Spain is facing an increasingly difficult situation in terms of water stress. This is an issue that is due mostly to poor management practices in all sectors. Large amounts of water have been used for agricultural purposes at very low prices for too long; there is an uncontrolled use of most aquifers in rural areas which result from ineffective control by the public administration; per capita consumption continues increasing as well as water used for industrial and energy generation, the construction and tourism sectors and for recreation activities. In fact, they have all exerted additional pressure on available water resources. In order to face the above challenges, water policy has made a gradual shift towards more rational and sustainable management of water resources. This has also been influenced by the European Water Framework Directive about which, as the book discusses, there are both myths and misunderstandings. This book analyses the very complex position of all sectors in the country, the alternatives available and the challenges ahead. In so doing, it makes an important contribution to the literature on water resources management. This book was published as a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.

To plan successfully and manage the increased uncertainties posed by likely future climate change, knowledge needs to advance much more for the water profession beyond what it is now available. Meeting these challenges does not depend exclusively on advances in climatological-hydrologic models. Policies for adaptation and strategies for mitigation measures have to be formulated on the basis of what are likely to be the potential impacts. These will have to be regularly fine-tuned and implemented according to changing needs and as more reliable knowledge and data become available. Even more challenging will be the politics of policy making and implementation, which will require a quantum leap from current policy-making and implementation processes. One can even say that, in addition to the development of more reliable models, the politics of climate change and water management remains one of the greatest uncertainties for the water profession. This book addresses water management practices and how these should and could be modified to cope with climatic and other related uncertainties over the next two to three decades; the types of strategies and good practices that may be available or have to be developed to cope with the current and expected uncertainties in relation to climate change; and the types of knowledge, information and technological developments needed to incorporate possible future climate change impacts within the framework of water resources management. Decision making in the water sector under changing climate and related uncertainties, and societal water security under altering and fluctuating climate are also discussed. Several case studies are included from several basins, cities, regions and countries in both developed and non-developing countries. This book was published as a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.

Maritime Technology and Engineering 3 is a collection of papers presented at the 3rd International Conference on Maritime Technology and Engineering (MARTECH 2016, Lisbon, Portugal, 4-6 July 2016). The MARTECH Conferences series evolved from biannual national conferences in Portugal, thus reflecting the internationalization of the maritime sector. The keynote lectures and the papers, making up nearly 150 contributions, came from an international group of authors focused on different subjects in a variety of fields: Maritime Transportation, Energy Efficiency, Ships in Ports, Ship Hydrodynamics, Ship Structures, Ship Design, Ship Machinery, Shipyard Technology, afety & Reliability, Fisheries, Oil & Gas, Marine Environment, Renewable Energy and Coastal Structures. This book will appeal to academics, engineers and professionals interested or involved in these fields.

Addressing two cornerstone areas in the field of water sustainability, management and technology, this two-volume set provides the most comprehensive coverage of the topic available. It presents best practices as a foundation and stresses emerging technologies and strategies that facilitate water sustainability for future generations. Timely water topics like unconventional oil and gas development, global warming with changing precipitation patterns, integration of water and energy sustainability, and green manufacturing are discussed. The first volume covers strategy and management issues, such as water resource planning, water resource supply systems and use patterns, policy making, and implementation of proper regulations as an integrated part of the solution or approach toward water sustainability. It discusses best management practices for water resource allocation, groundwater protection, and water quality assurance, especially for rural, arid, and underdeveloped regions of the world. The second volume covers cost-effective water treatment and reclamation technologies. Emphasis is placed on emerging nanotechnology, biotechnology, and information technology applications as well as sustainable processes and products to protect the environment and human health, save water and energy, and minimize material use.

