Year 2012 Reza Ardakanian and Dirk Jaeger (eds.), Water and the Green Economy, Capacity Development Aspects, United Nations University, Water for Life, UN Water, May 2012. This
book consists of 11 chapters that concern global aspects of water as it relates
to capacity development. More and more societies are looking to transfer their economies into green economies. This begs questions such as what are the characteristics of a green economy, and what will it take to accomplish it with respect to capacity development needs within the water supply and sanitation sector? While the “green
economy” concept still needs to be defined and agreed in detail, UNEP’s working
definition considers a green economy to be one which results in improved human
well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks
and ecological scarcities: “In its simplest expression, a green economy can be
thought of as one which is low carbon, resource efficient and socially
inclusive”. Furthermore, the green
economy approach “seeks, in principle, to unite under a single banner the
entire suite of economic policies ... of relevance to sustainable development”.
As such, this approach includes already
approved holistic management approaches such as integrated water resources
management and combines principles of social inclusiveness, resource and energy
efficiency, while assuring biodiversity and sustainable ecosystem services. In its Green Economy Report, UNEP2 (2011) provides six key messages with respect to water: 1. Water, a basic
necessity for sustaining life, goes undelivered to many of the world’s poor. 2. The existing inadequacies in provision of water and sanitation services generate considerable social costs and economic inefficiencies. 3. Continuing current
practices will lead to a massive and unsustainable gap between global supply
and demand for water withdrawal. This is exacerbated by failure to collect and
treat used water to enable subsequent uses. 4. The availability of an adequate quantity of water, of sufficient quality, is a service provided by ecosystems. 5. Accelerated
investment in water-dependent ecosystems, in water infrastructure and in water
management can be expected to expedite the transition to a green economy. 6. When investment is coupled with improvements in institutional arrangements, entitlement and allocation system, the expansion of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES), and the improvement of water charging and finance arrangements, the amount that needs to be invested in water can be reduced significantly. This book fills a gap in current knowledge when it comes to connecting capacity development, water, and green economy practices. Of particular importance are capacity development practices for knowledge transfer and adaption/adoption; capacity development practices for technology development/adoption/transfer; individual capacity development practices; and institutional capacity development practices.
April 30-May 1: The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies recently held a workshop on hydraulic fracturing for extraction of natural gas from shale rock formations. The link to the workshop may be found at http://www.iom.edu/frackingHIA, and the series of presentations is on the right-hand side of the page, organized by author last name. Natural gas extraction from shale rock formations, which includes hydraulic fracturing (commonly referred to as “hydrofracking”), is increasingly in the news as the deployment of the technologies has expanded, rural communities have been transformed overnight, public awareness has increased, and regulations are developed. The expanding use of shale gas extraction across the United States occurs in a context in which there are demands to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, desires to decrease dependency on foreign energy, controversies over other energy sources like offshore drilling, nuclear energy, biofuels and the proposed Keystone pipeline, and slower advancements of renewables like wind and solar energy technologies. Shale gas extraction in the
United States is an opportunity because of the existence of thermagenic methane reservoirs in
geologic formations such as the Marcellus and Utica shale formations. Formerly
inaccessible, the higher cost of petroleum based fuels has motivated efforts to extract and market this
methane at depths up to 7,000 feet. Because of the geology of the shale—at depths of at least 100
ft and with gas stored within natural fractures or joints rather than in large pools—conventional
gas extraction techniques are not effective. Hydrofracturing utilizes technological advances
in horizontal drilling and fracturing techniques. It differs from conventional gas extraction
techniques in that it involves: higher volume of fracking fluids (millions of gallons of fluid
versus less than 100,000 gallons of fluid) to stimulate gas release; directional drilling to access
more natural joints; the use of “slickwater” to allow for pumping over 1.5 to 2.0 miles of
horizontal pipe; and multi-well pads. Combining these technologies has made gas extraction from
organic-rich shale formations economically feasible in the last 15 years. Here are some of the presentation titles that relate to sustainable water resources. Use the author last name to see the full presentation on the web site given above. All can be downloaded. Groat,
Chip, Assessing the Perceived and Real Environmental Consequences of Shale Gas
Development, University of
Texas. Focazio, Michael, The Geographic Footprint, USGS. Swackhamer, Deborah L. Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing on Water Resources, University of Minnesota. Jackson, Rob, Hydraulic Fracturing, Water Resources, and
Human Health, Duke
University. Orme-Zavaleta, Jennifer, EPA Study Plan on the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing on Drinking Water Resources: Approach to Study Potential Health Impacts, EPA. Computing for Sustainable Water Project, World Community Grid, University of Virginia, 2012. http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/forums/wcg/viewthread_thread,32996 This web
link is to a new sustainable water resources project. Welcome to the Computing
for Sustainable Water (CFSW) project. This is an interdisciplinary team of
researchers from the University of Virginia in the United States. The project
will use the resources of the World Community Grid to assess how we might
restore and sustain the health of the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in
the continental United States, covering over 64,000 square miles. 2012: The new India Water Portal is now available at http://www.indiawaterportal.org/ This web site offers comprehensive information about Indian water resources. News, data, and a directory are all included. A newsletter subscription is offered. User queries and comments are on the right hand side of the display. The included blog may have new papers and reports that are offered for review and comment. A bulletin board and calendar round out the most prominent aspects of this web site. The Portal is a voluntary effort being coordinated by Arghyam, a non-profit trust that works in the area of water. The Portal is created in a spirit of sharing and openness by a wide range of partners including technical water experts, research institutes, NGOs, government departments, historians, hydro-geologists, IT specialists, educators and others. The Portal is managed by a dedicated team, including both full-timers working from Arghyam’s office in Bengaluru and a group of consultants distributed across India. Funding for the Portal is provided by Arghyam.
Government Accountability Office, Information on the Quantity, Quality, and Management of Water Produced During Oil and Gas Production, Report to the Ranking Member, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, House of Representatives, GAO-12-156, January 2012. http://www.gao.gov/assets/590/587522.pdf A significant amount of water is produced daily as a byproduct from drilling of oil and gas. A 2009 Argonne National Laboratory study estimated that 56 million barrels of water are produced onshore every day, but this study may underestimate the current total volume because it is based on limited, and in some cases, incomplete data generated by the states. In general, the volume of produced water generated by a given well varies widely according to three key factors: the hydrocarbon being produced, the geographic location of the well, and the method of production used. For example, some gas wells typically generate large volumes of water early in production, whereas oil wells typically generate less. Generally, the quality of produced water from oil and gas production is poor, and it cannot be readily used for another purpose without prior treatment. The specific quality of water produced by a given well, however, can vary widely according to the same three factors that impact volume—hydrocarbon, geography, and production method. Oil and gas producers can choose from a number of practices to manage and treat produced water, but underground injection is the predominant practice because it requires little or no treatment and is often the least costly option. According to federal estimates, more than 90 percent of produced water is managed by injecting it into wells that are designated to receive produced water. A limited amount of produced water is disposed of or reused by producers in other ways, including discharging it to surface water, storing it in surface impoundments or ponds so that it can evaporate, irrigating crops, and reusing it for hydraulic fracturing. Managing produced water in these ways can require more advanced treatment methods, such as distillation. How produced water is ultimately managed and treated is primarily an economic decision, made within the bounds of federal and state regulations. The management of produced water through underground injection is subject to the Safe Drinking Water Act’s Underground Injection Control program, which is designed to prevent contamination of aquifers that supply public water systems by ensuring the safe operation of injection wells. Under this program, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the states require producers to obtain permits for their injection wells by, among other things, meeting technical standards for constructing, operating, and testing and monitoring the wells. EPA also regulates the management of produced water through surface discharges under the Clean Water Act. Other management practices, such as disposal of the water into surface impoundments, irrigation, and the reuse of the water for hydraulic fracturing, are regulated by state authorities. Several federal agencies, including EPA; the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Geological Survey; and a number of Department of Energy national laboratories, have undertaken research and development efforts related to produced water. These efforts have included sponsoring and issuing studies that describe the volume and quality of produced water, options for managing produced water and associated regulatory issues, as well as options for improving existing technologies for treating produced water and developing new technologies, such as more cost-effective filters. Year 2011 Hipel, Keith, et al, Water Resources in Canada: A Strategic Viewpoint, Report to the Inter American National Academies of Science, 2011. http://www.powi.ca/pdfs/other/Canada%20White%20Paper%20on%20Water-August%202011.pdf All levels of government in Canada should adopt an adaptive, integrative and participatory approach to water governance from a systems thinking perspective for proactively addressing existing strategic water problems as well as unforeseen difficulties that will arise in the future. In consultation with all levels of government and key stakeholders, Canada should develop a comprehensive national water policy that reflects the values of Canadians and has precedence over international trading agreements. Because of its vastness and the rich diversity of climate regions and ecosystems, Canada has many regional water problems to solve such as melting glaciers in the Rocky Mountains, droughts in the Prairies, high water demand in the oil sands, flooding in Manitoba, fluctuating water levels and pollution in the Great Lakes, expanded hydroelectric power developments in northern Quebec and Labrador, and the threat of water exports, especially from the Great Lakes. A wide variety of challenging water related problems to tackle occur in many regions of Canada: groundwater overexploitation, contaminants of emerging concern, brownfield prevention and redevelopment, bottled water, and the increasing negative impacts of climate change. Accordingly, specific recommendations are put forward for achieving enlightened water governance in Canada as well as internationally. Moreover, connected governance innovations related to climate change, energy and trade are also formulated.
Ximing Cai, et al, Can Water Allocation in the Yellow River Basin Be Improved?, International Food Policy Research Institute, Discussion Paper 01117, 2011. http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/ifpridp01117.pdf In 1999, the Government of China enforced a cross-provincial, quota-based Water Allocation Agreement that was developed in 1987 and titled Unified Water Flow Regulation (UWFR) to ensure that flow to the Yellow River mouth would not be cut off. This policy was in line with the refocus of the Government, over the last decade, on sustainable water use and keeping the Yellow River healthy. The policy enforcement ended more than two decades of flow-cutoffs, that is, periods when the Yellow River did not reach the Bohai Sea at its mouth, during an increasing number of days every year. While the UWFR was an important step forward in protecting the water resources in Northern China, the allocation did not take into account the value of water in various uses and water users who had to give up water resources, chiefly irrigators in the upstream and midstream provinces were not compensated. Could alternative water management options have brought about a better outcome for irrigators and the downstream ecosystem? We analyze this question using a Multi-Agent System (MAS) modeling framework for the Yellow River Basin (YRB). We find that compared to the baseline scenario simulating UWFR management, water trading among irrigation districts would result in a small decline in water consumption, a significant increase in agricultural GDP, and a small increase in total basin GDP. Overall GDP increase would be much higher if domestic and industrial uses became active water trading sectors.
Varela-Ortega, Consuelo, Participatory Modeling for Sustainable Development in Water and Agrarian Systems: Potential and Limits of Stakeholder Involvement, EAAE 2011 Congress, Change and Uncertainty, Zurich, Switzerland, 2011. http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/115546/2/Varela-Ortega_Consuelo_665.pdf Public participation is increasingly advocated as a necessary feature of natural resources management. The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) is such an example, as it prescribes participatory processes as necessary features in basin management plans. The rationale behind this mandate is that involving interest groups ideally yields higher-quality decisions, which are arguably more likely to meet public acceptance. Furthermore, failing to involve stakeholders in policy-making might hamper the implementation of management initiatives, as controversial decisions can lead pressure lobbies to generate public opposition. A common
approach to public participation is to hold open meetings for groups or
individuals to provide input. While these strategies have been used for decades,
they are not necessarily sufficient for some processes as they are frequently
biased towards the interests of participants of well-organized place-based
groups. Hence, public participation has developed into an expanding body of
knowledge that comprises a variety of techniques and practices. For instance,
wherever significant uncertainties exist ongoing stakeholder participation
might be needed to address management and governance problems adequately. Joint
involvement of water managers, stakeholders and experts may in turn require
decision support tools that build on transparency and flexibility to reach
sound action plans and instruments. While participatory processes should ideally empower participants to have a direct impact on policy, this can be difficult in regions where a participatory tradition is lacking. This is particularly true if competing uses make the setting at hand a conflicting one. Following upon this argument, this paper explores the role of an informal public participation process held in the Upper Guadiana basin, Spain. It is hypothesized that informal, non-binding fora might provide valuable additions to conflictive contexts, not only contributing to broaden the knowledge about the basin under consideration, but also facilitating adaptation to socio-economic and environmental challenges.
