Invisible Glaciers

This chapter introduces the concept of the periglacial environment, an area of frozen ground that is rich in hydrological resources. Periglacial environments provide drinking water to significant portions of the Earth’s population and are home to the enigmatic and almost unknown rock glaciers, which are subterranean rivers of ice, invisible to the naked eye unless you know where to look for them. The chapter offers the reader many pictures of rock glaciers around the world and describes the hydrological function and the natural dynamics of the periglacial environment and how it captures water from the atmosphere, freezes it, and then re-injects it into the ecosystem.

The Flood Analysis of Karadere Stream in the Mustafakemalpaşa District of Bursa Province and Determination of Its Effect on the Sünlük District Settlement

Floods shows an increase both in number and in terms of damages they cause in tropical climates as well as in Turkey which is not located in tropical region. With the increasing population density and unplanned urbanization, life and property losses become inevitable as a result of these floods. In this study, the flood analysis of the section between the beginning and the end of the Sünlük District settlement located on the border of Karadere Stream in the Mustafakemalpaşa District of Bursa Province was assessed. The planning works of the Sünlük Dam on the Karadere Stream, which is intended to provide drinking water and industrial water to the Mustafakemalpaşa and Karacabey Districts of Bursa Province, are continuing by the 1st Regional Directorate of State Hydraulic Works of Turkey (DSI). Flood areas were determined with the help of the HEC-RAS (Hydrologic Engineering Centers River Analysis System) software and applying the Q1000, Q10000 and QMMF (probable maximum flood) flood return period flow rates at the Karadere Stream which obtained from the dam planning studies. It was concluded that the damage caused by QMMF can reach up to 1000000 TL once flood occur.

RADON ACTIVITY CONCENTRATION IN WATERS OF SPRINGS IN SELECTED AREAS OF WESTERN SLOVAKIA

This paper presents the results of measurements of radon activity concentration (RAC) in spring waters and natural wells in three mountains of Slovakia (Strážov Mountains, Považský Inovec and Little Carpathians). These mountains provide drinking water for inhabitants of surrounding towns and villages. Little Carpathians is the most seismically active area in Slovakia. Považský Inovec, where 2 out of 11 uranium deposits of Slovakia are located, is interesting due to increased uranium mineralization. We have collected samples from more than 170 natural water sources, many of which exceed the guide value of 100 Bq l−1, with a maximum value of 274 Bq l−1. The median of these data (15 Bq l−1) is also higher than the national median in groundwater (11.6 Bq l−1). From the obtained data, we have created maps representing RAC of groundwaters for the whole territory. These maps were also compared with the geological maps.

The Microbe Solution

In the hot, dry summer of 1858, the Thames was a stew of sewage that festered in the sun, giving off an unbearable stench. “We believe this to be the uncleanest, foulest river in the known world,” wrote a London pundit in July. “There you shall see in the brief space of half an hour and two or three miles, a hundred sewers disgorging solid filth, a hundred broad acres of unnatural, slimy chymical compost . . . The water—the liquid rather—is inky black.” Dockworkers suffered nausea, headache, sore throats, temporary blindness—some of them fainted from breathing in the river’s aroma. In the newly rebuilt Houses of Parliament, on the riverbank, legislators choked on what the press labeled “the Great Stink.” The Thames had been badly polluted for decades, but the heat and low water that summer brought the situation to a crisis. Benjamin Disraeli, leader of the House, held a handkerchief over his nose as he fled from the Chamber, complaining that the Thames had become a “Stygian Pool.” In July 1858, he introduced a law that authorized the construction of a costly new sewer system, designed by engineer Joseph Bazalgette, that would carry London’s waste downstream of the city. Britain’s rivers were overwhelmed with sewage, its cities bursting at the seams. Between 1801 and 1841 London’s population had grown from 958,000 to 1,948,000. Numbers of people living in smaller cities like Leeds, Bradford, and Huddersfield doubled or tripled in the same span of time. While the same pattern held in other European and American cities, geography made the problem more intense in Britain, where the rivers were too small to carry off the wastes of the towns that sprouted on their banks. In 1885, engineer James Gordon estimated that dumping the raw sewage of the major towns along the Rhine would give that river a concentration of only one part sewage per 2,345 parts water. The lower Lea, a tributary of the Thames whose upstream flows had been diverted to provide drinking water for London, was by contrast composed of two- thirds sewage.

Search and Prospecting of Groundwater Deposits in the Northern Urals Glacial Palaeo/valleys

The article presents methods of research and prospecting of fresh groundwater deposits of glacial palaeo/valleys in erosion-tectonic depressions of the Northern Urals intrusive massifs. Groundwater deposits’ prospection criteria and the hydro/dynamic method of the reserves estimation in respect of the model of the stripe-shaped bed of twolayer structure have been grounded. The recommendations: to consider the deposits as a reserve source of industrial bottling in order to provide drinking water for population in case of emergency.

Uso de destiladores solares para fornecer água potável no semiárido Paraibano

<p>A escassez de água advinda das condições climáticas do semiárido paraibano tem forçado inúmeras famílias rurais a consumirem água de má qualidade, o que tem contribuído para o aumento de casos de doenças transmitidas pela água. Tendo em vista esta problemática, objetivou-se analisar como o uso de destiladores solares pode proporcionar a obtenção de água potável, e avaliar os benefícios socioeconômicos e ambientais advindos do uso desta tecnologia. Após os estudos, observou-se que os destiladores solares são uma tecnologia de baixo custo econômico, de fácil disseminação social, utilizam energia solar (limpa e renovável), e são capazes de fornecer água potável para atender as demandas hídricas de famílias que convivem com a escassez hídrica em regiões semiáridas.</p><p align="center"><strong><em>Use of solar distillers to provide drinking water in semiarid Paraibano</em></strong></p><p><strong>Abstract: </strong>The scarcity of water arising from climatic conditions of semi-arid Paraiba has forced many rural families to consume poor quality water, which has contributed to the increase in cases of waterborne diseases. In view of this problem, the objective was to examine how the use of solar distillers can provide the production of drinking water, and assess the socio-economic and environmental benefits from the use of this technology. After the studies, it was observed that solar distillers are a low economic cost technology, easy social diffusion, uses solar energy (clean, renewable), and are able to provide drinking water to meet the water demands of families living with the shortage of water in semi-arid regions</p>