Water Quality Programs In Developing Countries

Abstract

In many developing countries water quality has become the principal limiting factor to water availability. Estimates of future levels of water pollution in many parts of the world under “business as usual” scenarios will be catastrophic for public health, the environment, and national economies in many countries that have limited resources to deal with a contaminated resource. The reality in many developing countries is that political and institutional instability, combined with financial restraint, and poor domestic scientific capacity, means that “western” approaches to water quality management are often inappropriate and unsustainable. Traditional models of technical assistance and technology transfer, including foreign aid and international loans for water quality management, often leave little real change in domestic capacity while generating substantial cash flow for the foreign company. Without a major change in how water quality is managed, including adoption of new paradigms of policy effectiveness, institutional and technical modernization, new methods of knowledge and technology transfer, and innovative investment, the situation can only become more and more serious until the final collapse of major freshwater and coastal ecosystems, and associated economic and public health implications. This paper addresses these various technical, policy, institutional, and financing issues and proposes actions which can lead to sustainability and self-reliance     

Water resources management on the small Island of Mauritius

Small island states have particular hydrological and water resources management problems which distinguish them from large islands and continental areas. Understanding and implementing strategies for sustainable development as seen from a water perspective become critical issues for islanders. The island of Mauritius, situated in the Indian Ocean about 800 km east of Madagascar, has one of the highest population densities in the world and this factor, together with the country's rapid economic development during the last decade, has led to an ever increasing demand for water. As such, water rationing is a recurrent problem during dry periods which causes many economic and sanitary risks. It is now clear among policy makers in Mauritius that water will increasingly become a constraint on economic and social development. This paper summarizes the basic hydrological features of the island and highlights the various management strategies needed when looking at long‐term development options.     

Region Manager软件技术在水土保持规划设计中的应用

目前,东北黑土地的水土流失已成为备受世界关注的热点同题.黑土地水土流失综合治理已成为国家水土保持工作的重点内容.该项工作具有涉及面广、数据和图象分析工作量大、空间分布复杂等特征,因此,一般方法对土地利用现状调查、坡度统计和措施布局及图件绘制工作的完成有极大的工作量与难度.经过筛选,将"RegionManager"技术应用于水土保持规划设计中,能够准确直观地绘制出图件,并对生态效益、经济效益和社会效益作出合理的评估,较精确地完成水土保持规划设计工作,为我省黑土地水土流失综合治理与水土保持设计提供强有力的技术支持.     

地下滴灌毛管适宜埋深及间距研究进展

随着全球水资源的日益短缺,节水灌溉越来越引起人们的重视。地下滴灌是一种节水效率很高的节水灌溉技术,具有诸多优点。本文分析了地下滴灌毛管埋深和间距对作物生长和发育的影响,重点介绍了国内外地下滴灌毛管埋深和间距的研究进展及应用现状,对其发展历史、经济与环境效益、毛管埋深、毛管间距、作物的生长和发育及系统的投资等方面进行了综述,并对毛管埋深5 cm、15 cm和35 cm进行了土壤水分运移试验分析,以便为地下滴灌系统的合理设计提供理论依据。     

Water Rights

Abstract

Water is becoming increasingly scarce in many parts of the world. In most such areas, definition and enforcement of water rights have yet to be put in place, while experience shows that these steps are fundamentally important to ensure productive and efficient use of water. Often, as competition intensifies, the data required to assess appropriate allocations and rules become more contentious and difficult to access. New technologies are available, primarily based on remotely sensed satellite data used in conjunction with a minimum set of ground measurements, to generate hydrological data. Such data can readily be correlated with streamflow measurements and also can be used for “what if” analyses of specific climate situations or changes in ground cover. The satellite data are freely available over the Internet, as are other data required.     