This work investigated two different approaches to optimize biological sulphate reduction in order to develop a process control strategy to optimize the input of an electron donor and to study how to increase the feasibility of using a cheap carbon source. Feast/famine regimes, applied to design the control strategy, were shown to induce the accumulation of storage compounds in the sulphate reducing biomass. This study showed that delays in the response time and a high control gain can be considered as the most critical factors affecting a sulphide control strategy in bioreactors. The delays are caused by the induction of different metabolic pathways in the anaerobic sludge, including the accumulation of storage products. On this basis, a mathematical model was developed and validated. This can be used to develop optimal control strategies. In order to understand the microbial pathways in the anaerobic oxidation of methane coupled to sulphate reduction (AOM-SR), diverse potential electron donors and acceptors were added to in vitro incubations of an AOM-SR enrichment at high pressure. Acetate was formed in the control group, probably resulting from the reduction of CO2. These results support the hypothesis that acetate may serve as an intermediate in the AOM-SR process.

Handbook of Project Finance for Water and Wastewater Systems provides an easy-to-read guide for gaining an understanding of the myriad options available for financing water and wastewater projects and how to evaluate which options are most appropriate.
This crucial reference delineates a basic system for comparing the actual costs of various programs. The book describes the seven major factors that can dramatically affect user charges. It then analyzes each funding alternative in terms of these common cost factors. No other book provides such an understandable framework for comparing project costs and their ultimate impact on ratepayer charges.
Handbook of Project Finance for Water and Wastewater Systems is an essential book for utility managers, consultants, engineers, regulators, environmental attorneys, and planners.
Features
Addresses the seven major factors that affect project costs
Easy to read
Presents easily comparable options

The 2015 International Conference on Water Resource and Environment (WRE2015) aims to provide a platform where scholars from different countries can exchange ideas, opinions and views. This book is divided into four main themes: 1. Hydrology and water resources; 2. Water pollution; 3. Water treatment methods, and 4. Freshwater ecosystems. Exploring topics such as water-energy-food nexus, water purification solutions, chemical hydrology, south to north water diversion projects, and the aligning of water resources needs with the conservation of habitats and species, this book is of interest to professionals and academics involved in hydraulic engineering and related fields.

Manual of Small Public Water Supply Systems presents current concepts and practices affecting water treatment, financing, management, community involvement in water supply, institutional support, and development of human resources for improved operations and management of water supplies. Information on ground water, surface water, and SDWA requirements is also provided. In short, everything you need to run your small water treatment facility can be found in this book. Material is presented in a thorough, easy-to-read format and a complete bibiliography is included. Fully illustrated, Manual of Small Public Water Supply Systems will soon be dog-eared with use.

Selenium is an intriguing element as on one hand it is toxic and on the other hand it is a necessary micro-nutrient for humans. It is also a desirable element due to its unique properties and hence it is used in xerogrpahy, rectifiers, solar cells etc. The presence of selenium in agriculture, acid-mine drainage wastewaters is known and their remediation is necessary. Since, selenium is not mined anywhere, it is important to recover the selenium from waste streams. Bio-remediation of selenium containing wastewater is not only efficient but it also gives insight into the fate of selenium in the bioreactors and environment, thus improving the recovery efficiencies. However, there are still many unknowns in the fate of the selenium present in the wastestreams when treated using microbial processes. One of the biggest unknown is the characteristics of biogenic colloidal elemental selenium nanoparticles (BioSeNPs). These BioSeNPs are present in the bioreactors and are colloidal in nature, hence, present in the effluent of the reactor. BioSeNPs are also known to have the coating of organic polymer on its surface, however the origin of these coating are not known. Moreover, these BioSeNPs are always spherical in shape which is desirable in some cases and not so desirable in many. Furthermore, these BioSeNPs are produced extracellularly and also intracellularly, however the effect of the BioSeNPs' trapping in the biomass is not well understood. This book throws light on the above questions and improves our fundamental understanding on the characteristics and fate of BioSeNPs in the bioreactors and environment. This book also uses the fundamental knowledge to improve the bioremediation process and recoverability of selenium. This study demonstrates that extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) are capping the BioSeNPs and thus providing them colloidal stability and hence mobility, which is in contrast to our conventional understanding on the role of EPS in metal(loid) nanoparticles mobility. All the produced BioSeNPs are known to be spherical but nanowire shape is important to understand their fundamental properties and application. Thus, this study produced biogenic selenium nanowires by reduction of selenite by simply using thermophilic temperatures (55 and 65 oC) and characterized them for their magnetization properties. The practical applications of BioSeNPs were explored by preferentially adsorbing heavy metals in the following order: Cu>Zn>Cd. The development of one-step process for selenium oxyanions removal and BioSeNPs recovery using thermophilic UASB reactor and activated sludge process was attempted. Thermophilic reduction of selenate in an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor showed better retention of BioSeNPs and thus, higher total selenium removal as compared to mesophilic reactor. The aerobic reduction of selenite using activated sludge also showed better retention of BioSeNPs, however, continuous operation of the reactor was not achieved. The selenite fed activated sludge trapping BioSeNPs showed improved settling properties and hydrophilicity as compared to control sludge.

