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.     

Groundwater Demand Management in the Great Lakes Basin—Directions for New Policies

Demand-side management should be used to maximize the efficiency of groundwater use. Implementation of conservation measures would decrease the volume of water use and also exert less pressure on the water distribution system as well as the wastewater treatment system. Allocation of ground water in the Great Lakes basin must conform to priorities established at the community level. Groundwater pricing should reflect the full costs arising from ground water use. A differential pricing structure would help conserve water in the residential and industrial sectors. A user-friendly database on ground water use, quality and quantity for the entire Great Lakes basin is also essential. New policies for sustainable groundwater allocation, regulating water prices for water conservation, conservation education, pollution prevention, recycling and reuse of water as well as effective information management provide new directions for managing the groundwater demand in the Great Lakes basin.     

Hierarchical multi-scale classification of nearshore aquatic habitats of the Great Lakes: Western Lake Erie

Classification is a valuable conservation tool for examining natural resource status and problems and is being developed for coastal aquatic habitats. We present an objective, multi-scale hydrospatial framework for nearshore areas of the Great Lakes. The hydrospatial framework consists of spatial units at eight hierarchical scales from the North American Continent to the individual 270-m spatial cell. Characterization of spatial units based on fish abundance and diversity provides a fish-guided classification of aquatic areas at each spatial scale and demonstrates how classifications may be generated from that framework. Those classification units then provide information about habitat, as well as biotic conditions, which can be compared, contrasted, and hierarchically related spatially. Examples within several representative coastal or open water zones of the Western Lake Erie pilot area highlight potential application of this classification system to management problems. This classification system can assist natural resource managers with planning and establishing priorities for aquatic habitat protection, developing rehabilitation strategies, or identifying special management actions.     

Modelling Intelligent Water Resources Allocation for Multi-users

This study proposes intelligent water resources allocation strategies for multiple users through hybrid artificial intelligence techniques implemented for reservoir operation optimization and water shortage rate estimation. A two-fold scheme is developed for (1) knowledge acquisition through searching input–output patterns of optimal reservoir operation by optimization methods and (2) the inference system through mapping the current input pattern to estimate the water shortage rate by artificial neural networks (ANNs). The Shihmen Reservoir in northern Taiwan is the study case. We first design nine possible water demand conditions by investigating the changes in historical water supply. With the nine designed conditions and 44-year historical 10-day reservoir inflow data collected during the growth season (3 months) of the first paddy crop, we first conduct the optimization search of reservoir operation by using the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II (NSGA-II) in consideration of agricultural and public water demands simultaneously. The simulation method is used as a comparative model to the NSGA-II. Results demonstrate that the NSGA-II can suitably search the optimal water allocation series and obtain much lower seasonal water shortage rates than those of the simulation method. Then seasonal water shortage rates in response to future water demands for both sectors are estimated by using the adaptive network fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). The back-propagation neural network (BPNN) is adopted as a comparative model to the ANFIS. During model construction, future water demands, predicted monthly inflows (or seasonal inflow) of the reservoir in the next coming quarter and historical initial reservoir storages configure the input patterns while the optimal seasonal water shortage rates obtained from the NSGA-II serve as output targets (training targets) for both neural networks. Results indicate that the ANFIS and the BPNN models produce almost equally good performance in estimating water shortage rates, yet the ANFIS model produces even better stability. The reliability of the proposed scheme is further examined by scenario analysis. The scenario analysis indicates that an increase in public water demand or a decrease in agricultural water demand would bring more impacts of water supply on agricultural sectors than public sectors. Similarly, a bigger decrease in inflow amount would obviously bring more influence on agricultural sectors than public one. Consequently, given predicted inflow, decision makers can pre-experience the possible outcomes in response to competing water demands through the estimation models in order to determine adequate water supply as well as preparedness measures, if needed, for drought mitigation.     

The Water-Economy Nexus: a Composite Index Approach to Evaluate Urban Water Vulnerability

Resource scarcity is a driving force behind water conservation and reuse as urban areas seek strategies to adapt to population growth and environmental challenges. Although there are numerous indicators that examine urban water resource and demand characteristics, these approaches do not tie together how aspects like economic health, environmental conditions, and population growth correlate with local water conservation to demonstrate a city’s ability to cope with water resource vulnerability. This research develops a conceptual framework for the Water-Economy Index (WEI) which characterizes social, economic, and environmental dynamics of water reuse and conservation. The application specifically utilizes a principal component analysis (PCA) to evaluate how hydro-economic indicators (including water demand intensity, demand for recycled water, economic productivity of water, unemployment, and allocations of water resources) are correlated and can impact sustainability goals. The PCA method aggregates indicators into three groups: socio-economic, water allocation, and socio-environmental indicators. The most influential indicators within each group are economic productivity of water, wastewater reuse, and consumptive water demand, respectively. The WEI ranks of 49 cities are compared to identify shared traits across individual indicators and to demonstrate the application of the WEI for benchmarking. The results provide insight into the complex relationship between the characteristics of an urban area’s water demand and socio-economic performance.

