Relative Effects of Water Temperature and Water Chemistry on the Fish of the Thames Tideway

1 IntroductionThe Tidal Thames is a well mixed estuary stretching some140 km from Teddington to the North Sea , which provideshabitats for both resident and migrant fish species . With tidalwater enteringfromthe ocean and fresh water flowingfromtheland ,t…     

Method and Practice on Water Function Division of the Yangtze River Region

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Water Mangement Intricacies in the Sultanate of Oman The Augmenation—Conservation Conundrum

Abstract

As with most arid regions, the gap between increasing demands for freshwater and the limited available natural resources has increased dramatically in the Sultanate of Oman. This is mainly due to the expansion in agricultural production and improvements in the standard of living with increasing demands per capita for good quality water. Major aquifers are affected from excessive pumping at rates, which have reached 190 percent of the safe yield in some areas. Several water management approaches have been introduced and implemented, including augmentation of resources and conservation of water. The overall annual water deficit has been estimated to be about 378 Mm³, nearly 50 percent of this being in the most agriculturally productive area of the country. This paper highlights the water shortages in Oman and the efforts exerted to resolve them. It also presents an economic assessment of costs and benefits that might provide a preliminary sound base for examining alternative methods of water augmentation and conservation. It is concluded that, even though conservation practices cost much less than augmentation, favoring one practice over the other is contingent on considerations other than mere costing. However, the general policy seems to favor augmentation rather than conservation. This policy must be reviewed through continuous assessment and feasibility studies     

Water Managers’ Boundary Judgments and Adaptive Water Governance. An Analysis of the Dutch Haringvliet Sluices Case

In this paper, we explore how managing actors’ boundary judgments influence the adaptability of water governance. We approach this question by examining the relationship between the way water managers frame, and act in, complex water issues on the one hand and develop adaptive water governance strategies on the other. We define four categories of boundary judgments made by water managers in order to deal with the complexities in water governance issues. An in-depth case study analysis of an attempt to adjust the management of the water regime in the south-west Delta of the Netherlands is provided in order to reconstruct the water managers’ boundary judgments and their impact upon governance strategies used. We found that, most of the time, the water managers involved predominantly made tight boundary judgments. These tight boundary judgments seemed to hamper the mutual learning process among a variety of stakeholders that is needed to realize adaptive water governance. We argue that wide boundary judgments enhance the chance of realizing adaptive practices and build upon exploration, learning, and connection.     

Rethinking the Concepts of Virtual Water and Water Footprint in Relation to the Production–Consumption Binomial and the Water–Energy Nexus

In the field of Ecological Economics, the need of using physical indicators to analyse economic processes, at the same time they serve as tools in decision making, has been lately highlighted. Virtual Water (VW) and Water Footprint (WF) are two useful indicators in achieving this objective, the first one from the perspective of production, the second one from that of consumption. This difference between them is interesting inasmuch as it allows to identify the subjects who are responsible for water consumption, whether producers or consumers, and proves both indicators’ potential when designing water management policies. In this work, we consider a hypothesis according to which there is a clear difference between the two concepts—Virtual Water and Water Footprint—and this difference, although evident in their respective conceptualizations, is not reflected in their estimations and applications. This is true to the point that the two concepts are often used as synonyms, thus wasting the enormous potential associated to their difference. Starting from this hypothesis, our objective is, first of all, to highlight this evident but ignored difference between VW and WF through a deep and thorough literature review of the conceptual definitions and contributions, the methodologies developed and the applications made regarding the two concepts. Second, we intend to make a conceptual and methodological proposition aimed at underlining the differences already mentioned and to identify responsibilities in water consumption. We do it by broadening the context of analysis and by integrating the production–consumption binomial and water–energy nexus.     

Special Issue on Water Resources Construction in the Development of the West

General Thoughts on Water Resources Devel-opment In Western Regions In order to realize the objective of having abreakthrough in construction of infrastructure facilitiesand ecological environment, Ministry of Water Re-sources has proposed the Guiding Principles of WaterResources Development in West Regions as follows:     

Responding to the ‘Wicked Problem’ of Water Insecurity

This paper highlights key trends and projections in water scarcity, reviews the ways that water security and water scarcity are most commonly understood, and explores possible responses. Based on a selected review of the literature, an explanation is provided of ways that water pricing can be applied to respond to water insecurity from both a demand and supply perspective. ‘Hard’ and also ‘soft’ approaches that include stakeholder, policy and decision processes are briefly reviewed as ways to promote water security. Collectively, the paper provides a guide about how decision makers might efficiently and equitably respond to the ‘wicked problem’ of water insecurity.     

