From Management to Negotiation: Technical and Institutional Innovations for Integrated Water Resource Management in the Upper Comoé River Basin, Burkina Faso

This study focuses on the potential role of technical and institutional innovations for improving water management in a multi-user context in Burkina Faso. We focus on a system centered on three reservoirs that capture the waters of the Upper Comoé River Basin and servicing a diversity of users, including a sugar manufacturing company, a urban water supply utility, a farmer cooperative, and other downstream users. Due to variable and declining rainfall and expanding users’ needs, drastic fluctuations in water supply and demand occur during each dry season. A decision support tool was developed through participatory research to enable users to assess the impact of alternative release and diversion schedules on deficits faced by each user. The tool is meant to be applied in the context of consultative planning by a local user committee that has been created by a new national integrated water management policy. We contend that both solid science and good governance are instrumental in realizing efficient and equitable water management and adaptation to climate variability and change. But, while modeling tools and negotiation platforms may assist users in managing climate risk, they also introduce additional uncertainties into the deliberative process. It is therefore imperative to understand how these technological and institutional innovations frame water use issues and decisions to ensure that such framing is consistent with the goals of integrated water resource management.     

URBANIZATION OF AQUATIC SYSTEMS: DEGRADATION THRESHOLDS,STORMWATER DETECTION,AND THE LIMITS OF MITIGATION1

ABSTRACT: Urbanization of a watershed degrades both the form and the function of the downstream aquatic system, causing changes that can occur rapidly and are very difficult to avoid or correct. A variety of physical data from lowland streams in western Washington displays the onset of readily observable aquatic-system degradation at a remarkably consistent level of development, typically about ten percent effective impervious area in a watershed. Even lower levels of urban development cause significant degradation in sensitive water bodies and a reduced, but less well quantified, level of function throughout the system as a whole. Unfortunately, established methods of mitigating the downstream impacts of urban development may have only limited effectiveness. Using continuous hydrologic modeling we have evaluated detention ponds designed by conventional event methodologies, and our findings demonstrate serious deficiencies in actual pond performance when compared to their design goals. Even with best efforts at mitigation, the sheer magnitude of development activities falling below a level of regulatory concern suggests that increased resource loss will invariably accompany development of a watershed. Without a better understanding of the critical processes that lead to degradation, some downstream aquatic-system damage is probably inevitable without limiting the extent of watershed development itself.     

Lack of sampling site variation in chorion villus biopsy as assessed by DNA,enzymatic, morphological and cytogenetical analyses

A study of villus samples from eight random sites on five electively aborted chorion sacs was performed to determine any significant differences in yield, quality and composition of DNA, iduronate sulphate sulphatase activity and karyoptype status. The villi were also examined for their histological characteristics (e.g. stem, intermediate or terminal villi) and for HCG and BGP immuno-reactivities. The overall findings indicated no significant site to site variations in any of the parameters studied. It is therefore proposed that any villus should be equally suitable for prenatal diagnosis.     

Characterization of environmental water samples using strontium and lead stable isotope compositions

A simple procedure using both cation and anion exchange chromatography has been applied in the study of lead and strontium isotope composition in rain and stream water samples from remote catchments in Scotland. Whereas the soil released strontium to stream waters, lead was removed from rain water and the concentrations in stream waters were very low. Highly precise analysis by thermal ionisation mass spectrometry proved necessary in the determination of strontium isotope composition. The ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio in rain water was close to that of marine strontium but the ratios in stream waters were constant and highly characteristic for the stream. In the case of the stream at the Sourhope site, the ratio (0.70798 ± 0.00005) was less than that in rain water and probably resulted from the weathering of one specific mineral. The results suggested that the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios could be used as a stable isotope tracer of waters and to provide information on the weathering processes. Two major anthropogenic components of lead were identified in water samples. One had its origin in petrol additives whereas the other was probably of industrial origin. The low ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb ratios observed in stream waters confirmed the lead as being of anthropogenic origin and the data suggested that there was a movement, albeit very small, of lead from the soil to waters.     

