Water, Power and Citizenship investigates the interrelationship between water politics and institutions and the development of citizenship rights from a historical-sociological perspective. The evolution of water's manifold social character and values, as a source of power, as a public good, as a commodity, or as a universal right is examined in the light of ever changing and mutually binding social and ecological processes. The Basin of Mexico's rich water history becomes the vantage point to cast light on one of the most crucial challenges facing the international community - that of eliminating water inequality and injustice.

This book systematically investigates the nitrogen removal characteristics of two screened aerobic denitrifying bacteria and their applications in nitrogen oxides emissions reduction. It reveals that Pseudomonas stutzeri PCN-1 possesses excellent capacity for aerobic nitrogen removal, regardless of whether nitrate, nitrite or N2O were taken as denitrification substrates. It also demonstrates that the rapid N2O reduction is due to the coordinate expression of denitrification genes. Further, the book discusses the bioaugmentation experiments conducted in denitrifying SBR and a pilot-scale Carrousel oxidation ditch, which confirmed that the strain could significantly enhance denitrification performance, reduce N2O emission and improve system stability. The second strain, P.aeruginosa PCN-2 accumulated negligible NO during aerobic nitrate and nitrite removal and efficiently removed NO from flue gas. This study is of great significance for potential applications of aerobic denitrification in mitigating nitrogen oxides emissions from biological nitrogen removal systems.

Watersheds, supplying crucial ecosystem services to humans, seem to be a logical territorial unit to integrate societal benefits and environmental needs in order to evaluate the sustainability of natural resource use patterns. Based on this belief the book is an attempt to initiate a comprehensive environmental security assessment in the basin of the Azov Sea, shared by Russia and Ukraine. Though the region provides a variety of essential services and plays a strategic role in national and international development plans, it has been excluded from most regional environmental discussions. At the same time there is an alarming degradation rate of basin freshwater ecosystems that has occurred due to overutilization of certain prioritized services (e.g. transportation). The collapse of neglected services (e.g. fishery and freshwater supply) poses serious threats to the national economies as well as the local population, and to mitigate these threats priority in water management should be given to securing sustainability of the regional freshwater ecosystems. In addition to the review of the current status of Azov ecosystem services, the authors analyze likely future availability and challenges. The relevant experience derived from basin management of the Black Sea and other similar basins is also discussed.

This book focuses in the current situation of water resources, water supply and sanitation, and population movement in Latin America. It identifies new phenomena and challenges that will put more pressure on water resources in the near future and that will create important socioeconomic constraints in population and their governments. This volume offers an evaluation of water resources availability and consumption, water supply and sanitation shortages, management models and population growth and territory occupation trends in eighteen Latin American countries. Also a set of recommendations, policy proposals and projects is outlined.

The information contained in this book will be of interest to all scientists involved in research concerning environmental contaminants. In addition, natural resource managers and regulatory agencies will greatly benefit from an awareness of this technology and its application to monitoring, exposure assessment and mitigation/remediation of environmental pollution. Also, as the passive, integrative sampling approach gains use in the environmental sciences (one of the authors, J.D. Petty, teaches a graduate level course at the University of Missouri which covers this technology as an integral party of the course), we envision that the book has potential for use as a text in graduate level courses.

This book documents the history of irrigated agriculture and drainage in the San Joaquin Valley, and describes the hydrology and biogeochemical processes of salts and selenium, remediation technologies for salts and trace elements and policy and management options. The contents are comprised of fourteen chapter-length independent treatises, each depicting with fresh perspective a distinctive salinity drainage topic. The opening chapters detail the evolution of irrigated agriculture, and depict the geochemical and hydrological processes that define the San Joaquin Valley, including the physics, chemistry, and biology attributes that impact water management policies and strategies. Next, the contributors address the biogeochemistry of selenium, the role of plants in absorbing it from soils, and the processes involved in retaining and concentrating dissolved salts in drainage water. Further chapters describe on-farm and plot-level irrigation provisions to reduce agricultural drainage outputs and examine their effects on plant performance. This volume offers realistic policy analysis of water management options for irrigated agriculture in the Valley and assesses their respective outcomes, if implemented. Also included is an international perspective on the sustainability of irrigated agriculture there.

