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Books > Business & Economics > Industry & industrial studies > Energy industries & utilities > Water industries
Borehole geophysics is frequently applied in hydrogeological environmental investigations where, for example, sites must be evaluated to determine the distribution of contaminants. It is a cost-effective method for obtaining information during several phases of such investigations. Written by one of world's leading experts in the field, A Practical Guide to Borehole Geophysics in Environmental Investigations explains the basic principles of the many tools and techniques used in borehole logging projects. Applications are presented in terms of broad project objectives, providing a hands-on guide to geophysical logging programs, including specific examples of how to obtain and interpret data that meet particular hydrogeologic objectives.
Pathogen removal mechanisms in macrophyte and algal-based waste stabilization ponds were studied in Ghana and Colombia. The macrophytes used were water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) and duckweeds (Lemna paucicostata and Spirodela polyrhiza). The selection of the species was based on economic importance and availability. Lemna was used during the initial investigations. However, Lemna could not withstand the ammonia levels in the wastewater used. Spirodela polyrhiza a rarer species in Ghana was therefore used in subsequent studies. The main mechanisms considered in this study were pH, protozoa predation and surface attachment. The microorganisms used were faecal bacteria namely; Escherichia coli, other coliforms, Salmonella sp., other enterobacteria, E. coli, ATCC13706 and enterococci. Studies were conducted using batch scale, continuous flow bench and pilot scale ponds. Results indicated in order of importance that long retention periods, attachment, sedimentation, predation and low pH are mechanisms in macrophyte ponds enhancing faecal bacteria removal, while in the algal ponds long retention periods, sunlight penetration, high pH, attachment and sedimentation are the mechanisms of importance in faecal bacteria removal. Presence of protozoa was also found to be important but true grazing studies could not be quantified. Dissolved oxygen did not play a major role in faecal bacteria removal.
Experience has shown that when maintenance operators can understand and properly use blueprints and schematics they have little difficulty in correctly interpreting and using plant unit process drawings. Blueprint Reading bridges the gap between available training materials and the information water and wastewater maintenance operators need to know. It covers basic principles of blueprint reading and deals with principles and applications of schematics and symbols. Each chapter presents essential, practical knowledge vital to understanding and interpreting plant operations and that enhances the reader's ability to properly maintain plant systems.
An in-depth assessment of the century-old Wadi Laba indigenous spate irrigation system in Eritrea. This system has relied on earthen and brushwood structures and customary water rules to support subsistence livelihoods of the Wadi Laba communities for many years. This research analyses the effectiveness of the introduction of contemporary water laws and a new headwork which endeavour to increase production and standard of living. The lack of success of the new approach, compared with traditional methods of water management are discussed.
Observational and numerical modelling studies of the hydrodynamics, sediment transport, and light extinction were undertaken in the marine environment around Cape Bolinao in the Lingayen Gulf (NW Philippines). This text reports on the results of these studies, and offers conclusions.
There has been an explosive growth of methods in recent years for learning (or estimating dependency) from data, where data refers to known samples that are combinations of inputs and corresponding outputs of a given physical system. The main subject addressed in this thesis is model induction from data for the simulation of hydrodynamic processes in the aquatic environment. Firstly, some currently popular artificial neural network architectures are introduced, and it is then argued that these devices can be regarded as domain knowledge incapsulators by applying the method to the generation of wave equations from hydraulic data and showing how the equations of numerical-hydraulic models can, in their turn, be recaptured using artificial neural networks. The book also demonstrates how artificial neural networks can be used to generate numerical operators on non-structured grids for the simulation of hydrodynamic processes in two-dimensional flow systems and a methodology has been derived for developing generic hydrodynamic models using artificial neural network. The book also highlights one other model induction technique, namely that of support vector machine, as an emerging new method with a potential to provide more robust models.
This study investigates the use of constructed wetlands as a cheaper and more effective alternative method of treating domestic wastewater in tropical environments. This book determines the technical viability of the model, with respect to treatment performance under different operating conditions and the economic competitiveness of technology in Uganda and across the region. The Pilot Constructed Wetland investigated in this study was situated at the National Water and Swerage Corporation's Jinja Sewage Works at Kirinya, Uganda. The study revealed the economic viability of constructed wetland systems in the tropical regions. These could be established at competitive costs with waste stabilisation ponds.