Plan Bleu, Water Use Efficiency and Economic Approach, National Study Egypt, July 2011. http://www.planbleu.org/publications/etudes_efficience_eau/National_report_Water_EG.pdf This report presents inputs and contribution from the country of Egypt towards international efforts for the region. It comprises an attempt to assess the efficiency of water use at the national scale for three main subsectors of the water sector, namely: the agricultural sector, the municipal sector, and the industrial sector. Best estimates for the water efficiency index, based on collected data and existing national water-related strategies, are calculated. National water saving potential and efficiency improvement objectives are evaluated along with projected expenses and corresponding savings.
Victor Pochat, International
Agreements, Institutions and Projects in La Plata River Basin, International Journal of Water Resources Development, 27:3, 497-510,
2011. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/07900627.2011.597830 La Plata River basin is one of the most important river systems in the world, mainly due to its degree of development. In 1967, the Intergovernmental Coordinating Committee of La Plata Basin Countries (CIC) was established and, two years later, the riparian countries signed the La Plata Basin Treaty, broadly comprehensive regarding its competence, as well as a framework agreement which has facilitated the implementation of numerous bilateral or multilateral agreements that characterize the current state of co-operation. Since the 1990s, with support from international organizations, a number of projects—at sub-basin or river level—have been carried out, and, in 2001, the development of a Framework Programme for the La Plata basin was agreed. The strengthening of CIC in order to foster synergies among the different institutions and projects towards an integrated basin management approach is expected.
Government
Accountability Office, Chesapeake Bay,
Restoration Effort Needs Common Federal and State Goals and Assessment Approach,
GAO-11-802, 2011. http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d11802high.pdf GAO was directed by the explanatory statement of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008, to conduct performance assessments of progress made on bay restoration, and this first assessment examines (1) the extent to which the Strategy includes measurable goals for restoring the bay that are shared by stakeholders and actions to attain these goals; (2) the key factors, if any, federal and state officials identified that may reduce the likelihood of achieving Strategy goals and actions; and (3) agency plans for assessing progress made in implementing the Strategy and restoring bay health.
Government
Accountability Office, Environmental
Health, Action Needed to Sustain Agencies’ Collaboration on Pharmaceuticals in
Drinking Water, GAO-11-346, 2011. http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d11346high.pdf Pharmaceuticals may enter drinking water supplies from several pathways, including discharge from wastewater facilities. GAO was asked to provide information on the (1) extent to which pharmaceuticals occur in drinking water and their effects, if any, on human health; (2) U.S. and other countries’ approaches to reducing their occurrence; and (3) challenges, if any, that EPA faces in determining whether to regulate pharmaceuticals. Blanco-Gutierrez, Irene, et al, Integrated Economic-Hydrologic Analysis of Policy Responses to Promote Sustainable Water Use Under Changing Climatic Conditions, 2011 EAAE Congress, Change and Uncertainty, Zurich, Switzerland, 2011. Water is a vital resource, but also a critical limiting factor for economic and social development in many parts of the world. The recent rapid growth in human population and water use for social and economic development is increasing the pressure on water resources and the environment, as well as leading to growing conflicts among competing water use sectors (agriculture, urban, tourism, industry) and regions. In Spain, as in many other arid and semi-arid regions affected by drought and wide climate variability, irrigated agriculture is responsible for most consumptive water use and plays an important role in sustaining rural livelihoods. Historically, the evolution of irrigation has been based on publicly-funded irrigation development plans that promoted economic growth and improved the socio-economic conditions of rural farmers in agrarian Spain, but increased environmental damage and led to excessive and inefficient exploitation of water resources. The present study analyzes the effects of national and European water policies under normal and dry climate conditions, using a novel hydro-economic model based on the integration of a multiscale economic optimization model and a hydrology water management simulation model built in WEAP. Application of the model was carried out in the Middle Guadiana basin, a surface irrigated area located on the south-western of the Iberian Peninsula in Spain. http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/114253/2/Blanco_Irene_304.pdf Liu Shao, Water Pricing Towards Sustainability of Water Resources; A Case Study in Beijing, J. of Environmental Sciences, Vol. 14, No. 4, 2002. https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8FZ9WSEG7a2YTJTT2pibnFTTW1VTkF4S3dsTXBLQQ Huang, Qunying, Utilizing Model Interoperability and Spatial Cloud Computing to Enable the Computability of Dust Storm Forecasting, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, 2011. Both environmental and human challenges, such as deforestation and desertification, require scientifically sound simulations of physical phenomena to better understand the past and to better predict future trends for improved decision support. However, many scientific problems cannot be processed using a single computer and require computing capability from many distributed computers. The problems should be solved by interdisciplinary efforts instead of by a single science community. Using dust storm forecasting as a case study, the study investigates how interoperability technologies can facilitate data access service, model input integration, model coupling, and output utilization and dissemination. http://digilib.gmu.edu:8080/xmlui/bitstream/1920/6596/1/Huang_dissertation_2011.pdf
Government Accountability Office, Climate Engineering, Technical Status, Future Directions, and Potential Responses, A report to the Ranking Member, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, House of Representatives, GAO-11-71, 2011. http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d1171high.pdf Reports of rising global temperatures have raised questions about responses to climate change, including efforts to (1) reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, (2) adapt to climate change, and (3) design and develop climate engineering technologies for deliberate, large-scale intervention in Earth’s climate.
Government Accountability Office, Hazardous Waste, Early Goals Have Been Met in EPA’s Corrective Action Program, but Resource and Technical Challenges Will Constrain Future Progress, A report to the Honorable Edward J. Markey, House of Representatives, GAO-11-514, 2011. http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d11514high.pdf GAO was asked by Representative Markey, in his former capacity as Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, to assess this program. This report discusses (1) actions EPA has taken to establish goals for the program and expedite cleanup; (2) the progress EPA, states, and facilities have made in meeting these goals; and (3) the challenges EPA, states, and facilities face, if any, in meeting future cleanup goals. GAO reviewed and analyzed EPA documents and data and interviewed EPA and state agency officials and stakeholder groups. Government Accountability Office, Impacts of Potential Oil Shale Development on Water Resources, Testimony before the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, Committee on Natural Resources, House of Representatives, GAO-11-929T, 2011. http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d11929thigh.pdf GAO’s testimony is based on its October 2010 report on the impacts of oil shale development (GAO-11-35). This testimony summarizes (1) what is known about the potential impacts of oil shale development on surface water and groundwater, (2) what is known about the amount of water that may be needed for commercial oil shale development, (3) the extent to which water will likely be available for such development and its source, and (4) federal research efforts to address impacts to water resources from commercial oil shale development. For its October 2010 report, GAO reviewed studies and interviewed water experts, officials from federal and state agencies, and oil shale industry representatives
Stucki, Virpi, In Search of Integration, Analyzing the Gap Between Theory and Practice of Integrated Water Resources Management With Case Studies from West Africa and International Policy Processes, Aalto University, School of Engineering, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Espoo, Finland, 2011. http://lib.tkk.fi/Diss/2011/isbn9789526042138/isbn9789526042138.pdf Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is one example of integrated approach to natural resources management that has been widely promoted during the past decades. In this thesis, IWRM is understood as a strategic management procedure that integrates the natural resources and society (users and institutions) around a body of water. Numerous international conferences and meetings have promoted IWRM as a key approach to water management and subsequently a way to sustainable development. Yet, practical implementation of IWRM on the ground has had uneven success.
Abbaspour,
Somaya, Water Quality in Developing
Countries, South Asia, South Africa, Water Quality Management and Activities
that Cause Water Pollution, 2011 International Conference on Environmental
and Agricultural Engineering, IACSIT Press, Singapore, 2011. http://www.ipcbee.com/vol15/17-U10016.pdf There are many water quality problems in both developing and developed countries. Of all the environmental concerns that developing countries face, the lack of adequate water of good quality is probably the most serious. The sustainable management of water quality has policy, technical, institutional and financial components. In many developing countries restricted funding is usually combined with fragile or unstable institutions and limited technical capabilities to deal with an expanding range of water quality problems. At the technical level, there has been great progress in western nations in developing more cost effective monitoring, analytical protocols, and assessment methods. This flows not only from better scientific knowledge, but also from recognition that conventional monitoring programs are inefficient, expensive, and often not very useful. Regrettably, financial institutions and ODA programs tend to reinforce conventional approaches in developing countries with the result that these countries have little opportunity to develop a new, more appropriate and more sustainable data paradigm. In lesser developed countries where public health is the major concern, the traditional model of a centralized monitoring program often does not work, suggesting that a new model of decentralized community-based monitoring would be more effective.
Bandeth,
ROS, LY Tem, and Anna Thompson, Catchment
Governance and Cooperation Dilemmas: A Case Study from Cambodia, CDRI
Policy Brief 2011, No. 9. http://www.cdri.org.kh/webdata/policybrief/2011/catchmentgovernance1109e.pdf A catchment or river basin refers to an area of land that is drained by a single river and its tributaries. Integral to the health of a catchment are elements such as soil, water, wildlife and vegetation, all of which form a life support ecosystem. Modern global catchment governance policy has turned to the theory of Integrated Catchment Management (ICM) in the last three decades. Such policy is soon to be introduced in Cambodia as a means to achieve sustainable water resources management at catchment level. This approach recognizes the importance of cooperation between all stakeholders within a catchment, based on the perspective that a catchment is a relevant territorial space which cuts across pre-existing administrative boundaries containing different groups of users and governance systems.
Coulibaly, Naga, An Opensource GIS Tool for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in a Basin, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, 2011. Challenges faced by more and more countries in their struggle for economic and social development are increasingly related to water. Growth in population, increased economic activity and improved standards of living lead to increased competition for and conflicts over the limited freshwater resource. Also, water pollution is inherently connected with human activities linked to domestic, agricultural and industrial wastes. Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is a process which can assist countries in their endeavor to deal with water issues in a cost-effective and sustainable way. This study aims to design a prototype of Decision Support System (DSS) using free and open source software which allows management and analysis of current and historical data for a sustainable management of water resource in a drainage basin. Specifically it is to collect water resources, socio-economic and environmental data, design and implement a database and create a Spatial Decision Support System for water management.
