Critical review of Integrated Water Resources Management: Moving beyond polarised discourse

Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) emerged as a popular concept in the water sector in the 20th century. From a highly techno-centric approach in the past, it has taken a new turn embracing Habermasian communicative rationality as a place-based nexus for multiple actors to consensually and communicatively integrate decisions in a hydrological unit. The 'how to integrate' approach had remarkable appeal worldwide in promoting authentic participation of all stakeholders. However, critics argue that the domain of water resource management is a political process of contestation and negotiation; the emphasis is on complexities, contextuality, power dynamics and the importance of analysing real world situations. They demonstrate 'how integration cannot be achieved' given the power dynamics in social interactions. These apparently contradictory discourses draw on different theoretical paradigms and polarise the discourse on IWRM, without offering constructive alternatives. To this end, this paper offers an option to complement this polarised discourse by examining 'how integration actually does take place' in a strategic context thereby facilitating consensual decisions to integrate water management for a sustainable future.     

Variation of the Relative Humidity of Air Released from Canisters after Ambient Sampling

ABSTRACT

Dalton's law of partial pressures and the hypothesis that water vapor equilibrium in a canister is identical to that established above liquid water are used to predict the variation of the percent relative humidity (%RH) of air released from canisters used in ambient air sampling, typically 6-L canisters pressurized with 18 L of air. When (and if) the water vapor partial pressure in a canister exceeds its saturation vapor pressure, water vapor condensation begins and the condensation rate equals the sampling rate of water vapor into the canister. Under constant temperature conditions, the air subsequently released from the canister is less humid than the original sample, following the relationship %RH = 100% (6 L/V_s) for V_s> V_r, where V_s is the residual air volume (referenced to atmospheric pressure), and V_r is shown to depend on the %RH of the ambient air sample. V_r is the residual air volume at which water is completely removed (except for adsorbed water vapor) from the canister wall. For V_s < V_r, the predicted %RH is constant and equal to its value at V_r. Experimental values agree reasonably well with predictions at both high (90%) and low (34%) RH. However, experimental values are often slightly displaced (usually towards lower values of %RH) for mid-range %RH (61%) and variations in %RH near V_r change from canister to canister.     

A game theoretic approach to multimodal communication

Over the last few decades the animal communication community has become increasingly aware that much communication occurs using multiple signals in multiple modalities. The majority of this work has been empirical, with less theoretical work on the advantages conferred by such communication. In the present paper, we ask: Why should animals communicate with multiple signals in multiple modalities? To tackle this question we use game theoretic techniques, and highlight developments in the economic signaling literature that might offer insight into biological problems. We start by establishing a signaling game, and investigate signal honesty under two prevailing paradigms of honest communication – costly signaling and cheap talk. In both paradigms, without further constraint, it is simple to show that anything that can be achieved with multiple signals can be achieved with one. We go on to investigate different sets of possible constraints that may make multiple signals and multimodal signals in particular more likely to evolve. We suggest that constraints on cost functions and bandwidths, orthogonal noise across modalities, strategically distinct modes, multiple qualities, multiple signalers, and multiple audiences, all provide biologically plausible scenarios that theoretically favor multiple and multimodal signaling.     

Fire Regime Changes in La Michilía Biosphere Reserve, Durango, Mexico

Abstract: The ability of reserves to maintain natural ecosystem processes such as fire disturbance regimes is central to long-term conservation. Fire-scarred tree samples were used to reconstruct fire regimes at five study sites totaling approximately 230 ha in pine (   Pinus spp.) and oak ( Quercus spp.) forests of La Michilía Biosphere Reserve on the dry east slope of the Sierra Madre Occidental, Durango, Mexico. Study sites covered a 20-km environmental gradient of elevation, topography, and human land uses. Plant communities ranged from oak-pine to mixed conifer forests. Fires were frequent at all sites prior to 1930, when large-scale grazing of domestic livestock was initiated. Widespread fires have been excluded from four of the five sites since 1945, with an essentially uninterrupted regime of frequent fires continuing only in the reserve core. Xeric sites had many, smaller fires, whereas mesic sites had fewer but larger fires. On a reserve-wide scale, a fire burned on at least one site nearly every year, usually in the dry spring or early summer season, but fire years were rarely synchronous among the sites. Fire occurrence was weakly related to the Southern Oscillation climate pattern; major reserve-wide fire years almost never coincided with wet Southern Oscillation extremes but only occasionally matched dry extremes. Maintenance of the long-term frequent-fire regime in the reserve core is one indicator that the biosphere reserve model has been successful in conserving natural processes, but the protected area is small ( 7000 ha). Because of the key role of frequent-fire regimes in regulating ecosystem structure and function, restoration of the ecological role of fire disturbance is a desirable conservation strategy.     