Hands-On Maintenance for Water/Wastewater Equipment deals with equipment maintenance as individual components, not as complete machines. This allows more information about the design, application and maintenance requirements of machinery to be presented. The text covers basic operating characteristics of machinery components, making it a valuable reference source as well as a training and maintenance manual. Written in easy-to-understand language, without complex formulas or technical theories, this text provides you with basic information to help you acquire a general understanding of how components function and how to keep equipment operating properly.
The Niger delta with its gentle slope and low elevation is extremely sensitive to effects of climate change. Its adaptive capacity is the second lowest in terms of socio-economic development in Nigeria. Quantitative studies on developing measures for coastal planning and management in the lower Niger delta have been limited by data availability and inaccessibility of parts of the delta. The use of satellite data can help bridge the data gap by providing ancillary data (imagery, elevation, altimetry etc.) that can be used to quantify the effects of SLR in the Niger delta. This thesis uses satellite data as the main source for hydrodynamic modelling and GIS analysis. Until recently such data might not have the accuracy and precision of directly measured data. However recent innovative approaches have enabled better exploitation of satellite data to overcome these limitations and produce adequate results to assess the impact of SLR on the Niger delta in an integrated way that will lead to practical recommendations for adaptation. Using projected global eustatic SLR values in combination with land subsidence, this thesis estimated SLR levels for the Niger delta and its effect on inundation areas and flood extent. The results indicate that the Niger delta is very vulnerable to inundation and that even minimal SLR will affect flooding in the lower Niger delta since the area continues to subside. A new coastal vulnerability index was developed in this thesis by evaluating physical, social and human influence indicators of exposure, susceptibility and resilience. The results show that parts of the Niger delta are highly vulnerable to SLR and need adequate mitigation/adaptation measures to protect them. It is recommended that sustainable local resilience practices already being used in parts of the Niger delta should be included in adaptation planning.
The challenge of water scarcity as a result of insufficient seasonal rainfall and dry spell occurrences during cropping seasons is compounded by inefficient agricultural practices by smallholder farmers where insignificant soil and water conservation efforts are applied. The hypothesis of this research is that many of the past research efforts have taken a fragmented approach to deal with the challenges facing subsistence farmers in rainfed systems. The research has been conducted in the semi-arid Makanya catchment of northern Tanzania and has successfully applied different analytical techniques to better understand soil and water interactions at field scale. It has been demonstrated that there is indeed scope to increase crop water productivity provided the local farmers adopt more efficient cultivation techniques. Substantial yield increases occur as a result of diverting runoff and these further improve when other techniques such as ripping, application of manure and cover cropping are introduced. This confirms that no single solution exists to solve the problem of low yields in rainfed farming systems. However, even with these promising results, the research has shown that there is room to further improve the efficiency of crop water use through improvement in research approaches and exploration of better techniques.
India's Waters: Advances in Development and Management is a critical study of the development and management of India's waters. Its central theme is that the current methods in use are an extension of the colonial-era system, which, despite vast growth, has remained essentially the same in terms of developmental concepts, technological activities, and performance. A revolution on several fronts is possible, and this book details the author's own plans for these advancements. First the book briefly addresses both the physiographic and hydrologic characteristics of India and its waters, and the current official proposals for their development. Next, the author presents new concepts and policies for development of India's waters, followed by his proposed technological revolution. The author illustrates how India's aforementioned unique characteristics enable use of some novel technologies that are unique globally. This fact is key to his proposed revolution, which asserts that water availability can be more than doubled. Even more importantly, water can be placed in the hands of the farmer. On the subject of hydroelectric development, the author explores a novel technology of interspatial intertemporal pumped storage development that would increase both hydroelectric potential and peaking power almost five times over. On a related note, the book explains advances in water resource developmental planning in terms of a new societal environmental systems management that far surpasses the much vaunted integrated water resources development. The author also talks about the challenges of climate change, demonstrating how his revolutionary technological proposals could be applied to deal with this serious issue.