Air pollution, a major concern at the end of the 20th century, still remains a significant problem to be solved today. Traditionally, industrial waste gases have primarily been treated through physical or chemical methods. The search for new, efficient, and cost-effective alternative technologies has led to the development and, more recently, the improvement of gas phase bioreactors. This book is the first single text to provide a complete, comprehensive picture of all major biological reactors suitable for solving air pollution problems. The text describes the main features and covers the major aspects, from microbiological to engineering, as well as economic aspects, of the different types of bioreactors. The book also presents an in-depth review of the subject, from fundamental bench-scale research to industrial field applications related to the operation of full-scale systems successfully treating polluted air in Europe and the United States. Material dedicated to more conventional non-biological technologies has also been included, to provide a complete overview of the different alternative treatment processes. Audience: The different chapters have been written by international experts, as a result of a fruitful collaboration between European and American scientists and engineers. The resulting text is a high quality, valuable reference tool for a variety of readers, including graduate and postgraduate students, researchers, professors, engineers, and those professionals who are interested in environmental engineering and, more specifically, in innovative air pollution control technologies.

Urban Water Crisis and Management: Strategies for Sustainable Development, Sixth Edition presents solutions for the current challenges of urban water and management strategies. Through contributed chapters, a framework is laid out for a reduction of the use of groundwater (heavily overused as a solution) and the alternative options for the supply of water to cities, or for urban water. Sections discuss urban water, its problems and management approaches, address the root causes of the water crisis in urban areas, and cover the scientific and technical knowledge necessary to manage water resources. Significant gaps between developed and developing nations in the procedure of water management are also addressed, along with practical information regarding recycling and the reuse of wastewater which is useful as baseline data for the future.

In the United States alone, deaths due to furniture and bed fires still rank as the top-most category of fire losses. The flammability of upholstered furniture is a major concern of engineers and others across a wide swath of organizations. This book was written to provide its audience with the science and engineering need to better understand the combustibility of the products they manufacture, purchase, and try to extinguish. Beginning with a brief overview of materials, safety design and standards, the text covers topics such as flame ignition, spread, toxic gases, heat release rate (HRR), test methods, fire hazard analysis, and selected regulations in the US, UK, and EU.

This book puts great emphasis on the importance of Integrated Water Resources Management IWRM as the way forward towards food, water, and energy security. It offers better ways and means of managing the limited water resources; using water more efficiently; adopting new policies in order to cope with climate change and drought; increase water supply through the use of non conventional water resources, especially waste water; inducing stakeholders participation and information exchange and raise public awareness to the value of water. It is an important book for all those involved in all aspects of water resources and contains valuable information for scientists, researchers, farmers, extension services and students.

This book presents the applications of ion-exchange materials in the area of environmental analysis and treatment. It includes chapters on applications of organic, inorganic and composite ion exchange materials and hexacyanoferrates in various fields such as chemical and biochemical separations, water purification, removal of harmful impurities, dyes and cationic and anionic complexes. This title is a highly valuable source of knowledge on ion-exchange materials and their applications suitable for postgraduate students and researchers but also to industrial R&D specialists in chemistry, chemical, and biochemical technology. Additionally, this book will provide an in-depth knowledge of ion-exchange column and operations suitable for engineers and industrialists.

Estimates of the air pollution health impact play a crucial role in environmental protection. These estimates require accurate data on the pollutant exposure and dose to the population as well as the dose-response relationships to calculate the health impact. From an air quality manager's perspective there is concern about the validity and accuracy of these calculations. There is a need for information and possible ways to adjust the assessment. One important topic for air quality managers is to understand the relative cont- bution of sources to the total exposure. These sources may be coming from both different outdoor sources from sectors such as transport, industry and energy ind- tries, and from a number of indoor sources, such as heating, ventilation and indoor activities as well as out-gassing from building material and furniture. Indoor air quality is now drawing the attention of policy makers. The basic right to, and importance of, healthy indoor air was emphasized by the World Health Organization as early as 2000 and several countries have described target conc- trations for various pollutants. The WHO Air Quality Guidelines 2005 rec- mended the development of specific guidelines for indoor air quality and these are expected to be published soon. Indoor air pollutants have not been as extensively monitored as outdoor air pollutants and the evidence base for contributions to health effects needs to be strengthened.

Valorization of Microalgal Biomass and Wastewater Treatment provides tools, techniques, data and case studies to demonstrate the use of algal biomass in the production of valuable products like biofuels, food and fertilizers, etc. Valorization has several advantages over conventional bioremediation processes as it helps reduce the costs of bioprocesses. Examples of several successfully commercialized technologies are provided throughout the book, giving insights into developing potential processes for valorization of different biomasses. Wastewater treatment by microalgae generates the biomass, which could be utilized for developing various other products, such as fertilizers and biofuels. This book will equip researchers and policymakers in the energy sector with the scientific methodology and metrics needed to develop strategies for a viable transition in the energy sector. It will be a key resource for students, researchers and practitioners seeking to deepen their knowledge on energy planning, wastewater treatment and current and future trends.

