The population of cities around the world is growing at an alarming rate, and as a result the landscapes of most cities are going through enormous changes. In particular, fertile agricultural lands at the periphery of cities are being developed without consideration of holistic planning. As such, peri-urban areas, zones of transition from rural to urban land uses located between the outer limits of the urban and the rural environment are experiencing significant losses of agricultural land, increased runoff, and water quality degradation. Concurrently, the demands for water, food and energy are increasing within cities, and unless a balance is struck the liveability of these cities will soon be compromised. The current water and land use changes have serious consequences on lifestyle, environment, health and overall well-being of urban communities. This book therefore helps readers to understand the current issues and challenges and examines suitable strategies and practices to cope with current and future pressures of urbanisation and peri-urban land-use changes. The book examines a number of critical aspects in relation to the future of cities and peri-urban regions, including the suitability of policies and institutions to sustain cities into the future; impact of current trends in land use change, population increase and water demand; long term planning needs and approaches to ensure the secured future for generations ahead; and strategies to adapt the cities and land uses so that they remain viable and liveable. The readership of the book will include policy makers, urban planners, researchers, post-graduate students in urban planning and environmental and water resources management and managers in municipal councils.

By the end of the 1970s, contaminated sites had emerged as one of the most complex and urgent environmental issues affecting industrialized countries. The authors show that small and prosperous Switzerland is no exception to the pervasive problem of sites contamination, the legacy of past practices in waste management having left some 38,000 contaminated sites throughout the country. This book outlines the problem, offering evidence that open and polycentric environmental decision-making that includes civil society actors is valuable. They propose an understanding of environmental management of contaminated sites as a political process in which institutions frame interactions between strategic actors pursuing sometimes conflicting interests. In the opening chapter, the authors describe the influences of politics and the power relationships between actors involved in decision-making in contaminated sites management, which they term a "wicked problem." Chapter Two offers a theoretical framework for understanding institutions and the environmental management of contaminated sites. The next five chapters present a detailed case study on environmental management and contaminated sites in Switzerland, focused on the Bonfol Chemical Landfill. The study and analysis covers the establishment of the landfill under the first generation of environmental regulations, its closure and early remediation efforts, and the gambling on the remediation objectives, methods and funding in the first decade of the 21st Century. The concluding chapter discusses the question of whether the strength of environmental regulations, and the type of interactions between public, private, and civil society actors can explain the environmental choices in contaminated sites management. Drawing lessons from research, the authors debate the value of institutional flexibility for dealing with environmental issues such as contaminated sites.

The aim of this book is to offer a river-basin management plan which is directly implementable and consistent with the European Union -Water Framework Directive (EU WFD).The contributors, who are leading world experts in their respective fields, develop an integrated water resources management plan for the Asopos river basin in Greece which is economically efficient, socially equitable and environmentally sustainable. The program offers explicit technical and investment solutions, socioeconomic and legal instruments and recommendations for institutional restructuring. The introductory chapter describes the water situation in Greece and assesses the potential of timely implementation of the EU WFD. Special emphasis is given to the cost-recovery principle. Chapter 2 introduces the case study area highlighting the particular pressures and impacts as well as the environmental functions and values of Asopos River and Oropos Lagoon. Chapters 3 and 4 focus on the economic characterisation of Asopos River Basin in order to identify the economic sectors and social groups that will bear the cost and benefits of the implementation of the EU WFD. In particular, Chapter 3 presents the main water uses and pricing for water supply in the industrial and the agricultural sectors. Chapter 4 completes the baseline appraisal, presenting the details of water use by the residential and touristic sectors. The following chapters assess valuation and decision-making tools from a range of perspectives, including agricultural needs, valuing the impacts of industrial activity, the costs and benefits of environmental preservation and management. The water resources management plan is presented in Chapter 9; the concluding chapter offers recommendations on institutional changes and presents the lessons learned as resources applicable to other river basins in Greece and elsewhere. The book applies state-of-the art market and non-market valuation methods to estimate water demands in the residential, industrial, agricultural, tourism, environmental and health sectors and to balance these, over time and space, with water supply. Given the well-known challenge of managing natural resources in a way that maximizes and sustains social welfare, this book will provide an invaluable point of reference for applied researchers and policy makers working in water resources management.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has become the recognized instrument to assess the ecological burdens and human health impacts connected with the complete life cycle (creation, use, end-of-life) of products, processes and activities, enabling the assessor to model the entire system from which products are derived or in which processes and activities operate. This volume introduces the major new book series LCA Compendium - The Complete World of Life Cycle Assessment. In this volume, the main drivers in the development of LCA are explored. The volume also discusses strengths and limitations in LCA as well as challenges and gaps, thus offering an unbiased picture of the state-of-the-art and future of LCA.