EFFECTS OF CLIMATIC CHANGE ON THE THORNTHWAITE MOISTURE INDEX1

ABSTRACT: The Thornthwaite moisture index is a useful indicator of the supply of water (precipitation) in an area relative to the demand for water under prevailing climatic conditions (potential evapotranspiration). This study examines the effects of changes in climate (temperature and precipitation) on the Thornthwaite moisture index in the conterminous United States. Estimates of changes in mean annual temperature and precipitation for doubled-atmospheric CO₂ conditions derived from three general circulation models (GCMs) are used to study the response of the moisture index under steady-state doubled-CO₂ conditions. Results indicate that temperature and precipitation changes under doubled-CO₂ conditions generally will cause the Thornthwaite moisture index to decrease, implying a drier climate for most of the United States. The pattern of expected decrease is consistent among the three GCMs, although the amount of decrease depends on which GCM climatic-change scenario is used. Results also suggest that changes in the moisture index are related mainly to changes in the mean annual potential evapotranspiration as a result of changes in the mean annual temperature, rather than to changes in the mean annual precipitation.     

Residence and place image

Data are presented for a particular population on its perception of English and Welsh local authority areas in terms of desirability for residence. The method employed permits a distinction between positive and negative judgements as well as a measure of the differing degree to which areas figure in the mind at all. It is established that the areas are seen in terms of a sharply differentiated hierarchy of preference and that there is considerable variation in the extent to which areas are “visible”. In aggregate negative judgements predominate and the most frequently expressed attitude is strong dislike. Places in the south‐west are popular as are some places in the north. London Boroughs are unpopular although in varying degrees. The most favoured place is Cornwall and the least favoured is Wolverhampton. It is argued that perceptions studied in the “direct” way used here are important to complement those employing an “oblique” method in which criteria of choice are assumed or established by social survey and then used to create a profile of preference against which places can be measured and ranked.     

HYDROLOGIC EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE DELAWARE RWER BASIN1

ABSTRACT: The Thornthwaite water balance and combinations of temperature and precipitation changes representing climate change were used to estimate changes in seasonal soil-moisture and runoff in the Delaware River basin. Winter warming may cause a greater proportion of precipitation in the northern part of the basin to fall as rain, which may increase winter runoff and decrease spring and summer runoff. Estimates of total annual runoff indicate that a 5 percent increase in precipitation would be needed to counteract runoff decreases resulting from a warming of 2°C; a 15 percent increase for a warming of 4°C. A warming of 2° to 4°C, without precipitation increases, may cause a 9 to 25 percent decrease in runoff. The general circulation model derived changes in annual runoff ranged from ?39 to +9 percent. Results generally agree with those obtained in studies elsewhere. The changes in runoff agree in direction but differ in magnitude. In this humid temperate climate, where precipitation is evenly distributed over the year, decreases in snow accumulation in the northern part of the basin and increases in evapotranspiration throughout the basin could change the timing of runoff and significantly reduce total annual water availability unless precipitation were to increase concurrently.     

Managing petroleum refining wastes by thermal desorption

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has developed regulations under the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA) of 1984 to restrict the land disposal of hazardous wastes. As a result of the regulations, all hazardous wastes to be placed on the land must meet treatment standards based on the performance of the best demonstrated available technology (BDAT) identified for individual waste classifications. The Marathon Oil Company is currently evaluating innovative technologies for managing listed waste materials, with a focus on waste minimization and recycling. Remediation Technologies, Inc. (ReTeC) has conducted testing on wastewater treatment sludges from three Marathon refineries using a proprietary thermal desorption technology. The results from these tests have demonstrated that the technology has the ability to consistently meet BDAT treatment standards, while preferentially separating and condensing residual moisture and oils from the material.     

POLICY DROUGIT: THE CASE OF SOUTH FLORIDA1

ABSTRACT: In this paper, we review recent experience with drought in south Florida, and report some results of a study of the likely agricultural economic impacts of drought. Our conclusions can be summarized as follows. (1) Whether a period of low rainfall becomes a “drought” in south Florida is determined largely by institutional factors. (2) The impacts of a drought event are dependent on the rules the Water Management District uses to manage the event. If the rules involve effective reductions in irrigation supply, the financial impacts may be large, but are sensitive to the way in which cutbacks are imposed. (3) Current drought management regulations do not appear to minimize the short-run cost of drought. (4) Current policies which seek to minimize the short-run cost of drought are inconsistent with dynamically-optimal policies.