Water Management in Austria and Security of Water Supply

Author(s):  
Wilfried Schimon
2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 355-360
Author(s):  
E D Oruonye ◽  
E Bange

This study examined the challenges of water resource development and management in Zing town,Taraba State, Nigeria. The study considered issues of sources of water supply in Zing town, the nature of water challenges, impacts of the water challenges on the socio-economic life of the people, water management strategies and prospect of urban water resource development in the study area. 110 questionnaires were systematically administered in ten streets that were purposively selected in Zing town. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The result of the finding indicates that majority (45.5%) of the respondent have their water source from borehole, 18.2% streams, 18.2% hand dug wells and 9.1% from other sources (mostly water vendors). The study shows that 68.2% of the respondents had their water point located outside their households, while only 31.8% claimed to have their water sources located within their compounds (this is mostly hand dug wells). The nature of water challenge in the area ranges from severe (50%), not severe (27.3%) and normal (22.7%). The results also shows that only 34% of respondents claimed to have access to sufficient water daily, while 66% of the respondents hardly have access to sufficient water on daily basis. The study shows that the water management strategy adopted mostly by the respondent ranges from storing water in large container (48.2%), reduce water use (29.1%), increase amount spent on water (13.6%) and others 9.1% (mainly re-use of water). The prospect of water resource development in the study area is very bright with the proposal of a small earth dam in Monkin settlement by the Federal Government of Nigeria. The Monkin small earth dam which is meant to generate 500KW of electricity can be integrated into an urban water supply project in the area. This will assure more reliable water supply all year round. It will also help to overcome some of the challenges of servicing the hand pumps which rendered them inadequate when they break down. This study recommends the need to replace the old and obsolete borehole equipment with new ones and increase the number of boreholes to meet the increasing water demand in the area.


2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. Manuszak ◽  
M. MacPhee ◽  
S. Liskovich ◽  
L. Feldsher

The City of Baltimore, Maryland is one of many US cities faced with challenges related to increasing potable water demands, diminishing fresh water supplies, and aging infrastructure. To address these challenges, the City recently undertook a $7M study to evaluate water supply and treatment alternatives and develop the conceptual design for a new 120 million gallon per day (MGD) water treatment plant. As part of this study, an innovative raw water management tool was constructed to help model source water availability and predicted water quality based on integration of a new and more challenging surface water supply. A rigorous decision-making approach was then used to screen and select appropriate treatment processes. Short-listed treatment strategies were demonstrated through a year-long pilot study, and process design criteria were collected in order to assess capital and operational costs for the full-scale plant. Ultimately the City chose a treatment scheme that includes low-pressure membrane filtration and post-filter GAC adsorption, allowing for consistent finished water quality irrespective of which raw water supply is being used. The conceptual design includes several progressive concepts, which will: 1) alleviate treatment limitations at the City's existing plants by providing additional pre-clarification facilities at the new plant; and 2) take advantage of site conditions to design and operate the submerged membrane system by gravity-induced siphon, saving the City significant capital and operations and maintenance (O&M) costs. Once completed, the new Fullerton Water Filtration Plant (WFP) will be the largest low-pressure membrane plant in North America, and the largest gravity-siphon design in the world.


Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Elshaikh ◽  
Shi-hong Yang ◽  
Xiyun Jiao ◽  
Mohammed Elbashier

