The rate of global increase in water abstraction for irrigation has been declining since the 1970's due to declining potentials for large and medium-scale irrigation developments, and is expected to further decline in the next decades. As such the significant proportion of the expected increase in production would have to be supplied from existing irrigated and /or cultivated lands. This in turn could be achieved by enhancing land and water productivity through improved performance and optimal operation and maintenance. With less than 15% of over 5 million ha irrigation potential harnessed, irrigation devolvement in Ethiopia remained low. Over 70% of the developed irrigation in the country belongs to small-scale irrigation serving smallholder farmers. While accelerated development of new irrigation, particularly of large and medium-scale schemes is relevant in Ethiopia, ensuring the performance and sustainability of existing schemes is also equally important. The existing irrigation schemes in Ethiopia are generally characterized by an overall performance and technical sustainability levels of below expectation. This thesis evaluates the performance of two large-scale (Wonji-Shoa and Metahara) and two community-managed (Golgota and Wedecha) irrigation schemes located in the Awash River Basin of Ethiopia. The study focussed on hydraulic/water delivery performance in the large-scale schemes, and on comparative and internal irrigation service (utility) evaluation in the community-managed schemes. Water delivery performance was evaluated using routine data and hydrodynamic modelling. Farmers' utility was evaluated using qualitative responses of water users. Major performance challenges in each category of schemes were addressed and operational/water management options for improvement were identified.

Africa has been severely affected by droughts in the past, contributing to food insecure conditions in several African countries. In view of the (even more) severe drought conditions and water shortage that may be expected in sub-Saharan Africa in the coming years, efforts should focus on improving drought management by ameliorating resilience and preparedness to drought. This study contributes to the development of a modelling framework for hydrological drought forecasting in sub-Saharan Africa as a step towards an effective early warning system. The proposed hydrological drought forecasting system makes use of a hydrological model that was found to be suitable for drought forecasting in Africa and could represent the most severe past droughts in the Limpopo Basin. The modelling results showed that there is an added value in computing indicators based on the hydrological model for the identification of droughts and their severity. The proposed seasonal forecasting system for the Limpopo Basin was found to be skilful in predicting hydrological droughts during the summer rainy season. The findings showed that the persistence of the initial hydrological conditions contribute to the predictability up to 2 to 4 months, while for longer lead times the predictability of the system is dominated by the meteorological forcing. An effective drought forecasting and warning system will hopefully contribute to important aspects in the region such as water security, food security, hazard management, and risk reduction.

Selenium (Se) and tellurium (Te) are metalloids of commercial interest due to their physicochemical properties. The water soluble oxyanions of these elements (selenite, selenate, tellurite and tellurate) exhibit high toxicities; hence, their release in the environment is of great concern. This study demonstrates the potential use of fungi as Se- and Te-reducing organisms. The response of Phanerochaete chrysosporium to the presence of selenite and tellurite was evaluated, as well as its potential application in wastewater treatment and production of nanoparticles. Growth stress and morphological changes were induced in P. chrysosoporium when exposed to selenite and tellurite. Synthesis of Se0 and Te0 nanoparticles entrapped in the fungal biomass was observed, as well as the formation of unique Se0-Te0 nanocomposites when the fungus was cultivated concurrently with Se and Te. The response of P. chrysosporium to selenite exposure was investigated in different modes of fungal growth (pellets and biofilm). A bioprocess for selenite removal and Se0 nanoparticles recovery using an up-flow fungal pelleted reactor was developed. 70% selenite removal (10 mg Se L-1 d-1) was achieved under continuous mode. The use of Se0 nanoparticles immobilized in P. chrysosporium pellets as a new sorbent material for the removal of heavy metals from wastewater was demonstrated.

