Water Resources Sustainability

Providing clean water to earth's rapidly growing human population is one the major issues of the 21st Century. The climatic effects of global warming on water supply has made this a hot-button issue.

Sustainable Water Resources Management presents the most current thinking on the environmental, social, and political dimensions of sustainably managing the water supply at local, regional, or basin levels.

Get the single-source solutions guide to the sustainable management of water resources. Why is water the environmental issue? The answer is simple: without it, life on this planet could not exist. Yet, despite this fact, reckless consumption practices from a growing population are drying up the Earth's already limited water resources. Other factors, such as river and lake contamination, rising temperatures, and disproportionate geographic accessibility further contribute to the fresh water crisis. To confront this pressing concern, this enlightening guide, which covers over twenty case studies offering insights into real-world projects, uses a holistic, integrated approach to illustrate ways to preserve vital water supplies -- from green design remedies to encouraging greater personal responsibility. This book: Provides a basic overview of water resources, hydrology, current problems involving water resources, and the potential impact of global warming and climate change. Covers watershed planning, Best Management Practices, and potential design and planning solutions. Offers a concise overview of the issues affecting water use and management. Includes a full chapter dedicated to planning issues, and a full chapter covering site planning, design, and implementation. Sustainable Solutions for Water Resources takes a practical approach to head off a global water catastrophe by offering sensible measures that can be put in place immediately to promote a clean, plentiful flow of the Earth's most precious resource.

Sustainable Water Resource Development and Management is a comprehensive volume on this important topic. It broadly covers the sources, availability, demand, and supply of water and its uses in irrigation and crop production in agriculture. It then delves into many specific aspects of water resource development and management, including Irrigation creation and utilization Water storage efficiency, conveyance efficiency, distribution efficiency, and application efficiency The role of water in plant systems and soil-water-plant relationships Estimating the water need for irrigation along with management strategies Water quality in agriculture as well as the impact of water quality on human health Water pricing Wetland management and water productivity Water pollution in agriculture and water contamination in urban and rural areas Examples and case studies are included to illustrate and reinforce the text, such as reviews of river linking projects, adopted water management technologies for agricultural farms, important irrigation projects (both minor and major), and more.Written by two eminent researchers and scientists in agricultural water management, this informative volume is designed for students of agriculture, researchers, policymakers, and teachers engaged in the field of water management.

Population growth, increasing living standards, and rapidly changing climate have resulted in an increasing demand for freshwater, accelerating the water degradation challenges. There is a compelling need to minimize water consumption and develop approaches to effectively manage existing water resources. On a positive note, water resource management strategies discussed in this book present innovative ways to conserve both quality and quantity. Chapter 1 discusses decentralized water management approaches for intervening the urban water cycle to minimize the environmental and socioeconomic impacts. This chapter concludes with a need to use a suite of tools based on decision support systems for managing urban water resources. Chapter 2 discusses the need for assessing suitability of various types of models for a specific scenario based on the required level of complexity. This chapter discusses in detail the underlying criteria behind model selection, validation, and uncertainty analysis. Urban watersheds can be more challenging compared to natural watersheds. The urban watersheds include parking lots, roads, and developed structures, all of which contribute to a myriad of anthropogenic pollutants through stormwater runoff. Computer-based models can be used to study water quality issues and to develop a plan to manage watershed level resources. Chapter 3 compares pros and cons of the state-of-the-art watershed models used for managing water resources. Numerical simulations can be performed to compare the current and future water quality scenarios of a given watershed and to estimate the impact of potential water resource management strategies. Chapter 4 presents a case study of an urban region in Hanoi, Vietnam. Water evaluation and planning simulation tool was used to predict the trends and drivers of wastewater generation. Considering rapidly changing climate and associated weather impacts, it is critical to secure water resources in addition to dealing with the water quality issues. Chapter 5 suggests that climate change models and watershed and precipitation models should be jointly used in order to capture uncertainties in ecological functions, energy and food production and water supply sources. Chapter 6 presents a water use estimation and management tool that examines the effect of climate change and drought conditions on water supplies to ensure adequate buffalo forage. Sustaining both buffalo forage and water supplies during drought conditions requires preparedness and adaptation in response to unfavorable conditions. Finally, water reuse can alleviate the stress on available water resources. For example, effluents from wastewater treatment plants and desalination plants can be treated and reused for managing water crisis. Chapter 7 emphasizes that it is critical to optimize both economical and sustainability parameters during treatment of wastewater effluents and desalination concentrate. In certain cases, valuable metals can be recovered from the concentrate.

Expert insights into one of the major issues of the 21st Century Written by a team of leading experts, this resource provides the latest information and thinking on the globally-critical subject of water sustainability and management. The author includes methods for analyzing water resource needs, modeling, supply reliability, irrigation, and optimization.

While the world’s population continues to grow, the availability of water remains constant. Facing the looming water crisis, society needs to tackle strategic management issues as an integrated part of the solution toward water sustainability. The first volume in the two-volume set Sustainable Water Management and Technologies offers readers a practical and comprehensive look at such key water management topics as water resource planning and governance, water infrastructure planning and adaption, proper regulations, and water scarcity and inequality. It discusses best management practices for water resource allocation, ground water protection, and water quality assurance, especially for rural, arid, and underdeveloped regions of the world. Timely topics such as drought, ecosystem sustainability, climate change, and water management for shale oil and gas development are presented. Discusses best practices for water resource allocation, ground water protection, and water quality assurance. Offers chapters on urban, rural, arid, and underdeveloped regions of the world. Describes timely topics such as drought, ecosystem sustainability, climate change, and water management for shale oil and gas development. Covers water resource planning and governance, water infrastructure planning and adaptation, proper regulations, and water scarcity and inequality Discusses water resource monitoring, efficiency, and quality management.

The book explores the geo-chemical, physical, social and economic impacts of climate change on water supplies. It contains examples and case studies from a wide range of countries, and addresses the need to promote sustainable water use across the world.