Showing papers on "Water scarcity published in 2009"
TL;DR: This paper identifies the key steps in model design and diverse problems, formulations, levels of integration, spatial and temporal scales, and solution techniques addressed and used by over 80 hydro-economic modeling efforts dating back 45 years from 23 countries.
617 citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the impacts of land acquisition on local people, who risk losing access to and control over the land on which they depend and the environment within which these land deals take place.
Abstract: "One of the lingering effects of the food price crisis of 200708 on the world food system is the proliferating acquisition of farmland in developing countries by other countries seeking to ensure their food supplies. Increased pressures on natural resources, water scarcity, export restrictions imposed by major producers when food prices were high, and growing distrust in the functioning of regional and global markets have pushed countries short in land and water to find alternative means of producing food. These land acquisitions have the potential to inject much-needed investment into agriculture and rural areas in poor developing countries, but they also raise concerns about the impacts on poor local people, who risk losing access to and control over land on which they depend. It is crucial to ensure that these land deals, and the environment within which they take place, are designed in ways that will reduce the threats and facilitate the opportunities for all parties involved." from Author's text
600 citations
TL;DR: Improving water resource management is a long-term task requiring a holistic approach with constant effort and should be the government's top priority to address the water scarcity issue.
600 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the role of water for agriculture and food security, the challenges facing irrigated agriculture, and the range of policies, institutions, and investments needed to secure adequate access to water for food today and in the future.
Abstract: Irrigated agriculture is the main source of water withdrawals, accounting for around 70% of all the world’s freshwater withdrawals. The development of irrigated agriculture has boosted agricultural yields and contributed to price stability, making it possible to feed the world’s growing population. Rapidly increasing nonagricultural demands for water, changing food preferences, global climate change, and new demands for biofuel production place increasing pressure on scarce water resources. Challenges of growing water scarcity for agriculture are heightened by the increasing costs of developing new water, soil degradation, groundwater depletion, increasing water pollution, the degradation of water-related ecosystems, and wasteful use of already developed water supplies. This article discusses the role of water for agriculture and food security, the challenges facing irrigated agriculture, and the range of policies, institutions, and investments needed to secure adequate access to water for food today and in the future.
470 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the impact of climate change on groundwater recharge and the number of affected people was computed for four climate scenarios by two climate models using the global water resources and use model WaterGAP.
Abstract: Climate change will lead to significant changes of groundwater recharge and thus renewable groundwater resources. Using the global water resources and use model WaterGAP, the impact of climate change on groundwater recharge and the number of affected people was computed for four climate scenarios by two climate models. Vulnerability of humans to decreased groundwater resources depends on both the degree of decrease and the sensitivity of the human system to the decrease. For each grid cell, a sensitivity index composed of a water scarcity indicator, an indicator for dependence of water supply on groundwater and the Human Development Index was quantified. Combining per cent groundwater recharge decrease with the sensitivity index, global maps of vulnerability to the impact of decreased groundwater recharge in the 2050s were derived. In the A2 (B2) emissions scenario, 18.4–19.3% (16.1–18.1%) of the global population of 10.7 (9.1) billion would be affected by groundwater recharge decreases of at least 10%, and 4.8–5.7% (3.8–3.8%) of the global population would be in the two highest vulnerability classes. The highest vulnerabilities are found at the North African rim of the Mediterranean Sea, in southwestern Africa, in northeastern Brazil and in the central Andes, which are areas of moderate to high sensitivity. For most of the areas with high population density and high sensitivity, model results indicate that groundwater recharge is unlikely to decrease by more than 10% until the 2050s. However, a fifth to a third of the population may be affected by a groundwater recharge increase of more than 10%, with negative impacts in the case of shallow water tables. The spatial distribution of vulnerability, even at the continental scale, differs more strongly between the two climate models than between the two emissions scenarios.
427 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the impacts of land acquisition on local people, who risk losing access to and control over the land on which they depend and the environment within which these land deals take place.
