Ho-Wen Chen, Ni-Bin Chang and D. Shaw.

Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment, Vol. 19, No. 2, Apr 2005, pp. 158-171.

Society benefits from rivers in many aspects. To the extent of water resources management, one of the salient issues is that the social benefit of in-stream water quality improvements is often difficult to be quantified for possible cost justification in many water pollution control programs. The difficulties arise from that many service flows of water quality are not channelled through the market system to consumers and producers. With different socio-economic structures, such valuation could be even more challenging when taking river basins with low-income level into account. Recent advances in fuzzy set theory provide a germain insight to viewing the in-stream water quality as a kind of fuzzy resource due to varying awareness of the quality of life. This paper provides a technical analysis using the fuzzy contingent valuation mothod (FCVM) to value in-stream water quality improvements in terms of three fuzzy resources from aesthetic to recreational, and to ecological aspects. Traditional CVM may allow interest groups or affected parties to join and present a more flexible asset assessment with respect to the prescribed environmental features in the river corridor. Yet the FCVM provides a mechanism that lies in providing a mapping (via fuzzy set theory) from a survey of respondents' valuation of subjective assessments of water quality into objective economic measures in terms of water quality parameters that management can more directly manipulate. With this new tool, the traditional CVM assessment outputs in a well-developed river basin may even lead to derive a simular valuaton function in a form of a regression equation in a developing river basin where the income level is relatively low. As part of the sustainability analysis basin wide, a case study in Taiwan showed that such effort may provide supportive information for cost benefit analysis in many water pollution control programs corresponding to different temporal and spatial scales.

S. El-Din Amer, Y. Arsano, A. El-Battahani, O. El-Tom Hamad, M. A. El-Moenim Hefny and I. Tamrat.

Aquatic Sciences, Vol. 67, No. 1, 2005, pp. 3-14.

The following article provides an overview of issues related to international cooperation and water use in the Eastern Nile Basin, thereby introducing the following three papers written from an Ethiopian, Sudanese and Egyptian perspective respectively. Basic environmental and socio-economic data is given. The various national interests and international initiatives in the Nile Basin are introduced. Key areas of consensus between the authors, as well as open questions that still need to be worked on, are elaborated. The article also describes the unique process of how the six authors from three countries worked on this joint publication in the Nile Dialogue Workshop of 2002. Key conclusions are that sustained, non-polemical communication can lead to cooperation, and that cooperation is the cornerstone to sustainable water development.

J. Faithful and W. Finlayson.

Marine pollution bulletin, Vol. 51, No. 1-4, 2005, pp. 99-112.

A number of studies in north Queensland over the past two decades have concluded that large amounts of nutrients and sediments are exported from agricultural watersheds, particularly during wet season rainfall events. With the co-operation of a number of growers, runoff from Queensland Wet Tropics banana and cane farm paddocks in two distinct tropical river catchments was examined to provide an estimate of nutrient and sediment concentrations and export, with comparison to water quality of flow through a small urban lakes system. Median total nitrogen concentrations in cane drainage runoff (3110 mu g N/L) were higher than for banana paddock drainage (2580 mu g N/L), although the maximum concentration was recorded from a banana paddock (20, 900 mu g N/L). Nitrogen losses during post-event drainage flow were supplemented by high proportions of NO sub(X) (nitrate + nitrite) sourced from groundwater inputs. Banana paddocks had the highest maximum and median total phosphorus and TSS concentrations (5120 and 286 mu g P/L, and 7250 and 75 mg/L respectively) compared to the cane farms (1430 and 50 mu g P/L, and 1840 and 14 mg/L respectively). The higher phosphorus and TSS concentrations in the banana runoff were attributed to higher paddock slopes and a greater proportion of exposed ground surface during the wet season. Highest nutrient and TSS concentrations corresponded with samples collected near the peak discharge periods; however, the rising stage of the drainage flows, where the highest nutrient and TSS concentrations are often reported, were difficult to target because of the manual sampling strategy used. This study shows that high concentrations of nutrients and TSS occur in the runoff from cane and banana paddocks. Median total nitrogen, total phosphorus and TSS concentrations in flow through the urban lakes were 369 mu g N/L, 16 mu g P/L and 11 mg/L, respectively. Flux estimates of 9.2 kg N, 0.8 kg P and 126 kg TSS/ha were determined for drainage runoff from a banana paddock during a single intensive storm event.

M. Falkenmark.

International Journal of Water Resources Development, Vol. 20, No. 3, Sep 2004, pp. 275-282.