Seawater desalination is a rapidly growing coastal industry that is increasingly threatened by algal blooms. Depending on the severity of algal blooms, desalination systems may be forced to shut down because of clogging and/or poor feed water quality. To maintain stable operation and provide good feed water quality to seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) systems, ultrafiltration (UF) pre-treatment is proposed. This research focused on assessing the ability of UF and other pre-treatment technologies to reduce biofouling in SWRO systems. An improved method to measure bacterial regrowth potential (BRP) was developed and applied at laboratory, pilot and full scale to assess the ability of conventional UF (150 kDa) and tight UF (10 kDa) alone and in combination with a phosphate adsorbent to reduce regrowth potential and delay the onset of biofouling in SWRO. The improved bacterial regrowth potential method employs a natural consortium of marine bacteria as inoculum and flow cytometry. The limit of detection of the BRP method was lowered to 43,000 +/- 12,000 cells/mL, which is equivalent to 9.3 +/- 2.6 g-Cglucose/L. The reduction in bacterial regrowth potential after tight UF (10 kDa) was 3 to 4 times higher than with conventional UF (150 kDa). It was further reduced after the application of a phosphate adsorbent, independent of pore size of the UF membrane. Pilot studies demonstrated that the application of tight UF (10 kDa) coupled with a phosphate adsorbent consistently lowered the bacterial regrowth potential and no feed channel pressure drop increase was observed in membrane fouling simulators (MFS) over a period of 21 days. The study also showed that non-backwashable fouling of UF membranes varied strongly with the type of algal species and the algal organic matter (AOM) they release. The presence of polysaccharide (stretching -OH) and sugar ester groups (stretching S=O) was the main cause of non-backwashable fouling. In conclusion, this study showed that an improved BRP method is suitable for the assessment of SWRO pre-treatment systems and it can be a useful tool to develop potential strategies to mitigate biofouling and improve the sustainability of SWRO systems.

Lack of clean water is one of the most important public health challenges in less developed communities. Due to insufficient financial and technical resources in places in need, development of low-cost water treatment technologies can play a key role in sustainable water provision. In this context, this PhD research investigated the removal of pathogenic microorganisms in simple sand filtration set-ups supplemented with low-cost adsorbents (hydrochar) produced via hydrothermal carbonization of biowastes. Two types of hydrochar, derived from hydrothermal carbonization of agricultural residue of maize and stabilized sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plant, were evaluated as adsorbents for Escherichia coli removal in saturated sand columns. The removal efficiency of sand columns amended with these adsorbents improved from 20-70% to ~90 % by alkali activation carried out in room temperatures using 1 M potassium hydroxide solution. This PhD research also demonstrates the removal of human pathogenic viruses in sand columns supplemented with hydrochar adsorbents derived from stabilized sewage sludge and fresh swine waste. In order to enumerate human pathogenic rotavirus and adenovirus in virus removal experiments, low-cost polymerase chain reaction assays were developed under this PhD study. These assays show a competent performance in analyzing virus concentrations in both laboratory and environmental samples. Amendment with either hydrochar (without alkali activation) in sand columns was able to remove more than 99% of both viruses.

This monograph provides a framework and guidelines for the assessment of institutional frameworks for integrated water resources management (IWRM). The framework and guidelines were developed to enable expert teams of the Inter-American Development Bank to incorporate capacity-building considerations into water-related projects. The framework and guidelines were tested in four countries with different physical, social and economic environments in Latin America and the Caribbean. Using this framework, it is possible to identify shortcomings in existing water management arrangements and to formulate interventions at and between the constitutional, organizational, and operational levels. To guide the formulation of interventions, an ideal IWRM situation is formulated. Due to the temporal and spatial specificity, a desired IWRM situation is formulated in a process which consists of ten operational steps. This process is based on an extensive consultation and participation of all relevant stakeholders. The fields of interventions concern awareness creation, policy development, legal and financial arrangements, human resources development and management information and decision support systems.

This monograph provides a framework and guidelines for the assessment of institutional frameworks for integrated water resources management (IWRM). The framework and guidelines were developed to enable expert teams of the Inter-American Development Bank to incorporate capacity-building considerations into water-related projects. The framework and guidelines were tested in four countries with different physical, social and economic environments in Latin America and the Caribbean. Using this framework, it is possible to identify shortcomings in existing water management arrangements and to formulate interventions at and between the constitutional, organizational, and operational levels. To guide the formulation of interventions, an ideal IWRM situation is formulated. Due to the temporal and spatial specificity, a desired IWRM situation is formulated in a process which consists of ten operational steps. This process is based on an extensive consultation and participation of all relevant stakeholders. The fields of interventions concern awareness creation, policy development, legal and financial arrangements, human resources development and management information and decision support systems.

Well rehabilitation techniques have been the focus of major advancements in recent times. Environmental engineers can keep pace with those changes with the book Water Well Rehabilitation.
Written from a microbiological viewpoint, the text outlines proven solutions to production problems in all types of wells.
That perspective frequently yields new ideas and concepts, contrary to prevalent thoughts in mainstream literature on the subject. This is especially true in discussion of iron related bacterial sources, and details concerning unsafe bacterial samples and the contamination of wells.