Abstract: "One of the lingering effects of the food price crisis of 2007–08 on the world food system is the proliferating acquisition of farmland in developing countries by other countries seeking to ensure their food supplies. Increased pressures on natural resources, water scarcity, export restrictions imposed by major producers when food prices were high, and growing distrust in the functioning of regional and global markets have pushed countries short in land and water to find alternative means of producing food. These land acquisitions have the potential to inject much-needed investment into agriculture and rural areas in poor developing countries, but they also raise concerns about the impacts on poor local people, who risk losing access to and control over land on which they depend. It is crucial to ensure that these land deals, and the environment within which they take place, are designed in ways that will reduce the threats and facilitate the opportunities for all parties involved." from Author's text
370 citations
TL;DR: This study is the first to conduct a comparative analysis of knowledge, perceptions, and acceptability, and determine segments of residents who are more open-minded than the general population toward the use of recycled and desalinated water.
298 citations
TL;DR: Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is a technology where surface runoff is effectively collected during yielding rain periods as mentioned in this paper, which can then be used for rainfed agriculture or water supply for households.
244 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors estimate both the blue and green water components of consumptive water use (CWU) for a wide range of agricultural crops, including seven cereal crops, cassava, cotton, groundnuts, potatoes, pulses, rapeseed, soybeans, sugar beets, sugarcane, and sunflower, with a spatial resolution of 30 arc min on the land surface.
Abstract: [1] Over the last 4 decades the use of blue water has received increasing attention in water resources research, but little attention has been paid to the quantification of green water in food production and food trade. In this paper, we estimate both the blue and green water components of consumptive water use (CWU) for a wide range of agricultural crops, including seven cereal crops, cassava, cotton, groundnuts, potatoes, pulses, rapeseed, soybeans, sugar beets, sugarcane, and sunflower, with a spatial resolution of 30 arc min on the land surface. The results show that the global CWU of these crops amounted to 3823 km3 a−1 for the period 1998–2002. More than 80% of this amount was from green water. Around 94% of the world crop-related virtual water trade has its origin in green water, which generally constitutes a low-opportunity cost of green water as opposed to blue water. High levels of net virtual water import (NVWI) generally occur in countries with low CWU on a per capita basis, where a virtual water strategy is an attractive water management option to compensate for domestic water shortage for food production. NVWI is constrained by income; low-income countries generally have a low level of NVWI. Strengthening low-income countries economically will allow them to develop a virtual water strategy to mitigate malnutrition of their people.
236 citations
TL;DR: China needs to and is undertaking several initiatives to conserve its water supply for human health and national productivity.
Abstract: China needs to and is undertaking several initiatives to conserve its water supply for human health and national productivity.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify five major emerging public health threats that endanger the health and well-being of hundreds of millions of people, including increasing exposure to infectious disease, water scarcity, food scarcity, natural disasters, and population displacement.
Abstract: Large-scale anthropogenic changes to the natural environment, including land-use change, climate change, and the deterioration of ecosystem services, are all accelerating. These changes are interacting to generate five major emerging public health threats that endanger the health and well-being of hundreds of millions of people. These threats include increasing exposure to infectious disease, water scarcity, food scarcity, natural disasters, and population displacement. Taken together, they may represent the greatest public health challenge humanity has faced. There is an urgent need to improve our understanding of the dynamics of each of these threats: the complex interplay of factors that generate them, the characteristics of populations that make them particularly vulnerable, and the identification of which populations are at greatest risk from each of these threats. Such improved understanding would be the basis for stepped-up efforts at modeling and mapping global vulnerability to each of these threa...
TL;DR: Wang et al. as discussed by the authors proposed a long-term monitoring strategy under the umbrella of the Chinese Ecological Research Network (CERN) for environmental monitoring in the South-to-North Water Transfer Project.