A recently launched international initiative on "Hydrology for the Environment, Life and Policy (HELP) aims at a science-based approach to integrated catchment management, and in particular to facilitating the dialogue needed between scientists, stakeholders and policy makers. The ultimate challenge of a sustainability-oriented environmental management is to find the proper balance between humans and the impacts that their activities cause to ecosystems. This makes the catchment a useful landscape unit for an integrated approach where a balancing between humans and nature can be carried out. The catchment can be seen as containing two mosaics, one of human water-related activities and the other of water-dependent ecosystems, terrestrial as well as aquatic. These two mosaics are internally linked by water flows but partly incompatible. Therefore, a management task is to orchestrate the catchment for compatibility, which will demand intentional trade-offs. Past water management policy has often been based on outdated knowledge and technology, for instance by a 'paradigm lock' between scientists and stakeholders, isolating them from each other: scientists by the lack of proven utility of their findings, and stakeholders by legal and professional precedence and disaggregated institutions. The HELP initiative encourages the water policy, water resources management and scientific communities to work together within a field-oriented context so that science may be closely integrated with policy and management needs.

D. E. Fisher.

Journal of Water Law, Vol. 16, No. 1, 2005, pp. 14-22.

Part 1 reviewed the importance of water for the Australian economy, described the development of water law in Australia and investigated the nature of water entitlements and irrigation rights. These entitlements and rights are essentially interests in water available to members of the private sector, either directly or indirectly through other agencies. The creation of these interests and the exercise of the rights associated with them have become increasingly constrained by the objective of sustainability. This part - Part 2 - examines the notion of sustainability in relation to water: in particular the conservation of the resource, the protection of land and the protection of the environment. The management of water resources in Australia - including the achievement of sustainability - has been influenced by the increasing acceptance of water markets as an instrument of management. The structural development of water markets is also considered in this part.

A. J. Hamilton, A. -M Boland and D. Stevens, et al.

Agricultural Water Management, Vol. 71, No. 3, 15 Feb 2005, pp. 181-209.

Australia is the driest inhabited continent on earth, and pressure on its water resources is already high and increasing. Environmental, social, and economic drivers are forcing horticultural industries in Australia to reassess their use of freshwater resources. Reclaimed water is potentially a major resource for the horticultural industry. In general, however, there has been some apprehension towards using reclaimed water for irrigation, owing primarily to uncertainties related to agricultural sustainability and human health. Here, we consider the current standing of the Australian horticultural industry in terms of its preparedness to use reclaimed water for irrigation. We address issues related to policy, economics, market access, pragmatic directives (such as state and federal guidelines), environmental impact, agronomic sustainability, and public health. From these appraisals, we have attempted to summarise the major impediments to the use of reclaimed water by the Australian horticultural industry. These are: insufficient knowledge of impacts on market access; commitment to provide continuity of quality and supply to markets; implications of substitution of alternative water sources on security of supply; insufficient knowledge of food safety issues; inadequate understanding of consumer perceptions; and uncertainty about pricing of reclaimed water.

K. V. Heal, R. T. Stidson, C. A. Dickey, J. N. Cape and M. R. Heal.

Hydrological Sciences Journal/Journal des Sciences Hydrologiques, Vol. 49, No. 3, Jun 2004, pp. 477-493.

Accurate estimates of water losses from mature Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) plantations in the UK uplands are required to assess the sustainability of water supply in the event of land-use change. Many investigations have demonstrated that afforestation increases water losses from temperate upland catchments, to up to 40% of annual site rainfall. In a 0.86 km super(2) upland water supply catchment in southwest Scotland, interception loss in a Sitka spruce-dominated 37-year old plantation, was 52% of annual precipitation (2912 mm), considerably higher than reported in previous studies of similar catchments. From direct measurements of rainfall, cloudwater, discharge and soil evaporation, the catchment water balance was 96-117% complete, within the limits of measurement error. The most probable explanation for the higher forest interception loss reported here is the inclusion of cloudwater measurements.

Jae-Hyung Ji and Ni-Bin Chang.

Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment, Vol. 19, No. 2, Apr 2005, pp. 111-124.