Maskey, Stuty, Using the Advocacy Coalition Framework to Understand Challenges in Urban Water Policy Reforms: A Case Study of the Melamchi Water Supply Project in Nepal, Oregon State University, 2011. http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/21491/maskey.pdf?sequence=1 The Himalayan mountain range is one of the world’s largest sources of fresh water, and Nepal, situated at the foothills of the Himalayas, is endowed with ample water resources. In spite of this water abundance, drinking water supply in many parts of the country is inadequate, particularly in the capital, Kathmandu Valley. For a long time now, Kathmandu residents have been struggling with an increasing urban water shortage. In 2000, as a part of the urban water sector reform program, the Government of Nepal (GoN) entered into a loan agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to construct the multi‐million dollar Melamchi Water Supply Project. This Project provides a sound case study to understand urban water policy challenges in Nepal. This much‐hyped project has been mired in controversy ever since its inception and subsequent loan‐agreement. The development of the project was halted due to numerous controversies ranging from charges of social injustice to environmental concerns, and the project deadline has been revised more than three times. This paper analyzes how differences in beliefs and values lead to the formation of conflicting coalitions that stand firm to protect their core beliefs. By applying the Advocacy Coalition Framework, this paper then examines how coalitions interact, negotiate, reorganize, and adapt to changing policy conditions, to survive and to advance the policy making process. BP Barber, Water Resources Master Plan for the Laurens County Water and Sewer Commission, Laurens, South Carolina, 2011. https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8FZ9WSEG7a2ZzRTQWVlNjRTVWFDLWVJeHp5UEFFdw Located between Greenville and Columbia, Laurens County is in a position to benefit economically from its location in the upstate of South Carolina. To take advantage of potential economic opportunities, the County will need adequate water and wastewater systems to support potential growth. The resources required to effectively operate these systems will need to be developed and managed properly to maintain a high quality of life for the residents of the County. To provide guidance for sustainable development and management of the County’s Water Resources, the Laurens County Water and Sewer Commission (LCWSC) authorized BP Barber to assist with preparation of a Water Resources Master Plan. This report documents the work, findings, and recommendations developed as part of this planning process. An overview of each Section in the report is provided in this Executive Summary. Nelson, Robert H., The New Holy Wars, Economic Religion vs. Environmental Religion in Contemporary America, Pennsylvania State University Press, 2011, Book Review by G. Tracy Mehan III. https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8FZ9WSEG7a2bC1XV1pwNElSblcwU2dmUldpYlht Excerpt: The author “aims to deconstruct modern economics and the environmental movement, purporting to reveal them as literal religions. These are attenuated Protestant sects, “Calvinism minus God,” complete with a Creation story, Garden of Eden, the Fall, and a path to Salvation.” The review also includes a discussion of the 2005 documentary /Grizzly Man/ by the German director Werner Herzog which might involve another kind of “secular theology” as described by Nelson. Government Accountability Office, Climate Change Adaptation, Aligning Funding with Strategic Priorities, Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Senate, GAO-11-876T, 2011. http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d11876thigh.pdf This testimony addresses (1) the actions federal, state, and local authorities are taking to adapt to climate change; (2) the challenges that federal, state, and local officials face in their efforts to adapt and actions federal agencies could take to help address these challenges; and (3) the extent to which federal funding for adaptation and other climate change activities is consistently tracked and reported and aligned with strategic priorities. The information in this testimony is based on prior work, largely on GAO’s recent reports on climate change adaptation and federal climate change funding. Osuna,
Andrea Rodriguez, Adaptation Funding to
Climate Change under the Global Environment Facility: An Analysis of Bolivia’s
Adaptation Projects, Uppsala University, 2010 https://www.forumsyd.org/upload/tmp/uppsats/Andrea_final%20thesis.pdf Adaptation finance has recently become an essential component to address international climate change impacts. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is the main mechanism providing financial adaptation assistance from developed to developing countries. Under this mechanism, Bolivia figures as the country with more projects than any other eligible country, giving the impression that Bolivia receives favorable treatment when resources are allocated. This study analyzes the process by which Bolivia receives funding for adaptation projects using the principle of good governance and elements of accountability, fairness and effectiveness in the allocation of resources, to understand how such adaptation projects are granted.
Rezaian, Sahar, et al, Water Consumption Management using WEAP&Conceptual Models, Case Study: Golestan Province, Iran, 2011 2nd International Conference on Environmental Science and Development, Singapore http://www.ipcbee.com/vol4/30-ICESD2011D10018.pdf Iran is located among the world’s arid and semiarid lands climatically, so its water consumption management is of vital importance. Golestan province as one of the important poles of Iran’s farming and agricultural products is not excluded and in terms of water supply has not a desirable situation. Due to over pumping and reduction in precipitation, groundwater reserves have not been in satisfactory condition. Exploitation of surface water does not conform to any management principle as well. On the other hand due to population growth, development of agricultural and industrial activities, as well as decreasing trend of water resources, setting up a principled approach for water consumption is an undeniable fact. In this study, water supply sources were identified in various parts of the region. Consequently, the role of major water consumption sections in the quantitative change of water resources was determined. Finally the obtained results were used to project the conceptual model for quantitative changes of water resources in order to achieve sustainable development in different parts of this province. The result of the conceptual model shows that about 371.51million cubic meters of water in Golestan province is lost due to lack of adequate reserves. On the other hand, reviews of different management scenarios indicated that the problem of water shortages in this province cannot be resolved alone with construction of new dams. Meanwhile a modified consumption pattern is considered as an effective and complementary step in sustainable water consumption management.
Kragt, Marit E., et al, How Integrative Modeling Can Break Down Disciplinary Silos, University of Western Australia, Working Paper 1121, Crawley, Australia, 2011 http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/108768/2/WP110021.pdf Effective management of environmental systems requires assessments of multiple (physical, ecological, and socio-economic) issues and integration of knowledge from various disciplinary experts. Integrative research faces widely acknowledged theoretical and practical challenges. In this paper, we argue that model development aimed at integrating multidisciplinary inputs can overcome many of these difficulties. Environmental models can act as a shared goal and provide a framework for successful integrative research. Modellers often have the more generalist background and overarching perspective required to develop a shared understanding of a system. Modellers are therefore well-placed to facilitate integrative processes. We discuss the challenges of integrative research and discuss how modellers, and model development, can facilitate successful integration through: definition of common research questions and objectives; conceptual modelling; identification of project participants; aligning terminologies; and stressing the importance of communication and trust. Hydraulic Fracturing, IWA Water Wiki, London, UK, 2011 This online article covers the whole process of hydraulic fracturing, used for the recovery of natural gas from shale rock. The contents include method, environmental and health effects, lawsuits, regulation, chemical constituents used, and other topics. Commentary is included from consultants and the Ground Water Protection Council.
Mehan, G. Tracy III, A Symphonic Approach to Water Management: The Quest for New Models of Watershed Governance, J. of Land Use and Environmental Law, Florida State University, 2010 https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8FZ9WSEG7a2NjQ2M2ZmZTktZTlmYy00NDk0LWFjOGYtNzViZTgyYzQ2NjUz While the largest of the nation’s watersheds will be governed according to their own tailor-made ways, the most common, logical means of effectuating a symphonic watershed governance model across the country is through the instrumentality of water, wastewater, and stormwater utilities that need to assume a greater leadership role in their respective home watersheds. This requires that utility managers redefine their roles in terms of watershed protection, community involvement, and facilities management. Simply managing a facility is no longer sufficient. The problem extends far beyond their immediate service area to the entire basin, catchment, drainage or watershed.
Hussain, Ijaz, Water Demand Management and Economic Value of Water in the Indus Basin, Department of Economics, University of Sargodha, Pakistan, 2007 http://prr.hec.gov.pk/Thesis/366S.pdf The present study was conducted on Water Demand Management and Economic Value of Water in the Indus Basin. To fulfill the objective of the study secondary and primary data sets were used. The primary data for study was collected through a farm survey of nearly 120 farmers on distributaries in Sargodha district. The data for supply and demand was taken from secondary sources. The sources include but not limited to the Agricultural Statistics of Pakistan, 2005-06, Economic Survey, 2006, the Water and Power Development Authority. The crop yield stress data was taken from Mona Reclamation project and Punjab Agriculture Research Institute, Faisalabad. Water supply and demand was estimated by using water balance equations. In order to calculate the Economic Value of Irrigation Water residual imputation approach was used. The change in net income method can be adapted to mathematical programming models (LP model) of farm situations to approximate a functional relationship between net benefits and irrigation water use .
Waslekar, S., The Blue Peace, Rethinking Middle East Water, Strategic Foresight Group, C-306, Mumbai, India, 2011. The issue of access to water resources, particularly in lean seasons, will impact the way political relations and alliances are framed in the future, even more significantly than it already does. The costs of failing to manage water are counted in terms of poverty, conflict, impaired growth and lost biodiversity. New political behavioral norms and processes are emerging. What was common sense and vision in the past is no longer the case. What can be agreed upon today and tomorrow is not the same as before. The conditions have changed in a way that the solutions of the past are not effective anymore. The rules of the game are evolving at an unprecedented speed. The response is not easy. It is all about fostering a new diplomacy, the “blue diplomacy” with the objective of fostering the blue peace. Full Report: http://www.reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/1648FB1E6BBD2A4A4925784E0020AFE3-Full_Report.pdf Presentation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace with video: http://www.carnegieendowment.org/events/index.cfm?fa=eventDetail&id=3137
Ritzma, H.P., Adapting to Climate Change: Examples from the Netherlands, Wageningen University and Research Centre, Wageningen, the Netherlands, 2011. In the Netherlands, adaptation measures focus on the water management system as well as the spatial planning. The selection of adaptation measures mainly depends on the type of land use. For the three major types of land types, i.e. the low-lying peatlands in the western part of the country, the higher sandy soil areas in the east and southeast and the marine clay areas in the reclaimed polder areas, adaptation measures, for both agriculture and nature, adaption strategies are discussed are discussed. http://www.icid2011.nl/files/pdf/Paper%20I-4%20Ritzema.pdf
Mahmud-ul-Islam, S., Land Use Change Detection of the Buriganga River (Bangladesh) Using GIS Tools and its Water Management for Promoting a Sustainable Environment, ISSN 1651-064X, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, 2011. This research work recommends promoting a sustainable environment in the Dhaka city area and healthier life for its inhabitants. It is essential to save the surrounding river system especially the Buriganga River. An integrated river basin organization is highly necessary to implement an IWRM approach to save the river. The present study reveals that a governmental weak institutional setup and lack of enforcement of existing laws and policy are the main obstructions to saving the Buriganga River. http://www2.lwr.kth.se/Publikationer/PDF_Files/LWR_EX_11_13.pdf
Glassman, Diana, et al, The Water-Energy Nexus, Adding Water to the Energy Agenda, World Policy Institute, March 2011. PAPER
http://www.worldpolicy.org/sites/default/files/policy_papers/THE%20WATER-ENERGY%20NEXUS_0.pdf OR https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8FZ9WSEG7a2MzA4ZmMyOTUtOTU5MC00YmQ2LWJjYWQtNTYzOGNjYTUzY2Q3 SLIDES OR https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8FZ9WSEG7a2MTlmZTIzNDYtMzRiOC00NWQ3LWFlYWYtMWNiNTAzMzNjMzRl To enhance the quality of discussion and decision-making on the water-energy nexus, this policy paper provides the context needed to evaluate key tradeoffs. We present a comprehensive, user friendly guide to the most credible available data about water consumption per unit of energy produced across a spectrum of traditional and alternative energy technologies. We identify data holes and important issues that merit further attention. We also have created a glossary to help non-experts decipher energy jargon.
Based on existing data, the most startling finding is that (with some notable exceptions) both traditional and existing alternative energy technologies are evolving toward higher water consumption per unit of energy produced. Both emerging petroleum and alternative transportation fuels consume more water than conventional petroleum-based fuels: • Petroleum from the Canadian oil sands extracted via surface mining techniques can consume 20 times more water than conventional oil drilling. As a specific example of an underlying data weakness, this figure excludes the increasingly important steam-assisted gravity drainage technique (SAGD) method. We encourage future researchers to fill this hole.
• Irrigated first-generation soy- and corn-based biofuels can consume thousands of times more water than traditional oil drilling, primarily through irrigation. More research is needed to evaluate second and third generation biofuels.
The picture on electricity generation is mixed: • Among conventional power plants, gas-fired plants consume the least amount of water per unit of energy produced. Coal- and oil-fired plants consume roughly twice as much water as gas-fired plants. Nuclear consumes approximately three times as much. The nuclear figure may seem surprisingly low in light of the public debate around nuclear water; this reflects frequent confusion between water withdrawal (which tends to be much higher) and water consumption. More research is needed on contemplated future projects including modular nuclear energy.