Abstract: In 2002, China launched the South-to-North Water Transfer Project after completing a 50-year feasibility study. By 2050, the three-route (i.e., East, Middle, and West) project will be capable of transferring 44.8 billion m3/year of water from the water rich Yangtze River to the arid north to alleviate water shortage and help secure a balanced social and economic development across the nation. However, diversion of such a large quantity of water could profoundly change the riverine environment of the upper Yellow River and the lower reach of the Han River, a tributary of the Yangtze River and the water supplying area of the project’s Middle Route, because of changes in the annual discharge. Secondary salinization seems inevitable in the water receiving areas of the North China Plain, and decrease in the discharge of the Yangtze River will result in seawater intrusion into the Yangtze Delta. This paper describes the project and discusses its environmental implications. Additionally, a long-term monitoring strategy under the umbrella of the Chinese Ecological Research Network is proposed for environmental monitoring.
TL;DR: In this article, a simulation model, built based on causal loop diagrams of the problem, shows that transbasin diversion is not the best and only solution to the problem and various options of demand management and population control can be more effective in addressing the water crisis of the Zayandeh-Rud river basin when combined with trans-basin water diversions, increasing water storage capacity and controlling of groundwater withdrawal.
Abstract: Within river basins different social, economic, political and physical subsystems interact. When making decisions, policy makers should be aware of such interactions as any new policy will affect more than one subsystem. To determine the adequacy of a specific management policy, an integrated study is needed of a complicated water management system in the basin considering major physical, social, economic and political aspects. The Zayandeh-Rud river basin, in central Iran with a semi-arid climate and large agricultural, industrial and domestic water uses, is an example of a complicated watershed system where the lack of complete knowledge about all the interacting subsystems has led to failure of the policy makers in addressing the water shortage in the basin. Although water shortages occur fairly soon after completion of each new water source, transbasin water diversion is still the major policy of water planners to address ongoing shortages. System dynamics provides a unique framework for integrating the disparate physical, socio-economic and political systems important to watershed management. This approach is used to comprehend the interactions of different drivers of the problem and to convey the experiences, lessons learned, and perceptions gained during the model development process. A simulation model, built based on causal loop diagrams of the problem, shows that transbasin diversion is not the best and only solution to the problem. The results of the model for different scenarios suggest that various options of demand management and population control can be more effective in addressing the water crisis of the basin when combined with transbasin water diversions, increasing water storage capacity and controlling of groundwater withdrawal.
Book•
01 Jan 2009
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the impact of climate change and its impacts on water scarcity, and propose a solution to cope with the various water scarcity regimes by using water conservation and saving.
Abstract: Foreword iii 1 Introduction 2. Water scarcity concepts 2.1. Concepts 2.2. Coping with water scarcity 3. Physical characteristics and processes leading to water scarcity 3.1. Introduction 3.2. Climatic conditions 3.3. Hydrologic characteristics 3.4. Climate change and its impacts on water scarcity 3.5. Meteorological and hydrological data collection and handling 4. Droughts and desertification 4.1. Droughts 4.2. Desertification 5. Conceptual thinking in coping with water scarcity 5.1. Introduction 5.2. Social value of water 5.3. Environmental value of water 5.4. Landscape and cultural value of water 5.5. Economic value of water 5.6. Priorities for water allocation 5.7. International issues - treaties between sovereign states 5.8. Conclusion 6. Surface water use and harvesting 6.1. Large and small scale projects 6.2. Reservoir management 6.3. Control of water losses and non beneficial uses of water 6.4. Water harvesting 6.5. Environmental and health issues 6.6. Conclusion 7. Groundwater use and recharge 7.1. Introduction 7.2. Major aquifers and well fields 7.3. Minor aquifers of local importance 7.4. Environmental, economic and social impacts of aquifer overexploitation 7.5. Artificial recharge 7.6. Conjunctive use of surface and groundwater 7.7. The use of groundwater in coping with water scarcity 8. Using non-conventional water resources 8.1. Introduction 8.2. Wastewater use 8.3. Use of brackish, saline and drainage waters 8.4. Desalinated water 8.5. Fog-capturing, water harvesting, cloud seeding, and water transfers 9. Water conservation and saving. Concepts and performance 9.1. Concepts 9.2. Water use, consumptive use, water losses, and performance 9.3. Water use performance indicators 9.4. Water conservation and saving to cope with the various water scarcity regimes 9.5. Implementing efficient water use for water conservation and saving 10. Water conservation and saving measures and practices 10.1. Water conservation and saving in urban systems 10.2. Water saving in domestic applications 10.3. Water conservation and saving in landscape and recreational uses 10.4. Water conservation and saving in industrial and energy uses 10.5 Water conservation in dryland agriculture 10.6. Water saving and conservation in irrigated agriculture 10.7. Supply management 10.8. Concluding remarks 11. Social, economic, cultural, legal and institutional constraints and issues 11.1. Local communities 11.2. Urban centres 11.3. Rural areas 11.4. User groups 11.5. Administration of water use - public and private organizations 12. Education 12.1. Need to change attitudes to water 12.2. Education and training 12.3. Need for new developments and research 12.4. Development of public awareness of water scarcity issues 12.5. Conclusion Bibliography Index
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors quantified the external water footprint of the Netherlands by partner country and import product and assessed the impact of this footprint by contrasting the geographically-explicit water footprint with water scarcity in different parts of the world.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present the results of two MSc theses which quantify and critically analyze inter-state virtual water flows in India in the context of a large inter-basin transfer plan of the Government of India.