This study aims to offer a comprehensive assessment of the impacts of policies and institutional arrangements on irrigation management performance. The case study, the Gezira Scheme, has witnessed a significant decrease in water management performance during recent decades. This situation led to several institutional changes in order to put the system on the right path. The main organizations involved in water management at the scheme are the Ministry of Irrigation & Water Resources (MOIWR), the Sudan Gezira Board (SGB), and the Water Users Associations (WUAs). Different combinations from these organizations were founded to manage the irrigation system. The evaluation of these organizations is based on the data of water supply and cultivated areas from 1970 to 2015. The measured data were compared with two methods: the empirical water order method (Indent) that considers the design criteria of the scheme, and the Crop Water Requirement (CWR) method. Results show that the MOIWR period was the most efficient era, with an average water surplus of 12% compared with the Indent value, while the most critical period (SGB & WUAs) occurred when the water supply increased by 80%. The other periods of the Irrigation Water Corporation (IWC), (SGB & MOIWR), and (WUAs & MOIWR) had witnessed an increase in water supply by 29%, 63%, and 67% respectively. Through these institutional changes, the percentage of excessive water supply jumped from 12% to 80%. Finally, the study provides general recommendations associated with institutional arrangements and policy adoption to improve irrigation system performance.


1998 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 104-123
Author(s):  
R. Andreas Kraemer

Throughout the world, privatization of water supply and the sewerage services is a controversial topic of political debate. Any nationalization, privatization, municipalization, or alteration in the regulatory regime constitutes a significant change of the institutional mechanism of water management. This article, based on a comparative analysis of water management institutions in selected member states of the European Union, addresses water supply and sewerage services in conurbations with centralized supplies. A brief characterization of water services and the water industry is provided in the context of global water policy developments. Three typical regulatory models are described: the British, based on centralized public policy and surrogate competition by statistical comparison; the French, based on competition for temporary monopolies; and the German or middle-European, based on competition for goods and services and control of limited operational monopolies. A typology of privatization is also presented. This article does not seek to argue that one model is better than another.


2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 618-628 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. N. Angelakis ◽  
D. S. Spyridakis

The evolution of urban water management in ancient Greece begins in Crete during the Middle Bronze and the beginning of the Late Bronze Ages (ca. 2000–1500 B.C.) when many remarkable developments occurred in several stages as Minoan civilization flourished on the island. One of its salient characteristics was the architectural and hydraulic function of its water supply and sewerage systems in the Minoan Palaces and several other settlements. These technologies, though they do not give a complete picture of water supply and wastewater and storm water technologies in ancient Greece, indicate nevertheless that such technologies have been used in Greece since prehistoric times. Minoan water and wastewater technologies were diffused to the Greek mainland in the subsequent phases of Greek civilization, i.e. in the Mycenaean, Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Roman periods. The scope of this article is the presentation of the most characteristic forms of ancient hydraulic works and related technologies and their uses in past Greek civilizations.


Author(s):  
Erik Swyngedouw

In recent years, we have become increasingly aware of the importance of water as a critical good, and questions of water supply, access, and management, both in quantitative and qualitative terms, have become key issues (Gleick 1993; Postel 1992; Stauffer 1998). The proliferating commodification and privatization of water management systems; the combination of Global Environmental Change with increased demands from cities, agriculture, and industry for reasonably clean water; the inadequate access of almost a billion people on the planet to clean water (over half of whom live in large urban centres); the proliferating geopolitical struggle over the control of river basins; the popular resistance against the construction of new megadams; the political struggles around water privatization projects; and many other issues; have brought water politics to the foreground of national and international agendas (Shiklomanov 1990; 1997; Herrington 1996; Roy 2001). In the twentieth century, water scarcity was seen as a problem primarily affecting developing societies (Anton 1993). However, at the turn of the new century, water problems are becoming increasingly globalized. In Europe, the area bordering the Mediterranean, notably Spain, southern Italy, and Greece, is arguably the location in which the water crisis has become most acute, both in quantitative and qualitative terms (Batisse and Gernon 1989; Margat 1992; Swyngedouw 1996a). However, northern European countries, such as the UK, Belgium, and France, have also seen increasing problems with water supply, water management, and water control (Haughton 1996), while transitional societies in eastern Europe are faced with mounting water supply problems (Thomas and Howlett 1993). The Yorkshire drought in England, for example, or the Walloon/Flemish dispute over water rights are illuminating examples of the intensifying conflict that surrounds water issues (Bakker 1999). Cities in the global South and the global North alike are suffering from a deterioration in their water supply infrastructure and in their environmental and social conditions in general (Lorrain 1995; Brockerhoff and Brennan 1998). Up to 50% of urban residents in the developing world’s megacities have no easy access to reasonably clean and affordable water. The myriad socioenvironmental problems associated with deficient water supply conditions threaten urban sustainability, social cohesion, and, most disturbingly, the livelihoods of millions of people (Niemczynowicz 1991).