Reservoir operation is a multi-objective optimization problem, and is traditionally solved with dynamic programming (DP) and stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) algorithms. The thesis presents novel algorithms for optimal reservoir operation, named nested DP (nDP), nested SDP (nSDP), nested reinforcement learning (nRL) and their multi-objective (MO) variants, correspondingly MOnDP, MOnSDP and MOnRL. The idea is to include a nested optimization algorithm into each state transition, which reduces the initial problem dimension and alleviates the curse of dimensionality. These algorithms can solve multi-objective optimization problems, without significantly increasing the algorithm complexity or the computational expenses. It can additionally handle dense and irregular variable discretization. All algorithms are coded in Java and were tested on the case study of the Knezevo reservoir in the Republic of Macedonia. Nested optimization algorithms are embedded in a cloud application platform for water resources modeling and optimization. The platform is available 24/7, accessible from everywhere, scalable, distributed, interoperable, and it creates a real-time multiuser collaboration platform. This thesis contributes with new and more powerful algorithms for an optimal reservoir operation and cloud application platform. All source codes are available for public use and can be used by researchers and practitioners to further advance the mentioned areas.

This workbook is a companion to Applied Math for Water Plant Operators (ISBN: 9780877628743) and part of the Applied Math for Water Plant Operators Set (ISBN: 9781566769884). It contains self-teaching guides for all water treatment calculations, skill checks, hundreds of worked examples, and practice problems.

At a time of great turmoil and crisis, environmentally, socially and politically, water has emerged as a topic of huge global concern. Moreover, many argue that what is needed in order to change our relationship with the environment is a cultural paradigm shift. To this end, this volume brings together diverse approaches to exploring human relationships with the watery world and the other living things that rely upon it. Through exploring multiple creative ways of engaging with water and people, the volume adds to the current zeitgeist of writing about water by expanding the discussion about this vital substance and how, as humans, we relate to it. Chapters focus on creative explorations and explorations of creativity in relation to developing these understandings, including concepts such as hydrocitizenship and responses to drought and flooding. Drawing on the in-depth research and experience of arts practitioners including participatory artists, as well as academics from a variety of fields including geography, anthropology, health studies and environmental humanities, the book provides a rich and multidisciplinary perspective on water and creative ways of engaging and understanding human-water relationships. It represents a valuable source and inspiration for academics, arts practitioners and those involved in environmental policy and governance.

The evolution and utilization of estuarine and coastal regions are greatly restricted by sediment problems. This thesis aims to better understand fine sediment transport under combined action of waves and currents, especially in the wave-current bottom boundary layer (BBL). Field observations, experimental data analysis, theoretical analysis and numerical models are employed. Silt-dominated sediments are sensitive to flow dynamics and the suspended sediment concentration (SSC) increase rapidly under strong flow dynamics. This research unveils several fundamental aspects of silty sediment, i.e., the criterion of the incipient motion, the SSC profiles and their phase-averaged parameterization in wave-dominated conditions. An expression for sediment incipient motion is proposed for silt-sand sediment under combined wave and current conditions. A process based intra-wave 1DV model for flow-sediment dynamics near the bed is developed in combined wave-current conditions. The high concentration layer (HCL) was simulated and sensitivity analysis was carried out by the 1DV model on factors that impact the SSC in the HCL. Finally, based on the 1DV model, the formulations of the mean SSC profile of silt-sand sediments in wave conditions were proposed. The developed approaches are expected to be applied in engineering practice and further simulation.

This second edition demonstrates how chemistry influences the design of water treatment plants and how it should influence the design.
Historically, water treatment plants have been designed from hydraulic considerations with little regard to chemical aspects. The many chemical reactions used for removal of pollutants from water simply cannot be forced to occur within current designs. This book re-examines this traditional approach in light of today's water quality and treatment.
Will current water treatment processes be sufficient to meet future demands or will new processes have to be devised? Chemistry of Water Treatment assesses the chemical and physical efficacies of current processes to meet the demands of the Safe Drinking water Act, providing expert information to persons responsible for the production of potable water into the next century.

As pressures on water resources have increased, problems of water quality have claimed high priority in national concern and governmental policy. In this book, first published in 1969, Lyle E. Craine describes how Great Britain enacted new governmental procedures for studying, planning, and executing water management programmes. Although the physical and social characteristics of the United States' water resources problems differ from those of England, this analysis of the British institutional arrangements for water management suggests constructive insights for managing water resources within the individual states. This title is a valuable resource for students interested in environment and sustainability issues, national water resources problems, and government policy making.