In Sustainable Governance in Hybrid Organizations the author Linne Marie Lauesen explores how businesses that have succeeded in conducting sustainable governance, manage and govern their sustainable performance: in other words, how they manage to be economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable. In this respect, hybrid organizations that are formed as businesses with a mission to be sustainable and to provide services for society - such as water companies - are a good point of departure. Water companies are highly regulated whilst working primarily for the betterment of society and on behalf of generations to come, for whom clean and plentiful water and the preservation of nature is a must. Linne Marie has dug deep into these types of hybrid organizations in order to reveal which mechanisms of organizational governance for sustainability are at play, and how these organizations manage to balance their triple bottom lines in order to survive financially, socially, and environmentally and make a business out of their conduct. Balancing these three bottom lines in a sustainable way is explained in a clear and accessible way and the juxtaposition between non-profit and for-profit water companies will show how this model can be transferred to other business spheres.

In recent decades agricultural commodity surpluses in the developed world have contributed to a mantra of 'land surplus' in which set-aside, extensification, alternative land uses and 'wilding' have been key terms in debates over land. Quite suddenly all this has changed as a consequence of rapidly shifting commodity markets. Prices for cereals, oil seeds and other globally traded commodities have risen sharply. A contributor to this has been the shift to bioenergy cropping, fuelled by concerns over post-peak oil and climate change. Agricultural supply chain interests have embraced the 'new environmentalism' of climate change with enthusiasm, proudly proclaiming the readiness of the industry to produce both food and energy crops, and to do so with a neo-liberal confidence in markets to determine the balance between food and non-food crops in land use. But policy and politics have not necessarily caught up with these market and industry-led changes and some environmentalists are beginning to challenge the assumptions of the new 'productivism'. Is it necessarily the case, they ask, that agriculture's best contribution to tackling climate change is to grow bioenergy crops or invest in anaerobic-digesters or make land over for windfarms? Might not there be an equally important role in maximising the carbon sequestration or water-holding properties of biodiverse land? What is Land For? tackles these key cutting-edge issues of this new debate by setting out a baseline of evidence and ideas.

Providing an introduction to the crucially important topic of groundwater, this text covers all major fields of hydrogeology and includes outlines of the occurrence of groundwater in various rock types, the movement and storage of groundwater, the formulation of groundwater balances, the development of groundwater chemistry, as well as the practical application of hydrogeology for groundwater development. Following a unique systems approach to describe and connect its various elements, the text also explores a large selection of examples of groundwater cases from various parts of the world. In addition, theoretical sections and examples are illustrated with a number of drawings, photos and computer printouts. Suitable for education in hydrogeology at postgraduate and graduate level, the text is also a useful reference tool for professionals and decision-makers involved in water or water-related activities. In the revised paperback edition more attention is paid to the processes in the unsaturated zone, especially those relating to groundwater recharge. Also, the investigation methods are highlighted in the sections where the related theory is dealt with, and they are not presented in the last chapter on groundwater management. The References and Bibliography section is also extended, some figures are improved, and the inevitable 'typing errors' are corrected as well. In the third edition, a more formal basis for the hydro-chemical processes described in the chapter on groundwater chemistry has been added. Mass balances and the principles of dispersion and retardation are introduced. Additional illustrations are provided, also explaining the processes occurring along streamlines. Consult: http://introductiontohydrogeology.nl/ for additional information on the book, the author and available software.