Abstract: Virtual water trade has been promoted as a tool to address national and regional water scarcity. In the context of international (food) trade, this concept has been applied with a view to optimize the flow of commodities considering the water endowments of nations. The concept states that water rich countries should produce and export water intensive commodities (which indirectly carry embedded water needed for producing them) to water scarce countries, thereby enabling the water scarce countries to divert their precious water resources to alternative, higher value uses.
While progress has been made on quantifying virtual water flows between countries, there exists little information on virtual water trade within large countries like India. This paper presents the results of two MSc theses which quantify and critically analyze inter-state virtual water flows in India in the context of a large inter-basin transfer plan of the Government of India.
Our analysis shows that the existing pattern of inter-state virtual water trade is exacerbating scarcities in already water scarce states and that rather than being dictated by water endowments, virtual water flows are influenced by other factors such as “per capita gross cropped area” and “access to secure markets”. We therefore argue that in order to have a comprehensive understanding of virtual water trade, non-water factors of production need to be taken into consideration.
Book•
10 Jul 2009
TL;DR: In this article, the outlook for global food prices and their latest decline following a dizzying climb in recent years is explored and the likely future impact of climate change, energy security, water scarcity and competition for land, together with rising demand caused by increasing affluence and a rising global population.
Abstract: This report explores the outlook for global food prices and their latest decline following a dizzying climb in recent years. It assesses the likely future impact of climate change, energy security, water scarcity and competition for land, together with rising demand caused by increasing affluence and a rising global population.
TL;DR: In this article, a distributed hydrological model has been employed to simulate the natural runoff without consideration of artificial water intake, and the simulated natural runoff follows a similar trend as the precipitation in the entire area being studied during the last half century, and this implies that changes in natural runoff are mainly controlled by the climate change rather than land use change.
Abstract: [1] The hydrological cycle has been highly influenced by climate change and human activities, and it is significant for analyzing the hydrological trends that occurred in past decades in order to understand past changes and to predict future trends. The water crisis of the Yellow River basin has drawn much attention from around the world, especially the drying up of the main river along the lower reaches during the 1990s. By incorporating historical meteorological data and available geographic information related to the conditions of the landscape, a distributed hydrological model has been employed to simulate the natural runoff without consideration of artificial water intake. On the basis of the data observed and the results simulated by the model, the hydrological trends have been analyzed quantitatively for evaluating the impact from climate change and human activity. It is found that the simulated natural runoff follows a similar trend as the precipitation in the entire area being studied during the last half century, and this implies that changes in the natural runoff are mainly controlled by the climate change rather than land use change. Changes in actual evapotranspiration upstream of the Lanzhou gauge are controlled by changes in both precipitation and potential evaporation, while changes of actual evapotranspiration downstream of the Lanzhou gauge are controlled mainly by the changes in precipitation. The difference between the annual observed runoff and the simulated runoff indicates that there is little artificial water consumption upstream of the Lanzhou gauge, but the artificial water consumption becomes larger downstream of the Lanzhou gauge. The artificial water consumption shows a significant increasing trend during the past 50 years and is the main cause of the drying up of the Yellow River. However, in contrast to the common perception that the serious drying up downstream of the Yellow River during the 1990s is caused by the rapid increase of artificial water consumption during the same period, it has been found that the main cause of this aggravation is the drier climate that has existed since the 1990s. The main reason that the drying-up situation became better in the 21st century is because of the enhanced water resources management since 2000.