This book covers the fundamental requirements for air, soil and water pollution control in oil and gas refineries, chemical plants, oil terminals, petrochemical plants, and related facilities. In this concise volume, Dr. Bahadori elucidates design and operational considerations relevant to critical systems such as the waste water treatment units, solid waste disposal, and waste water sewer treatment  as well as engineering/technological methods related to soil and air pollutions control. Engineers and technical managers in a range of industries will benefit from detail on a diverse list of topics.

Global society in the 21st century is facing challenges of improving the quality of air, water, soil and the environment and maintaining the ecological balance. Environmental pollution, thus, has become a major global concern. The modern growth of industrialization, urbanization, modern agricultural development and energy generation has resulted in the indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources for fulfilling human desires and needs, which has contributed in disturbing the ecological balance on which the quality of our environment depends. Human beings, in the truest sense, are the product of their environment. The man-environment relationship indicates that pollution and deterioration of the environment have a social origin. The modern technological advancements in chemical processes/operations have generated new products, resulting in new pollutants in such abundant levels that they are above the self-cleaning capacity of the environment. One of the major issues in recent times is the threat tohuman lives due to the progressive deterioration of the environment from various sources. The impact of the pollutants on the environment will be significant when the accumulated pollutants load will exceed the carrying capacity of the receiving environment. Sustainable development envisages the use of natural resources, such as forests, land, water and fisheries, in a sustainable manner without causing changes in our natural world. The Rio de Janeiro-Earth Summit, held in Brazil in 1992, focused on sustainable development to encourage respect and concern for the use of natural resources in a sustainable manner for the protection of the environment. This book will be beneficial as a source of educational material to post-graduate research scholars, teachers and industrial personnel for maintaining the balance in the use of natural sources for sustainable development.

The construction industry is the largest single waste producing industry in the UK. Ensuring a supply chain of recycled materials affords many potential gains, achieved through: reducing the material volume transported to already over-burdened landfill sites, possible cost reductions to the contractor/client when considering the landfill tax saved and the potential for lower cost material replacements, a reduction in the environmental impact of quarrying and the saving of depleting natural material resources. Reuse of Materials and Byproducts in Construction: Waste Minimization and Recycling addresses use of waste and by products in the construction industry. An over view of new "green" design guides to encourage best practice will be examined and current legislation that channels on site practices, such as site waste management plans. Fundamental individual construction materials are discussed and the process of reforming by products and waste products into new construction materials is investigated, examining the material performance, energy required to convert waste into new products and viability of recycling. The main range of constructional materials will be examined. Aimed at postgraduate students, lecturers and researchers in construction and civil engineering, the book will also be of interest to professional design practices.

This edited book has been designed to serve as a natural resources engineering reference book as well as a supplemental textbook. This volume is part of the Handbook of Environmental Engineering series, an incredible collection of methodologies that study the effects of pollution and waste in their three basic forms: gas, solid, and liquid. It complements two other books in the series including Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering and Integrated Natural Resources Management that serve as a basis for advanced study or specialized investigation of the theory and analysis of various natural resources systems. This book covers the management of many waste sources including those from agricultural livestock, deep-wells, industries manufacturing dyes, and municipal solid waste incinerators. The purpose of this book is to thoroughly prepare the reader for understanding the sources, treatment and control methods of toxic wastes shown to have harmful effects on the environment. Chapters provide information on some of the most innovative and ground-breaking advances in waste characterization, control, treatment and management from a panel of esteemed experts.

Cementitious materials are being widely used as solidification/stabilisation and barrier materials for a variety of chemical and radioactive wastes, primarily due to their favourable retention properties for metals, radionuclides and other contaminants. The retention properties result from various mineral phases in hydrated cement that possess a high density and diversity of reactive sites for the fixation of contaminants through a variety of sorption and incorporation reactions. This book presents a state of the art review and critical evaluation of the type and magnitude of the various sorption and incorporation processes in hydrated cement systems for twenty-five elements relevant for a broad range of radioactive and industrial wastes. Effects of cement evolution or ageing on sorption/incorporation processes are explicitly evaluated and quantified. While the immobilisation of contaminants by mixing-in during hydration is not explicitly addressed, the underlying chemical processes are similar. A quantitative database on the solid/liquid distribution behaviour of radionuclides and other elements in hydrated cement systems is established on the basis of a consistent review and re-evaluation of literature data. In addition to recommended values, all underlying original experimental data and key experimental info rmation are provided, which allows users to trace the given recommendations or to develop their own set of key values. This database is closely tied to the safety analysis of near surface disposal of radioactive waste in Belgium. It focuses on radioelements, toxic stable elements and heavy metals, which makes it relevant for investigations involving the interaction of radioactive and conventional contaminants with cement-based barriers.