The demand on land to produce food, for urban development such as housing, industry, shopping areas, infrastructure and also for recreation has increased during the history of mankind. This has resulted in such activities as the reclamation of swamps, flood plains, tidal areas and even lakes by impoldering. Model simulations can be use to gain insight into the system behaviour of different land use and soil composition under temperate humid and humid tropic conditions, The existing package OPOL, based on a non steady model, was further developed to the version OPOL5 for the simulation of hydrological conditions and optimization of the main components of water management systems in polder areas in the temperate humid and humid tropical zone. This model reveals a system's behaviour as well as the effects of variation in the main components of the systems to the overall costs. For example, the designs of pumped drainage systems in polder areas can be optimized
More than a billion people cannot get safe drinking water; half the world's population does not have adequate sanitation; within a generation over three billion will be suffering from water stress. This text analyzes the issues in this crisis of management and shows how water can be used effectively and productively. The key to sustainable water resources is an integrated approach. The authors assert that careful planning and concerted action can make the fundamental changes needed and that the implications of not dealing with the crisis are immense. The book comes with downloadable resources containing background research and scenarios.
This book addresses groundwater governance, a subject internationally recognized as crucial and topical for enhancing and safeguarding the benefits of groundwater and groundwater-dependent ecosystems to humanity, while ensuring water and food security under global change. The multiple and complex dimensions of groundwater governance are captured in 28 chapters, written by a team of leading experts from different parts of the world and with a variety of relevant professional backgrounds. The book aims to describe the state-of-the-art and latest developments regarding each of the themes addressed, paying attention to the wide variation of conditions observed around the globe. The book consists of four parts. The first part sets the stage by defining groundwater governance, exploring its emergence and evolution, framing it through a socio-ecological lens and describing groundwater policy and planning approaches. The second part discusses selected key aspects of groundwater governance. The third part zooms in on the increasingly important linkages between groundwater and other resources or sectors, and between local groundwater systems and phenomena or actions at the international or even global level. The fourth part, finally, presents a number of interesting case studies that illustrate contemporary practice in groundwater governance. In one volume, this highly accessible text not only familiarizes water professionals, decision-makers and local stakeholders with groundwater governance, but also provides them with ideas and inspiration for improving groundwater governance in their own environment.
The book provides an interdisciplinary perspective on groundwater governance, based on primary date that are very difficult to find in other literature. All chapters have a policy focus, making it a useful resource for policy makers.
Day-to-day water management is challenged by meteorological extremes, causing floods and droughts. Often operational water managers are informed too late about these upcoming events to be able to respond and mitigate their effects, such as by taking flood control measures or even requiring evacuation of local inhabitants. Therefore, the use of weather forecast information with hydrological models can be invaluable for the operational water manager to expand the forecast horizon and to have time to take appropriate action. This is called Anticipatory Water Management. Anticipatory actions may have adverse effects, such as when flood control actions turn out to have been unnecessary, because the actual rainfall was less than predicted. Therefore the uncertainty of the forecasts and the associated risks of applying Anticipatory Water Management have to be assessed. To facilitate this assessment, meteorological institutes are providing ensemble predictions to estimate the dynamic uncertainty of weather forecasts. This dissertation presents ways of improving the end-use of ensemble predictions in Anticipatory Water Management.
This dissertation considers various questions with respect to the effects of salinity on nutrification: what are the main inhibiting factors causing the effects, do all salts have similar effects, what is the maximum acceptable salt level, are ammonia oxidisers or nitrite oxidizers most sensitive to salt stress, can nitrifiers adapt to long term salt stress and are some specific nitrifiers more resistant to salt stress than others? Research was carried out at laboratory scale and in full-scale plants and modelling was employed in both phases to provide a mathematical description for salt inhibition on nitrification and to facilitate the comparison. The result has led to an improved understanding of the effect of salinity on nitrification. The results can be used to improve the sustainability of the exisisting wastewater treatment plants operated under salt stress.
