Pressure management in Waitakere City, New Zealand - a case study

2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 135-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Pilipovic ◽  
R. Taylor

In 1996, as part of Waitakere Council’s Water Cycle Strategy, a pressure standardisation programme to permanently lower the average supply pressure citywide was implemented with the aim of reducing water loss and water use. The experience gained during the 1994/95 Auckland water shortage had confirmed that there was considerable scope to reduce pressures in many areas. Since 1996 water pressures have been reduced in over 60% of the reticulated area of the city, with the average pressure reduced from 710 kPa to 540 kPa. As a result of this programme water loss from the network has been reduced, there has been a reduction in the frequency of mains breaks and it is likely that the life of water pipeline assets has been extended. Furthermore both pressure and demand management initiatives have reduced per capita water use in the city by more than 10%. A network computer model was used as a design tool to check the network under various pressure regimes and cost benefit analyses were carried out for various design scenarios. Fire sprinkler systems were checked as part of the design process. Minimum service standards were not reduced and in some cases pressures were actually increased. This paper covers the various aspects of the design, the implementation and the results of the pressure standardisation programme.

2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 295-301
Author(s):  
J.S. Buckle

This article describes a successful awareness and education project undertaken in an East Rand township by the Water Cycle Management Section of Rand Water. The Project's focus was to create awareness in the community of the broad concept of water cycle management within an environment and to transfer skills to community members (facilitators) who could then assist in ensuring effective and efficient water use.


This article presents Israel's experience of effective use of water resources. During the research, the following was investigated: - Israeli government policies aimed at the rational use of water resources; - the essence of Israeli policy on the rational use of water resources in agriculture; - Use Israel's strategy to grow its water use and price; - Long-term forecasting system for water use. The study concluded that: Prudent water management, reuse of wastewater and desalination of sea water, as well as the construction of the AllIsrael Water Pipeline, a consistent economic policy in the water sector against the background of effective integrated management of limited water resources, aimed at combating their scarcity, allowed to solve the problem of water shortage on a national scale and take the country out of the water crisis, reduce climate dependence and preserve the Lake of Kineret.


2004 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 25-32
Author(s):  
J.S. Buckle

This paper describes the introduction of water demand management in the southern African context. Originally a response to drought conditions, water demand management is now a key element in Rand Water's strategy of water cycle management - a mix of interventions that (holistically and continuously) keep the water industry viable and sustainable. This experience points to awareness and community education programmes being an essential companion to the technical interventions such as leakage reduction measures.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 2795-2809 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hafsa Ahmed Munia ◽  
Joseph H. A. Guillaume ◽  
Naho Mirumachi ◽  
Yoshihide Wada ◽  
Matti Kummu

Abstract. Countries sharing river basins are often dependent upon water originating outside their boundaries; meaning that without that upstream water, water scarcity may occur with flow-on implications for water use and management. We develop a formalisation of this concept drawing on ideas about the transition between regimes from resilience literature, using water stress and water shortage as indicators of water scarcity. In our analytical framework, dependency occurs if water from upstream is needed to avoid scarcity. This can be diagnosed by comparing different types of water availability on which a sub-basin relies, in particular local runoff and upstream inflows. At the same time, possible upstream water withdrawals reduce available water downstream, influencing the latter water availability. By developing a framework of scarcity and dependency, we contribute to the understanding of transitions between system regimes. We apply our analytical framework to global transboundary river basins at the scale of sub-basin areas (SBAs). Our results show that 1175 million people live under water stress (42 % of the total transboundary population). Surprisingly, the majority (1150 million) of these currently suffer from stress only due to their own excessive water use and possible water from upstream does not have impact on the stress status – i.e. they are not yet dependent on upstream water to avoid stress – but could still impact on the intensity of the stress. At the same time, 386 million people (14 %) live in SBAs that can avoid stress owing to available water from upstream and have thus upstream dependency. In the case of water shortage, 306 million people (11 %) live in SBAs dependent on upstream water to avoid possible shortage. The identification of transitions between system regimes sheds light on how SBAs may be affected in the future, potentially contributing to further refined analysis of inter- and intrabasin hydro-political power relations and strategic planning of management practices in transboundary basins.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianela Fader ◽  
Carlo Giupponi ◽  
Selmin Burak ◽  
Hamouda Dakhlaoui ◽  
Aristeidis Koutroulis ◽  
...  