• One of the “cleaner” coal technologies, the integrated gasification combined cycle process, reduces a coal plant’s water consumption by half, while also reducing carbon emissions and other pollutants. However, contemplated carbon capture technologies could increase a coal plant’s water consumption by 30%-100%.
• Wind and solar photovoltaic electricity consume minimal water and are the most water efficient forms of conventional or alternative electricity production.
• The installed base of the solar thermal form of electricity generation (as opposed to photovoltaic) consumes twice as much water as coal and five times as much as gas-fired power plants.
• Natural gas produced by a technique called hydraulic fracturing is a game-changer that could alter the entire energy mix of transportation fuels and electricity generation. The main water issue here involves pollution, which is beyond the scope of this paper; however, additional research is needed on consumption, particularly in order to reflect substantial changes in the technology and its application to oil. Current data indicate that natural gas produced by hydraulic fracturing consumes seven times more water than conventional gas extraction but roughly the same amount of water as conventional oil drilling.
2011: Water Use for Electricity Generation and Other Sectors: Recent Changes (1985-2005) and Future Projections (2005-2030), Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Product ID 1023676, November 10, 2011. Go to http://www.epri.com, and enter 1023676 in the search field of the page. EPRI has just published this report, which uses the most current data to frame freshwater availability/water resource sustainability across the U.S and across all water using sectors. The report also includes several scenarios to frame how the issue may develop over the next 25 years. This is a framing study which identifies potential geographical areas of concern and explores trends and interrelationships among the water using sectors. More refined analyses are needed to evaluate alternative water management plans for specific localities. As with all analyses of this nature, there are multiple assumptions and caveats; hence, one should read the text to fully understand what these are before citing figures or tables.
2011: Bekiroglu, Sultan, and Omer Eker, The Importance of Forests in a Sustainable Supply of Drinking Water: Istanbul Example, African Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. 6(7), pp. 1794-1801, 4 April 2011. http://www.academicjournals.org/ajar/PDF/pdf2011/4%20Apr/Bekiroglu%20and%20Eker.pdf Istanbul has administrative, social and economic, drinking water problems. The forest areas of Istanbul are more important to drinking water than any other of the forest’s activities, because most of the drinking water dams are located in forest areas. This study is aimed at determining the differences between past and present forestry applications concerning drinking water production in Istanbul for a 600 year period. The level of future drinking water problems in Istanbul was also estimated. Using descriptive analysis method similarities and differences between past and present forestry applications in producing drinking water were identified. Furthermore, the trend of Istanbul’s water demand and supply for the 2010 and 2030 term was also predicted with a scenario. This study indicates that Istanbul city has historically experienced drinking water and forest resources shortages. In the past administrators were very keen to conserve forest areas and drinking water resources for the city. Various regulations to protect and improve the utilization of water resources have been created throughout the history of Istanbul. These measures today are not as effective as they once were which causes exploitation and destruction of water resources.
2011: Bassi, Andrea, et al, An Integrated Assessment of Investments Towards Global Water Sustainability, Water 2010, 2, 726-741, ISSN 2073-4441. https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B8FZ9WSEG7a2NGU3OTZjZTctOWNkOS00ODU1LTljNDQtMGI0YTNiMTM3NjRk&hl=en_US To date there has been limited research on integrated water resource management from a global perspective. This paper gives an overview of current and impending water problems while assessing the investment needs for integrated water management as a possible solution to projected water challenges. The analysis compares a business as usual case to a scenario in which investments improve water efficiency use across sectors to curb demand, increase innovative supply from desalination, and enhance conventional water resource management measures. Systems dynamics modeling is employed to represent the structural factors in the context of an integrated framework including cross-sectoral linkages. The analysis concludes that water sustainability is feasible, but would require investments in the range of $145 billion per year between 2011 and 2050, and timely, effective action.
2011: Gober, Patricia, Desert Urbanization and the Challenges of Water Sustainability, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2010,2:144-150, Elservier. https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B8FZ9WSEG7a2ZmJiY2Y0ODUtOGZkNy00NjU5LWIwNGYtMTE5Y2U3NjNhNWI2&hl=en_US Arid regions and their cities are vulnerable to future water scarcity because climate change threatens to reduce supply and rapid growth increases demand. The study of water sustainability in these regions and cities transcends concern about these topics, and includes the dynamics of water-energy relationships, tradeoffs involved in the use of irrigated landscaping for temperature control, and feedbacks between urban growth, the economy, and the environment. It requires analysis of how complex human and biophysical systems function at a range of scales and calls for new tools for risk assessment and decision support incorporating decision making under uncertainty.
2011: Sustainability and the U.S. EPA, Committee on Incorporating Sustainability in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Research Council, ISBN 978-0-309-21252-6, 2011. This report is available at https://download.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13152 The report presents a framework for incorporating sustainability into EPA principles and decision making. It intended to help the agency better assess the social, environmental, and economic impacts of options as it makes decisions. The report includes chapters on:
2011: Sustainability, Globalization, and the Future Gomes, Carla, Computational Sustainability, Computational Methods for a Sustainable Environment, Economy, and Society, The Bridge, 2009. Key issues in the development of policies for sustainable development will entail complex decisions about the management of natural resources. Making these decisions implies significant computational contributions and will require cooperation among disciplines that do not usually work together. The idea of computational sustainability represents the needed cooperation among these fields, to consider the whole system and how it can be made more sustainable. Biodiversity and species conservation, with special emphasis on marine resources, is studied as an example. Agrarian systems and pastoralism are similarly considered. In all these cases, the demand for improved data and computational systems is in evidence. For example, large-scale sensor networks may be expected to impose increasingly heavy demands on natural resources management. One implication is the development of the Smart Grid, a composite of information and power networks that would weave together users and consumers in ways that are not now possible. The energy needed for such efforts would put natural energy resources as both something that must be managed, as well as something that is needed to make the network a reality. The solution to this kind of systems analysis requires computational models of great sophistication, which largely do not exist today. Development of system models would go far beyond the kind of computer science now taught. Research in this field would require scientists from different fields to work together; natural resource specialists, operations researchers, mathematicians, economists, and policy analysts to name just a few. The focus would be on developing comprehensive computational models that can be used to make more sustainable decisions about natural resources and how they are used. Computational sustainability opens up fundamentally new territory for intellectual progress, with the promise of contributing unique societal benefits. This study can be found at https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B8FZ9WSEG7a2ZDdjODlmNGMtODUwNC00ZTBhLWJiZGQtNGM0YzZkMjE2NzFk&hl=en_US
Martens, Pim and Mohsin Raza, Is Globalization Sustainable?, Sustainability 2010, 2, 280-293, ISSN 2071-1050 Among
the visible manifestations of globalization are the greater international
movement of goods and services, financial capital, information, and people.
There are also technological developments, more international cultural exchanges,
increased freedom of trade in new products and services, immigration, political
changes, and ecological consequences. This study links the Maastricht
Globalization Index with Sustainability Indices to analyze whether more
globalized countries are doing better in terms of sustainable development and
its dimensions. The results seem to suggest that the process of globalization
may render world development more sustainable. The study can be found at https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B8FZ9WSEG7a2NmUzNTY1NjEtYWRjMS00NjAwLWFiMjAtYzRjNmRjODZiNjc0&hl=en_US
Raskin, Paul, et al, The Century Ahead: Searching for Sustainability, Sustainability 2010, 2, 2626-2651, ISSN 2071-1050 The global future lies before us as a highly uncertain and contested landscape with numerous perils along the way. This study explores possible pathways to sustainability by considering four different scenarios for the twenty-first century. The analysis reveals vividly the risks of conventional development approaches and the real danger of socio-ecological descent. However, there is also Great Transition scenario-implying a civilization of enhanced human well-being and environmental resilience. This option includes a suite of strategic and value changes for getting there. A fundamental shift in the development paradigm is found to be an urgent necessity for assuring a sustainable future and a hopeful opportunity for creating a better world. This study can be found at https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B8FZ9WSEG7a2NDhhOTBkYjItMDk0NS00YTg1LWI3YmUtNDRmZDQ0YjVkNWU5&hl=en_US
2011: A recent study on Water Sustainability in Uzbekistan is Schieder, Tina-Maria, Analysis of Water Use and Crop Allocation for the Khorezm Region in Uzbekistan Using an Integrated Hydrologic-Economic Model, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitat, Bonn, Germany, 2011. This document can be found at http://hss.ulb.uni-bonn.de/2011/2493/2493.pdf Sustainable and efficient water management is of central importance for the dominant agricultural sector, the population, and the environment of the Khorezem region. The region is situated in the lower Amu Darya river basin in the Central Asian Republic of Uzbekistan and the delta region of the Aral Sea. Deterioration of the ecology is due to vast expansion of the agricultural area, the utilization of marginal land, and very intensive production of cotton on much of the agricultural land. Supplying food for increasing population and coping with the arid climate require intensive irrigation. Current irrigation strategies are not flexible enough to cope with supply-demand problems, and the political system has promoted unsustainable water use rather than preventing it. The focus of the study is analysis of more economical and efficient water management and crop allocation. To adequately analyze underlying conditions, an integrated water management model is used. To promote an interdisciplinary approach, hydrologic, climatologic, agronomic, institutional, and economic relationships are integrated into one coherent optimization model for the region. Simulations with the model indicate that a modification of the regional water supply has a large influence on the total irrigation, ground water, and drainage system, as well as the soil water budget. Low water supply would cause a shift in crop allocation to less water demanding crops such as vegetables, wheat, alfalfa, and fruits. At higher water supply levels, cultivation of water-demanding rice would become more advantageous. Other results show that better distribution and irrigation systems would reduce infiltration losses. Potential changes indicate that the cotton sector could be restructured to less water-demanding crops with higher economic values. Cotton sector reform would lead to a general redistribution of acreage with compensation for losses caused by abolition of cotton subsidies. However, the abolition of subsidies implies greater risk for farmers. Water pricing could help induce environmental awareness and promote conservation.
2011: Kirker and Burger, Just the Fracking Facts, University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering, 11th Annual Freshman Conference, April 9, 2011. This paper can be found at http://136.142.82.187/eng12/history/spring2011/pdf/1267.pdf
The Marcellus Shale formation stretches from Tennessee to New York, and it is estimated that there may be enough natural gas housed in these structures to supply the United States for approximately 100 years at current consumption rates. Positive effects include possible lower energy costs, about 280,000 jobs, and millions of dollars in local revenue. The fracking process involves cracking open the shale by injecting water, sand, and chemicals at extremely high pressure. However, along with the produced gas there are risks, benefits, and implications for sustainability. USGS DOCUMENTS: Because of the spirited dialogue surrounding this issue, a search was carried out for USGS documents that relate to the geology of the problem (see http://www.usgs.gov). A large number of highly technical documents were found, and for this message four were selected that may help to improve understanding of the issue. The documents are: Soeder and Kappel, Water Resources and Natural Gas Production from the Marcellus Shale, USGS Fact Sheet 2009-3032, May 2009. This document gives background information about the Marcellus Shale formation in the eastern U.S. The document can be found at: http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2009/3032/pdf/FS2009-3032.pdf Milici, Robert, Assessment of Undiscovered Natural Gas Resources in Devonian Black Shales, Appalachian Basin, Eastern USA, USGS Open-file Report 2005-1268. This document expands the information base to include other formations found throughout the region, their history, and properties. The document can be found at: http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2005/1268/2005-1268.pdf Characterizing Ground-Water Chemistry and Hydraulic Properties of Fractured-Rock Aquifers Using the Multifunction Bedrock-Aquifer Transportable Testing Tool (BAT), USGS Fact Sheet FS-075-01, August 2001. This document describes a tool for examining how fractured rock can act as an aquifer and be subject to contamination. It helps scientists and others to assess the availability of ground water and the potential for contaminant migration. The document can be found at: http://toxics.usgs.gov/pubs/FS-075-01/fs-075-01.pdf Borehole-Radar Methods: Tools for Characterization of Fractured Rock, USGS Fact Sheet 054-00, May 2000, in cooperation with EPA Region 5. This document concerns how to locate and characterize bedrock fractures and lithologic changes to assess ground water supply and contamination in fractured rock aquifers. Borehole radar reflection methods provide information on the location, orientation, and lateral extent of fracture zones that intersect the borehole, and can identify fractures in the rock surrounding the borehole that are not penetrated by drilling. This document can be found at: http://water.usgs.gov/ogw/bgas/publications/FS-054-00/FS-054-00.pdf
2011: A paper is available about Arab water security in the relevant nations. This is Salih, Abdin M.A., UNESCO/IHP’s Contribution to Arab Water Security in the Countries, from the Civil Engineering Department of the University of Khartoum, Sudan. The paper can be found at http://www.efficient2011.com/technical/paper/467.pdf or The study reviews freshwater scarcity in the Arab countries, at present and in the future. A number of references to work in the area are included. Key problematic concerns are outlined. Ways of dealing with these problems in part or in total through the framework provided by UNESCO/IHP and related initiatives are highlighted.