This book explores the many dimensions of water quality problems in different parts of the globe, with focus on problems of governance, from legal frameworks to social discourses and compensation measures. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.3 on Water and Sanitation emphasizes the centrality of improving water quality to attain sustainable development. Yet the obstacles to achieving this goal are significant. This book explores the variety of difficult, possibly intractable "wicked" problems of water quality governance around the world. Cases include the challenge of managing water from source to sea, exploring why attempts to do so have come up short in limiting harm to the Great Barrier Reef; differing social discourses on market based instruments in Canada; efforts to bring to closure the human legacies of Minamata methyl mercury poisoning half a century ago in Japan; current problems of mercury use in Andean mining; misalignment of established Eastern European water laws with those of the EU; water quality markets in China; the impacts of service coverage and quality on low income households in countries from New Zealand to Bangladesh and Malawi; the importance of perceptions, ranging from the use of treated wastewater by farmers in the MENA region to consumers in Fukushima and to users of the artificial river in Beijing's Olympic Park; and finally the confluence of wicked problems in refugee camps facing COVID. The chapters in this book were originally published in the journal, Water International.

Management, Performance, and Applications of Micro Irrigation Systems, the fourth volume in the Research Advances in Sustainable Micro Irrigation series, emphasizes sustainable and meaningful methods of irrigation to counter rampant water scarcity. In many parts of the world, this scarcity significantly affects crop yield, crop quality, and, consequently, human quality of life.

This important volume presents the best management practices in sustainable micro irrigation, with the goal of increasing crop yield and quality and conserving water. The practices described are practical and attainable and are based on research and studies from many areas of the world, including India, South Africa, and other areas. The applications described can be adapted and applied to many regions with a critical need to address the water crisis in crop production.

The practices and applications presented include:

Partial root-zone surface drip irrigation

Effective maintenance techniques

Web-based irrigation scheduling

Water use efficiency methods

The use of flushing and filtration systems

This valuable book is a must for those struggling to find ways to address the need to maintain efficient crop production in the midst of water shortages. With chapters from hands-on experts in the field, the book will be an invaluable reference and guide to effective micro irrigation methods. "

This book focuses on participation of the public and private sectors in urban water management and on the role of water pricing. It discusses in-depth topics such as public choices of urban water service management; dynamics of privatization and regulation of water services; adoption of water demand instruments; impacts of price and non-price policies on residential water demand; quality of water services; lessons from not-for-profit public-private partnerships; and critical examinations of models and projections of demands in water utility resource planning in England and Wales. Appropriateness of water prices and tariffs in achieving socially desirable outcomes is also analyzed and a global survey of urban water tariffs is approached with a focus on sustainability, efficiency and fairness. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Management.

To plan successfully and manage the increased uncertainties posed by likely future climate change, knowledge needs to advance much more for the water profession beyond what it is now available. Meeting these challenges does not depend exclusively on advances in climatological-hydrologic models. Policies for adaptation and strategies for mitigation measures have to be formulated on the basis of what are likely to be the potential impacts. These will have to be regularly fine-tuned and implemented according to changing needs and as more reliable knowledge and data become available. Even more challenging will be the politics of policy making and implementation, which will require a quantum leap from current policy-making and implementation processes. One can even say that, in addition to the development of more reliable models, the politics of climate change and water management remains one of the greatest uncertainties for the water profession.

This book addresses water management practices and how these should and could be modified to cope with climatic and other related uncertainties over the next two to three decades; the types of strategies and good practices that may be available or have to be developed to cope with the current and expected uncertainties in relation to climate change; and the types of knowledge, information and technological developments needed to incorporate possible future climate change impacts within the framework of water resources management. Decision making in the water sector under changing climate and related uncertainties, and societal water security under altering and fluctuating climate are also discussed. Several case studies are included from several basins, cities, regions and countries in both developed and non-developing countries.

This book was published as a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.

