scholarly journals An Integrated Approach to Identify Water Resources for Human Consumption in an Area Affected by High Natural Arsenic Content

Water ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. 5091-5114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanna Armiento ◽  
Antonella Baiocchi ◽  
Carlo Cremisini ◽  
Cinzia Crovato ◽  
Francesca Lotti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Human Consumption ◽  
Arsenic Content

scholarly journals An Integrated Approach to a Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) Indicator for the Food Production–Consumption Chain

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 925 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Erisman ◽  
Allison Leach ◽  
Albert Bleeker ◽  
Brooke Atwell ◽  
Lia Cattaneo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Chain ◽  
Nitrogen Use Efficiency ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Human Consumption ◽  
National Scale ◽  
Nitrogen Use ◽  
Use Efficiency

Reducing nitrogen pollution across the food chain requires the use of clear and comprehensive indicators to track and manage losses. The challenge is to derive an easy-to-use robust nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) indicator for entire food systems to help support policy development, monitor progress and inform consumers. Based on a comparison of four approaches to NUE (life cycle analysis, nitrogen footprint, nitrogen budget, and environmental impact assessment), we propose an indicator for broader application at the national scale: The whole food chain (NUEFC), which is defined as the ratio of the protein (expressed as nitrogen) available for human consumption to the (newly fixed and imported) nitrogen input to the food system. The NUEFC was calculated for a set of European countries between 1980 and 2011. A large variation in NUEFC was observed within countries in Europe, ranging from 10% in Ireland to 40% in Italy in 2008. The NUEFC can be used to identify factors that influence it (e.g., the share of biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) in new nitrogen, the imported and exported products and the consumption), which can be used to propose potential improvements on the national scale.

scholarly journals Determining regional limits and sectoral constraints for water use

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 4039-4052 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. K. Lissner ◽  
C. A. Sullivan ◽  
D. E. Reusser ◽  
J. P. Kropp
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Environmental Water ◽  
Population Projections ◽  
Water Users ◽  
Industrial Sectors ◽  
Important Challenge ◽  
Water Volumes ◽  
Main Determinants

Abstract. Water is an essential input to the majority of human activities. Often, access to sufficient water resources is limited by quality and infrastructure aspects, rather than by resource availability alone, and each activity has different requirements regarding the nature of these aspects. This paper develops an integrated approach to assess the adequacy of water resources for the three major water users: the domestic, agricultural and industrial sectors. Additionally, we include environmental water requirements. We first outline the main determinants of water adequacy for each sector. Subsequently, we present an integrated approach using fuzzy logic, which allows assessing sector-specific as well as overall water adequacy. We implement the approach in two case study settings to exemplify the main features of the approach. Using results from two climate models and two forcing RCPs (representative concentration pathways), as well as population projections, we further assess the impacts of climate change in combination with population growth on the adequacy of water resources. The results provide an important step forward in determining the most relevant factors, impeding adequate access to water, which remains an important challenge in many regions of the world. The methodology allows one to directly identify the factors that are most decisive in determining the adequacy of water in each region, pointing towards the most efficient intervention points to improve conditions. Our findings underline the fact that, in addition to water volumes, water quality is a limitation for all sectors and, especially for the environmental sector, high levels of pollution are a threat to water adequacy.

scholarly journals Determining regional limits and sectoral constraints for water use under climate change

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 4695-4727
Author(s):  
T. K. Lissner ◽  
C. A. Sullivan ◽  
D. E. Reusser ◽  
J. P. Kropp
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Environmental Water ◽  
Population Projections ◽  
Water Users ◽  
Industrial Sectors ◽  
Water Volumes ◽  
Main Determinants

Abstract. Water is an essential input to the majority of human activities. Often, access to sufficient water resources is limited by quality and infrastructure aspects, rather than by resource availability alone, and each activity has different requirements regarding the nature of these aspects. This paper develops an integrated approach to assess the adequacy of water resources for the three major water users, the domestic, agricultural and industrial sectors. Additionally, we include environmental water requirements. We first outline the main determinants of water adequacy for each sector. Subsequently, we present an integrated approach using fuzzy logic, with allows assessing sector-specific as well as overall water adequacy. We implement the approach in two case study settings to exemplify the main features of the approach. Using results from two climate models and two forcing RCPs (Representative Concentration Pathways) as well as population projections, we further assess the impacts of climate change and population growth on the adequacy of water resources. The results provide an important step forward in determining the most relevant factors, impeding adequate access to water, which remains an important challenge in many regions of the world. The methodology allows to directly identify those factors most decisive in determining the adequacy of water in each region, pointing towards the most efficient intervention points to improve conditions. Our findings underline the fact that in addition to water volumes, water quality is a limitation for all sectors and especially for the environmental sector, high levels of pollution are a threat to water adequacy.