Coastal zones are the primary interface for the exchange of natural and man-made materials between terrestrial and coastal ecosystems. While continuous industrial development and population growth in the coastal region promote unprecedented economic prosperity, water resource management in bay and estuary areas turns out to be a crucial challenge. Therefore, local, state, and federal water planning groups are attempting to manage the supply of freshwater inflow based on sustainability goals, especially for semi-arid coastal regions like South Texas. Surface and ground water management practices in this semi-arid coastal region are implemented to ensure an ever-lasting water supply on one hand and to maintain ecosystem integrity in the bay and estuary system on the other hand. The aim of this study is to apply a stochastic compromise programming model to identify a compromise solution under uncertainty in terms of two competing objectives: minimizing freshwater release from a coastal reservoir and maximizing fishery harvest in its associated bay - Corpus Christi Bay, South Texas. The global criterion method used in the solution procedure seeks to select a compromise solution that possesses the shortest distance from a positive ideal solution (PIS) and the farthest distance from a negative ideal solution (NIS). Solutions were found using three distance-based functions in conjunction with stochastic constraints reflecting the risk levels involved in decision-making. Results indicate that current flows in the mouth of the Nueces River are not sufficient to maintain the salinity level and to satisfy harvest requirements in the Corpus Christi Bay if water supply goal in the city has higher priority. Therefore, a sustainable management plan of exploring the structure of demand and supply is highly desirable in this fast growing urban region.

B. L. Joensson.

International Journal of Water Resources Development, Vol. 20, No. 3, Sep 2004, pp. 345-352.

The Em river watershed in south-east Sweden is an example of involving local organizations and people in river basin management that implements practically integrated water resources management and the philosophy underlying the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)/Swedish International Hydrological Programme (IHP) Hydrology, Environment, Life and Policy (HELP) programme. The Em River Stakeholder Association has applied a bottom-up perspective. Stakeholders have been participating in several river basin projects over several years. Stakeholder participation was of special importance when working with issues of local importance, such as water economizing, fish migration, storm-water characterization and nutrient reduction. Eight task groups have carried out projects within different fields of expertise. The river basin cooperation started as a project in 1992. In 2004, the permanent Em River Union will be formed to work towards sustainable development integrated water management, good ecological conditions and economic growth in the Em River basin.

S. Kang, X. Su and L. Tong, et al.

Hydrological Sciences Journal/Journal des Sciences Hydrologiques, Vol. 49, No. 3, Jun 2004, pp. 413-427.

The Shiyang River basin is a typical interior river basin that faces water shortage and environmental deterioration in the arid northwest of China. Due to its arid climate, limited water resources and some inappropriate water-related human activities, the area has developed serious loss of vegetation, and gradual soil salinization and desertification, which have greatly impeded the sustainable development of agriculture and life in this region. In this paper, the impacts of human activities on the water-soil environment in Shiyang River basin are analysed in terms of precipitation, runoff in branches of the river, inflow into lower reaches, water conveyance efficiency of the canal system and irrigation water use efficiency in the field, replenishment and exploitation of groundwater resources, soil salinization, vegetation cover and the speed of desertification. The results show that human activities and global climate change have no significant influence on the precipitation, but the total annual runoff in eight branch rivers showed a significant decrease over the years. The proportion of water use in the upper and middle reaches compared to the lower reach was increased from 1:0.57 in the 1960s, to 1:0.27 in the 1970s and 1:0.09 in the 1990s. A reduction of about 74% in the river inflow to the lower reaches and a 15-m drop in the groundwater table have occurred during the last four decades. Strategies for improving the water-soil environment of the basin, such as the protection of the water resources of the Qilian Mountains, sustainable use of water resources, maintenance of the balance between land and water resources, development of water-saving agriculture, diverting of water from other rivers and control of soil desertification, are proposed. The objective of this paper is to provide guidelines for reconstruction of the sustainable water management and development of agriculture in this region.

Methil Narayanan Kutty.

Aquaculture Research, Vol. 36, No. 3, Feb 2005, pp. 255-263.

The annual increase in farmed freshwater prawn production in the world during the decade ending 2001 has been estimated as 29% and that during 1999-2001 as 48%, the production in 2001 being about 300 000 mt (all Macrobrachium species). Between 1999 and 2003 the annual increase in farmed Macrobrachium rosenbergii production in India was about 80%, production reaching 30 450 mt in 2002-2003. This log phase of production followed the rise and fall of shrimp farming in the country. Several shrimp farming ventures collapsed in the 1990s, owing to degraded environment and diseases, abetted by lack of awareness and inadequacy of information on the culture systems and their interactions with other human endeavours. This shrimp farming experience has made the aquafarmer and other stakeholders aware that while aquaculture has a high potential in ensuring food and nutritional security and livelihood, besides profit to the farmer and socio-economic benefits to local communities, it is likely to slip from sustainable development pathways if adequate understanding, improved management practices, governmental policies and plans for implementation and regulation to ensure sustainability are not in place. The lessons learned from shrimp farming can help in steering the development of sustainable freshwater prawn aquaculture in India and elsewhere.