TL;DR: It was found that Sydney was likely most suited to rainwater use, followed by Perth, Darwin, and then Melbourne, with Sydney having the shortest payback period compared to other cities.
Book•
15 Jul 2009
TL;DR: The Indus Valley Civilization (Harappa and Mohenjodaro) flourished along the banks of the Indus as mentioned in this paper, and this precarious, low-level balance between man and water was decisively shifted with the advent of large scale irrigation technology in the nineteenth century.
Abstract: Pakistan is one of the world's most arid countries, with an average rainfall of under 240 mm a year. The population and the economy are heavily dependent on an annual influx into the Indus river system (including the Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej rivers) of about 180 billion cubic meters of water, that emanates from the neighboring countries and is mostly derived from snow-melt in the Himalayas. Throughout history, people have adapted to the low and poorly distributed rainfall by either living along river banks or by careful husbanding and management of local water resources. One of the greatest of human civilizations-the Indus Valley Civilization (Harappa and Mohenjodaro) flourished along the banks of the Indus. This precarious, low-level balance between man and water was decisively shifted with the advent of large-scale irrigation technology in the nineteenth century. The Indus irrigation system became the largest contiguous irrigation system in the world. The water economy of Pakistan depends fundamentally on a gigantic and complex hydraulic infrastructure system. Pakistan has overcome major water challenges in the past. Pakistan has a remarkable history of successfully confronting major water challenges. There are now a set of related challenges which have to be addressed how to maintain what has been built, what major new system-wide infrastructure needs to be built, what infrastructure needs to be built for populations who have not been served and for environmental protection, and how to build institutions that will manage the resource effectively in the looming era of scarcity. Pakistan needs to develop its indigenous capacity and make a major push to establish and nurture a new set of institutions that will provide the scientific, technical, and policy support for the management of increasingly scarce water. Experience in other countries shows that if this is not done there will be serious economic, social, and environmental consequences.
TL;DR: The model informs the social-research agenda for water policy and identifies a number of research needs including: the exploration of actual adoption of water-related behaviours (rather than behavioural intentions); and to widen the scope of water behaviour enquiry to include more demand-side solutions.
TL;DR: In this article, a many-objective analysis of the tradeoffs associated with using the portfolio planning approach for managing the urban water supply risks posed by growing population demands and droughts is presented.
Abstract: [1] This study contributes a many-objective analysis of the tradeoffs associated with using the portfolio planning approach for managing the urban water supply risks posed by growing population demands and droughts. The analysis focuses on four supply portfolio strategies: (1) portfolios with permanent rights to reservoir inflows, (2) adaptive options contracts added to the permanent rights, (3) rights, options, and leases, and (4) rights, options, and leases subject to a critical reliability constraint used to represent a maximally risk averse case. The portfolio planning strategies were evaluated using a 10 year Monte Carlo simulation of a city in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) within Texas. Our solution sets provide the tradeoff surfaces between portfolios' expected values for cost, cost variability, reliability, surplus water, frequency of using leases, and dropped (or unused) transfers of water. Using an additional severe drought scenario, this work shows that leases and options can reduce the potential for critical supply failures when urban supply systems must contend with unexpected and severe extremes in both demand and water scarcity. In summary, this paper contributes a framework that couples interactive visualization and many-objective optimization to innovate urban water portfolio planning under uncertainty. The many-objective analysis of the LRGV case study shows that effective water portfolio planning can simultaneously improve the costs, efficiency, and reliability of urban water supply while ensuring adaptability and resiliency to future changes.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors employed a panel data econometric model to estimate how sensitive the nation's agriculture may be to changes in rainfall, and discussed with respect to both established and emerging farmers, and the type of agriculture that should be favored or phased out in different parts of the country, in view of current and projected trends in climate, increasing water use, and declining water availability.