2011: Claudia Pahl-Wostl, et al: Adaptive and Integrated Management of Water Resources This paper is available as part of a book for sale from several sources. The book is Water Resources Planning and Management, Grafton and Hussey (eds.), Cambridge University Press, www.cambridge.org, $83.26 (Amazon), 2011. It includes 35 papers on water resources. The paper can be seen on-line, and can be viewed at: The impacts of climate change on freshwater resources will primarily be due to changes in temperature, rising sea levels, and increased precipitation variability. Changes in precipitation, evaporation, and snowmelt will cause widespread impacts in the hydrologic cycle relating to availability and quality. Climate induced changes in land use, population, and urbanization will increase the intensity of demand and the vulnerability to extreme events. The authors include extensive literature references to support their views, and examine tools like Integrated Water Resources Management to cope with the impacts. Managers might be assisted by dashboard-like models, that enable them to see quickly the results of their decisions on the real world. Finally, the conclusions reached are that much of the problem falls not into the technical realm, but into that of management and governance. The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), Executive Office of the President, has released a draft report for comments on this subject. The report is the Draft National Action Plan: Priorities for Managing Freshwater Resources in a Changing Climate, June 2, 2011. The report contains a number of recommendations, as follows: Government agencies and citizens should collaboratively manage freshwater resources in response to a changing climate in order to assure adequate water supplies, protect human life, health and property, and protect water quality and aquatic ecosystems. To accomplish that goal, the draft Action Plan identifies specific actions Federal agencies should take, including: • Establish a planning process to adapt water resources management to a changing climate that includes better coordinating Federal agencies and maintaining strong engagement with state, local and tribal governments, stakeholders and the public. • Improve the quality of water resources and climate change information available to decision-makers. • Expand the use of water efficiency practices and technologies. • Develop a toolbox of the most effective freshwater conservation practices to help state and local officials and facility managers identify and adopt these practices. • Develop a pilot climate change vulnerability index for a major category of water facilities, such as drinking water systems, to help facility managers prioritize their adaptation responses. • Develop a “one stop” internet portal for up-to-date data and information on water resources and climate change. To see the June 2011 report directly, you can use the link: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ceq/napdraft6_2_11_final.pdf
April 2011: There are two important sources for information about the effect of hydraulic fracturing on water resources. First, there was a hearing on April 12, 2011 of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. To see this hearing go to http://epw.senate.gov. Roll back the calendar to April 2011, and click on April 12. You will see a list of hearings, and the one you want is about Natural Gas Drilling, Public Health and Environmental Impacts. You can view the testimony, plus there is an archived video of the hearing itself. During this hearing, at least two senators asked about the effect of drilling on drinking water resources. The answer they got was there is no verified impact. Second,
EPA has published a report in February 2011, Draft Plan to Study the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing on
Drinking Water Resources. This report can be found at:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8FZ9WSEG7a2VTdqdTl6OGhSZzZhME9tR1NCbWllQQ or
This report covers the concerns about risks to drinking water supplies from the hydraulic fracturing process. EPA is now undertaking studies to determine the effects. There will be Retrospective Case Studies to investigate reported instances of drinking water resource contamination or other impacts in areas where hydraulic fracturing has already occurred. Three to five sites across the US will be investigated. A report of interim research results will be completed in 2012, mostly focusing on the Retrospective Studies. Prospective Case Studies will involve sites where hydraulic fracturing will occur after the research is initiated. Sampling will be done before, during, and after the process is carried out. Two to three sites in different regions of the US will be included. A second report in 2014 will include more information about the long-term results of the research. The draft study plan will be submitted to the EPA Science Advisory Board for review before being finalized. Stakeholders and the public will have an opportunity to provide comments to the Board during the review. March 2011: The Omnibus Public Lands Act (Section 9506 of Public Law 111–11, Appendix A, which incorporates the SECURE Water Act) calls for a report to Congress that describes the current scientific understanding of each impact of global climate change on freshwater resources of the United States. This draft report identifies key actions to improve the Nation’s capacity to detect and predict changes in freshwater resources that are likely to result from a changing climate. In addition, a series of next steps for Federal agencies is provided. The ultimate goal is to help decision-makers and water resource managers by facilitating improvements in observational, data acquisition, and modeling capabilities. The draft report is available at http://acwi.gov/Rpt.Congress3.18.11.pdf
March 2011: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) carried out a study titled Amount of Energy Needed to Supply, Use, and Treat Water is Location-Specific and Can Be Reduced by Certain Technologies and Approaches. This study can be found at http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-225 Few nationwide studies have been conducted on the amount of energy needed to provide drinking water and wastewater services, and these studies do not consider all stages of the lifecycle in their analysis. The energy demands of the urban water lifecycle vary by location. Important factors include topography of the service area, the level and type of treatment provided, and the quality of the source water. Systems relying on ground water as a drinking water source generally use less energy than systems relying on surface water, because ground water usually contains fewer contaminants and therefore requires less treatment. Installing more efficient equipment, adopting water conservation measures, and upgrading infrastructure are some approaches that can decrease energy use. Technologies to identify potential pipeline leaks throughout water systems can reduce water loss and consequent energy requirements. Barriers to more efficient operation may include the costs to retrofit plants with better equipment and competing priorities at treatment facilities, and other factors.
February
2011: Climate Change Issues: Options for
Addressing Challenges to Carbon Offset Quality, GAO-11-345, February 15 (42
pages) http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-345 Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d11345high.pdf The report provides information on key challenges in assessing the quality of different types of offsets and options for addressing key challenges associated with offset quality. This information would be important if the US adopts a program to limit emissions. GAO reviewed relevant literature and interviewed selected experts and stakeholders such as project developers, verifiers, and program officials. However, the report contains no recommendations.
The Spring 2011 issue of the National Water Monitoring News, published by the National Water Quality Monitoring Council (NWQMC) can be found at http://acwi.gov/monitoring/. This issue covers a wide variety of subjects, such as the 2012 conference and webinars, the National Wetland Condition Assessment, Great Lakes Restoration, nutrients in the Rocky Mountain states, harmful algal blooms, and other topics. Osooli, Nooshin et al, A Survey: Factors Affecting the Sustainable Water Resources Management (SWRM) in Agriculture Under Drought Conditions in Lorestan, Iran. World Applied Sciences Journal 12 (4): 476-484, 2011. Drought is one of the climatic phenomena that would always cause some damages for human societies. Drought occurs in all climatic regimes of Iran with different intensities. Low precipitation rate has resulted in decreasing river discharge, early exploitation of wells and early aquifer loss in Lorestan Province in recent years. Therefore, it has worsened the drought crisis. The agricultural sector of the province has showed very vulnerable and its crop yield has quite decreased due to inefficient water resources management. As its main objective, the research was conducted to study the factors affecting the sustainable water recourses management in agriculture under drought conditions in this province. This survey was conducted on a number of 220 wetland farmers and 70 experts linked to the subject and selected by Cochran Formula and cluster sampling method. The data were analyzed with Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) Method and the LISREL 8.5 Software. The results indicated that all economic, technical, farming, socio-cultural and educational-extensive factors had significant effects on the sustainable management of water resources in Lorestan Province under drought conditions with 99% certainty. Among these factors, technical
ones had the highest effect and ranking. However, socio-cultural factors showed
the lowest effect and ranking. Moreover, the amounts of the effects produced by
the indexes of these factors were based upon the amounts of standardized factor
loads and their ranking was on the same basis.
Ommani,
Ahmad Reza, Analysis of Sustainable Water Resources Management (SWRM) in Agriculture in Khuzestan Province, Iran. African Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. 6(1), pp 1-6, January 2011.
The purpose of this research was to analyze the supportive policies and dimensions of sustainable water resources management (SWRM) in agriculture of Khuzestan Province of Iran. The research method was a quantitative approach. Total population of experts in the study included all agricultural extension experts (n = 96) in Khuzestan Province, Iran. Based on frequency of respondents about important rate of supportive policies regarding SWRM in agriculture, 70.8% of respondents stated that encouraging farmers to use sustainable methods had very high importance. In reference to the frequency of respondents about extension system roles on realization of SWRM dimensions in agriculture, 52.8% of respondents stated that conservation of water resources had very high importance for supporting SWRM in agriculture. Hearnshaw, E.J.S., et al, Addressing the Wicked Problem of Water Resource Management: An Ecosystem Services Approach, 55th Annual AARES National Conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 2011. https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B8FZ9WSEG7a2NmUwYzdiOTMtMTg3Ni00YTJmLTk4ZGMtNjM2OGMxNzFlOGI0&hl=en This paper develops a systematic assessment of the sustainability of ecosystem services provided by rivers impacted by water storage projects. Given the conflicting preferences among stakeholders and the incomplete understanding about river ecology, managing water resources sustainably is a difficult problem. To address this problem, the methods of multi-criteria analysis and graph analysis are applied, in accordance with integrated water resource management, to assess the potential of investing in water storage projects and explore sustainable solutions through the construction of an ecosystem services index. Mehan, Tracy: Water Management in the Collaborative Mode, WE&T, Feb. 2011, Vol. 23, No. 2. http://www.wef.org/publications/page_wet.aspx?id=9331&page=ca§ion=Viewpoint In this article the author reviews the foundations of cooperative decision making over time, with examples like the work on Governing the Commons. This theory has led to practical application in various parts of the nation, that involve both government and non-government organizations that have stakes in water problems. Some of the examples are reminiscent of how alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is used to achieve solutions that are not traditional, and where the balance of power is such that extended gridlock could occur if solutions are not found that are acceptable to many stakeholders. Solutions of this kind are an important part of sustainable water resources management. January 2011, National Academy of Science: A Review of the Proposed Revisions to the Federal Principles and Guidelines Water Resources Planning Document Since it was issued in 1983, the federal document Economic and Environmental Principles and Guidelines for Water and Related Land Resources Implementation Studies (the P&G) has guided water resources project planning for four federal agencies. Since the early 1980s, however, there have been many changes in the national water resources planning landscape. In light of these developments, many groups -- including committees of the National Research Council -- have recommended that the P&G be reviewed and modernized. In 2007 the U.S. Congress directed the Secretary of the Army to revise the P&G. Congress also directed the Secretary to consult with other entities, including the National Academy of Sciences. The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) released its "Proposed National Objectives, Principles and Standards for Water and Related Resources Implementation Studies" in December, 2009. The present report from the National Research Council constitutes a review of the 2009 document issued by the CEQ.
