Showing papers on "Water scarcity published in 1985"

Common property resource management in South Indian villages

Abstract: How do Indian villagers manage common property resources, such as canal irrigation water and grazing? The paper deals with the remarkable variation found between villages in one small area of South India. Some villages were more highly organized than anything hitherto reported in the literature on (non-tribal) villages; others, perhaps only a few miles away, had no village-level organization at all. This paper sets out in broad terms an argument to explain this pattern of variation. The presence or absence of village-level organization has a great deal to do with the degree of risk of crop loss faced by many or most farmers of the village; which is in turn related to ecological conditions of soil type and water scarcity.

The use and waste of water in a third world city

Abstract: All over the world, cities that are crossed by large rivers, have the great advantage of being able to meet their water needs. In the humid tropics, such cities should normally not experience water scarcity. Ilorin, the city under study is crossed by two fairly large rivers. The town is just about 100 km2 in area with a population less than 500,000. 3km E of the city, is a dam with a storage capacity of 43 million m3. The daily water production to the city is 661/person. When it is realized that less than 25% of the houses in the city have modern sanitary conveniences, then 661/person per day borders on over supply. Yet there is the cry of inadequate water supply from sections of the city. The habits of the city dwellers make them waste water. For example, mouth brushing alone takes about 2.4 I/person when the tap runs continuously. Secondly a bath with a 221 bucket of water is adequate for an adult, but when a shower bath is taken, about 841 will be required for about 15 minutes. This paper has examined the use and waste of water among the physical strata in the city. These strata coincide with the socio-economic strata. For an affluent class, a threshold water requirement of 521 is manageable, whereas in the Government Reservation area, the average is 82 1 (often includes waste). For the indigenous area, about 351 per day for an individual is the need, though the demand might be much higher than this value.

A Look to the Future in Watershed Management

Abstract: The discipline of watershed management will continue as a viable specialized field as the scarcity, demand, and price of water increase in the future. Training of watershed managers should include a strong foundation in basic science or engineering followed by elective or graduate work in watershed-science courses. The important future problems for watershed management are plentiful, but the areas of emphasis should include ground and surface water quality, modeling and computerization, remote sensing and data transmission, large area hydrology, and international applications.

A Survey of Water Demand Forecasting Procedures on Fixed Army Installations.

Abstract: : Current guidelines and procedures for estimating daily average water demand were reviewed and 90 installations were surveyed to determine water service patterns and management practices, including water costs, conservation programs, and contingency plans. Sectors of water installation use as a function of building area were determined. These relationships were used to test and evaluate a linear additive model. It was found that current procedures for estimating water demand contain major discrepancies. Improved water planning guidelines are needed to help predict water demand, formulate water shortage contingency plans, and assess potential water conservation techniques. The survey results indicated that about one third of the respondents needed better tools to estimate future water demand. Most respondents did not have formal contingency plans or water conservation programs. The linear additive model uses categorized building areas (data readily available to installation Facility Engineers) to predict water use sectors. Testing of the model showed that it could effectively predict peacetime water use and be used to evaluate the effectiveness of conservation measures.

Water into the 1990's: the problems of the desert biome

Abstract: The projected increase in the world's population during the 1990s will bring increased pressure on the fragile desert environment, and desiccation will undoubtedly increase considerably. Some improvement in water supplies may come from untapped ground water and exotic rivers, but this will be strictly limited. The only viable option lies in making better use of existing reserves through economy, conservation and recycling waste. For this to be achieved, wide scale education—but not necessarily literacy—will be necessary. Ecological considerations dictate the adoption of multiple land use and the avoidance of large‐scale developmental projects. Water shortage need not be a greater problem of the arid lands in the 1990s than it is at present, although it almost certainly will be.