S. Lundie, G. M. Peters and P. C. Beavis.

Environmental science & technology, Vol. 38, No. 13, 1 Jul 2004, pp. 3465-3473.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is useful as an information tool for the examination of alternative future scenarios for strategic planning. Developing a life cycle assessment for a large water and wastewater system involves making methodological decisions about the level of detail which is retained through different stages of the process. In this article we discuss a methodology tailored to strategic planning needs which retains a high degree of model segmentation in order to enhance modeling of a large, complex system. This is illustrated by a case study of Sydney Water, which is Australia's largest water service provider. A prospective LCA was carried out to examine the potential environmental impacts of Sydney Water's total operations in the year 2021. To our knowledge this is the first study to create an LCA model of an integrated water and wastewater system with this degree of complexity. A "base case" system model was constructed to represent current operating assets as augmented and upgraded to 2021. The base case results provided a basis for the comparison of alternative future scenarios and for conclusions to be drawn regarding potential environmental improvements. The scenarios can be roughly classified in two categories: (1) options which improve the environmental performance across all impact categories and (2) options which improve one indicator and worsen others. Overall environmental improvements are achieved in all categories by the scenarios examining increased demand management, energy efficiency, energy generation, and additional energy recovery from biosolids. The scenarios which examined desalination of seawater and the upgrades of major coastal sewage treatment plants to secondary and tertiary treatment produced an improvement in one environmental indicator but deteriorations in all the other impact categories, indicating the environmental tradeoffs within the system. The desalination scenario produced a significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions due to coal-fired electricity generation for a small increase in water supply. Assessment of a greenfield scenario incorporating water demand management, on-site treatment, local irrigation, and centralized biosolids treatment indicates significant environmental improvements are possible relative to the assessment of a conventional system of corresponding scale.

I. Nhapi and H. J. Gijzen.

Water S. A., Vol. 31, No. 1, Jan 2005, pp. 133-140.

Many cities in developing countries are facing surface water and groundwater pollution problems. This deterioration of water resources needs to be controlled through effective and feasible concepts of urban water management. The Dublin Principles, Agenda21, Vision21, and the Millennium Development Goals provide the basis for the development of innovative, holistic, and sustainable approaches. Whilst highly efficient technologies are available, the infusion of these into a well-thought out and systematic approach is critical for the sustainable management of nutrient flows and other pollutants into and out of cities. Based on cleaner production principles, three intervention steps are proposed in this paper. The first step is to minimise wastewater generation by drastically reducing water consumption and waste generation. The second step is the treatment and optimal reuse of nutrients and water at the smallest possible level, like at the on-plot and community levels. Treatment technologies recommended make the best use of side products via reuse. Once the first two intervention steps have been employed to the maximum, the remaining waste flows could be safely discharged into the environment. The third step involves enhancing the self-purification capacity of receiving water-bodies (lakes, rivers, etc.), through intervention. The success of this so-called 3-step strategic approach requires systematic implementation, providing specific solutions to specific situations. This, in turn, requires appropriate planning, legal and institutional responses. In fact, the 3-step approach could be applied as an overall approach for waste management, although here the focus is on sewage. This paper offers examples under each step, showing that the systematic application of this approach could lead to cost savings and sustainability.

J. F. Ortega, J. A. de Juan and J. M. Tarjuelo.

Agricultural Water Management, Vol. 66, No. 2, 15 Apr 2004, pp. 125-144.

The greatest water consumption takes place during irrigation of arid and semiarid areas, therefore, water resource management is fundamental for sustainability. For correct management, several tools and decision-making systems are necessary while paying close attention to aspects such as profitability, water cost, etc. Water resources are scarce and some of them are of low quality. This extremely delicate situation occurs in some regions of the world and it explains increasing water cost. In Europe, the policies relating to water use (2000/60/EC) pay particular attention to the need of its protection and conservation. To ensure this, a large number of measures, including the establishment of prices which really correspond to their usage costs, have been set forth. Water subsidies are relatively important in all European countries. In this study, a specific methodology is applied to a Spanish semi-arid region. It is useful and easy to apply, not only by farmers, but also by water managers and politicians in charge of policy. The methodology also helps in the decision-making process about water cost in agriculture. In this area (Hydrogeological System 08.29, Spain), the resources are mainly underground water with a high variable cost and without any direct subsidies. This model allows us to analyse the effect of different water costs and to find the optimum strategy giving the maximum gross margin in line with water cost and its main determining factors (irrigation system, climatic variability, etc.). The methodology is based on the effect of irrigation on crop yield with its production function, integrating the effect of application efficiency. In this way, a relationship between gross margin and gross irrigation depth is obtained. Working with permanent irrigation systems and four crops (barley, garlic, maize and onion), the main conclusion is that the optimum gross irrigation depths are always fewer than those necessary for maximum crop yield and when irrigation depths are fewer water cost increases. Irrigation depths, which maximise the economic efficiency in the use of water (m super(-3)), are fewer than those which maximise the gross margin; therefore, this aspect must be considered in irrigation scheduling. The results also show important differences among crops, depending on their water requirements and their economic profitability.