The
study Examining Water Reuse
Implementation Challenges in Texas: Identification of Education Deficits,
2010-2011, has been published by Baylor University. The study can be found
at http://www.heartlandcenters.slu.edu/ephli/finalprojects2011/02BrooksBryan.pdf The State
of Texas faces unique water resource challenges in the coming decades,
highlighted by an
increasing gap between water supply and demand associated with a projected
doubling of the State’s
population over the next 40 years. Interannual climate variability further
stresses efficient water
management in a State with a dramatic west-to-east rainfall gradient,
projections of prolonged
droughts, and corresponding shifts in reliance on groundwater to surface water supplies for potable source water.
Water reuse (beneficial potable and nonpotable uses of treated wastewater) is recognized as an important approach to increase water use efficiency and diversify water resource management portfolios. However, current projections in the current Texas Water Plan indicate that water reuse will represent only 7.5% of total water demand in 2050. Thus, this project investigated why potable water reuse practices have not been more widely employed in Texas. An initial conceptual model employing a shifting the burden archetype identified infrastructure and research funding, risk communication, and reuse outreach and education as leveraging points to facilitate change. Findings from this study identify the critical need to develop and increase water reuse, environmental health and risk education at the undergraduate level as intervention strategies to facilitate increased implementation of potable reuse practices in the Texas. Accredited undergraduate programs in environmental health science appear poised to support this activity.
Year 2010
Vidic,
Radisav, Sustainable Water Management for
Marcellus Shale Development, Dept. of Civil
and Environmental Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, 2010. http://www.temple.edu/environment/NRDP_pics/shale/presentations_TUsummit/Vidic-Temple-2010.pdf This presentation shows U.S. shale gas basins, how the hydraulic fracturing process works, and the wells drilled in the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania. Water supply issues and the chemical composition of fracturing fluids are given. Waste water and information about flow back water is included. Options for waste water disposal that are assessed include deep wells, waste water treatment plants, reuse, and evaporation. The possibility of using acid mine drainage water with fracturing reuse water is discussed. The current project at the University of Pittsburgh is also mentioned.
National Report on Sustainable Forests—2010, Forest Service, US Department of Agriculture, FS-979, June 2010. http://www.fs.fed.us/research/sustain/ Many thanks to the Deputy Chief, Research and Development, US Forest Service, for sending along this new report. The aim of the report is to enhance and inform public dialogue about forest sustainability in the US and beyond. It contains information on the social, economic, and ecological dimensions of forest sustainability. Current forest conditions on the nation’s private and public forests are described using a set of seven criteria and 64 indicators. Recent activities promoting sustainable forests at the national, regional, and local levels are also highlighted.
Tsakiris, G., et al, Proactive Management of Water Systems to Face Drought and Water Scarcity in Islands and Coastal Areas of the Mediterranean (PRODIM), National Technical University of Athens, 2010. http://ressources.ciheam.org/om/pdf/a95/00801366.pdf Most of the islands and coastal zones of the Mediterranean suffer from droughts and water shortages which cause heavy impacts on economies, societies and the environment at local or regional scales. The PRODIM project aimed at producing rational, comprehensive, easy to use and applicable methods for assessing drought severity. Models of preparedness plans were devised, ready to be customized according to local or regional natural and socio-economic conditions. Guidelines for facing water shortages and road maps for effective participation of stakeholders, administration officers, institutions and the public in decision making, were formulated. Simplification of the multiple character of droughts (severity, areal extent, duration, etc.) led to a uni-dimensional approach, which can be easily understood and implemented by people of different backgrounds and disciplines. The methodology was applied and refined through case studies carried out in Greece, Italy, Cyprus and Malta. This general description of the project should help those faced with design of management plans for regions that have similar challenges.
Farrell, David et al, Drought Early Warning and Risk Reduction: A Case Study of the Caribbean Drought of 2009-2010, Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction, 2010. http://www.preventionweb.net/english/hyogo/gar/2011/en/bgdocs/Farrell_et_al_2010.pdf Hydrometeorological disasters are the most frequently occurring disasters in the Caribbean. Many of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Caribbean, as well as the lowlying coastal regions of South and Central America, are particularly vulnerable to hydrometeorological and climate hazards due to their geology, topography, significant coastal urbanization, small climate sensitive economies and lack of significant economic diversity.
As a result, reducing their vulnerability to climate and hydrometeorological hazards is critical if many of these states are to increase or sustain their current level of socio-economic development into the future. Drought represents one of the most frequently occurring climate hazards in the Caribbean with recent droughts resulting in economic losses and national anxiety for many Caribbean SIDS. While droughts are a frequent occurrence in the region, the region’s adaptation to such events is quite poor. This paper illustrates the impacts of the most recent drought in the Caribbean through island specific examples. The examples show the sensitivity of key economic sectors (in particular water and agriculture) to drought and the low resilience of the region to drought. This low resilience is due to limited national and regional capacity in key areas, systemic problems within countries that limit information sharing between key stakeholder institutions, inadequate policies, and limited finances to implement and sustain key activities. We conclude that unless more is done to increase the region's resilience to drought, the region will be challenged to sustain and enhance its socioeconomic development under range of future climates and increasing climate variability currently being forecast. Areas where more needs to be done include (i) enhancing the quality, delivery and targeting of climate services to national and regional stakeholders, (ii) increasing data sharing, enhancing collaborations between national, regional and international stakeholders, (iii) policy reform with respect to Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), and (iv) public education. We conclude that if significant improvements are not made with respect to adaptation to drought, many Caribbean SIDS will find it difficult to adapt to future regional climates which are expected to be marked by on average longer drier conditions than present.
Water for Business, Initiatives Guiding Sustainable Water Management in the Private Sector, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, International Union for Conservation of Nature, Version 2, March 2010. http://www.wbcsd.org/DocRoot/3wlfDj0SSDsKcJWIBbKu/WBCSD_Water_for_Business_WEB.pdf Context Every business depends and impacts on water resources. Some use it to process raw materials and manufacture goods. Some use it for cooling and cleaning. For others, it is a central ingredient in the goods they produce, or it is required to consume the product they sell. The future of business depends on the sustainability of water resources, which are increasingly under pressure. Globally, per capita availability of freshwater is steadily decreasing and the trend will inevitably continue as the world’s population swells towards 9 billion, emerging economies increase consumption levels and climate change unfolds. For the global economy to carry on expanding at the same pace without improvements in efficiency, worldwide annual water consumption would have to rise from 4,500 km3 today to 6,900 km3 in 2030 – that is 40% above current accessible, reliable supply. Some of the key questions facing business today include: How might water availability and allocations restrict my company’s supply chain? What effects will the lack of water security have on my markets? Will my customers have enough water to enable them to use my products or services? Can I justify my water consumption with regard to other users, including environmental requirements? And also: Can I boost my revenues by providing solutions? The global business community increasingly recognizes the water challenge, but to respond effectively it needs guidance, tools, standards and schemes to enable change to more sustainable practices. Since 2006, many new initiatives and concepts have emerged to address this need, driven by business leaders in the field, civil society and governments. Most are global with multistakeholder representation; but some are also addressing more and more the specificities of water usage for a particular sector (the beverage industry and the mining sector for example). Water risks are increasingly capturing the attention of the capital markets as reflected by the recent launch of the CDP Water Disclosure. The WBCSD and IUCN have joined forces to produce this guide to help business better understand and meet the water challenge. The WBCSD has been actively working on water issues for over 10 years and has helped move water up everybody’s business agenda. The WBCSD recently produced a set of tools intended to help member companies integrate water issues. Purpose and scope The world is in desperate need of tools for sustainable water management. Some exist and are widely used, others are still under development. This guide is aimed at helping business identify which initiatives and approaches will most suit their needs, and to help developers of schemes understand opportunities for increasing impact through consensus building and joint action. The key objectives of this document are to: • Provide a structured overview of major initiatives to improve understanding of “who is doing what”; • Help build a common language for business on water sustainability; • Support the identification of risks and opportunities, gaps and complementarities; • Demonstrate leadership and facilitate business engagement in relevant initiatives.
Berger, Markus and Matthias Finkbeiner, Water Footprinting: How to Address Water Use in Life Cycle Assessment?, Sustainability, 2010, 2, 919-944, ISSN 2071-1050 http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/4/919/pdf As freshwater is a vital yet often scarce resource, the life cycle assessment community has put great efforts in method development to properly address water use. The International Organization for Standardization has recently even launched a project aiming at creating an international standard for “water footprinting”. This paper provides an overview of a broad range of methods developed to enable accounting and impact assessment of water use. The critical review revealed that methodological scopes differ regarding types of water use accounted for, inclusion of local water scarcity, as well as differentiation between watercourses and quality aspects. As the application of the most advanced methods requires high resolution inventory data, the trade-off between “precision” and “applicability” needs to be addressed in future studies and in the new international standard.
Mathews, Kevin, The Water Imperative: Blue is the New Green, Sustainability Summit, Arlington, Virginia, December 7, 2010. http://www.fmi.org/sustainability/2010/presentations/The_Water_Imperative_Blue_is_the_New_Green.pdf This presentation covers the efforts of Nestle’ Waters North America (NWNA) to carry out a program of water sustainability, showing how their products impact water resources and what actions the company is taking. To frame the issue, the point is made that most of the world’s population will experience water stress by 2025. Climate change is expected to cause major changes, leading to increased competition among water users. Because of increasing rates of consumption, and the fact that there is no substitute for it, water may become the “oil” of the 21st century. In 2007, Nestle’ and five other world business leaders launched the CEO Water Mandate. The UN Global Compact Project was designed to help companies reduce their water use throughout their supply chains. Over the past 10 years, Nestle’ has reduced its water usage ratio by 28 percent. Industrial methods include irrigation water reuse, filler flush timers, reuse of air conditioner condensate, and cleaning in place. The NWNA approach considers the whole supply chain from raw material to end of life disposal of the product. The Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER) is a partnership of leading beverage companies including Nestle’, Coca Cola, Bacardi, Pepsico, Beam, Coors, and others, to quantify and improve water use and efficiency, share best practices, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and quantify water footprinting. Other partnerships include water education, sustainable land and water use (with the Nature Conservancy), and a sustainable agriculture initiative. Case studies with companies like Anheuser-Busch have shown positive results.
Kant, Krishna, NSF Briefing on Sustainability Programs, Presentation at INFOCOM 2010, March 17, 2010. NSF programs cover a variety of topics that relate to sustainability, and funding supports them to various degrees. Funding through 2009 shows a steady increase, and further funding is sought for succeeding years. A 2009 study resulted in findings about how sustainability is important for the whole economy. There are a number of general topics for which NSF has allocated sustainability funding. These include Computing, Environment, Climate Research, Earth System Modeling, Biodiversity, Water Sustainability and Climate, Ocean Acidification, Climate Change Education, Science, Education, and Engineering, and others (given in a table). Contacts are given for more information about these topics.
The USGS has published the report Maupin, M.A., and Arnold, T.L., 2010, Estimates for self-supplied domestic withdrawals and population served for selected principal aquifers, calendar year 2005: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2010-1223, 10 p. This report can be found at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2010/1223/ The National Water-Quality Assessment Program of the U.S. Geological Survey has groundwater studies that focus on water-quality conditions in principal aquifers of the United States. The Program specifically focuses on aquifers that are important to public supply, domestic, and other major uses. Estimates for self-supplied domestic withdrawals and the population served for 20 aquifers in the United States for calendar year 2005 are provided in this report. These estimates are based on county-level data for self-supplied domestic groundwater withdrawals and the population served by those withdrawals, as compiled by the National Water Use Information Program, for areas within the extent of the 20 aquifers. In 2005, the total groundwater withdrawals for self-supplied domestic use from the 20 aquifers represented about 63 percent of the total self-supplied domestic groundwater withdrawals in the United States; the population served by the withdrawals represented about 61 percent of the total self-supplied domestic population in the United States.