Brief Introduction of Wanjiazhai Water Complex on the Yellow River

Wanjiazhai Water Complex on the Yellow River isa major project included in the national Ninth Five-Year Plan, financed by three investors of the Ministryof Water Resources, governments of Shanxi Provinceand Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. It is located     

Locating Water Desalination Facilities for Municipal Drinking Water Based on Qualitative and Quantitative Characteristics of Groundwater in Iran’s Desert Regions

Groundwater resources have become the main resources for water supply due to the unavailability of surface water in arid zones. Arid zone’s damage to groundwater resources will have a high impact on human life in arid zones comparing to other regions. Due to the lack of surface water resources in these arid zones, groundwater is used as a resource for drinking and sanitation purposes due to the lack of surface water resources in these arid zones. Water desalination facilities are set up in locations where there is both sufficient amount of water (quantitative criteria) and the extracted water has adequate quality (qualitative criteria). Therefore, an optimization model should be used to locate optimal places for water desalination facilities. Multi-criteria decision-making models are mathematical techniques that, by using the geographic information system, are able to evaluate the options under complicated and indefinite geographic conditions. This research prepares information and factor maps to assign weights to qualitative water maps which were combined in the form of an inductive network. Therefore, by employing the concept of fuzzy fusion models, this article presents a method for solving multi-criteria geographically-indeterminate problems, and finally finds an appropriate location for the construction of a water desalination system in the desert region of Birjand in Iran.     

Benin 2025—Balancing Future Water Availability and Demand Using the WEAP ‘Water Evaluation and Planning’ System

In Benin, annual water availability per capita far exceeds the critical threshold of about 1,700 m³, but during the dry season, water scarcity occurs at the local scale. By modeling the water balance of the Ouémé–Bonou catchment with WEAP (Water Evaluation and Planning System), this study aimed at analyzing Benin’s future water situation under different scenarios of socio-economic development and climate change until 2025. The results show that the pressure on Benin’s water resources will increase, leading to greater competition for surface water. Furthermore, financial and technological constraints hinder a satisfactory development, and exploration of groundwater and reservoir resources. However, improvements are most needed, especially in rural areas. Decreasing inflows and groundwater recharge due to climate change aggravate this situation. Even though there are uncertainties and constraints concerning the model and input data, this study shows that the WEAP results offer a solid basis to assist planners in developing recommendations for future water resource management by revealing hot spots of action.     

Evaluating and Predicting the Effects of Land Use Changes on Water Quality Using SWAT and CA–Markov Models

Water Resources Management - Dongliao River Basin (DLRB) is facing serious deterioration of water quality impacted by anthropogenic activities. As China attaches increasing importance to...     

Exploring Synergies Between Hardware and Software Interventions on Water Savings in China: Farmers’ Response to Water Usage and Crop Production

Evidence is presented on synergies due to the sequencing and packaging of water reforms based on a review of case studies from the Zhanghe Irrigation System (ZIS) in the Yangtze River basin in China. Faced with strategic challenges of economic growth, food security, population growth, and climate change, China has implemented numerous hardware and software interventions in the water sector to increase the availability of water. These interventions??ranging from the provincial and system level to farm and field level??allow reallocation of water from agriculture to higher value uses, without significant reduction in crop production. This review of selected hardware and software interventions suggests that water sector reforms generate significant benefits for peasant farming communities and local governments. The review indicates that all agents respond to the same set of incentives simultaneously, by changing production and resource use decisions such that cumulative benefits from hardware and software interventions reinforce synergies. Synergies from reforms are evident, yet scaling up local collective actions for optimal impact is problematic. Heterogeneity in socioeconomic factors, as well as spatial differences, are the main stumbling blocks. Rewarding reformers seems to work, yet the benefits are neither immediate nor straight forward. Local implementation of national policies requires a systematic and coherent framework suited to the level of economic development of each region in order to achieve synergies from water reforms.     

Estimating the Aquifer’s Renewable Water to Mitigate the Challenges of Upcoming Megadrought Events

Water Resources Management - In arid and semi-arid regions of the world, the occurrence of prolonged drought events (megadroughts) associated with climate change can seriously affect the balance...     

Changes in the Coastline and Water Level of the Akşehir and Eber Lakes Between 1975 and 2009

The Ak?ehir and Eber Lakes, relatively shallow, small freshwater lakes with an area of 361 km² and 150 km² and average depth of 7 m and 2 m (1998), respectively in southwestern Turkey, have experienced a severe decline in water levels in recent decades. This study aimed to investigate coastline and water level changes of lakes and identify the causes for the decline in lake levels. Nine Landsat images from different times, monthly temperature, precipitation, discharge, lake level records and population data were used to analyze these changes. From 1975 to 2009, the water surface areas of the Ak?ehir and Eber Lakes decreased from 356,929 to 126,482 km² and from 119,882 to 85,663 km², a loss of 64.5% and 28.4% over the 34-year period, respectively. From 1975 to 2004, the Ak?ehir Lake level declined by 2.67 m from 956.02 m to 953.35 and the Eber Lake level declined by 2.03 m from 966.75 m to 964.72 m from 1975 to 2004 based on ground lake level data (in situ). The results of the temperature and precipitation analysis showed that although the annual mean climatic factors vary substantially, they show small increasing trend over the record periods. Annual discharge records on the Akarçay River and its tributaries decreased over the basin during the same period. Irrigation systems, three dams and seven pounds built in recent decades for agricultural irrigation and domestic use, made the major impact on lowering the lake levels because they derive water from the river for human use upstream of the lakes’ catchments. Population growth, rising water consumption for agricultural and domestic purposes and building dams has led to lake levels declining. The change of lake levels might depend more on anthropogenic factors than on climatic factors.