     

Multi-criteria Decision Analysis: A Strategic Planning Tool for Water Loss Management

Water utilities particularly in the developing countries continue to operate with considerable inefficiencies in terms of water and revenue losses. With increasing water demand and scarcity, utilities require effective strategies for optimum use of available water resources. Diverse water loss reduction options exist. Deciding on which option to choose amidst conflicting multiple criteria and different interests of stakeholders is a challenging task. In this paper, an integrated multi-criteria decision-aiding framework for strategic planning of water loss management is presented. The PROMETHEE II method was applied within the framework in prioritizing water loss reduction options for Kampala city. A strategic plan that combines selective mains and service lines replacement and pressure management as priorities is the best compromise based on preferences of the decision makers and seven evaluation criteria characterized by financial-economic, environmental, public health, technical and social impacts. The results show that the most preferred options are those that enhance water supply reliability, public health and water conservation measures. This study demonstrates how decision theory coupled with operational research techniques could be applied in practice to solve complex water management and planning problems.     

Water Resources Management Strategies for Adaptation to Climate-Induced Impacts in South Africa

This paper focuses on the development of a framework for strategy considerations for water resources management in South Africa to meet the development goals in the municipal and agricultural sectors. The north western part of South Africa experiences severe periods of drought and according to the climate change projections, will be most vulnerable to future climate induced water supply stress. A framework for selecting appropriate strategies is presented. A series of potential adaptation strategies most suitable for long term adaptation are discussed. These include both supply and demand side strategies. Barriers and obstacles to implementing these strategies include human and financial resource deficiencies at local municipal and community levels.     

黄河水资源供需前景分析

通过对现状，２０００年，２０１０年和２０２０年四个水平年进行多方案的水资源供需平衡计算，分析了黄河水对经济各部门需水的可能满足程度及供水效益，得到了关于黄河水资源利用问题的一些认识，提出了黄河供水能力可基本满足２０１０年水平黄河地区各部门低限用水要求的观点及解决水资源不足问题的对策，为黄河水资源优化配置提供了科学依据。     

行为经济与自然过程耦合视角下的水资源复杂系统建模研究

在水资源供需矛盾日益严峻的形势下,如何动态刻画变化环境下个体与群体的用水行为响应与系统演化路径,建立有效的适应性管理策略已成为水资源管理者和研究者普遍关注的问题。在梳理了国内外水资源适应性管理模型的研究进展的基础上,以密云水库流域上、下游用水主体的竞争与优化配置建模为例,解析了不同气候条件下农业水资源利用主体的响应行为模式,设计了从微观个体用水行为适应自然变化过程模拟宏观流域系统演化的建模技术路线。提出耦合农村与城市的水资源配置模型框架,系统评估了多智能体建模仿真工具现状,遵循多智能体的ODD协议与粒子群优化算法,构建了气候变化情景下农户自适应用水行为模型,为多智能体模型在人水耦合系统建模、流域尺度的水资源优化配置、适应性管理决策分析提供了借鉴依据。     

Water Pricing Under Joint Benefits

Abstract

A cubic functional form of an econometric model for residential water demand estimation is used in order to accommodate different price elasticities for different levels of water demand. Precise estimates of these different price elasticities offer a useful tool to water authorities for urban water demand management through price-based policies. Panel estimation methods (fixed and random effects) are employed to estimate model parameters. The results show that a cubic form of the demand equation can provide appropriate estimates of price elasticities for different “consumption groups” of residential customers. In addition, the effect of public awareness and information on water conservation is also evaluated after controlling other parameters affecting demand for water. Thus, another implication of this study is that well-informed consumers, aware of issues of water conservation and of techniques for water efficient use, may be more inclined to reduce their water consumption.     