Abstract: South Africa in general has been approximately 2% hotter and at least 6% drier over the ten years between 1997 and 2006 compared to the 1970s. The use of water has also increased greatly over this same period. By 2000, 98.6% of that year’s surface water yield and 41% of the annual utilisable potential of ground water was allocated to use. Irrigation agriculture, comprising 60% of total consumption, is by far the largest single consumer of water. Given these climatic and water use changes as a backdrop, we employed a panel data econometric model to estimate how sensitive the nation’s agriculture may be to changes in rainfall. Net agricultural income in the provinces, contributing 10% or more to total production of both field crops and horticulture, is likely to be negatively affected by a decline in rainfall, especially rain-fed agriculture. For the country as a whole, each 1% decline in rainfall is likely to lead to a 1.1% decline in the production of maize (a summer grain) and a 0.5% decline in winter wheat. These results are discussed with respect to both established and emerging farmers, and the type of agriculture that should be favoured or phased out in different parts of the country, in view of current and projected trends in climate, increasing water use, and declining water availability.
TL;DR: In the post-war years, hydrogeochemistry was influenced heavily by the advances in other disciplines including physical chemistry, metallurgy and oceanography, and important advances in analytical chemistry allowed multi-element and trace element applications to be made as discussed by the authors.
TL;DR: A range of land management practices are available to improve the Green Water Use Efficiency (GWUE), i.e., the fraction of rain that is used for plant transpiration as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Water scarcity and drought in Africa are often in the news. The widespread tendency to relate farmers’ notion of drought to changes in the occurrence of dry spells is misguided: several recent studies have yielded little evidence of an increase in the length and/or frequency of such spells. The farmers’ concept of drought is contextual and an indirect result of land degradation. Plant production suffers because water is not available due to deteriorated physical properties of soil. Farmers’ perception of drought refers to the Green Water Use Efficiency (GWUE), i.e. the fraction of rain that is used for plant transpiration. GWUE in Africa is remarkably low: in sub-Saharan Africa, only 15% of the terrestrial rainwater is used by plants for the production of food, fodder and fibre. Although a millet crop grown under traditional circumstances uses only 50 mm in transpiration, the crop frequently suffers from agricultural drought due to excessive losses of rainwater. A range of land management practices is available to help improve GWUE. They can be classified according to their function. Hedgerow barriers and terraces can mitigate runoff; infiltration rates below hedgerows in Kenya were found to be three to eight times higher than where the crop was grown. Mulch that triggers soil fauna can improve water availability; mulching with straw from a local perennial grass in Burkina Faso doubled the water use efficiency from 1 kg mm−1 without fauna to 2 kg mm−1 with fauna. Water harvesting and water–nutrient synergy can improve water use; in case permeable barriers combined with the use of compost Sorghum yield in Burkina Faso was 2.3 times higher than in the control plots and the plots with the barriers only. Green water deserves more attention from policy makers, planners, land users, water engineers and managers.
01 Jan 2009
TL;DR: In this paper, ground water samples were collected from different locations in the radius of 25 km. of Kaithal city, Haryana, India and analyzed for their physicochemical characteristics.
