Ensuring access to water in an emergency context: Towards an overexploitation and contamination of water resources?

2021 ◽  
pp. 096466392110316
Author(s):  
Chloé Nicolas-Artero

This article shows how geo-legal devices created to deal with environmental crisis situations make access to drinking water precarious and contribute to the overexploitation and contamination of water resources. It relies on qualitative methods (interviews, observations, archive work) to identify and analyse two geo-legal devices applied in the case study of the Elqui Valley in Chile. The first device, generated by the Declaration of Water Scarcity, allows private sanitation companies to concentrate water rights and extend their supply network, thus producing an overexploitation of water resources. In the context of mining pollution, the second device is structured around the implementation of the Rural Drinking Water Programme and the distribution of water by tankers, which has made access to drinking water more precarious for the population and does nothing to prevent pollution.

Author(s):  
Marina Valentukeviciene ◽  
Aukse Amosenkiene ◽  
Regimantas Dauknys

Quality changes of drinking water in the water supply network (case study from Lithuania) The purpose of this research was to examine water quality changes by distributing in to the water supply network. Water samples were collected from Varena town (Lithuania) drinking water distribution system fed by groundwater from well field. Parameters related to undesirable increasing of nitrites and nitrates concentrations have been measured considering these samples: pH, conductivity, concentration of total iron, manganese, ammonium, nitrates and nitrites. Results showed that groundwater from well field were extremely susceptible to favor bacterial growth in the pipelines. The occurrence of nitrites and nitrates in drinking water samples correlated positively with the lengths of old iron pipelines and negatively with the content of newly laid pipelines. The obtained results also showed that the potential nitrates increasing induced by the distribution of treated water could be reduced if: nitrates levels were below detection limits at the outlet of the water treatment plant; biological ammonium removal treatment implementation should reduce the levels of the nitrates and nitrites of the treated supplied water. Although the nitrates concentration increase in drinking water distribution systems, the issues with nitrites accumulation are rare in Lithuania. However, such processes still need to be proved in more extensive investigation, but these research results could be applied as a basic scenario.


2022 ◽  
Vol 82 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Yerli ◽  
U. Sahin

Abstract Today, most of the world’s population faces water scarcity, while global warming, urbanization, industrialization and population increases continue to increase the severity of the pressure on water resources. Management of water resources plays a key role in the sustainability of agricultural production. The water footprint (WF) is different in comparison to other water statistics because it takes direct and indirect water consumption into account, and helps in the management of water resources. Within this context, the WF of Van province, which is Turkey’s most easterly located arid region, was calculated from 2004 to 2019. The study area covers lake Van, which is Turkey's largest lake, and the Van basin with an area of 23.334 km2 and a population of 1.136.757 (2019). In the calculations, crop (WFcrop), livestock (WFlivestock), and domestic and industrial water footprints (WFdomestic+industrial) were evaluated separately, and blue and green water footprints (WFblue and WFgreen) were analyzed in detail. According to the results, the average WF of Van province was found to be 8.73 billion m3 year-1. Throughout the province, 87.6% of the WF is composed of WFcrop, 4.9% is WFlivestock and 7.5% is WFdomestic+industrial. Of the WFcrop, 62.5% depends on WFblue, i.e., freshwater. Most of the WFlivestock consisted of dairy cattle (49%) and sheep (38%). The average WFdomestic+industrial for 2004 to 2019 was 0.64 billion m3 year-1. The average per capita water footprint of Van province was found to be 889.9 m3 year-1 capita-1. In addition, the province is classified as severe water scarcity (257%). This study is one of the first province-based calculations of WF in Turkey and is the first study to bring a different aspect to published literature by including residual soil moisture from the winter months. As a result of this study, the WFblue of the WFcrop is above the worldwide average and should be reduced by changing the crop pattern or synchronizing the planting and harvest dates of the crops to a period that benefits from precipitation. In addition, this study is expected to contribute to new studies for calculating the provincial scale WF and will have positive effects on agricultural planning, water allocation and the sustainability of water resources.


2010 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 358-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. De Marchis ◽  
C. M. Fontanazza ◽  
G. Freni ◽  
G. La Loggia ◽  
E. Napoli ◽  
...  