Hydroinformatics systems are systems that combine computational hydraulic modelling with information systems (including knowledge-based systems). They are gaining rapid acceptance in the areas of environmental planning, design and management. The present book focuses exclusively on sewage systems, starting with their planning and then going on to discuss their design, operation and rehabilitation. The very experienced authors discuss business and information needs in the management of urban drainage, tools for collecting and archiving such data, and their use in modelling catchment hydrology, sewer systems hydraulics, wastewater quality, wastewater treatment plant operation, and receiving waters. The control and operation of sewer systems in real time is described, followed by a discussion of their maintenance and rehabilitation. Intelligent decision support systems for managing the urban drainage business process are presented. Audience: Researchers into sewer design, municipal engineers, planners and managers interested in an innovative approach to all aspects of the planning, design and operation of sewer systems.

This book presents recent developments in advanced biological treatment technologies that are attracting increasing attention or that have a high potential for large-scale application in the near future. It also explores the fundamental principles as well as the applicability of the engineered bioreactors in detail. It describes two of the emerging technologies: membrane bioreactors (MBR) and moving bed biofilm reactors (MBBR), both of which are finding increasing application worldwide thanks to their compactness and high efficiency. It also includes a chapter dedicated to aerobic granular sludge (AGS) technology, and discusses the main features and applications of this promising process, which can simultaneously remove organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus and is considered a breakthrough in biological wastewater treatment. Given the importance of removing nitrogen compounds from wastewater, the latest advances in this area, including new processes for nitrogen removal (e.g. Anammox), are also reviewed. Developments in molecular biology techniques over the last twenty years provide insights into the complex microbial diversity found in biological treatment systems. The final chapter discusses these techniques in detail and presents the state-of-the-art in this field and the opportunities these techniques offer to improve process performance.

This book systematically presents the technical aspects of supercritical water oxidation and supercritical water gasification for energy and environmental applications, which include reactor design, construction materials, corrosion, salt precipitation, etc. The book provides a comprehensive introduction to the properties of supercritical water, and the industrial applications, reaction mechanisms and reaction kinetics of supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) and supercritical water gasification (SCWG). The reactions occurring in supercritical water are complex, and studying their reaction mechanisms is of great importance for the development of supercritical water processing technologies. Accordingly, the book explains the oxidative mechanisms and kinetics of organic matter in supercritical water in detail. However, the harsh reaction conditions in supercritical water can easily create severe reactor corrosion and salt deposition problems. Therefore, the book also comprehensively reports on the mechanism analysis, state of research, and development trends regarding these two problems. Lastly, the book summarizes the development of supercritical water processing technologies, including studies on SCWO and SCWG, as well as near-zero-emission systems of pollutants based on SCWO technology. In short, the book provides a wealth of valuable information for all readers who are interested in using SCWO for organic waste treatment, and in using SCWG for hydrogen production with wet biomass.

ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING IN THE mSTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Lucjan Pawlowski Information bombarding the nowdays Man may suggest that the world is on the way to an ecological catastrophe. I do not disregard the dangers we are facing now, but I would like to remind that since the beginning ofexistence Man has been facing numerous threats of an ecological character. First, they were caused by natural phenomena, such as huge forest fires, floods, earth quakes, and later on, caused by the development ofour civilisation, Man who was becoming more and more powerful in his abilities started creating new, anthropogenic threats. We may look pessimistically at the development of our civilisation, having in mind the catastrophes caused by Man's activity; we may also look at the examples showing the development of knowledge and the skills derived from it, which enable the elimination ofthreats and, at the same time making Man's life richer. It is not possible to make an in-depth analysis of the phenomena mentioned above in a short opening speech of the Congress. Nevertheless, I would like to share with you an optimistic reflection. I think that we can observe two trends in the development of our civilisation - good alternates with evil, environmental threats with the hope for their overcoming, and events swing to both sides like a pendulum in a clock.

This book provides researchers and graduate students with an overview of the latest developments in and applications of adsorption processes for water treatment and purification. In particular, it covers current topics in connection with the modeling and design of adsorption processes, and the synthesis and application of cost-effective adsorbents for the removal of relevant aquatic pollutants. The book describes recent advances and alternatives to improve the performance and efficacy of this water purification technique. In addition, selected chapters are devoted to discussing the reliable modeling and analysis of adsorption data, which are relevant for real-life applications to industrial effluents and groundwater.

Approx.380 pages