A Multi-objective Linear Programming Model with Interval Parameters for Water Resources Allocation in Dalian City

Water resources management has been of concern for many researchers since the contradiction between increased water demand and decreased water supply has become obvious. In the real world, water resources systems usually have complexities among social, economic, natural resources and environmental aspects, which leads to multi-objective problems with significant uncertainties in system parameters, objectives, and their interactions. In this paper, a multi-objective linear programming model with interval parameters has been developed wherein an interactive compromising algorithm has been introduced. Through interactive compromising conflicts among multi-objectives, a feasible solution vector can be obtained. The developed model is then applied to allocation of multi-source water resources with different water qualities to multiple users with different water quality requirements for the Dalian city for 2010, 2015 and 2020 planning years. The model pursues the maximum synthesis benefits of economy, society and the environment. The results indicate that the proportion of reused water to the total water amount is gradually increasing, and the proportion of agricultural water consumption to the total water consumption is gradually decreasing. The allocation of multi-source water resources to multiple users is improved due to incorporation of uncertain factors into the model that provide useful decision support to water management authorities.     

A Rough Set Based Model in Water Quality Analysis

Due to pollution caused by the expansion of human activities and economic development, water quality has gradually deteriorated in many areas of the world. Therefore, analysis of water quality becomes one of the most essential issues of modern civilization. Integrated interdisciplinary modeling techniques, providing reliable, efficient, and accurate representation of the complex phenomenon of water quality, have gained attention in recent years. With the ability to deal with both numeric and nominal information, and express knowledge in a rule-based form, the Rough Set Theory (RST) has been successfully employed in many fields. However, the application of RST has not been widely investigated in water quality analysis. The reducts generated by RST models become very time-consuming as the size of the problem increases. Using multinomial logistics regression (MLR) techniques to provide reducts of RST models, this investigation develops a hybrid Multinomial Logistic Regression and Rough Set Theory (MLRRST) model to analyze relations between degrees of water pollution and environmental factors in Taiwan. Empirical results indicate that the MLRRST model could analyze water qualities efficiently and accurately, and yield decision rules for the staff of water quality management. Thus, the proposed model is a promising and helpful scheme in analyzing water quality.     

A Microeconomic Perspective on Water Resources Management: Analyzing the Effects on Optimal Land Rents Along a River Basin

Water scarcity is becoming an increasingly relevant issue in many regions of the world as demand for water continues to grow. As a result, the need for finding measures that efficiently allocate increasingly scarce water resources has become a primary topic on the agendas of many water resource management authorities. This paper presents an innovative approach that provides further insight into the connection between hydrological, environmental, and economic aspects along a river basin. In short, it analyzes how land rents along a river basin are affected by managing water pollution along a river basin, given certain hydrological characteristics of the river basin. Results show that, without the implementation of a water management system to control water quality, the negative external effects of upstream water discharges on downstream locations can be internalized through a decrease in downstream land rents. However, the analysis presented in this paper also reveals that it is not only the absence or the presence of a water management system that has a significant impact on the real estate market along the river basin. Moreover, the market outcome also varies with the type of water resources management system implemented.     

Water management: some personal reflections

In recent years, books, papers and media coverage of the global water crisis due to physical scarcities of water have become a growth industry. Is this widely accepted hypothesis correct? It is argued in this paper that the world is not facing a water crisis because of physical scarcities of water, as people with linear and compartmentalized thinking are forecasting, but is facing a crisis because of the inefficient way water has been managed in the past and is being managed in nearly all countries of the world. There is at present enough knowledge, experience, technology and even funds to solve the world's water problems for all uses. In addition, the world's future water problems will be very different compared to past and current problems. A new mindset is needed, first to identify the emerging water and water-related problems of the world, and then to find and implement appropriate solutions. Based on the current evidence, there is every reason to be cautiously optimistic of the world's water future.     

From Marrakech through The Hague to Kyoto: Has the Global Debate on Water Reached a Dead End?