This monograph presents an analysis of construction safety problems and on-site safety measures from an economist's point of view. The book includes examples from both emerging countries, e.g. China and India, and developed countries, e.g. Australia and Hong Kong. Moreover, the author covers an analysis on construction safety knowledge sharing by means of updatable mobile technology such as apps in Androids and iOS platform mobile devices. The target audience comprises primarily researchers and experts in the field but the book may also be beneficial for graduate students.

This book presents novel techniques to evaluate electrodialysis processes, to synthesize ionic membranes and to characterize their properties. It shows the potential use of membrane process to the treatment of effluents generated in many industrial sectors such as refineries, leather industries, mining and electroplating processes. The book is based on the results obtained by the author's research group during the past decade. It is useful for students, researchers and engineers interested in membrane technologies for water reuse.

This book, written by specialists from Canada, India, Italy, Palestine, Peru, Spain and the Netherlands, is a guide to establishing a city on a sustainable path. It addresses sustainable urban planning issues by breaking the city down to its components. A broad range of planning and sustainability considerations are discussed. Important concluding chapters provide a 'what to do and how to do it' practical roadmap for implementing a sustainability program.

"Water and Health" strengthens the dynamic relationship between human health and water. The book has the potential to ignite our minds about several water-related diseases due to biological and chemical contamination, and to their high-end solutions. The contents are original, comprehensive and highly informative, and gradually take the reader around the component most important to his or her quality life, and not just existence. The book is set in social, scientific and economic dimensions, and is a must read for all those who cherish and celebrate human life and dignity.

Natural saline water, waste water, and irrigation return flow endanger the groundwater aquifers in the Rift. In the long run this will ruin the socio-economic backbone of the settlements in the area. Sustainability of the water resources will only be achieved when the process of water replenishment and its underground flow is understood and water extraction is regionally controlled. Rare earth element and spider patterns are presented as new tools for studying the hydrology. Progress in 3-D modelling of groundwater flow proved successfully the impact of pumping on the surroundings of wells and overexploitation of aquifers.

This book contains peer reviewed papers accepted for presentation at the National Conference on Advances in Environmental Science & Technology. Topics include environmental regulations, groundwater remediation technologies, waste to energy, climate change, economics, environmental justice, fate and transport of contaminants, food bio-processing, innovative environmental technologies, sustainable energy and water resources and waste management. Federal agencies, private agencies and university professors set the stage for the September 12, 2013 National Conference on Advances in Environmental Science and Technology. The purpose of the National Conference on Advances in Environmental Science and Technology which was held in Greensboro, North Carolina, was to provide a forum for agencies to address advances in environmental science and technology including problems, solutions and research needs.

This book discusses in detail the concepts of recycling and upcycling and their implications for the textiles and fashion sector. In addition to the theoretical concepts, the book also presents various options for recycling and upcycling in textiles and fashion. Although recycling is a much-developed and widely used concept, upcycling is also gaining popularity in the sector.

The Ocean Book is full of easy-to-read, beautiful infographics that present the key issues facing our oceans. Rising sea levels, growing rubbish patches and overfishing are putting our oceans in grave danger. Though we love our oceans, we must learn to cherish them. This book will help readers realize how we cause the problems and how we can solve them.

Environmental Materials and Waste: Resource Recovery and Pollution Prevention contains the latest information on environmental sustainability as a wide variety of natural resources are increasingly being exploited to meet the demands of a worldwide growing population and economy. These raw materials cannot, or can only partially, be substituted by renewable resources within the next few decades. As such, the efficient recovery and processing of mineral and energy resources, as well as recycling such resources, is now of significant importance. The book takes a multidisciplinary approach to fully realize the number of by-products which can be remanufactured, providing the foundation needed across disciplines to tackle this issue. As awareness and opportunities to recover valuable resources from process and bleed streams is gaining interest, sustainable recovery of environmental materials, including wastewater, offers tremendous opportunity to combine profitable and sustainable production.