Abstract: Ground water samples were collected from different locations in the radius of 25 km. of Kaithal city, Haryana(India). These water samples from 20 sampling points of Kaithal were analyzed for their physicochemical characteristics. Laboratory tests were performed for the analysis of samples for pH, Colour, Odour, Hardness, Chloride, Alkalinity, TDS etc. On comparing the results against drinking water quality standards laid by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and World Health Organization (WHO), it is found that some of the water samples are non-potable for human being due to high concentration of one or the other parameter. The usefulness of these parameters in predicting ground water quality characteristics were discussed. Thus an attempt has been made to find the quality of ground water in and around Kaithal City town, suitable for drinking purposes or not. (Researcher. 2009;1(2):1-5). (ISSN: 1553-9865). The quality of ground water depends on various chemical constituents and their concentration, which are mostly derived from the geological data of the particular region. Ground water occurs in weathered portion, along the joints and fractures of the rocks. In fact, industrial waste and the municipal solid waste have emerged as one of the leading cause of pollution of surface and ground water. In many parts of the country available water is rendered non-potable because of the presence of heavy metal in excess. The situation gets worsened during the summer season due to water scarcity and rain water discharge. Contamination of water resources available for household and drinking purposes with heavy elements, metal ions and harmful microorganisms is one of the serious major health problems. The recent research in Haryana(India) 1 concluded that it is the high rate of exploration then its recharging, inappropriate dumping of solid and liquid wastes, lack of strict enforcement of law and loose governance are the cause of deterioration of ground water quality. Thus there is a need to look for some useful indicators, both chemical and physical, which can be used to monitor both drinking water operation and performance. Kaithal City area comprises different types of Archaeancrystalline formations. At present there is no major industry in and around the study area, yet household waste water and garbage (municipal sewage) are directly discharged into the area. The water supply for human consumption is often directly sourced from ground water without biochemical treatment and the level of pollution has become a cause for major concern. The water used for drinking purpose should be free from toxic elements, living and non- living organisms and excessive amount of minerals that may be harmful to health. Keeping this in focus, the quality aspects of ground water in Kaithal City area were analyzed for general water quality. Hence, it is highly essential to examine the presence of toxic substances in distribution water for potable purpose before it is used for drinking. EXPERIMENTAL Sample collection Water samples from the selected sites were collected during Sept2007-March 2008 and taken in pre-cleaned polyethylene bottles. The samples after collection were immediately placed in dark boxes and processed within 6 h of collection. Physico-chemical analysis The collected samples were analyzed for major physical and chemical water quality parameters like pH, Electrical conductivity (EC), Total Dissolved solids (TDS), total hardness (TH), Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , as per the method Assessment of Ground Water Quality described in "Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater American Public Health Association (APHA) 2 .The parameters present in the water
Posted Content•
01 Jan 2009
TL;DR: The authors reviewed China's water scarcity situation, assesses the policy and institutional requirements for addressing it, and recommends key areas for strengthening and reform, including governance, water rights, pricing, ecological compensation, pollution control and emergency response.
Abstract: This report reviews China's water scarcity situation, assesses the policy and institutional requirements for addressing it, and recommends key areas for strengthening and reform. It is a synthesis of the main findings and recommendations from analytical work and case studies prepared under the World Bank Analytical and Advisory Assistance (AAA) program entitled 'Addressing China's Water Scarcity: from Analysis to Action.' These studies focus on several strategically important thematic areas for China where additional research was needed, as identified by the research team and advisory group based on a review of pressing issues. These areas are governance, water rights, pricing, ecological compensation, pollution control, and emergency response. The approach has been to evaluate Chinese and international experience to identify policy and institutional factors that have proven effective in promoting the adoption of water conservation and pollution reduction technologies. The research was based on literature reviews, qualitative and quantitative policy analyses, household surveys, field trips, and case studies to develop feasible recommendations for a plan of action based on realities on the ground.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors reviewed other types of research carried out in the field of domestic water consumption drivers, and highlighted the potential contributions of studying territorial, demographic and cultural factors, all of them of great interest for Geography.
Abstract: Water constitutes and essential flow for the reproduction of urban environments. However and differently than other essential flows such as energy, money or materials, water is essentially bounded to local or regional environments for direct uses. Water stressed urban environments (such those in Mediterranean areas) are prone to suffer water scarcity both due to physical variables but also to human and social factors. Thus, understanding which factors lay behind urban water consumption is critical both in theory terms and also in technical and policy related matters. While the economic and technical literature has paid a great deal of attention to the role of price and other socio-economic drivers, the present work reviews other types of research carried out in the field of domestic water consumption drivers, and highlights the potential contributions of studying territorial, demographic and cultural factors, all of them of great interest for Geography.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors evaluate whether Spanish international trade with grains is consistent with relative water scarcity and show that grain trade is apparently consistent with water scarcity as net imports increase in dry years.