COST ANALYSIS OF WATER AND WASTE WATER TREATMENT PROCESSES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES1

ABSTRACT: Mathematical modeling techniques are used to develop predictive equations for cost of water and waste water treatment processes in developing countries utilizing socioeconomic, environmental, and technological indicators. Predictive equations are developed for each of the three regions (Africa, Asia, and Latin America) for construction, operation, and maintenance costs of slow sand filter, rapid sand filter, stabilization lagoon, aerated lagoon, activated sludge, and trickling filter. Data analysis indicated that cost of water treatment processes is a function of technological indicator (percentage of imported materials), population, and the design capacity. The variables which gave the best correlation for waste water treatment cost were population, design flow, and the percentage of imported waste water disposal materials.     

Women and community water supply programmes: An analysis from a socio-cultural perspective

Community water supply programmes are seen as instrumental in achieving the goal of ‘safe’ water for all. Women, a principal target group of these programmes, are to be benefited with greater convenience, enhanced socio‐cultural opportunities and better health for themselves and their families, provided through improved water facilities. Water supply programmes largely consist of three essential components, namely: technology, people and institutions. Although such programmes are intended to benefit women members of local communities, scant attention is paid to the impacts of the socio‐cultural context of the community on these programmes. This article explores the influence of social and cultural intricacies on the implementation of community water supply programmes, and assesses their effectiveness. The article offers important lessons for the design and implementation of this type of programme. It concludes that the local socio‐cultural context sets the stage for programme implementation, being a dynamic factor that determines actual access to water sources, more so than mere physical availability, which is often used as a criterion for programme performance. The article stresses the urgent need to integrate socio‐cultural factors as a fourth dimension in designing community water supply programmes, and suggests practical measures for enhancing the effectiveness of such programmes.     

Integrating social preference in GIS-aided planning for forestry and conservation activities: a case study from rural SE Asia

Land-use planning using geographic information systems (GIS) commonly emphasizes biophysical spatial data; however planning can be improved by integrating spatial sets of socioeconomic data into the GIS. As an example, we compared a traditional GIS-aided forestry planning protocol that considered only biophysical suitability, with an integrated GIS-aided approach that incorporated both biophysical and socioeconomic suitability. The analyses were conducted for the planning of plantation investments in the Kyaukpadaung Township in the dry zone of central Myanmar. The traditional approach used three biophysical layers for suitability: land use, slope, and accessibility. In contrast, the integrated GIS approach included biophysical suitability data, perceptions and preferences of local villagers towards forestry (social suitability), and quantitative socioeconomic data. The results indicated that the integrated approach provided two principal benefits over the traditional method. First, the integrated method resulted in a more precise idea of suitable sites for plantation investment that could benefit more rural people and also lead to greater investment efficiency. Second, incorporating social preference into the GIS takes into account the crucial element of social capital (viz., social preference), which should lead to higher levels of community acceptance of plantation projects because those plantations would be established on socially suitable land. A second GIS exercise showed how conservation investment decisions could be informed using the integrated method. The results of this study support the idea that GIS-aided planning activities can be enhanced through the incorporation of social data into the analysis. When applicable, spatial data collection efforts for GIS-based planning exercises should incorporate spatial socioeconomic data.     

AN ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK FOR EVALUATING CHANNEL MAINTENANCE FLOWS IN COLORADO1

ABSTRACT: An accounting procedure is developed which determines a flow regime that is capable of transporting an amount of bedload sediment necessary to ensure channel stability downstream. The method allows for sediment buildup in the channel within geomorphic threshold limits during low flow periods. During periods of high runoff, enough water is bypassed to transport the stored sediment. The procedure utilizes only those flows of sufficient magnitude to maintain channel stability over the long run (25–50+ years). An example is presented which determines the volume of water and frequency of release for channel maintenance purposes downstream from a hypothetical water diversion project. Of some 1,200,000 acre feet generated during a 59-year period, 86,500 acre feet was required for channel maintenance flows. Bypass flows were not required each year, but only during those years when average daily flow reached bankfull or greater. Such releases were made on 202 of the 411 days when average flows either equalled or exceeded bankfull discharge.     