The December 2010, Vol. 2, No. 1 Journal of Management and Public Policy is a special issue on water. This biannual peer reviewed international journal is published in June and December every year by the Management Development Research Foundation, New Delhi, India. The online edition of the journal is available at http://www.jmpp.in as an open access journal. The December issue is the “current issue.” You can find earlier issues by going to the archive list on the left-hand side of the home page. Here is a brief description of the contents: Adam Smith in his famous book ‘An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations’ has pronounced the famous diamond-water paradox, where he argues that water is priceless, even compared to diamond because water is imperative for life. The diamond-water paradox proves that scarcity makes diamond costly. Growing urbanization and industrialization has made water a costly product. Trans-national corporations are catching the market for safe drinking water as well as other uses of water. Global evidence proves that market for water is costly and risky if it is not properly regulated by government. Public policy for the distribution of water is very important at a time when neither the public water bodies nor the private water bodies are sensitive to the use and misuse of water. There are certain loopholes in the system, which need to be taken care of properly when we have global task like providing safe drinking water to one billion people on this earth as a part of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG). The current issue of Journal of Management & Public Policy presents a critical analysis of public policy on water. This issue is an important collection because the mixture of developed and developing countries’ experiences makes us aware about what and how water policy should be framed.
Clear Gold: Water As a Strategic Resource in the Middle East, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington DC, December 2010. Study description: http://www.csis.org/publication/clear-gold Full report: http://csis.org/files/publication/101213_Alterman_ClearGold_web.pdf Water is a fundamental part of the social contract in Middle Eastern countries. Along with subsidized food and fuel, governments provide cheap or even free water in order to ensure the consent of the governed. But when subsidized commodities have been cut in the Middle East, instability has often followed. Water’s own role in prompting unrest has so far been relatively limited, but that record is unlikely to hold. Water has no substitutes, and while cheap in its natural state, water is expensive to process and transport. Future water scarcity will be much more permanent than past shortages, and the techniques governments have used in responding to past disturbances may not be enough.
Drought Predictability and Prediction in a Changing Climate: Assessing Current Predictive Knowledge and Capabilities, User Requirements and Research Priorities, World Climate Research Programme, December 12, 2010. https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B8FZ9WSEG7a2MTk1Y2UxYmMtY2JiZi00MmNhLTk4NmUtMzM3YWRiNDhlMDNi&hl=en
A report has been located from the Global Water System Project, specifically the proceedings The Global Dimensions of Change in River Basins, University Club, Bonn, Germany, Dec. 6-8, 2010. The report can be found at: This proceedings contains 20 papers from various parts of the world. Some selected subjects include: Impact of global change on large river basins, River flow projections in a changing climate, Impacts of national and international actors on river basin management, Effect of changing anthropogenic and climate conditions on BOD loading and water quality, Water resources planning and management regions: new insights for defining regions.
The Sustainable Society Foundation has launched the new update of the Sustainable Society Index, SSI-2010. This is already the third edition of the SSI, after SSI-2006 and SSI-2008. The SSI, based on 24 indicators, comprises the three wellbeing dimensions of sustainability in its broad sense: Human, Environmental and Economic Wellbeing. The SSI has been calculated, like the previous editions, for 151 countries. Since this is the third edition, SSI can make comparisons over time, however cautiously. It shows that the world at large has grown in wealth, but that this increase has hardly been used for progress on the way towards sustainability. The overall index slightly increased in the past four years from 5.8 to 5.9. All information can be found on the SSI website at http://www.ssfindex.com. And should you wish any further information, do not hesitate to contact SSI at Sustainable Society Foundation geurt.vandekerk@ssfindex.com. Alteration of Streamflow Magnitudes and Potential Ecological Consequences: A Multiregional Assessment, Ecological Society of America, Front Ecol Environ 2010; doi: 10.1890/100053, Most River Flows across the U.S. are Altered by Land and Water Management, Leading to Ecological Degradation. This USGS assessment provides the most geographically extensive analysis to date of streamflow alteration. Findings show that the amount of water flowing in streams and rivers has been significantly altered from land and water management in nearly 90 percent of waters that were assessed in the nationwide USGS study. Flow alterations are a primary contributor to degraded river ecosystems and loss of native species whose survival and reproduction are tightly linked to specific flow conditions. These consequences can also affect water quality, recreational opportunities and the maintenance of sport fish populations. Flows are altered by a variety of land- and water-management activities, including reservoirs, diversions, subsurface tile drains, groundwater withdrawals, wastewater inputs, and impervious surfaces, such as parking lots, sidewalks and roads. The severity and type of stream flow alteration varies among regions, due to natural landscape features, land practices, degree of development, and water demand. Differences are especially large between arid and wet climates. In wet climates, watershed management is often focused on flood control, which can result in lower maximum flows and higher minimum flows. Extremely low flows are the greatest concern in arid climates, in large part due to groundwater withdrawals and high water use for irrigation.
In September 2010, the New Zealand Land and Water Forum issued Report of the Land and Water Forum, A Fresh Start for Freshwater. This document is available on the Land and Water Forum website at http://www.landandwater.org.nz/land_and_water_forum_report.pdf. This report covers a variety of land and water problems in New Zealand, which may be similar to those faced by others. Although some water bodies have good quality, problems are mounting because of the failure to set limits, for example on nutrients. This has implications for institutional arrangements at different government levels. The growing problem of scarcity should be managed better, so that water is allocated on a rational basis. A permit system is in place, but changes are needed to make it easier to transfer permits between users. Rural water infrastructure should be improved so as to increase the availability of water, and promote economic development. Across the board improvement in water science is needed, including research and application to data collection, storage, and utilization. In urban areas, stakeholders should be engaged to develop comprehensive water and wastewater management plans. Because of the major impact of floods, policies should be developed to connect land management with impacts on the river systems. A series of recommendations is included that are intended to accomplish the needed changes in land and water management. How Can
We Finance Urban Water Challenges To Come: Do We Need A New Business Model?World
Water Congress and Exhibition, International Water Association, Montreal, Sept.
20, 2010 This
article points out that the traditional approach of simply providing the
engineered facilities for water is no longer adequate to present needs within a
watershed. Multiple requirements are now the norm. The economics of water
pricing affect demand, and thereby the behavior of water users. Recent examples
include the development of price management strategies that attempt to balance
water use by differential pricing. In addition, future water sources may become
smaller and more decentralized, and rely on a mixture of nontraditional water
sources within a watershed. Attempts are also underway to include the non-human
needs of the ecology in the management plan, and to develop ways to distinguish
among the differing needs for water of different quality. This complex mixture
of elements then becomes the basis for sustainable water management in a given
watershed. The natural watershed and the local hydrologic cycle then become more important to developing a viable approach. Some examples of the resulting changes include the use of green roofs, water gardens, and expanded use of trees and plants, rather than only relying on engineered solutions. The resulting smaller systems have implications for local water pricing, financing, and how benefits are realized for users in the watershed. This is far from business as usual, and requires a new role for government in fostering this decentralized approach. Specifically, integrating the full value of water into management practices is a significant departure from underpriced supplies that many now enjoy. Reaching this new goal will challenge all aspects of water supply and demand economics in the nation.
June 2010: The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) convened a workshop entitled “Water Management Technology Best Management Practices and Innovations Workshop for the Process Industries,” held May 13-14, 2009 at EPA Headquarters in Washington, DC. The report of the workshop, along with earlier ASME work, is available at http://committees.asme.org/K&C/TCOB/BRTD/WMT/Accomplishments.cfm. Some
important action items resulted from this process. The items of highest
interest are those with potential for collaboration with partners, including
government, industry, and nongovernmental organizations. The action items from
the workshop are:
Water Resources Sustainability, AWRA Watershed Update, Jan.-June 2010, Vol. 8, No. 1, http://www.awra.org/committees/techcom/watershed/pdfs/AWRA%20H&WM_2010_1_what-is-sustainability.pdf
The article covers definitions of water resources sustainability, for example as seen by the 1983 Brundtland Commission, and defined by the Daly Rules for Sustainability. One important point is the comparison between the rate of water use and the rate at which water can be replenished. A systems analysis approach is also included, which discusses how water sustainability is affected by long duration, the use rate, moderate solutions to problems, and the flexibility of solutions.
Peak Water Limits to Freshwater Withdrawal and Use, National Academy of Sciences, June 22, 2010, Vol. 107, No. 25, 11155-11162, Observers may be familiar with the concept of “peak oil,” in which a nonrenewable resource is assumed to have passed its peak of production. Some descriptions claim that the world is now on the downward trend because less oil remains to be recovered. This paper applies the concept to water, which is generally considered a renewable resource. Three kinds of peak water are described. Peak renewable water occurs where flow constraints limit total water availability over time. Peak nonrenewable water is observable in groundwater systems where production rates substantially exceed natural recharge rates, and where overpumping or contamination leads to a peak of production followed by a decline. Peak ecological water is defined as the point beyond which the total costs of ecological disruptions and damages exceed the total value provided by human use of the water. Elevated nutrients in the Nation’s Streams and Groundwater—A Continuing Issue, National Water Quality Assessment Program, Circular 1350, USGS. http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/nutrients/pubs/circ1350/ The information describes nutrient concentrations in the Nation's water resources, key sources of nutrients, factors affecting nutrient concentrations, potential effects on humans and aquatic life, and changes in concentrations since the early 1990s. Implications of the findings touch on many environmental issues, including those related to (1) developing nutrient criteria for surface water bodies, (2) reducing nutrients to receiving waters, (3) setting realistic expectations for water-quality improvements following nutrient reduction strategies, and (4) managing elevated nutrients in drinking water from surface-water intakes and wells.
Wastewater Infrastructure Financing: Stakeholder Views on a National Infrastructure Bank and Public-Private Partnerships, General Accountability Office, GAO-10-728, June 2010. One important aspect of water sustainability is maintaining water quality. Communities will need hundreds of billions of dollars in coming years to construct and upgrade wastewater infrastructure. For this reason, the General Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to prepare a short report to ascertain stakeholders views on issues of financing, especially how public and private options could work together. The
results of the GAO study are now available at: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d10728.pdf This report may well serve as the basis for future policy making, as the nation attempts to cope with this important water resources problem. The International Water Association (www.iwahq.org) has made available power point slides on the impact of biofuel development on water resources. An
original presentation on this subject was given in 2009 at the annual technical
conference of the Water Environment Federation (www.wef.org),
in Orlando, Florida. The
slides may be found at: The International Water Association (IWA) has published an article on Water and Sanitation, with special reference to urban service supply chains. The article uses maps and graphs from the sustainable water resources indicators compendium, to show the elements of a complete sanitation program. Also included is recent research on improving wastewater flows by capturing nutrients and raising algae as an energy source. The article may be found at: Sustainable
Water Resources Roundtable, Draft Meeting Proceedings, April 2010, Palo Alto,
California
The final report can be found at: http://acwi.gov/swrr/proceedings/SWRR-Proceedings_Palo-Alto-april-27-2010.pdf On August 13, 2009 a workshop on water sustainability was held in
http://www.aiche.org/IFS/Conferences/Workshops/WaterWorkshop/Publications.aspx
Presentations and other results of the workshop are now available at:
Plenary Address of G. Tracy Mehan III, Data and Monitoring as Tools for Water Management, National Water Quality Monitoring Council, April 2010, See:
(March 2010) See http://www.wef.org/Publications/page.aspx?id=112 Water Environment Federation
Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable Report, March 2010, http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B8FZ9WSEG7a2MjVhZWY4NTQtYmU5YS00N2FkLTllZGItMTYyOWM0NWYxZWUx&hl=enYear 2009 Sustainable Water Resources
Roundtable. Meeting Summary, December 2009, Arlington, Virginia, http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B8FZ9WSEG7a2NDJkOTExMTMtNDJiNi00Zjc2LTkwMDktNDA3ZWYxYTIzM2Uw&hl=en Water Dependency of Energy Production and Power Generation Systems, VWRRC Special Report No. SR46-2009, Virginia Water Resources Research Center, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, July 2009. Water and energy systems constitute the foundation for modern infrastructures around the world. In the U.S., energy and power generation systems are major users of freshwater resources. Energy production systems considered in this study include primary fuel sources like coal, natural gas, and petroleum, biofuels, and synthetic fuels. Power generation technologies considered include hydroelectric, fossil fuel thermoelectric, nuclear, geothermal, solar thermoelectric, and hydrogen. Water use efficiency of various energy/power technologies is expressed in gallons of water per BTU generated. Results of the study show that natural gas is the most water efficient energy source, while biofuels are the least efficient. Synthetic fuel production processes are also water efficient, but these technologies mostly depend on hydrocarbon feedstock such as coal and natural gas. In terms of power generation, hydroelectric power is the most water efficient, while nuclear power is the least efficient. Water Consumption in the Production of Ethanol and Petroleum Gasoline, Engineering Management (2009) 44:981-997, DOI 10.1007/s00267-009-9370-0 Water consumption was analyzed for a number of sources, such as ethanol, conventional fuel feedstocks, oil sands, etc. It appears that water consumption varies not only with region, but also according to the technologies employed, and recovery processes. Crop irrigation is the most important factor in the production of corn ethanol. Nearly 70 percent of US corn used for ethanol is produced in regions where 10-17 liters of water are consumed to produce one liter of ethanol. Water requirements for switchgrass ethanol production vary from 1.9 to 9.8 liters of water per liter of ethanol produced. For most gasoline produced from conventional sources, the water consumed is 2.8 to 6.6 liters for each liter of gasoline. For most of the oil from Canadian oil sands, about 5.2 liters of water are consumed for each liter of gasoline produced. The differences in water consumption emphasize the need for water management plans as part of energy production.