In many countries, users acquire private tanks to reduce their vulnerability to water scarcity. In such conditions, water managers often apply intermittent distribution in order to reduce the water volumes supplied to the users. This practice modifies the hydraulic behaviour of the network and determines competition among users that need to collect enough water resource for their uses. Intermittent distribution is thus responsible for the inequality that can occur among users: those located in advantaged positions of the network are able to obtain water resources soon after the service period begins, while others have to wait much longer, after the network is full. This paper analyses the inequalities that take part when intermittent distribution is applied in water scarcity scenarios. Considering the complexity of the process, the analysis was performed by means of an unsteady numerical model. The model was applied to a real case study which provided interesting insights into the network filling process, helping to highlight the advantaged and disadvantaged areas of the network in different water scarcity scenarios.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosa Maria Formiga-Johnsson ◽  
Ana Lucia Britto

Abstract In this article the authors assess the current level of water security of the population of the Rio de Janeiro metropolis supplied by the Guandu System. It sets out from the premise that water security is only achieved when universal access to water is ensured - that is, when water resources are available, in adequate quantity and quality, along with water services that guarantee the human right to safe drinking water. Based on previous research, a review of the literature and official documents, it was possible to adapt and apply an analytic schema to the case study in order to evaluate the level of water security. The authors conclude that there are many risks associated with the water resources, including climate stressors, but it is the performance of the water supply service that most jeopardizes the current water security of the population of the Rio de Janeiro metropolis; the availability of water resources, both current and future, is not an obstacle to universal access to water.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 136-143
Author(s):  
Nova Yarsina

The purpose of this study is to examine human rights over water after the abolition of Law Number 7 of 2004 concerning Water Resources by the Constitutional Court. The research method used is normative juridical. Later there was an opinion that if the state was unable to guarantee the fulfillment of human rights over water, then the water supply was carried out by a third party. The state must regulate the appropriateness of control over water sources, affordability of prices, guarantees for water health. For the realization of these things, a system of regulation must be made. An independent regulatory body can also be formed, public participation, and sanctions against violations. In essence, every regulation issued by the local government related to water use actually makes water as "Economic goods". Commercialization and privatization of water services is not an illegal thing as long as it can improve clean water services so that public access to water also increases. Local governments should be able to understand that commercialization of water resources by setting drinking water tariffs that exceed the capacity and reasonableness of the community actually results in reduced community access to water resources, especially clean water and drinking water. The poor and marginalized are the most vulnerable groups to the failure to fulfill the right to water by the State. To see the extent to which the fulfillment of the right to water by the state apart from the perspective of the executive authority, it is necessary to look at court decisions that can reflect the fulfillment of the right to water especially after the abolition of Law Number 7 of 2004 concerning Water Resources by the Constitutional Court and return to Law Number 11 of 1974 concerning Irrigation.


Author(s):  
Marlene Yara Tenório Soares de Oliveira ◽  
Marcia Regina Farias da Silva

This research aimed to identify water resources management strategies in extreme drought event scenarios in the municipality of Lucrécia, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte (RN), in the period 2012 to 2018. As a methodological procedure, a bibliographical and documentary, in addition to field research, with interviews with municipal managers and residents. A photographic record of the study area was also carried out. It was found that, in the city, there is a folder dedicated to water resources that guides water management and is the basis for the adoption of measures aimed at municipal supply in times of difficult access to water, due to the reduction in water availability. It was observed that part of the interviewed population understands the drought as responsible for the difficulties faced in the city, mainly about the reduction of the water level in the reservoir. It was found that, of the 52 towns belonging to the hydrographic basin of the Apodi-Mossoró river, only 10 participate in the meetings of the basin committee, the municipality of Lucrécia does not have representatives on the Committee. This finding deserves special consideration since water and the administration of its multiple applications are generators of conflicts, it highlights the importance of understanding how municipalities in the Semiarid region carry out the management of water resources and how they understand the challenges of coexistence with its area, aiming at the sustainable use of water.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-67
Author(s):  
Dwi Prasetyani ◽  
Akhmad Daerobi

Objective - This research is built on the argument that providing farmers with more access to natural resources can reduce poverty and so increase production in farming, particularly in the case of Wonogiri. Methodology/Technique - The method of analysis used for this research is the IRAP (Integrated Rural Accessibility Planning) method which was developed by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the government agencies of Africa and Asia. Findings - Based on the calculation of access, it is noted that priority problems of access to productive resources can be resolved by focusing on four factors. First is Education - Strategies that can be implemented is the construction of new schools, particularly junior and senior high schools. Second is Health - Strategies that can be implemented is to increase farmers' access to water resources and to increase the number of general practitioners available such as specialists and dentists. Third is Agriculture - Strategies that can be done is to improve existing markets, add new markets, and develop new farmer groups. Fourth is Support - Strategies that can be done is by building layers of foundation and paving stones and casting roads on the remaining land. Of utmost importance is Education. Novelty - New found strategies that can be implemented include the construction of new schools for poor farmers. Type of Paper: Empirical Keywords: Dryland Farmers, Productive Resources, Wonogiri, IRAP, Access, Strategy.


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