The efficient use of natural resources is key to a sustainable economy, and yet the complexities of the physical aspects of resource efficiency are poorly understood. In this challenging book, the author proposes a major advance in our understanding of this topic by analysing resource efficiency and efficiency gains from the perspective of common pool resources, applying this idea particularly to water resources and its use in irrigated agriculture. The author proposes a novel concept of "the paracommons", through which the savings of increased resource efficiency can be viewed. In effect he asks; "who gets the gain of an efficiency gain?" By reusing, economising and avoiding losses, wastes and wastages, freed up resources are available for further use by four 'destinations'; the same user, parties directly connected to that user, the wider economy or returned to the common pool. The paracommons is thus a commons of - and competition for - resources salvaged by changes to the efficiency of natural resource systems. The idea can be applied to a range of resources such as water, energy, forests and high-seas fisheries. Five issues are explored: the complexity of resource use efficiency; the uncertainty of efficiency interventions and outcomes; destinations of freed up losses, wastes and wastages; implications for resource conservation; and the interconnectedness of users and systems brought about by efficiency changes. The book shows how these ideas put efficiency on a par with other dimensions of resource governance and sustainability such as equity, justice, resilience and access.
Growing scarcity of freshwater worldwide brings to light the need for sound water resource modeling and policy analysis. While a solid foundation has been established for many specific water management problems, combining those methods and principles in a unified framework remains an ongoing challenge. This Handbook aims to expand the scope of efficient water use to include allocation of sources and quantities across uses and time, as well as integrating demand-management with supply-side substitutes. Socially efficient water use does not generally coincide with private decisions in the real world, however. Examples of mechanisms designed to incentivize efficient behavior are drawn from agricultural water use, municipal water regulation, and externalities linked to water resources. Water management is further complicated when information is costly and/or imperfect. Standard optimization frameworks are extended to allow for coordination costs, games and cooperation, and risk allocation. When operating efficiently, water markets are often viewed as a desirable means of allocation because a market price incentivizes users to move resources from low to high value activities. However, early attempts at water trading have run into many obstacles. Case studies from the United States, Australia, Europe, and Canada highlight the successes and remaining challenges of establishing efficient water markets.
Water resources in tourist islands have been severely threatened, especially in the Galapagos Islands, where the increased local population has generated attractive income from the tourist services. In addition, the data regarding water supply and demand are scarce. This study investigates water supply and demand in Santa Cruz, the most populated island of Galapagos. The research encompasses a thorough assessment of the water supply crisis, as well as the quantification of water demand from different categories (domestic, tourist, restaurants and laundries) through surveys, in the absence of water metering. Also, specific water demand was assessed by installing 18 water meters. The results yield a wide range of water consumption, questioning the current assumption of water scarcity. Furthermore, a prognosis of water supply and demand was carried out, and also several intervention strategies were proposed such as rainwater harvesting, greywater recycling, leakage reduction, water meter installation, water demand reduction, as well as seawater desalination to cope with the future population growth. Due to the fragility of the ecosystem, these strategies were assessed through a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, considering environmental, technical, economic and social aspects, as well as relevant stakeholders' perspectives. finally, the water supply network of Puerto Ayora was evaluated in order to understand the need of the current intermittent supply regime. A methodology was developed to estimate the overflow of the domestic roof tanks (a common incidence amongst local population). The results question the practicality of individual household storage. The final results show that the current situation in terms of the lack of water quantity may not be real, as it has been thought for the last decades. The water issues refer more importantly to the water quality, as well as to the lack of proper water management practices.
Cyanobacteria and their toxins are an increasing global public health menace. Most recently, problems have been experienced in Australia, the United States and, due to drought and increasing water scarcity, pose a severe threat in the U.K. With an international range of contributors, all leading experts in their fields, Toxic Cyanobacteria in Water examines the increasing need to protect drinking water and water resources from the hazards of Cyanobacteria and their impact on health. Written and edited by a World Health Organization working group, Toxic Cyanobacteria in Water is an operational handbook in a practical, assessible style.Toxic Cyanobacteria in Water will be invaluable to environmental health officers, professionals in the fields of water supply, public health, fresh water ecology and education, national and international organizations, special interest groups, post-graduate students and utilities responsible for managing drinking water supplies.