Principal Biogeochemical Factors Affecting the Speciation And Transport of Mercury through the terrestrial environment

It is increasingly becoming known that mercury transport and speciation in the terrestrial environment play major roles in methyl-mercury bioaccumulation potential in surface water. This review discusses the principal biogeochemical reactions affecting the transport and speciation of mercury in the terrestrial watershed. The issues presented are mercury-ligand formation, mercury adsorption/desorption, and elemental mercury reduction and volatilization. In terrestrial environments, OH^–, Cl^– and S^– ions have the largest influence on ligand formation. Under oxidized surface soil conditions Hg(OH)₂, HgCl₂, HgOH⁺, HgS, and Hg⁰ are the predominant inorganic mercury forms. In reduced environments, common mercury forms are HgSH⁺, HgOHSH, and HgClSH. Many of these mercury forms are further bound to organic and inorganic ligands. Mercury adsorption to mineral and organic surfaces is mainly dictated by two factors: pH and dissolved ions. An increase in Cl^– concentration and a decrease in pH can, together or separately, decrease mercury adsorption. Clay and organic soils have the highest capability of adsorbing mercury. Important parameters that increase abiotic inorganic mercury reduction are availability of electron donors, low redox potential, and sunlight intensity. Primary factors that increase volatilization are soil permeability and temperature. A decrease in mercury adsorption and an increase in soil moisture will also increase volatilization. The effect of climate on biogeochemical reactions in the terrestrial watershed indicates mercury speciation and transport to receiving water will vary on a regional basis.     

Experimental analysis of the contribution of swimming and drifting to the displacement of reef fish larvae

The extent to which behaviour affects the dispersal of pelagic larvae in reef fishes has been a topic of major discussion among marine ecologists. Here, we experimentally quantified the extent to which the displacement of late-stage larvae of Abudefduf saxatilis is due to active movement (i.e. swimming) and drifting. We consider drifting as the component of larval displacement accounted for by the current. Drifting was quantified by comparing larval displacement to the displacement of passive particles in an extended flow chamber that gave larvae the free choice of swimming (i.e. swim with or against the current or not swim at all). We also determine whether drifting results from currents exceeding larval swimming capabilities or from the behavioural choice of larvae of not to swim against adverse currents. To do this, we compare the speeds of larval swimming in the extended flow chamber to those obtained in a smaller chamber in which larvae are behaviourally forced to swim due to space constraints and a retaining fence (most available data on larval swimming is based on this sort of chamber). Within the extended chamber, larvae tended to face the current and swim slower than it. This resulted in a net displacement increasingly determined by drifting. We also found that in the extended chamber, larvae swam at speeds between one and six times slower than the speeds they achieved in the “behaviourally modifying” smaller chamber. This suggests that the net displacement in the extended chamber was in part due to the behavioural choice of the larvae of not to swim. The importance of this “behavioural drifting” is discussed in terms of energy savings required for successful completion of the larval period and post-settlement survival. The idea that larvae may modulate their swimming behaviour raises caution for the use of published data regarding swimming capabilities of reef fish larvae when assessing the extent to which these fish actively affect their dispersal.     

Persistent organic pollutants,heavy metals and parasites in the glaucous gull (Larus hyperboreus) on Spitsbergen

The prediction of a higher parasite infection as a consequence of an impaired immune system with increasing persistent organic pollution (POP) and heavy metal levels were investigated in adult glaucous gull (Larus hyperboreus) from Svalbard. The levels of chlorinated pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), toxaphenes and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were measured in liver. Cupper, cadmium, lead, mercury, selenium and zinc were measured in kidney samples. An elevated ratio of PCB-118 was found, suggesting that local contamination from the settlement was detectable in the glaucous gull. Eight cestodes, four nematodes, two acanthocephalan and three trematode helminth species were found in the intestine. A positive correlation was found between cestode intensities and selenium levels and between acanthocephalan intensities and mercury levels. No correlation was found between parasite intensities and POP concentrations. It is concluded that the contaminant levels found in glaucous gulls do not cause immune suppression severe enough to affect parasite intensity.     

Levels and temporal trends of HCH isomers in ringed seals from West and East Greenland

Levels and temporal trends of the hexachlorocyclohexane isomers alpha-, beta- and gamma-HCH were analysed in blubber of juvenile ringed seals from West Greenland (1994 to 2006) and juvenile and adult ringed seals from East Greenland (1986 to 2006). No significant differences in the concentration levels in the juvenile seals were found between East and West Greenland for any of the three isomers. alpha-HCH concentrations were not significantly different between juvenile and adult ringed seals from East Greenland, whereas beta- and gamma-HCH concentrations were significantly higher in adult ringed seals. alpha- and beta-HCH in Greenland ringed seals were approximately a factor two lower than in the Canadian Arctic, and alpha-HCH was a factor 2-3 higher than in ringed seals from an area east of Svalbard, Norway. Annual decreases in ringed seals from Greenland during the study periods were detected to be 9.1-11.7%, 1.4-3.9% and 6.0-6.4% for alpha-, beta- and gamma-HCH, respectively, being quite similar in both East and West Greenland. Similar levels and trends in East and West Greenland support the general understanding of the pathways of HCH isomers to and in the Arctic.