Evolving Methodology for Rating Watershed Sustainability in Preparation for
Possible Certification
(http://www.wef.org/Publications/page.aspx?id=112) Order No: P090038
Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable. Meeting Summary, June 2009, Arlington, Virginia, http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0Ac...d3B4c2c4&hl=en [1]
Mehan, G. Tracy, Cadmus Group. Moving Beyond Water Quality Trading Towards a Complete Portfolio of Ecoservices. University of Chicago. May 29, 2009. Video, 15 minutes. https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B8FZ9WSEG7a2MzdjMjYyMWYtMzliOS00YWE0LTk0NDQtMDAxM2Y4YzNkYTA1&hl=en
Year 2008
Vorosmarty, Charles J., et al, Global Water Resources: Vulnerability from Climate Change and Population Growth, Science, 289, 284 (2008). https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8FZ9WSEG7a2SV80dUdYcjc4UFU The future adequacy of freshwater resources is difficult to assess, owing to a complex and rapidly changing geography of water supply and use. Numerical experiments combining climate model outputs, water budgets, and socioeconomic information along digitized river networks demonstrate that (i) a large proportion of the world’s population is currently experiencing water stress and (ii) rising water demands greatly outweigh greenhouse warming in defining the state of global water systems to 2025. Consideration of direct human impacts on global water supply remains a poorly articulated but potentially important facet of the larger global change question. Water Environment Federation, 2008 Sustainable Water Resources Management, Sessions 17, 36, 58. The papers may be found at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/wef/wefproc
Matthews, Robert and Catherine M. Spencer, “National Security Strategy for U.S. Water,” IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, Vol. 27, No. 6, Nov.-Dec. 2008,https://www.hawaii.edu/csati/summit/NSS_for_Water_Mathews.pdf Managing for Water Sustainability. Paper by John Wells at the AWRA Annual Conference, New Orleans, Nov. 17-21, 2008. The report by the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board is available at http://www.eqb.state.mn.us/project.html?Id=19502 The Case for Using Reclaimed Water, by Ethan T. Smith and Harry X. Zhang, published in the Nov. 2008 issue of Power Engineering. The paper is available at: http://pepei.pennnet.com/display_article/346414/6/ARTCL/none/none/1/The-Case-for-Using-Reclaimed-Water/The paper addresses the impact of the use of cooling water at thermoelectric power facilities on water availability, and how this impact may be mitigated. Managing an Uncertain Future, Climate Change Adaptation Strategies for California's Water, Oct.2008. The report includes topics that are significant for water sustainability, such as changes in precipitation and runoff patterns, the frequency of extreme hydrologic events, and the variation of impacts by geographic region. The report is available at http://www.climatechange.water.ca.gov/ June 26-27, 2008 Meeting Notes (PDF 287KB) American Water Resources Association: Water
Resources Blog (A series of essays on Water Resources Concerns in the next
decade.) (click on the left side bar of the blog to see main page and/or other
current articles.) Year 2007 Water Environment Federation, Sustainable Water Resources Management, 2007 Sessions 36, 78, 114. The papers may be found at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/wef/wefproc November 15-16, 2007 Proceedings (PDF 1,020 KB) Taking the Long View: The Journey toward sustainable water resources management begins by determining the most important water issues and indicators, by Ethan T. Smith and Harry X. Zhang (PDF 1,050KB) (http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B8FZ9WSEG7a2OWYyMWRkYWItMDVmYi00MTc5LWI3MGItYzk3NGNhYTgwYzVj&hl=en) May 22-23, 2007 Proceedings (PDF 1,681KB) Developing National And Sub-National Sustainable Water Resources Indicators, by E. T. Smith and R. Swanson, Presented at the World Environmental and Water Resources Congress, May 15-19, 2007, Tampa, Florida. (PDF 831KB) (http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B8FZ9WSEG7a2MDdkMzIxYjItM2M4Ny00NjFhLWE1NjItNzgzMGRmNjhkMWY0&hl=en) January 25-26, 2007 Proceedings (PDF 166KB)
An Integrated Indicator Based on Basin Hydrology, Environment, Life, and Policy: The Watershed Sustainability Index Water Resources Management (2007) Vol.21, No.5, 883-895, DOI: 10.1007/s11269-006-9107-2 This study considers Hydrology, Environment, Life, and water resources Policy (HELP) as the most important elements in the watershed, and combines them with a pressure-state-response approach to develop an overall watershed sustainability index. The study recognizes the availability of good data as a critical requirement for carrying out such studies. Within each of the major categories (e.g., hydrology) a number of indicators are used to develop numerical ratings. The overall watershed sustainability index is a linear sum of the components. The authors apply the method to a UNESCO watershed in Brazil, as an example.
Year 2006
Water Environment Federation, Sustainable Water Resources Management, 2006 Sessions 36, 80. The papers may be found at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/wef/wefproc Report on the Progress of the Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable. Water Resources Impact, July 2006, Volume 8, No. 4. American Water Resources Association. See http://www.awra.org/impact/issues/0607imp_toc.pdf April 25-26, 2006 Proceedings (PDF 1025KB) Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable -- Fact Sheet February 2006 (PDF 204KB)
Year 2005 Water Environment Federation, Sustainable Water Resources Management, 2005 Sessions 68, 107. The papers may be found at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/wef/wefproc Measuring the Sustainability of Water Management in the U.S. Presented by John Wells at the Minnesota Water 2005 Conference in October 26, 2005 Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable -- Preliminary Report September 30, 2005 Great Lakes Region, Water Sustainability Research Workshop (PDF File 882KB), April 5-6, 2005, Ann Arbor, Michigan Related
report on Sustainability of Water Wthdrawals in Journal of the American Water
Resource Association: Roy, Sujoy B., Ricci, Paolo F., Summers, Karen V., Chung,
Chih-Fang, and Goldstein, Robert R., Evaluations of the Sustainability of
Water Withdrawals in the United States, 1995-2025, October 2005, 18pp. Year 2004Water Environment Federation, Sustainable Water Resources Management, 2004 Session 47. The papers may be found at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/wef/wefproc December 7, 2004 Proceedings (PDF File 115KB)
Conservation and Sustainable Use of Freshwater Resources in West Asia, Central Asia and North Africa, 3rd IUCN World Conservation Congress, Bangkok, Thailand, November 17-25, 2004. This World Conservation Union Water Publication sought to bring into focus some of the many issues related to the conservation and sustainable use of freshwater resources across the region. This publication includes 6 technical papers prepared by specialists representing each of WESCANA’s four sub-regions (the Arabian Peninsula, Mid-west Asia, North Africa and Central Asia). The papers addressed water issues from the viewpoint of the four themes of the World Conservation Congress: • Ecosystem Management: Bridging sustainability and productivity • Health, Poverty and Conservation: Responding to the challenge of human well being • Biodiversity Loss and Species Extinction: Man- aging risk in a changing world • Markets, Business and Environment: Strengthening corporate social responsibility, law and policy.
September 13-14, 2004 Proceedings Understanding Sustainability at the State Level, by John R. Wells, Minnesota Environmental Quality Board, July 2004 (Power Point File 1,246KB) How Do We Know It's Sustainable? , by Ethan T. Smith and Harry X. Zhang, Water Environment and Technology, June 2004. (PDF File 2,207KB) (http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B8FZ9WSEG7a2MWRiOGNlNGYtOTc0MS00ZDAwLWExZmItNDMxY2Q5YWQzNWRh&hl=en) March 2-3, 2004 Proceedings (PDF File 76KB) Water Resources Sustainability, Water Resources Update, Issue 127, February 2004, Universities Council on Water Resources, 4543 Faner Hall, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901-4526, (618) 536-7571. The table of contents, includes the URL link to the full article for each journal entry, for this journal issue is available to non-members of UCOWR at: http://www.ucowr.siu.edu/updates/127/index.html National Council for Science and the Environment, Jan. 29-30, 2004, Session 3, Water Sustainability Indicators. See button at left hand page.
Year 2003
June 19-20,2003 Meeting Report (PDF File 529KB)
Bayarsaihan, T. and D. McKinney (eds.), Past Experience and Future Challenges, Cooperation in Shared Water Resources in Central Asia, Almaty, Kazakhstan, Sept. 26-28, 2002. Water and environmental management problems in Central Asia first gained international notice as a result of the ecological crisis brought on by the shrinking of the Aral Sea. The catchments of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, which both exit to the sea, together form the Aral Sea basin. From 1960 to 1990, the Aral Sea’s area was halved when inflows were diverted to support cotton and rice production in downstream deserts. An ecological disaster resulted as a vibrant fishery was destroyed, surrounding ecosystems devastated, and the health and livelihood of a million people irrevocably damaged.
The
challenge of regional water management for these semi-arid lands is no less acute
today. Attention has now turned primarily to the need for balance between upstream
hydropower and downstream irrigation interests—even as steps continue to address economic and social hardships facing those
still living around the Aral Sea.
Year 1998
Gleick, Peter, Water in Crisis: Paths to Sustainable Water Use, Ecological Applications, 8(3), Ecological Society of America, 1998. https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8FZ9WSEG7a2cjVTdkpiVUJPdGc A wide range of ecological and human crises result from inadequate access to, and the inappropriate management of, freshwater resources. These include destruction of aquatic ecosystems and extinction of species, millions of deaths from water-related illnesses, and a growing risk of regional and international conflicts over scarce, shared water supplies. As human populations continue to grow, these problems are likely to become more frequent and serious. New approaches to long-term water planning and management that incorporate principles of sustainability and equity are required and are now being explored by national and international water experts and organizations. Seven ‘‘sustainability criteria’’ are discussed here, as part of an effort to reshape long-term water planning and management. Among these principles are guaranteed access to a basic amount of water necessary to maintain human health and to sustain ecosystems, basic protections for the renewability of water resources, and institutional recommendations for planning, management, and conflict resolution. ‘‘Backcasting’’ a positive future vision of the world’s water resources as a tool for developing rational policies and approaches for reducing water related problems is also discussed in the context of the Comprehensive Freshwater Assessment prepared for the United Nations General Assembly in 1997. Year 1996The Mississippi
Heartland River of the Nation, by John C. Kammerer (PDF 1,497 KB) |