This book reports the first systematic monitoring and modelling study on water availability, water quality and seawater intrusion of the Shatt al-Arab River (SAR) on the border of Iraq and Iran, where causes and concentration levels of salinity have not yet been fully understood, let alone addressed, leading to conflicting perceptions of its origin (external or internal), the natural conditions and the practices that can explain the current critical conditions. Current scientific knowledge on the SAR salinity problem is deficient, partially due to the complex and dynamic interaction between marine and terrestrial salinity sources, including return flows by water users of the different water sectors in the Euphrates and Tigris rivers upstream of the SAR. The development of a new series of monitoring stations and various modelling approaches helped to better understand the interactions between these different sources. The comprehensive and detailed dataset formed the basis for a validated analytical model that can predict the extent of seawater relative to other salinity sources in an estuary, and for a hydrodynamic model that can predict salinity changes. The adaptability of the models to changing conditions makes them directly applicable by water managers. The procedure can be applied to other comparable systems.
A hydroinformatics system represents an electronic knowledge encapsulator that models part of the real world and can be used for the simulation and analysis of physical, chemical and biological processes in water systems, in order to achieve a better management of the aquatic environment. Thus, modelling is at the heart of hydroinformatics. The theory of nonlinear dynamics and chaos, and the extent to which recent improvements in the understanding of inherently nonlinear natural processes present challenges to the use of mathematical models in the analysis of water and environmental systems, are elaborated in this work. In particular, it demonstrates that the deterministic chaos present in many nonlinear systems can impose fundamental limitations on our ability to predict behaviour, even when well-defined mathematical models exist. On the other hand, methodologies and tools from the theory of nonlinear dynamics and chaos can provide means for a better accuracy of short-term predictions as demonstrated through the practical applications in this work.
The current rapid development of hydroinformatic systems demands further improvements in numerical modelling, and thus in the computational hydraulics which underlies such modelling. This work is a study in the development of flow adaptive numerical schemes in computational hydraulics that are directed to enhancing modelling capabilities. The general domain of the work is unsteady nearly horizontal flow in one and two space dimensions. It follows different advances in computational hydraulics situated in different physical situations. Four particular examples have been studied.; additional flow resistance due to flexible vegetation, one dimensional supercritical flow, flow in networks of channels and nearly horizontal two dimensional flow. All of the schemes thereby developed show similar features, employing intermideate results of computation in order to achieve a better performance. By adopting the point of view of cybernetics, these numerical schemes are examined as control systems. This provides a generalisation of features common to the notion of flow-adaptivity. For the purpose of characterising flow adaptive schemes, a process of deconstruction was followed, starting with the most simple example of an implicit numerical scheme.
The performance of irrigation schemes that carry sediment laden water is often poor. Modern irrigation schemes are increasingly demand based, which means that the water flow in the canals is determined by the crop water requirements. Accordingly the flow in the canal network is not constant as the crop water requirement changes with the climate and the growing stages. Also the inflow of the sediment is not constant throughout the irrigation season. Such schemes, particularly having unlined canals in alluvial soils, are difficult to design and to manage without compromising the flexibility or maintenance cost. This research has made an in-depth assessment on the role of sediment in the design and management of an irrigation scheme by using the data of Sunsari Morang Irrigation Scheme, Nepal. An analysis of the velocity and shear stress distribution across a non-wide trapezoidal canal has been made to derive the correction factor for the sediment transport predictors. An improved approach based on a rational concept of the design of canals for sediment transport is proposed. By using the sediment transport model SETRIC, a water delivery plan has been designed and tested for changing water and sediment inflow conditions that can be implemented with the existing canal infrastructure. The research also shows that flexibility of operation and efficient sediment management are difficult to achieve at the same time. A compromise has to be made and this needs to be reflected in the design. All methods to transport, exclude or extract the sediment are temporary measures and just transfer the problem from one place to the other. A better understanding of sediment movement helps to identify the problems beforehand and to find the best possible solutions. |
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