<p>The presentation will summarize the main findings of the chapter “Water”[1] of the report “Climate and Environmental Change in the Mediterranean Basin – Current Situation and Risks for the Future”. This report was published in November 2020 and prepared by 190 scientists from 25 countries, who belong to the scientific network “Mediterranean Experts on Climate and Environmental Change”.</p><p>Water resources in the Mediterranean are scarce, unevenly distributed and often mismatching human and environmental needs. Approx. 180 million people in the southern and eastern Mediterranean countries suffer from water scarcity (<1000 m<sup>3</sup> capita<sup>-1</sup> yr<sup>-1</sup>). The main water use is for agriculture, and more specifically on the southern and eastern rim. Water demand for both tourism and agriculture peak in summer, potentially enhancing conflicts in the future. Municipal water use is particularly constrained in the south and will likely be exacerbated in the future by demographic and migration phenomena. Northern countries face additional risks in flood prone areas where urban settlements are rapidly increasing.</p><p>Climate change, in combination with demographic and socio-economic developments, has mainly negative consequences for the water cycle in the Mediterranean Basin, including reduced runoff and groundwater recharge, increased crop water requirements, increased conflicts among users, and increased risk of overexploitation and degradation. These impacts will be particularly severe for global warming higher than 2°C.</p><p>Adequate water supply and demand management offers some options to cope with risks. Technical solutions are available for improving water use efficiency and productivity, and increasing reuse. Seawater desalination is increasingly used as adaptation measure to reduce (potable) water scarcity in dry Mediterranean countries, despite known drawbacks in terms of environmental impacts and energy requirements. Promising solar technologies are under development, potentially reducing emissions and costs. Reuse of wastewater is a solution for agriculture and industrial activities but also recharge of aquifers. Inter-basin transfers may lead to controversies and conflicts. Construction of dams contributes to the reduction of water and energy scarcities, but with trade-offs in terms of social and environmental impacts.</p><p>Overall, water demand management, which increases water use efficiency and reduces water losses, is crucial for water governance for a sustainable development. Maintaining Mediterranean diet or coming back to it on the basis of locally produced foods and reducing food wastes may save water but also carbon emissions while having nutritional and health benefits.</p><div><br><div> <p>[1] <strong>Fader M.</strong>, Giupponi C., Burak S., Dakhlaoui H., Koutroulis A., Lange M.A., Llasat M.C., Pulido-Velazquez D., Sanz-Cobeña A. (2020): Water. In: Climate and Environmental Change in the Mediterranean Basin – Current Situation and Risks for the Future. First Mediterranean Assessment Report [Cramer W, Guiot J, Marini K (eds.)] Union for the Mediterranean, Plan Bleu, UNEP/MAP, Marseille, France, 57pp, in press. Download</p> </div> </div>


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 38
Author(s):  
Sonia Paone

The article analyses the transformations of the use of eminent domain in the United States in the context of urban redevelopment programs. In the past the private property has been expropriated for public use only. Recently it is possible to forcibly transfer property, from a private subject to private developers, on the basis of a cost-benefit analysis that demonstrates that the new use is more efficient than the previous one. This profound change has been possible thanks to a progressive modification of the concept of public use. Traditionally, public use coincided with the construction of infrastructures and public utility, such as highways and railroads. Over the time, it has come to include other aims: firstly, projects of urban renewal and economic development carried forth by private developers. Essentially, it has resulted in the use of expropriation to assemble lands which are then granted to subjects who intervene in the reconfiguration of the city for private purposes. Starting from some important examples of urban development, the main phases of this process are reconstructed, also taking into account the most important decisions of the US Supreme Court that contributed to the change of doctrine, invalidating the postulate of public use as justification for expropriation.


2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 3977-4021 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Siebert ◽  
J. Burke ◽  
J. M. Faures ◽  
K. Frenken ◽  
J. Hoogeveen ◽  
...  

Abstract. Irrigation is the most important water use sector accounting for about 70% of the global freshwater withdrawals and 90% of consumptive water uses. While the extent of irrigation and related water uses are reported in statistical databases or estimated by model simulations, information on the source of irrigation water is scarce and very scattered. Here we present a new global inventory on the extent of areas irrigated with groundwater, surface water or non-conventional sources, and we determine the related consumptive water uses. The inventory provides data for 15 038 national and sub-national administrative units. Irrigated area was provided by census-based statistics from international and national organizations. A global model was then applied to simulate consumptive water uses for irrigation by water source. Globally, area equipped for irrigation is currently about 301 million ha of which 38% are equipped for irrigation with groundwater. Total consumptive groundwater use for irrigation is estimated as 545 km3 yr−1, or 43% of the total consumptive irrigation water use of 1 277 km3 yr−1. The countries with the largest extent of areas equipped for irrigation with groundwater, in absolute terms, are India (39 million ha), China (19 million ha) and the United States of America (17 million ha). Groundwater use in irrigation is increasing both in absolute terms and in percentage of total irrigation, leading in places to concentrations of users exploiting groundwater storage at rates above groundwater recharge. Despite the uncertainties associated with statistical data available to track patterns and growth of groundwater use for irrigation, the inventory presented here is a major step towards a more informed assessment of agricultural water use and its consequences for the global water cycle.


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