Incentives in Water Quality Management explores the role of effluent charges in France and the Ruhr area of the federal republic of Germany by delving into both regulatory and economic systems that are utilised in the water quality management of these two areas. Originally published in 1981, these studies place an emphasis on the necessity of legislation in effective water quality management whilst attempting to create a complete picture of the water quality management systems in place in France and the Ruhr area. This title will be of interest to students of Environmental Studies.

This volume provides readers with an opportunity to learn from front line water managers of watershed-based agencies across Canada about integrated water management (or integrated water resource management). In common with practice in much of the world, the responsibility for implementing integrated watershed management in Canada is fragmented. Each province and territory in Canada has developed unique approaches or governance models to guide decision making in that regard. Thus, this edited volume enables readers from around the world to gain insight on the best practices in Canada for achieving success and addressing barriers to implement IWM. Although there remains non consensus about how to "best" approach river basin management, some of the main observations include: There is a need to balance a focus on "the big picture", with scoping the scale and scope of planning activities in order that feasible and effective solutions can be implemented Three types of integration are popular among the agencies included in the book: (i) among environment, economy and society, (ii) interactions between people and the environment and (iii) integration (or coordination) of administrative activities. Much more attention is required to achieving effective engagement from Indigenous communities The chapters were originally published in a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.

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.

Worldwide, many regions have a great potential to cover part of their pressing water needs by renewable energy powered water treatment processes using either thermal or membrane based technologies. Not only arid and semiarid regions are increasingly suffering from water shortage but also many other regions face a limitation of freshwater resources either by increasing contamination of surface water bodies or groundwater resources unsuitable for drinking and irrigation purposes either due to their high grade of mineralization or their contents of toxic components. In many areas without centralized water supply, treatment techniques using locally available renewable energy resources such as wind, solar and geothermal can provide an economical, social and environmentally sustainable option for clean water production from seawater and from highly mineralized or otherwise unsuitable ground- and surface water. This book provides an overview on possible cost-efficient techniques and application opportunities for different scales and shows why the implementation of these technologies faces numerous technological, economic and policy barriers and provides suggestions how they can be overcome. It serves as a synoptic compendium of the fundamentals of freshwater production using renewable energies, applicable to all types of water, ranging from brackish to marine water and also including industrial and communal residual water. The book is aimed at professionals, academics and decision makers worldwide, working in the areas of water resources, water supply,land planning, energy planning, greenhouse gases emission mitigation and rural development.

Pesticde use in agriculture and non-agriculture settings has increased dramatically over the last several decades. Concern about adverse effects on the environment and human health has spurred an enormous amount of research into their environmental behavior and fate. Pesticides in Surface Waters presents a comprehensive summary of this research. This book evaluates published studies that focus on measuring pesticide concentration. The studies chosen include peer reviewed scientific literature, government reports, laboratory studies, and those using microcosms and artificial streams and ponds. The authors used this information to develop their overview of pesticide contamination of surface waters. The exhaustive compilation of data along with the fundamental science make this book essential for those involved in pesticide use, environmental protection, water quality, and human or ecological risk assessment. Pesticides in Surface Waters covers the results of actual studies, sources of pesticides to surface water, fate and transport, and environmental significance. Hundreds of data-packed tables, maps, charts, and drawings illustrate the key points, making research and application easy and cost effective.

Pipe failures in water distribution systems can have a serious impact and hence it's important to maintain the condition and integrity of the distribution system. This book presents a whole-life cost optimisation model for the rehabilitation of water distribution systems. It combines a pipe breakage number prediction model with a pipe criticality assessment model, which enables the creation of a well-constructed and more tightly constrained optimisation model. The pipe breakage number prediction model combines information on the physical characteristics of the pipes with historical information on breakage and failure rates. A weighted multiple nonlinear regression analysis is applied to describe the condition of different pipe groups. The criticality assessment model combines a pipe's condition with its hydraulic significance through a modified TOPSIS. This model enables the optimisation to focus its efforts on those important pipes. The whole life cost optimal rehabilitation model is a multiple-objective and multiple-stage model, which provides a suite of rehabilitation decisions that minimise the whole life cost while maximising its long-term performance. The optimisation model is solved using a modified NSGA-II. The utility of the developed models is that it allows decision makers to prioritize their rehabilitation strategy in a proactive and cost-effective manner.