Abstract

Although the first World Water Forum was held in 1997, realization by the world community of the vast array of problems facing the water sector dates back to the seventies. Indeed, the Mar del Plata Water Conference that was held in 1977 can be considered the first world water forum. Since that time, a series of international conferences, including the three world water forums that were held in Marrakech, The Hague, and Kyoto, have been organized to discuss the existing and emerging water problems. Such conferences and forums have debated the major issues regarding management and development of water resources, and have adopted a number of resolutions, declarations, and action plans. The debate on many of those issues has sharpened in recent years and the resolutions, declarations, and action plans have multiplied. This article discusses the basic elements of the debate and the areas of differences between the various groups, and assesses the efficacy and impact of the resolutions, declarations, and action plans adopted at those conferences.

This is the first of a two-part article, the second of which will be published in the next issue of this Journal.     

印度土壤侵蚀与防治研究概况及其对我国的启示

土壤侵蚀导致水土资源流失和生态环境恶化,已成为危及人类生存与发展的重要问题。印度与中国都是世界上水土流失严重的国家,且具有许多相似的自然和社会条件。了解印度土壤侵蚀及其防治的有关研究进展,对促进我国水土保持研究和实践具有现实意义。本文介绍了印度土壤侵蚀的基本状况和特点,并从土壤侵蚀基础研究、土壤侵蚀预报研究和土壤侵蚀防治策略3个方面总结了印度在土壤侵蚀及其防治领域的研究成果和实践经验。在此基础上,提出了对我国土壤侵蚀防治的参考建议。     

三峡工程大江截流试验与实践

三峡工程大江截流是目前世界上截流流量最大，水深最大的截流工程。其中，有许多技术难题需要解决。由于大江截流的特殊性及重要性，施工期河势边界、水流流态异常复杂，致使常规数学模型计算分析受到限制。为此，物理模型试验研究成为解决大江截流设计及施工中有关问题的主要手段。研究成果为大江胜利实现截流打下了坚实基础。     

探索南水北调西线工程两利双赢方案——原西南电管局局长、资深专家王尊相访谈录

南水北调西线工程是被称为世界上规模最大的调水工程。西线调水将会严重影响西电东送。西水北调是解决问题的两利双赢方案。这样浩大的工程必须遵照党中央的指导方针,尊重科学、尊重实践、尊重专家,广泛听取意见,多方论证,使决策符合实际,减少失误。     

三峡工程环境保护的研究与实践

从三峡工程近10多年来环境保护的实践，可以认为三峡工程总体上是一个生态工程，是地区、流域、全国可持续发展的推动力。三峡工程的环境保护细致全面，有许多创新。     

Public acceptance of recycled water

Recycling water is not new. Yet, there are many examples from around the world of recycled water projects that have failed because of public opposition. This article reviews the literature investigating factors associated with public acceptance of recycled water, as well as publicly accessible reports and case studies, which have developed or tested approaches to increase public acceptance. The article concludes by summarizing the state of knowledge in this area, and advancing key research questions relating to public acceptance of recycled water that urgently need to be investigated.     

A Metric Model on Identifying the National Water Scarcity Management Ability

Our planet is getting thirstier and thirstier. Water scarcity has become an increasingly hard but urgent problem. The world's water situation engenders little optimism. About one quarter of the world's population is experiencing water scarcity. Moreover, water resources are unevenly distributed and extremely scarce in Africa and the Middle East. Water scarcity further incurs many international issues such as international conflicts, environmental refugees and disease caused by water pollution, which have made a more unstable world. To make contributions to solve the water problems, this study proposed a metric model to identify the ability of each country to manage water scarcity, and offered solutions to a country considered water over-loaded. In this paper, we developed our metric, Total Scarcity Metric, and divided it into Physical Scarcity Metric ( affected by environmental factors and population) and Economic Scarcity Metric ( affected by social factors other than population) by the two causes of water scarcity. This paper made some adjustments to an indicator we found widely-used in the literatures, and determine Physical Scarcity Metric based on it. Based on that result, Pakistan was chose as a sample region for further analysis, and Pakistan still has a long way to go. This model will prove to be advantageous for a region’s authoritative figures to consult with when in pursuit of obtaining a higher level of water resources allocation. It also can serve as a public rationale to support certain superficially incomprehensive judgments made by the administration.     