Urban informal settlements or slums are growing rapidly in cities in sub-Saharan Africa. Most often, a sewer system is not present and the commonly-used low-cost onsite wastewater handling practices, typically pit latrines, are frequently unplanned, uncontrolled and inefficient. Consequently, most households dispose of their untreated or partially treated wastewater on-site, generating high loads of nutrients to groundwater and streams draining these areas. However, the fate of nutrients in urban slums is generally unknown. In excess, these nutrients can cause eutrophication in downstream water bodies. This book provides an understanding of the hydro-geochemical processes affecting the generation, fate and transport of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) in a typical urban slum area in Kampala, Uganda. The approach used combined experimental and modeling techniques, using a large set of hydrochemical and geochemical data collected from shallow groundwater, drainage channels and precipitation. The results show that both nitrogen-containing acid precipitation and domestic wastewater from slum areas are important sources of nutrients in urban slum catchments. For nutrients leaching to groundwater, pit latrines retained over 80% of the nutrient mass input while the underlying alluvial sandy aquifer was also an effective sink of nutrients where nitrogen was removed by denitrification and anaerobic oxidation and phosphorus by adsorption to calcite. In surface water, nutrient attenuation processes are limited. This study argues that groundwater may not be important as regards to eutrophication implying that management interventions in slum areas should primarily focus on nutrients released into drainage channels. This research is of broad interest as urbanization is an ongoing trend and many developing countries lack proper sanitation systems.

Mountains are water towers of our world, but their role in global water resources may be altered due to changing climate. This book provides an integrated assessment of the spatial and temporal variability of both recent and future climate change impacts in the Yellow River source region (YRSR) with specific focus on extremes. The book is structured across four different topics from detecting contemporary hydro-climatic changes, comparing three different statistical downscaling methods, assessing elevation dependency of expected changes in temperature, and projecting future climate-induced hydrologic changes in the YRSR. The detection of historical hydro-climatic changes in recent decades indicates that climate change may already be happening and may pose a serious threat to water availability in this region. However, an ensemble of climate change projections for the periods 2046-2065 and 2081-2100 based on two GCMs and three emission scenarios demonstrates that the future water availability of this region would increase due to climate change. This discrepancy suggests that contemporary hydro-climatic experience based on past records alone may not always provide a reliable guide to the future. This study makes an important contribution toward an improved understanding of climate change impacts in the YRSR. The knowledge generated has major implications for water resources management in the Yellow River and will be instructive for climate change impacts studies in other mountain areas.

One of the most challenging aspects of climate change has been the increased pressure on water resources limited by droughts and new rain patterns, which has been exacerbated by rapid modernization. Due to these realities, disputes across national borders over use and access to water have now become more commonplace. This study analyzes the history and adjudication of transboundary water disputes in five international courts and tribunals, two US Supreme Court cases, and boundary water disputes between the United States and Canada and the United States and Mexico. Explaining the circumstances and outcomes of these cases, Kornfeld asks how effective the courts and tribunals have been in adjudicating them. What kind of remedies have they fashioned and how have they dealt with polycentric and sovereignty issues? This timely work examines the doctrine of equitable allocation of transboundary water resources and how this norm can be incorporated into international law.

In the last decades, the technology of dam protection has undergone major advancements. The increasing demand for safety in modern society has created the need for cost-effective measures to protect critical infrastructure such as dams. This situation has resulted in the drafting of new regulations and technical manuals in countries like Norway, Sweden, and the USA, among others. Dam Protections against Overtopping and Accidental Leakage includes the latest advances in dam protection, and a portfolio of applications in representative case studies. The main topics include: - Failure of embankment and concrete dams due to overtopping or accidental leakage - Hard protections for embankment dams (RCC, wedge-shaped blocks, reinforced concrete slabs) - Soft protections for embankment dams (rockfill toes, articulated concrete blocks, vegetation cover) - Concrete dam protections and additional issues directly related to dam protections The book includes contributions from the 1st International Seminar on Dam Protections against Overtopping and Accidental Leakage (Madrid, Spain, 24-26 November 2014), and also a summary of the technical manual "Overtopping Protection for Dams", published by the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in March 2014. Dam Protections against Overtopping and Accidental Leakage provides a comprehensive summary of dam protections, covering case studies and applied research worldwide, and will be invaluable to professionals and academics in Dam Engineering.