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
pp. 2127
Author(s):  
Polinova ◽  
Salinas ◽  
Bonfante ◽  
Brook

The ability to effectively develop agriculture with limited water resources is an important strategic objective to face future climate change and to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2) of the United Nations. Since new conditions increasingly point to a limited water supply, the aim of modern irrigation management is to be sure to maximize the crop yield and minimize water use. This study aims to explore the advantages of the traditional agronomic approach, agro-hydrological model and field feedback obtained by spectroscopy, to optimize irrigation water management in the example of a cotton field. The study was conducted for two summer growing seasons in 2015 and 2016 in Kibbutz Hazorea, near Haifa, Israel. The irrigation schedule was developed by farmers using weather forecasts and corrected by the results of field inspections. The Soil Water Atmosphere Plant (SWAP) model was applied to optimize seasonal water distribution based on different criteria (critical soil pressure head and allowable daily stress). A new optimization algorithm for irrigation schedules by weather forecasts and vegetation indices was developed and presented in this paper. A few indices related to physical parameters and plant health (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Red Edge Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Modified Chlorophyll Absorption Ratio Index 2, and Photochemical Reflectance Index) were considered. Red Edge Normalized Difference Vegetation Index proves itself as a suitable parameter for monitoring crop state due to its clear-cut response to irrigation treatments and was introduced in the developed algorithm. The performance of the considered irrigation scheduling approaches was assessed by a simulation model application for cotton fields in 2016. The results show, that the irrigation schedule developed by farmers did not compensate for the absence of precipitation in spring, which led to long-term lack of water during crop development. The optimization developed by SWAP allows determining the minimal amount of water which ensures appropriate yield. However, this approach could not take into account the non-linear effect of the lack of water at specific phenological stages on the yield. The new algorithm uses the minimal sufficient seasonal amount of water obtained from SWAP optimization. The approach designed allows one to prevent critical stress in cotton and distribute water in conformity with agronomic practice.


1977 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
John E. Reynolds ◽  
J. Richard Conner

In many areas of the country, there is strong competition among agricultural, municipal, industrial and other users of water. Water managers are faced with the problem of allocating available water among alternative uses.The study [11] upon which this paper is based was a cooperative effort with the Central and Southern Florida Control District which is typical of many water management districts making decisions regarding allocation of a limited amount of water among uses and users. When the District was formed, it was developed with emphasis on facilities to provide relief from flooding. Water management responsibilities such as water supply, recreation and the preservation and enhancement of fish and wildlife have become important to the public and consequently have received recognition by those responsible for managing the water.


Author(s):  
María del Mar Castro García

Las cisternas son el principal medio de aprovisionamiento de agua en las ciudades romanas en muchos casos. La historiografía ha identificado la existencia de un verdadero modelo de gestión del agua que emplea únicamente estas construcciones, o bien que las utiliza en conjunción con otros medios, como el aprovechamiento de aguas subterráneas mediante pozos. Partiendo desde una conceptualización teórica del término latino cisterna, realizamos un recorrido en la identificación de este modelo en casos específicos de Hispania como marco general del estudio, y en la provincia Ulterior Baetica como marco particular.Water storage cisterns are the main source of water supply in roman cities in many cases. Their existence has been identificated as a water management model which employs these hydraulic infrastructures exclusively, or together with others forms as groundwater extraction by wells. Starting to a theoretical conceptualization of the latin term cisterna, we carry out a review to identify this model in specific cases in Hispania as general spatial framework, and in Hispania Ulterior Baetica province as particular framework.


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