Management of International Waters: Opportunities and Constraints

Global water demands are likely to increase steadily in the foreseeable future due to increases in population growth in the developing world and changes in per capita demand as a result of changing lifestyles in nearly all parts of the world. Since all exclusively national sources of water that could be used economically have already been developed, or are in the process of development, there would be tremendous pressure to develop international water bodies, which are often the only new sources of water that could be used cost-effectively. These international water sources have not been developed in the past, primarily because of absence of agreements on water allocations between the countries concerned. Thus, the potential for conflicts in the 21st century between the countries on various international water bodies is likely to be much higher than at present. International organizationscan play an important role as mediators in conflicts on international water bodies. However,except for Eugene Black, President of the World Bank, who played a critical role in the 1950s on the formulation of the Indus Water Treaty between India and Pakistan, their contributions have been somewhat marginal. These organizations have become increasingly risk-averse during the past three decades, and their leaderships have given the potentially thorny issue of development of international rivers a wide berth. In 1970, the United Nations decided to take up the case of the law of the non-navigable uses of international watercourses. Some 27 years later, the UN General Assembly approved, on 8 July 1997, a convention on this subject. The convention, though a useful step, is very broad, general and vague, and thus is likely to be of only limited help to the negotiators on the various international watercourses.Even when the convention is ratified, agreements on the development and management of international water bodies are likely to be achieved only through protracted negotiations between the countries concerned, as has been the case in the past.     

Water,Wastewater, and Environmental Security Problems: A Case Study of Mexico City and the Mezquital Valley

ABSTRACT

Increasing social tensions and conflicts can now be observed due to growing water scarcities and higher wastewater discharges in many parts of the world. These conflicts can be analyzed in two ways. First, a social conflict can be responsible for creating water scarcity by reducing accessibility, destroying water systems, and reducing water availability. Second, water resources scarcity, both in terms of quantity and quality, can often be the cause of conflicts in a society. The article focuses on the second type of conflict by analyzing several examples from Mexico: especially conflicts that have been generated by the use of the wastewaters of Mexico City for irrigation in the Mezquital Valley since 1912.     

Water allocation systems in Texas

Allocation of water resources among nations, states, regions, water management organizations and numerous water users is a governing concern in water management in Texas as well as throughout the world. Water allocation practices in Texas have evolved historically over centuries, with significant improvements occurring in recent years that continue to be refined. Texas shares water with Mexico and several neighbouring states in the United States. Thousands of government agencies, cities, private companies and citizens within Texas hold rights to use the waters of the state. Legal rights to use surface water differ from those for groundwater. Surface water allocation for the Lower Rio Grande is different to that for the rest of the state. With growing demands on limited water resources, expanding and refining water allocation systems has become a central governing concern in water management. The Texas experience illustrates fundamental principles, issues, management strategies and complexities involved in developing and administering water allocation systems.     

Water Management for a Megacity: National Capital Territory of Delhi

Urban and regional demand for freshwater in National Capital Territory of Delhi has grown significantly over the last few decades. The National Capital Territory, Delhi is one of the most rapidly growing urban centers of the world, with a population of about 15 million people, a high rate of immigration and numerous illegal settlements. In order to meet the increasing water demand, the government is focused almost exclusively on supply management and engineering solutions, which have resulted in investments of hundreds of millions of Rupees. Environmental, economic and social policies associated with water management are largely inadequate and insufficient, which is resulting in increasing deterioration in the environment, health and socio-economic conditions of a population living in one of the largest urban agglomerations of the world. Surprisingly, however, no long-term strategies on demand-management, reuse, conservation, and improved water-management practices have been developed so far. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the urban water use with a view to enhance the understanding of the factors influencing urban water demand for residential, commercial and industrial sectors in National Capital Territory of Delhi. The analysis indicates an urgent need to radically improve the current water supply and wastewater management practices to become sustainable. Other measures such as public education and information/awareness will be necessary to achieve desired rationalization in water consumption, especially in the residential and commercial sectors.