River Planet introduces readers to the epic geological history of the world's rivers, from the first drop of rain on the Earth to the modern environmental crisis. The river journey begins with the first evidence of flowing water four billion years ago and continues with enormous rivers on the first supercontinents, after which terrestrial vegetation engineered new river forms in the Devonian period. The dramatic breakup of Pangea some 200 million years ago led to our familiar modern rivers as continents drifted and collided, mountains rose, and plains tilted. Among many remarkable cases, the book explores the rapid carving of the Grand Canyon, the reversal of the Amazon, and the lost rivers of Antarctica. There are gigantic meltwater floods from the Ice Age, which may be linked to accounts of the Deluge, and river systems drowned by rising sea level as the ice melted. Early human civilizations sought to control rivers through agriculture and irrigation, leading in the nineteenth century to hydraulic mining, the rise of big dams, and the burial of rivers below cities such as London. Rivers are now endangered worldwide, and the book celebrates people who preserve rivers around the world, bringing hope to river ecosystems and communities. River Planet is designed to be accessible for a general audience ranging from advanced high-school students to mature readers. The book will also interest professional scientists and students of geology, geography, and environmental science.

Nutrient enrichment of lakes is a ubiquitous problem, impacting ecological and human health on a global scale by accelerating the pace of eutrophication, often resulting in algal blooms, depleted dissolved oxygen concentrations, and economic harm to surrounding communities. In many lakes, bed sediments are a major but unrecognized source of phosphorus to the water, a process known as internal phosphorus loading. Internal loading is notoriously difficult to measure and manage given the need to access processes operating on and within the lakebed. In addition, climate change threatens to promote internal loading. For example, warming of lakes can increase the release of phosphorus from sediments due to 1) longer and stronger periods of lake stratification resulting in sediment anoxia and 2) enhanced microbial decomposition of organic matter. Degraded water quality not only impairs ecological health but also can influence social pride and community morale. This is the first book dedicated to the understanding of internal phosphorus loading in lakes and examines the causes, the ecological and societal impacts, and options for managing this complex phenomenon. With contributions from leading experts, this edited volume provides a broad view of internal phosphorus loading, methods for measurement, management practices for water quality improvement, case studies from around the world, and recommendations for addressing this growing concern. It is essential reading for environmental and engineering professionals involved in lake and reservoir management, students and faculty in limnology, state and federal authorities involved in water quality regulation, and lakefront homeowners and management boards interested in maintaining lake water quality and managing algal blooms. Key Features: First-ever comprehensive volume on internal phosphorous loading that clearly details what it is and why it occurs Identifies and explores the drivers of internal phosphorus loading Provides methods, techniques, and models for measuring internal phosphorous loading Features over 150 color figures and photographs to illustrate important concepts and procedures Includes 17 detailed case studies written by experts from around the world to highlight key research principles, treatment options, and management strategies for major lakes affected by internal phosphorus loading

Lakes are among the Upper Midwest's greatest treasures and most valuable natural resources. The Great Lakes define the region, and thousands of smaller lakes offer peace, joy, and recreation to millions. And yet, in large part because of the numbers of people who enjoy the local waterways, the lakes of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota face numerous challenges. Invasive species, pollution, defective septic systems, inadequate shoreland zoning laws, and climate change are present and increasingly existential threats. We are, quite possibly, loving our lakes to death. In his engaging and conversational style, Ted Rulseh details each of these challenges and proposes achievable solutions. He draws on personal experience, interviews, academic research, and government reports to describe the state of the lakes, the stresses they are under, and avenues to successful lakeside living for a sustainable future. Ripple Effects will be a go-to source for all who love lakes and who advocate for their protection; its driving question is summed up by one of Rulseh's interviewees: "We love this lake. What can we do to keep it healthy?"

CHECK DAM CONSTRUCTION FOR SUSTAINABLE WATERSHED MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING Authoritative and comprehensive reference on the potential for watershed development through the use of check dams Check Dam Construction for Sustainable Watershed Management and Planning summarizes current knowledge of check dams as key soil and water conservation structures in some of the most sensitive and vulnerable ecosystems in the world, as exemplified by the Mediterranean area and the Chinese Loess Plateau, providing detailed information on check dam design and watershed planning, the use of advanced modeling techniques, challenges in dam construction and how to overcome them. The work integrates decades of research in the field of soil and water conservation and gully management, including advanced studies in check dam construction and watershed management. It also covers important new techniques and methods, such as hydrological modeling, isotope tracing, and more. To aid in reader comprehension, the five highly qualified editors have divided the work into three distinct sections. Sections I and II focus on the experience gained from the erosion hotspots in the Chinese Loess Plateau, whereas Section III expands the scope to other regions with different functions for check dams, including headwater ecosystems and alpine environments. Sample topics covered in Check Dam Construction for Sustainable Watershed Management and Planning include: The regulating effect of check dam systems on sediment redistribution and the formation and development of dam systems in small watersheds Water and soil conservation made possible by check dam construction and sediment source analysis of water-sediment retarding effects of check dams The regulation of check dam systems on the erosion dynamic process and the mechanism of erosion reduction by check dams Flood control risk assessment on warping dam systems and the development and utilization model of check dam systems With its systematic coverage of all aspects of dam construction and maintenance, Check Dam Construction for Sustainable Watershed Management and Planning supports decision making by local authorities and can also be used as a professional guide for ecologists, hydrologists, and water resource managers.

A BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week 'A subject that could not be more important. A compact classic!' Bill McKibben 'I learned something new - and found something amazing - on every page' Anthony Doerr, author of All the Light We Cannot See From Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Proulx - whose novels are infused with her knowledge and deep concern for the earth - comes an urgent and riveting history of wetlands, their ecological role and how the loss of them threatens the planet. Fens, bogs, swamps and marine estuaries are the earth's most desirable and dependable resources, and in four illuminating parts Proulx documents the emergence of their systemic destruction in the pursuit of profit and the consequent release of their stored carbon. Wide-ranging and idiosyncratic, Proulx's explanation of wetlands takes readers to the fens of sixteenth-century England, Canada's Hudson Bay Lowlands, Russia's Great Vasyugan Mire and America's Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and introduces the nineteenth-century explorers who launched the ravaging of the Amazon rainforest. Proulx was born in the 1930s, a time, as she says, when 'in the ever-continuing name of progress, Western countries busily raped their own and other countries of minerals, timber, fish and wildlife.' Fen, Bog & Swamp is both a revelatory history and an urgent plea for wetland reclamation from a writer whose passionate devotion to observing and preserving the environment is on glorious display. 'Magnificent, bringing to life hitherto overlooked habitats' Guardian 'Proulx's sparkling book will open your eyes to humanity's reckless trashing of wetlands' Telegraph 'A haunting tribute ... Proulx's poetic description of these places, and peat itself, is a pleasure to read' Financial Times

Sustainability offers a vision for business and society that benefits Earth. Yet sustainability is often taught in abstract and disconnected ways. With the Yellowstone River Valley of Montana as its setting, this book introduces readers to sustainability issues, theory, and science. It addresses business profitability, physical environment processes, wildlife, public policies, and American Indian rights. It stresses practical understandings of sustainability via detailed attention to the people of the valley. The case sets the stage for data gathering, analyses, and decision making. Readers will recognize similar concerns in other watersheds and understand sustainability anew.

This book reviews the major achievements recently made in soil erosion and sediment redistribution research and management, and identifies future requirements. The book presents work from key players in river basin soil erosion and sediment redistribution from sources to sinks, field to riverbank, from academia to policy and industry. It examines the developments made in three themes - measurement, modeling and management - and covers a variety of scales (in both time and space) and geographical locations.

Pollution due to various anthropogenic activities continues to increase. In terms of water pollutants, organic and inorganic pollutants are the most problematic. Although several measures have been proposed and implemented to prevent or reduce contamination, their increased concentration in water bodies has created serious concerns. Over the years, the problem has been aggravated by industrialization, urbanization and the exploitation of natural resources. The direct discharge of wastewater contaminants and their geographical mobilization have caused an increase in concentration in ground, surface, fluvial and residual waters. Extensive information about detection and disposal methods is needed in order to develop technological solutions for a -variety of environments, both urban and rural. This book provides up-to-date information on wastewater contaminants, aimed at researchers, engineers and technologists working in this field. Conventional physicochemical techniques used to remove contaminants from wastewater include ion exchange, precipitation, degradation, coagulation, coating, membrane processes and adsorption. However, these applications have technological and economic limitations, and involve the release of large amounts of chemical reagents and by-products that are themselves difficult to remove. Biosorption - the use of organically generated material as an adsorbent - is attracting new research and scholarship. Thermally-treated calcined biomaterials may be treated to remove heavy metals from wastewater. To ensure the elimination of these contaminants, existing solutions must be integrated with intelligent biosorption functions. Biosorption for Wastewater Contaminants will find an appreciative audience among academics and postgraduates working in the fields of environmental biotechnology, environmental engineering, wastewater treatment technology and environmental chemistry.

This is a history of the hydropolitics of the Nile Valley from 1900 to 1988. Attempts to develop the Nile and control its waters are of vital significance to the future of the inhabitants of Egypt, the Sudan, Ethiopia, and East Africa. Acute drought and heavy flooding in the Nile Basin have brought disaster in the past, and the history of the area is the story of human effort to control the precious waters of the river. Written by Robert O. Collins, distinguished authority in the field, this highly interdisciplinary study will appeal to those interested in the environment, politics, third world development, anthropology, zoology, and economic history. Robert O. Collins, University of California, Santa Barbara, was the author Africa: A Short History and Darfur: The Long Road to Disaster (with J. Millard Burr), as well as many other titles available from Markus Wiener.