关于水利水电科研领域中知识产权问题的若干思考

知识经济的迅猛发展,使知识成为经济发展的核心资源,拥有知识产权的多少,成为衡量一个国家国际竞争力的重要指标之一。科技部提出的21世纪三大战略中,专利战略与标准战略、人才战略并列其间,完整地构架出中国科技事业的未来发展方向。由于当前业内不少人士对知识产权的基本内涵、概念、范围等诸多方面还存在许多模糊认识,对专利技术在保护自己科研成果上的重要性认识不足,迄今为止我国水利水电科研领域的专利申请微乎其微。为促进国内同行有关知识产权的工作跟上国家的需求,本文根据国家目前的知识产权政策、结合我国水利水电科技部门在知识产权方面的认识现状和管理现状做了相关分析,提出应当加强知识产权意识以顺应我国水利水电科技蓬勃发展要求的建议。     

What does Integrated Water Resources Management from Local to Global Perspective Mean? Qatar as a Case Study,the Very Rich Country with No Water

Management of water resources is a very challenging issue, particularly in regions of the world where water is almost absent. In the Gulf Region, this issue is especially complex due to harsh-arid environments and increasing anthropogenic input of pollutants from the energy industry. The emergence of nations rich in oil and gas, such as Qatar, but poor in water resources requires new and dynamic systems and plans for managing limited water resources in times of extreme growth, such plans are discussed in this paper. The State of Qatar’s average annual evaporation rate is 30 times more than precipitation and the country depends on desalinated water to meet 99 % of its municipal water needs. Additionally, increasing population growth coupled with tremendous urbanization and industrialization add more stress to the existing renewable water resources, and newly produced water, namely desalted seawater and treated wastewater. Absence of water tariff and a water pricing system along with a lack of conservation awareness places Qatar as one of the highest water consuming countries in the world. Municipal water consumption per capita per day reached 500 L/ca.d for the year 2013. Dumping of sea to build new cities and construct towers makes the area very susceptible to salt water instruction, a phenomenon that does not only affect the groundwater aquifer system but also the construction materials and building deformations. Currently, Qatar uses the most advanced technologies for treating wastewater; however, the pure treated wastewater is not considered a viable water resource and is not used in areas of critical water demand such as agriculture and landscaping. Social, religious, and local marketing views limit the current use of treated wastewater. Integrated water and wastewater management strategies are absent and the national players of the two sectors -water and wastewater-are different. Current plans for integrated water resources management (IWRM) cannot answer the basic questions, what to manage and in which scale; is it the brackish and unused groundwater or the desalinated water from the existing technologies, the supply or the demand or all? This paper tries to highlight some facts related to Qatar’s water situation as an arid Gulf State and introduces potential ideas for IWRM. The critical aspects of IWRM discussed herein are relevant to a number of nations in the global community dealing with issues of extreme water insecurity.     

Mapping Urban Water Demands Using Multi-Criteria Analysis and GIS

A multi-criteria spatial data analysis method is presented to seek and model major determinants of future growth of urban water demands based on the urban growth trend by a case study performed in the city of Mytilene (Lesvos island) in north-eastern Aegean archipelagos, Greece. Domestic water use/demand is a complex element of socio-economic and physical characteristics, urban planning strategies, infrastructures and public water policies. Under a GIS environment, these factors correspond to different thematic layers, such as road network distance, distance from the city centre, distance from the coastline, topographic slope, land use/land cover, General Urban Plan of Mytilene, areas in which buildings with less than two storeys are allowed, the respective areas of buildings with more than two storeys, present population density and existing water supply and sewerage system. The Analytical Hierarchy Process applied in the evaluation of these factors led to spatial potential water demand map, which was classified into five priority zones. Results showed that a large percentage of the study area was identified as very high and high priority areas for future domestic water demand. The applied method was verified against the prepared maps showing the varying rates of water consumption and active water connections. The comparative evaluation of these maps validated the accuracy of the proposed method which can be used by the local officials of Mytilene in adopting policies and strategies aiming towards sustainable water resource management and development.     

The Challenges of Inclusive Cross-Scale Collective Action in Watersheds

Abstract

Increasing attention to watershed management is part of an international policy trend toward integrated water resource management. Integration is multidimensional—across sectors, administrative regions, ministerial portfolios and levels of hydrologic structure and socioeconomic organization. Collective action is key. Individuals need to work effectively together to share common water points; upstream land users and downstream water consumers need to manage and resolve potential conflicts over water quantity and quality, while all the industries, farming communities, urban residents and public agencies that have interests in resource use and environmental quality need to agree on development and conservation objectives and approaches at the basin level. Initiatives that seek to foster collective action in watersheds need to account for the very different interests in water and watershed management. While there may be relatively straightforward ways to foster collective action at a local scale, some forms of collective action may, in fact, be detrimental to other stakeholders. In the developing world in particular, there are often geographic pockets and social groups that are chronically disadvantaged in collective and public processes. Water-users' associations and basin authorities may exacerbate these disparities and further marginalize already poor people. New statutory institutions may intentionally or inadvertently disempower effective customary local institutions. To enable project and program designers to address these challenges better, this paper lays out a framework for assessing the potential for, and implications of, individual and collective decisions in a watershed context. The framework integrates concepts drawn from the biophysical and social sciences, including new perspectives on watershed components, poverty, and collective action. Collective action is seen as a fractal process: collective action for water management at one level of social-spatial organization can have spillover effects at lower and higher levels of social-spatial resolution. To be pro-poor, watershed-management institutions must be genuinely inclusive, deliberately recognizing the interests, perspectives and knowledge of groups that may be systematically excluded from other political and social processes. Researchers, evaluators, watershed-management practitioners and others who apply the framework should be better placed to lay the foundations for that illusive goal: pro-poor, inclusive and resource-conserving development.     