This study investigates the role of coagulation in enhancing hydraulic performance and permeate quality of UF membranes and provides insight into options for minimizing or ideally eliminating coagulation from UF pre-treatment to SWRO. Results show that coagulation improves UF hydraulic performance mainly by reducing non-backwashable fouling of the membranes. This can be achieved at very low coagulant dose ( 0.5 mg Fe/L) by coating the membranes with sub-micron particles.
Additionally, the work highlights the applicability of UF membranes with low molecular weight cut-off as the coagulant free future of SWRO pre-treatment. Major benefits in terms of reduced environmental impact is expected when applying membranes with low molecular weight cut-off, as the need for coagulation is eliminated while ensuring longevity of downstream SWRO membranes. In general terms, the research indicates that coagulant consumption can be significantly reduced in UF pre-treatment of SWRO by optimizing operational parameters and applying alternative solutions.

This collection covers essential concepts in the management of coastal disasters, outlining several field surveys of such events that have taken place in the 21st century, including the Indian Ocean Tsunami, the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami, and the storm surges generated by Hurricane Katrina, Cyclone Nargis, and Typhoon Haiyan. Measurements of flood heights, distributions of structural destruction, and the testimonies of residents are reported, with the results being analysed and compared with past events and numerical simulations to clarify and reconstruct the reality of these disasters. The book covers the state-of-the-art understanding of disaster mechanisms and the most advanced tools for the simulation of future events: * Uniquely explains how to use disaster surveys along with simulations to mitigate risk * Combines pure scientific studies with practical research and proposes procedures for effective coastal disaster mitigation Coastal Disaster Surveys and Assessment for Risk Mitigation is ideal for students in the field of disaster risk management, as well as engineers who deal with issues related to tsunamis, storm surges, high wave attack and coastal erosion.

Focusses on the role of microorganisms in a wide range of ecosystems and deterioration processes Explains underlying concepts of environment, interlinks them from an ecological point of view and describes the approaches for waste treatment Describes the concepts and fate processes of environmental contaminants, contaminant patterns in soil, groundwater, and surface water. Includes novel research findings and applications of biosurfactants Discusses biodegradation as a key process in the bioremediation of recalcitrant compounds

Presenting the hydrological research carried out in the Migina catchment (260 km2), Southern Rwanda with the objective to explore the hydrological trends and climate linkages for catchments in Rwanda (26,338 km2), and to contribute to the understanding of dominant hydrological process interactions. Different Hydro-meteorological instrumentations have been installed for several months in the Migina catchment and measurements have been carried out. The trend analysis is based on Mann-Kendall (MK) test and Pettitt test on times series data varying from 30 to 56 years before 2000. The hydrometric data and modern tracer methods is used for hydrograph separation and show that subsurface runoff is dominating the total discharge even during rainy seasons at Cyihene-Kansi and Migina sub-catchments, respectively. Further, a semi-distributed conceptual hydrological model HEC-HMS is applied for assessing the spatio-temporal variation of water resources in the Migina catchment. The model results are compared with tracer based hydrograph separation results in terms of the runoff components. The model performed reasonably well in simulating the total flow volume, peak flow and timing as well as the portion of direct runoff and baseflow.

This proceedings volume contains papers and extended abstracts presented at the International Conference on Sustainable Watershed Management (SuWaMa 2014). The Conference was the second in a series of Sustainable Watershed Management Conferences. The objective of the Conference Series was to present and discuss advanced environmental models and contemporary decision support tools for the sustainable use and development of watersheds. Contributions cover the following topics: sound watershed management practices (case studies and examples from various countries including lessons learned from implementation of both successful and deficient management scenarios), decision support tools (such as monitoring, GIS, ecological economics, cost/benefit analysis and decision making models), integrated environmental model applications for management (including watershed, air-shed, coastal, and living resource models), trans-boundary environmental issues (air pollution, climate change, coastal oceans at regional, continental, and global scales) and global watershed sustainability. This multidisciplinary volume will benefit natural and social scientists, engineers, managers and other professionals as well as stakeholders with an interest in water resources and their management.