Urban-Water Harmony model to evaluate the urban water management

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (11) ◽  
pp. 1774-1781 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yifan Ding ◽  
Deshan Tang ◽  
Yuhang Wei ◽  
Sun Yin
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Urban Expansion ◽  
Water Environment ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Urban Water Management

Water resources in many urban areas are under enormous stress due to large-scale urban expansion and population explosion. The decision-makers are often faced with the dilemma of either maintaining high economic growth or protecting water resources and the environment. Simple criteria of water supply and drainage do not reflect the requirement of integrated urban water management. The Urban-Water Harmony (UWH) model is based on the concept of harmony and offers a more integrated approach to urban water management. This model calculates four dimensions, namely urban development, urban water services, water–society coordination, and water environment coordination. And the Analytic Hierarchy Process has been used to determine the indices weights. We applied the UWH model to Beijing, China for an 11-year assessment. Our findings show that, despite the severe stress inherent in rapid development and water shortage, the urban water relationship of Beijing is generally evolving in a positive way. The social–economic factors such as the water recycling technologies contribute a lot to this change. The UWH evaluation can provide a reasonable analysis approach to combine various urban and water indices to produce an integrated and comparable evaluation index. This, in turn, enables more effective water management in decision-making processes.

Water management in Windhoek, Namibia

2007 ◽  
Vol 55 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 441-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Lahnsteiner ◽  
G. Lempert
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Potable Water ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Wastewater Reclamation ◽  
Water Shortages ◽  
Financial Measures ◽  
Potable Reuse ◽  
Direct Potable Reuse ◽  
The City

For decades, the city of Windhoek in Namibia succeeded in stretching their limited potable water resources through strict water management, latterly including wastewater reclamation and direct potable reuse. An integrated approach was followed and proper policies were put in place. This was followed up with appropriate legislation, education, policing and technical and financial measures with the result that extreme water shortages were overcome even in times of severe droughts.

scholarly journals Environmental Health Diagnosis in a Park as a Sustainability Initiative in Cities

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (16) ◽  
pp. 6436
Author(s):  
Martha Georgina Orozco-Medina ◽  
Javier Omar Martínez-Abarca ◽  
Arturo Figueroa-Montaño ◽  
Valentina Davydova-Belitskaya
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Biological Indicators ◽  
National Standards ◽  
Human Consumption ◽  
Wooded Area ◽  
Coarse Particulate Matter ◽  
Size Of Particles ◽  
Health Diagnosis

Environmental health diagnosis was made in a sport and recreational park in the city of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. The objective of this research was to perform an environmental diagnosis in Tucson Park; it concentrated on air quality (fine and coarse particulate matter, carbon dioxide), environmental noise, water quality of springs and a pond according to national standards, and macroinvertebrates as biological indicators of water condition, as well as phytosanitary state of wooded area. Additionally, a survey was conducted to study environmental perception. Results of the study highlighted significant statistical differences concerning the amount and size of particles for the winter and spring seasons. Noise levels within the park premises exceeded the Mexican standard. Water quality measured through general criteria of integrated water quality index (WQI) qualified the park´s analyzed springs as acceptable but to abstain its use and human consumption. Finally, the perception survey identified insecurity as the major problem, followed by the lack of lighting and effective communication of courses and workshops for the community to attend. It is one of the first environmental diagnoses in sport parks in Mexico´s Metropolitan Areas as an integrated approach of ecosystem health and wellbeing of city inhabitants.

scholarly journals Why isn't IWRM working in the Caribbean?

Water Policy ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 587-600
Author(s):  
Adrian Cashman
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Resources Management ◽  
Policy Reform ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Integrated Water Resources Management ◽  
Status Report ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Resources Management ◽  
The Caribbean

At the global level, it appears that acceptance for integrated water resources management (IWRM) has been growing. In a status report by the United Nations in 2012, 82% of the 134 nations which responded indicated that they had embarked on reforms to achieve integrated approaches to water resources management. Over the last decade in the Caribbean there have been similar IWRM agendas. However, so far efforts to embed IWRM in the region have yielded few results. Hence it is appropriate to ask what has been the progress with adopting an integrated approach to water management in the Caribbean and are there lessons that can be learnt? The paper seeks to provide some answers to those two questions. An overview of the various national and regional IWRM initiatives over the last decade provides the basis on which the evaluation of the successes or otherwise is made. This is complemented by an assessment of the enabling conditions and the extent to which they have been able to support developments. The analysis of contributing factors uses a stakeholder characterisation typology developed by Mitchell and Agle. Finally, the need for ‘brokering’ actors as an integral part of policy reform is identified as a necessary element of success.

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