This book presents a holistic view of climate change by examining a number of energy and transportation technologies and their impact on the climate. High-quality technical research results from specific test-cases around the globe are presented, and developments in global warming are discussed, focusing on current emissions policies from air and maritime transport to fossil fuel applications. Novel technologies such as carbon capture and storage are investigated together with the corresponding process and systems analysis, as well as optimization for mitigating CO2 emissions. Water resources management, waste water treatment, and waste management issues are also covered. Finally, biomass, hydrogen and solar energy applications are presented along with some insights on green buildings. Energy, Transportation and Global Warming is of great interest to researchers in the field of renewable and green energy as well as professionals in climate change management, the transportation sector, and environmental policy.

Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology attempts to provide concise, critical reviews of timely advances, philosophy and significant areas of accomplished or needed endeavor in the total field of xenobiotics, in any segment of the environment, as well as toxicological implications.

This book proposes the use of waste from oil drilling and sugar cane bagasse ash in the production of ecologically friendly soil-cement bricks. It offers a viable alternative to the traditional bricks available on the market, which use wood as fuel: manufacturing bricks from waste is less costly and does not require the consumption of trees and forests. It also proposes an alternative to the current discharging of the above-mentioned types of waste in sanitary landfills, avoiding additional environmental problems.

This book focuses on the treatment and disposal technology used for solid waste in China, puts forward an optimal management scheme that takes into account the complete lifecycle, and introduces a new technical model that reflects the synergies of resource utilization and secondary pollution control. In addition, it provides a set of methods for professional on-site investigation, risk assessment, classification management and control to minimize the risk of groundwater contamination by solid waste at landfill. Given the extent and depth of knowledge and experience gathered in the book, it offers an important reference guide for government managers, environmental researchers, and all those involved in and concerned about solid waste disposal.

Putting forward an up-to-date waste-to-energy approach that combines experience, sophisticated modeling and technical-economic analysis, this book examines the current need for the maximum utilization of energy from waste and the associated environmental impacts. It outlines step-by-step procedures for a complex and original waste-to-energy approach from the idea to its industrial application. With waste incinerators and industrial plants producing large amounts of pollutants, municipalities as well as smaller decentralized operations are beginning to focus on waste research. The principal advantage of utilizing research findings is the ability to apply a complex approach "from idea to industrial implementation" with respect to the needs of the market established by thorough market analysis. This book builds on this concept with an original approach that takes into consideration geographical aspects, the specifics of regions/micro-regions and technological units and/or equipment. Key areas discussed and analyzed in the text include: strategic planning of energy-source locations according to the nature of the respective region or microregion; types and amounts of wastes; logistics etc. using original mathematical models; consideration of on-site processing of various types of waste, taking into account the character of the region (agricultural, industrial etc.); tailor-made technologies for energy recovery from various types of wastes; implementation of individual technologies with original elements; and support for environmental protection based on advanced flue gas (i.e. off-gas in the case of incineration) cleaning methods.

This book highlights the concept and applications of Remanufactured Fashion. The first book on this subject, it covers reverse logistics, exemplars, and case studies of remanufactured fashion design. Textile waste is a major issue for all countries, and converting that waste into useful products offers a sensible solution. Remanufactured Fashion is one such sustainable waste management strategy. It involves the conversion of discarded garments into useful retail products, without which they would be dumped at landfills, posing a number of environmental issues. Remanufacturing recovers a product's inherent value once that product no longer fulfills the user's desired needs. The application and use of discarded clothing in remanufacturing processes could greatly reduce the percentage of clothing waste (and mitigate related waste management issues), while also contributing to resource conservation. There has been scant research investigating what is actually involved in the fashion remanufacturing process and how the process could be up-scaled to the mass market in order to achieve greater environmental gains. This book addresses that gap in the literature and examines all aspects pertaining to the concept and applications of Remanufactured Fashion.

This thesis uses neoclassical growth models to evaluate what effect the limited availability of nonrenewable resources has on the economy's (world's) growth potential. Markus Merz concludes that recycling may serve as a mid-term solution to continued growth, but technological progress is needed in the long-run. The theoretical analysis starts with the well-known Dasgupta-Heal model and considers the effect of recycling and technological progress on the resource constraints; resource-augmenting and backstop technology are analyzed. After a thorough analysis of the models it is concluded that the ultimate solution to long-term economic growth is a backstop technology.