Modeling human-induced climatic change: A summary for environmental managers

The rapid increase in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases has caused concern because of their potential to alter the earth's radiation budget and disrupt current climate patterns While there are many uncertainties associated with use of general circulation models (GCMs), GCMs are currently the best available technology to project changes in climate associated with elevated gas concentrations. Results indicate increases in global temperature and changes in global precipitation patterns are likely as a result of doubled CO₂. GCMs are not reliable for use at the regional scale because local scale processes and geography are not taken into account. Comparison of results from five GCMs in three regions of the United States indicate high variability across regions and among models depending on season and climate variable. Statistical methods of scaling model output and nesting finer resolution models in global models are two techniques that may improve projections. Despite the many limitations in GCMs, they are useful tools to explore climate-earth system dynamics when used in conjunction with water resource and ecosystem models. A variety of water resource models showed significant alteration of regional hydrology when run with both GCM-generated and hypothetical climate scenarios, regardless of region or model complexity. Similarly, ecological models demonstrate the sensitivity of ecosystem production, nutrient dynamics, and distribution to changes in climate and CO₂ levels. We recommend the use of GCM-based scenarios in conjunction with water resource and ecosystem models to guide environmental management and policy in a “no-regrets” framework or as part of a precautionary approach to natural resource protection.     

PAST AND FUTURE OF ANALYSIS OF WATER RESOURCES TIME SERIES1

ABSTRACT: water resources supply and demand time series consist of several or all of the four basic characteristics: tendency, intermittency, periodicity and stochasticity. Their importance changes from one type of variables to another. Historic developments of analysis of time series in hydrology have varied significantly over the past, from the stress on search for periodicities and persistence in annual series to the emphasis on the series stochastic properties. Supply and demand series are often highly interrelated, which fact is most often neglected in planning water resources systems in general, and water storage capacities in particular. The future of series analysis in water resources will likely be by a joint use of physically-based structural analysis and the use of advanced methods of treating data by stochastic processes, statistical estimation and inference techniques. The most intriguing challenge of the future of this analysis may be the treatment of nonnormal, nonlinear and in general nonstationary hydrologic and water use time series. The proper treatment of complex multivariate processes will also challenge the specialists, especially for the purposes of transfer of information between data on variables at given points, or between data at several points of a given variable, or both.     

Firewood consumption in a Nepali village

People's dependence on firewood as a primary source of energy is causing serious deforestation problems in many developing countries. Reliable information on firewood consumption rates is needed to develop afforestation plans and to control deforestation. This study compares three methods used to determine firewood consumption in a Nepali village. Cultural and environmental factors that affect firewood consumption in the village are also examined.Theweight survey proved to be the most accurate method used. The less precisedaily recall andannual recall surveys overestimated actual firewood consumption by factors of 1.76 and 1.95, respectively. Overestimates are attributed to both physical and social factors. In view of the good agreement between daily and annual recall surveys, and the much greater ease of conducting the latter, annual recall surveys are recommended as the most practical method of monitoring firewood consumption rates. Validating the survey with occasional weighed measurements is suggested as a means of improving accuracy.     

持续提升环境社会检测数据质量工作探讨

分析了我国社会环境检测机构发展现状,指出由于政府监管体系尚不完善、环境监测服务市场低价竞争、社会环境检测机构缺乏社会责任意识以及环境监测专业技术人员缺乏等因素,环境社会检测数据质量无法得到保证。提出,进一步完善政府监督管理制度、健全环境监测行业自律约束机制、提升环境监测人员能力水平、规范信息公开范围4方面的社会环境检测机构监管工作建议,从而持续提升环境社会检测数据质量。     

global climate change: processes and products – an overview

Our knowledge of global climate change has many uncertainties.Whether global air temperature will increase, by how much, and when,are subject to debate, but there is little doubt that troposphericconcentrations of several trace gases are increasing. While possibleincreases in the average air temperature is a product of these changes,the increases in the trace gases alone will have an effect on agriculture.Increases in the ambient concentrations of carbon dioxide are expectedto have a positive net effect on crop production. In contrast, anyincreases in the penetration of surface-level ultraviolet-B (280–320 nm)radiation, and known increases in surface ozone concentrations, areconsidered to have adverse effects on certain crops. Our presentknowledge of the joint effects on crops of elevated levels of carbondioxide, ultraviolet-B radiation and ozone, and possible alterations in airtemperature and precipitation patterns, is virtually zero. Therefore, anypredictions of the effects of global climate change on agriculture aresubject to significant uncertainties. In contrast, coupling of climatechange (only temperature and precipitation) models to crop productionhas led to a number of future scenarios. In spite of theirpresent limitations, results from these efforts can be useful in planningfor future agriculture.     

以“零污染”为目标加强清洁生产的全面质量管理

通过对江苏油田清洁生产试点单位环保工作的全面总结，提出了当前油田清洁生产必须走管理与科技结合的道路，加强清生产的全面质量管理，并针对清洁生产过程如何消除污油，污水，尾气，套管气对环境的污染均提出了自己的思路。