Over a third of the current 7.3 billion people worldwide are burdened with poor sanitation services. The resulting social, relational and ecological exclusion make the realisation of the human right to sanitation (HRS) a critical concern development concern. However, the literature has evolved in a largely compartmentalised manner, focusing on the formal recognition of the HRS in domestic legal systems, without sufficiently addressing the drivers of poor sanitation services. This research expounds on the impact of the HRS on human wellbeing and the environment within the context of a developing country like Nigeria as a case study. The findings show that contrary to the focus in the literature, the drivers of poor sanitation services are not confined to legal factors, such as the formal recognition of the HRS within domestic legal systems. Rather, the drivers include social, economic and environmental limitations to improved sanitation services. Based on the findings, the book argues that the focus in the literature on the formal recognition of the HRS in national legal systems is insufficient for tackling the main drivers of poor sanitation services. It is therefore necessary to reformulate the HRS discourse using complementary governance instruments that advance social, relational and ecological inclusion.

This study presents a multi-disciplinary approach for investigating the interactions between groundwater and surface water in the semi-arid Hailiutu catchment in the Erdos Plateau, Northwest China. The study consists of statistical detection of river flow regime shifts at the basin level; multiple in-situ measurements for quantifying groundwater discharges using hydraulic, hydrochemical and temperature methods at a local scale; analysis and simulation of impacts of different land use scenarios on groundwater and surface water interactions at the sub-catchment scale; and the quantification of temporal and spatial groundwater and surface water interactions with hydrochemical tracers and modelling methods at the basin scale. The study found that the river flow consists of mainly groundwater discharges at all scales. The river flow regime has been intensively altered by human activities, such as the construction of reservoirs, water diversion, groundwater exploitation, and reforestation. Water use by plants and crops consumes majority of the precipitation. Groundwater sustains vegetation growth and feeds river discharges. The water resources and ecosystem management priority should reduce evaporative water uses by promoting dry resistant plant species for vegetating sand dunes and lower irrigation demand crops for socio-economic development. Furthermore, the Hailiutu River catchment must manage the groundwater recharge for water resource conservation and the maintenance of healthy ecosystems.

This time-saving book provides extensive coverage of all important aspects of nitrates in groundwater, ranging from prevention to problem assessment to remediation. It begins by highlighting the nitrogen cycle and related health concerns, providing both background information and a unique perspective on health issues. It then analyzes subsurface processes and the factors and practices that affect them. It thoroughly reviews aquifer vulnerability mapping, an emerging new management tool, and contains a nitrate pollution index that can be used in evaluating actual or potential nitrate pollution from agricultural areas. Best Management Practices are described and evaluated, and possible treatment measures are also explored. Thoroughly researched and well-organized, Nitrates in Groundwater provides a vivid snapshot of the status of nitrates in groundwater today.

Cryptosporidium, in its various forms, is a widely recognised cause of outbreaks of waterborne disease. Regulatory bodies worldwide are increasingly requiring the development of "fit-for-purpose" detection methods for this protozoan parasite, but analysis is often problematic. Bringing together international academic and industry-based experts, this book provides a comprehensive review of the current state of analytical techniques for the detection of Cryptosporidium, as well as looking at likely future developments. In particular, the issues of species identification and oocyst viability are addressed. Quality assurance issues and potential problems associated with the new Cryptosporidium regulations are also highlighted. The extent of the perceived problems and the regulatory backdrop against which the analysis must be carried out are also discussed. Scientists in the water industry, environmental testing laboratories, researchers, consultants, environmental health professionals, food manufacturers and regulatory or environmental bodies are amongst the many who should read this book. In addition, anyone with an interest in microbiological challenges and problem-solving will welcome the coverage.

This second edition features new and expanded coverage of contaminant hydrogeologic investigations. It presents a practical approach to completing investigations for environmental compliance, emphasizing the use of geologic principles in assessment to move sites toward cleanup. Stressing the basics of collecting data that can withstand regulatory scrutiny and achieve remediation, Principles of Contaminant Hydrogeology, Second Edition demonstrates how to solve a client's site contamination problem while maximizing cost effectiveness. It focuses on small- and medium-sized firms, for which speed, accuracy, and cost are all crucial factors in the site assessment and closure process.
Based on "real world" problems, the book takes you step-by-step through the investigation and includes client-consultant-regulator interaction, budgets, ethics, and data extrapolation for solving problems. It introduces concepts such as field logistics, drilling techniques, sampling protocols, contaminant movement, and remediation. Regulatory personnel, hydrogeological consultants, drilling contractors, remediation contractors, university instructors, and students will benefit from the wealth of information provided in this new edition.