliads and pitcher plants, and a variety of man-made container habitats. They are probably populated by various plant, animal, and microscopic communities ranging from the very simple to the highly complex. Temporary waters therefore represent fascinating and significant arenas in which to study the properties of species, as the latter deal with the rigours of living in highly variable environments. Obligate temporary water species display a remarkable array of adaptations to the periodic loss of their primary medium that largely set them apart from the inhabitants of permanent water bodies. Survival of individuals frequently depends upon exceptional physiological tolerance or effective migrational abilities that are timed to appropriate habitat phases. Quite apart from their inherent biological interest, temporary waters are now in the limelight from a conservation perspective as these habitats come more and more into conflict with human activities. Traditionally, many temporary waters (be they ponds, pools, streams, or wetlands) have been considered to be 'wasted' areas of land, potentially convertible to agriculture once drained. In reality, they are natural features of the global landscape that represent distinct and unique habitats for many species, some that are found nowhere else and others that reach their maximum abundance and/or genetic diversity there. Temporary waters are also very important from a human health perspective since they function as breeding places for the vectors of many disease organisms, including those that spread malaria, schistosomiasis, yellow fever, and dengue. Most of these exact a high toll in terms of global human suffering and reduced regional economies. This book collates and synthesises the highly scattered and diverse global literature on pure and applied aspects of these habitats and their biota. It examines the ecology of temporary waters in both natural and human environments, and seeks to identify common evolutionary themes. It will be of particular interest to aquatic ecologists, invertebrate and vertebrate biologists, environmental biologists, wetland managers and conservationists, those charged with controlling water-associated diseases, entomologists, educators, and natural historians.

This all-new revised edition of a modern classic is the most comprehensive and up-to-date coverage of the "green" process of desalination in industrial and municipal applications, covering all of the processes and equipment necessary to design, operate, and troubleshoot desalination systems. This is becoming increasingly more important for not only our world's industries, but our world's populations, as pure water becomes more and more scarce. "Blue is the new green." This is an all-new revised edition of a modern classic on one of the most important subjects in engineering: Water. Featuring a total revision of the initial volume, this is the most comprehensive and up-to-date coverage of the process of desalination in industrial and municipal applications, a technology that is becoming increasingly more important as more and more companies choose to "go green." This book covers all of the processes and equipment necessary to design, operate, and troubleshoot desalination systems, from the fundamental principles of desalination technology and membranes to the much more advanced engineering principles necessary for designing a desalination system. Earlier chapters cover the basic principles, the economics of desalination, basic terms and definitions, and essential equipment. The book then goes into the thermal processes involved in desalination, such as various methods of evaporation, distillation, recompression, and multistage flash. Following that is an exhaustive discussion of the membrane processes involved in desalination, such as reverse osmosis, forward osmosis, and electrodialysis. Finally, the book concludes with a chapter on the future of these technologies and their place in industry and how they can be of use to society. This book is a must-have for anyone working in water, for engineers, technicians, scientists working in research and development, and operators. It is also useful as a textbook for graduate classes studying industrial water applications.

This accessible new textbook provides a thorough introduction to all aspects of groundwater systems and their management. Using straightforward language and analogies to everyday experiences, it explains the origins, nature, and behavior of subsurface water without resorting to complicated mathematics.

"Groundwater in the Environment" draws on case studies and cutting-edge research from around the world, giving a unique insight into groundwater occurring in a wide range of different climate zones and geological settings. This book:
provides a robust, practical introduction to groundwater quality, and a succinct summary of modern remedial technologies for polluted groundwaters
explores how groundwater fits into the wider natural environment, especially in relation to freshwater ecosystems
considers the vulnerability of groundwater systems and the effects of pollution, climate change, land-use change, and overexploitation
examines human dependence on water and the effect that this has on groundwater systems
presents vivid examples of geohazards associated with ground waters
explains the whys and wherefores of groundwater modeling
examines competing philosophies of groundwater management, making the case for approaches which take social, economic and ecological issues into account.