潭江流域水资源开发与优化配置

随着工业化与城市化不断深化,流域开发对水资源需求总量与质量要求不断提高,但是工业废水、生活污水、禽畜养殖废水等排放量迅速增加,大量未经处理的污废水直接排入周围水体,造成水体利用功能下降,危及水资源安全。在潭江流域水资源调查中发现,目前潭江流域面临着流域发展对资源需求增加与水质下降双重问题,流域饮用水源地优先保护与水资源持续利用已成为潭江流域开发研究的重要内容。通过对潭江流域水资源利用现状、特点与存在问题的分析,提出了水资源持续利用与饮用水源地保护的对策与措施。     

佳木斯市控制性需水总量 预测与分析

针对用水总量控制方案的分析制定方法尚无统一方法的现状，提出了一种以需水分析计算为基础，通过多种控制要素(可供水量计算与预测、同类区域/行业用水水平以及区域/流域排污限额)对需水量进行校核和调节的控制性需水总量预测分析方法，并以佳木斯市为例进行了实例分析，以期为节水型社会建设、水资源评价、规划、配置、管理等工作的顺利开展和实施提供理论支撑。     

A Comparative Study of the Performance of Public Water Rights Allocation in China

Pubic water rights allocation, in which water resources are allocated to users administratively as shared public property, is an effective and powerful policy for water resource management. Dozens of public water right allocation systems have been established in China since 1998 without any unified standard across the country. An indicator-based assessment approach, based on equity, efficiency and sustainability, is proposed in this study to evaluate the performance of public water rights allocation systems in China in a quantitative way. The approach was applied in 11 river basins of China in which water rights have been defined. The results show that the performance of the allocation systems depends on the spatial density and exploitation ratio of the water resources. The performance of allocated water rights systems is better in river basins with greater resource densities and smaller water exploitation ratios. This assessment approach is very useful for evaluating policy options for public water rights allocation with appropriate consideration of the local conditions of the river basins.     

Comparison of potential water supply and demand in Taiwan

The authors estimated the potential water supply in Taiwan based on hydrologic and water resource data sets pertaining to 233 rainfall stations, 145 stage stations and 109 reservoirs. The comparison between potential water supply estimates and predicted water demand indicated a slight water shortage, even though Taiwan normally receives a large amount of rainfall. This predicted water shortage likely occurred due to the uneven distribution of rainfall in Taiwan. Taken together, the results of this study demonstrate the importance of conservation of forests and paddy fields for the maintenance of base flow and effective management of reservoirs in Taiwan.     

The African Development Bank: President's Statement

ABSTRACT

External support agencies and national governments are advocating community management of rural drinking water supplies and sanitation facilities as an appropriate and realistic way ofguaranteeing the long-term sustainability of systems in developing countries. Experience with community managed rural water supplies in the developed world can provide useful insights and guidance for the conceptualization, planning, and implementation of community managed water projects. Lessons from a successful water supply program in Western Canada suggest that a sustainable community managed water supply project must be demand driven, that the implementing agency provide an enabling environment, and that beneficiaries be legally empowered to assume ownership and responsibility for the completed systems.     

生态环境用水的实践

生态环境用水是关于水资源管理的一个综合性思维方法，可以为人类社会可持续发展发挥重要作用。近几十年来，这一科学概念得到越来越多国家的关注。但是，在生态环境用水的实践方面，发达国家和发展中国家存在巨大的差距。从政策与立法、管理策略和组织机构能力3方面对生态环境用水在世界其他国家和中国的实践进行了分析比较。通过研究得出国家政策与法律、国际协定、公众参与、市场机制、公众意识、技术支持和流域管理是影响生态环境用水实践的关键因素，并以此为依据明确了中国生态环境用水实践的现状，最后为如何推动中国生态环境用水的实践提出了建议。