S. M. Rao and P. Mamatha.

Current science, Vol. 87, No. 7, 10 Oct 2004, pp. 942-947.

Water pollution is a serious problem as almost 70% of India's surface water resources and a growing number of its groundwater reserves have been contaminated by biological, organic and inorganic pollutants. Pollution of surface and groundwater resources occurs through point and diffuse sources. Examples of point source pollution are effluents from industries and from sewage-treatment plants. Typical examples of diffuse pollution sources are agricultural runoffs due to inorganic fertilizers and pesticides and natural contamination of groundwater by fluoride, arsenic and dissolved salts due to geo-chemical activities. In pursuit of measures to achieve sustainability in water management, the Centre for Sustainable Technologies (CST) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has begun to address treatment of fluoride-contaminated ground-water for potable requirements. The fluorosis problem is severe in India as almost 80% of the rural population depends on untreated groundwater for potable water supplies. A new method to treat fluoride-contaminated water using magnesium oxide has been developed at IISc. The IISc method relies on precipitation, sedimentation, and filtration techniques and is efficient for a range of groundwater chemistry conditions.

B. Sarr, J. Lecoeur and P. Clouvel.

Agricultural Water Management, Vol. 67, No. 3, 1 Jul 2004, pp. 201-220.

The sustainability of the groundnut production in North of Senegal hydro-agricultural systems depends on the development of irrigation methods which guarantee yield, quality and meet best water management practices. To achieve this goal, a water balance model taking into account plant development and soil water status was developed. The proposed model expresses evapotranspiration as a function of the observed leaf area index (LAI) and simulated soil water status. Compared to classical tools, mostly based on crop coefficients, the conceptual advantage of the developed model is to take into account not only the impact of water availability on leaf development of the crop but also their incidence on transpiration. Irrigation scheduling consists of determining net irrigation levels by adjusting the fraction of transpirable soil water (FTSW). The model was first calibrated and validated using experiments carried out in 1994, 1996 and 2000, on two groundnut varieties, Fleur 11 and GH 119-20, at the experimental station of Bambey in Senegal, using sprinkler irrigation methods. The model was then applied in 2000 during the dry season to the Senegal river valley under drip irrigation conditions so as to schedule irrigation according to diverse situations of water resource availability. Evidence was made of the model capacity to devise a sustainable irrigation method which guarantees yield, quality and appropriate water management practices.

L. E. D. Smith.

International Journal of Water Resources Development, Vol. 20, No. 2, Jun 2004, pp. 243-257.

Irrigation in developing countries tends to be stereotyped as equity reducing, in competition with other uses for scarce water resources, and often resulting in negative impacts for women and other disadvantaged groups. Agricultural intensification through the practice of irrigation as a strategy for poverty reduction is examined. There are four inter-related mechanisms through which irrigated agriculture can reduce poverty. These are: improvements in the levels and security of productivity, employment and incomes for irrigating farm households and farm labour; the linkage and multiplier effects of agricultural intensification for the wider economy; provision of opportunities for diversification of rural livelihoods; and multiple uses of irrigation supply. There are also significant risks that badly designed and managed irrigation can negatively impact on poverty. It is concluded that irrigated farming varies widely in its form and impacts, and has diverse local attributes. Water resource management decisions must recognize this and be based on an holistic and livelihood-centred assessment of irrigation benefits and costs that goes beyond food production objectives.

E. Wheida and R. Verhoeven.

Desalination, Vol. , No. , 89-97. Aug 2004, pp. Vol. 165, p.

The state of Libya without any doubt is facing a serious water supply shortage due to an imbalance between limited water resources and its demands. The country's population has tripled since the 1950s. As a result of the population growth and the improvement of living standard, the country is confronted with a severe lack of water resources. Water deficits of about 1154 to 4339 Mm super(3) have been estimated for the years 1998 and 2025, respectively. There is an urgent need of addressing this problem properly to avoid serious impact on the sustainability of the development of the country. One of the possibilities for meeting the problem is focusing on seawater desalination and its integration into a general water management policy. This paper summarises the techniques, their installation capacities and the associated problems in running and maintaining desalination industrial plants, as they will become a vital source of water supply in Libya.