"Goundwater in the Environment" provides an up-to-date, essential introduction for undergraduate students of environmental sciences, geography and geology. It will also be invaluable to professionals working in various fields of natural resource management who need accessible information on groundwater but who are reluctant to read conventional texts full of mathematical notation. For practicing hydrogeologists and engineers without formal training in freshwater ecology, this book provides a crash course' in the new frontiers of groundwater management.

Artwork from the book is available to instructors online at www.blackwellpublishing.com/younger. An Instructor manual CD-ROM for this title is available. Please contact our Higher Education team at [email protected] for more information.

This book presents the results of the IUTAM Symposium on Physics and Mechanics of Sea Ice which brought together researchers who have made significant contributions in the study of sea ice. The topics include: Fracture of ice, Thermodynamics of sea ice ridges, Global and local ice loads on ships and marine structures, Computational ice engineering and ice mechanics; and Physical and engineering problems related to ice and waves.

This volume reviews recent hydrological and environmental issues resulting from human-induced water pollution practices while providing case studies on the physical, chemical, and eco-biological techniques used to mitigate the impacts of river ecosystem pollution in South Asian countries. The book demonstrates the key methods of measurement, monitoring, mapping, and modeling of river water quality and how it is impacted by pollution and incorporates contemporary geospatial technological applications for the management and sustainability of future water resources. The major topics that the book addresses are the fundamental concepts of river ecosystem health, riverine ecology and habitats, risk assessment of riverine pollution, and technology-based river pollution control strategies. The book will serve as an interdisciplinary guide for researchers, students, and GIS specialists working in various disciplines, including pollution hazards, river ecosystem restoration, water quality, remote sensing, zoology, natural resources management, and environmental geography.

This book examines the impacts of radionuclides released from the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident on inland aquatic environments. The focus is on the dynamics of radiocesium in inland aquatic environments. The book comprises three parts: migration behavior of radiocesium in river and lake environment, accumulation of radiocesium into organisms in freshwater, and integrated environmental analysis in a lake system and a forest-freshwater system. Many studies on the dynamics of radionuclides have been published after the FDNPP accident, especially of radiocesium (134Cs 137Cs) in land and marine environment. The key features of this book are the new data of freshwater environment including transport of radionuclides in river and lake watershed, and accumulation of radiocesium in freshwater fishes and insects. Another feature of this book is that it summarizes the dataset of a model lake, Lake Akagi-Onuma, from geochemical and biological approaches. Readers will learn the actual dispersion behavior of radionuclides released from the Fukushima accident and their impacts on freshwater environments since the accident in 2011. The book presents valuable information for assessing the impacts of the FDNPP accident on ecosystem and human health, which are also useful in developing countermeasures for similar accidents and environmental contaminations.

One quarter of the world's population lives in karst terrains, yet karsts are highly vulnerable to stresses caused by human activity. This book surveys human impact on karst water, showing that the increasing pollution of the environment has, to a great extent, spoiled sensitive karst ecosystems. This text examines such consequences and offers proposals for future solutions and strategies. Part One provides an overview of the functioning of karsts and of human interaction with karst environments over several millennia. Part Two consists of a systematic examination of the major areas of human activity affecting karst waters, such as agriculture, industry, mining and water exploitation. Finally, Part Three views the effects on karst groundwater within a broader societal and legislative perspective and considers possible changes of methodology and approach.

This book offers a comprehensive review of how plastic pollution is affecting fresh and marine waters, and what the current challenges in plastic waste assessment and management in the aquatic environment are. Plastic waste comprises particles with heterogeneous physicochemical properties such as large size-range, different shapes and polymer types with various additives determining their environmental fate and risk. This complexity raises several open research questions which are explored in this book. Examples are the plastic uptake by aquatic organisms, degradation processes as well as sources and sinks in the environment. Readers will discover real case studies of plastic pollution detection and management in different parts of the world, including Asia, America and Europe, which provide an integrated overview of the global scope of this issue. This book and the companion volume Plastics in the Aquatic Environment - Part II: Stakeholders' Role Against Pollution are valuable resources to students, researchers, policymakers and environmental managers interested in plastic pollution and working towards its reduction.