scholarly journals How much do we know about the groundwater quality and its impact on Brazilian society today?

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Hirata ◽  
Alexandra Vieira Suhogusoff
Keyword(s):  
Groundwater Quality ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Annual Average ◽  
The Past ◽  
Chlorinated Organic ◽  
Essential Resource ◽  
Iron Manganese ◽  
Solid Waste Facilities ◽  
Society Today

Abstract Groundwater is an essential resource for society and the environment in Brazil. More than 557 m3/s (17.5 km3/y) are extracted through 2.5 million wells to meet demand in cities and the countryside, generating an economy of R$ 56 billion per year (US$ 14 billion/year). The aquifer has a remarkable function in the hydrological cycle because its large storage regulates the perenniality of rivers, lakes and preserves mangroves, marshes, and vegetation in dry periods. Aquifer discharges maintain between 24% (annual average) and 49% (dry season) of the flow of these surface water bodies. Although studies on groundwater quality are still restricted, it is known that most aquifers still preserve their excellent natural quality. Nevertheless, over the past years, there has been a growing increase in cases of contamination associated with: (i) natural geochemical anomalies (iron, manganese, and fluorine, secondarily, chromium, and barium, and rarely arsenic) due to the dissolution of specific minerals; and (ii) human contaminant activities, related to urban areas without sewage network, or with industrial activities, storage of hazardous products, and solid waste facilities. Among the anthropic compounds commonly handled, the most problematic are the chlorinated organic solvents and heavy metals, and in non-sewage areas, nitrate. The precarious knowledge of aquifer-quality, especially in cities, demonstrates the need to invest in regular and systematic hydrogeological research and mapping projects that drive to the improvement of the practices on aquifer quality protection.

scholarly journals Urban warming in villages

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Lindén ◽  
C.S.B. Grimmond ◽  
J. Esper
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Annual Average ◽  
Rural Villages ◽  
Rural Village ◽  
Average Temperature ◽  
The Past ◽  
Urban Warming ◽  
Annual Average Temperature

Abstract. Long term meteorological records (> 100 years) from stations associated with villages are generally classified as rural and assumed to have no urban influence. Using networks installed in two European villages, the local and microclimatic variations around two of these rural-village sites are examined. An annual average temperature difference ($\\Delta{T}$) of 0.6 and 0.4 K was observed between the built-up village area and the current meteorological station in Geisenheim (Germany) and Haparanda (Sweden), respectively. Considerably larger values were recorded for the minimum temperatures and during summer. The spatial variations in temperature within the villages are of the same order as recorded over the past 100+ years in these villages (0.06 to 0.17 K/10 years). This suggests that the potential biases in the long records of rural-villages also warrant careful consideration like those of the more commonly studied large urban areas effects.

Street Graffiti and Residents’ Attitude: Izmir City

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (11) ◽  
pp. 130-138
Author(s):  
Duygu Cinar Umdu
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Identity ◽  
The Past ◽  
Art Form ◽  
Society Today ◽  
The Way

Humanity has always been in a struggle to express itself to others. They conveyed through marks and symbols on cave walls, head stones, clay tablets and papyrus before the invention of writing and society. Today urban areas and especially streets are places that carry social marks first-hand. They retain these semiotic signs and become a collective of symbols that link the past to the present and future. Graffiti, which is a part of such communication, is the way people express emotions and ideas to society through symbols. In this study, the attitude of the residents in Izmir City about graffiti, whether they see it as an art form or visual pollution, is studied. A survey was applied to 100 citizens, including fieldwork, photo-shoots and interviews done with 20 people. Part of the graffiti in Izmir urban identity is determined and the results are presented. Keywords: Graffiti, resident’s attitude, Izmir.

Spatiotemporal Changes of Riverbed and Surrounding Environment in Yongding River (Beijing section) in the Past 40 Years

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 40407-1-40407-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ran Pang ◽  
He Huang ◽  
Tri Dev Acharya
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Water Volume ◽  
Cropland Area ◽  
The Past ◽  
Surrounding Environment ◽  
Spatiotemporal Changes ◽  
Yongding River

Abstract Yongding River is one of the five major river systems in Beijing. It is located to the west of Beijing. It has influenced culture along its basin. The river supports both rural and urban areas. Furthermore, it influences economic development, water conservation, and the natural environment. However, during the past few decades, due to the combined effect of increasing population and economic activities, a series of changes have led to problems such as the reduction in water volume and the exposure of the riverbed. In this study, remote sensing images were used to derive land cover maps and compare spatiotemporal changes during the past 40 years. As a result, the following data were found: forest changed least; cropland area increased to a large extent; bareland area was reduced by a maximum of 63%; surface water area in the study area was lower from 1989 to 1999 because of the excessive use of water in human activities, but it increased by 92% from 2010 to 2018 as awareness about protecting the environment arose; there was a small increase in the built-up area, but this was more planned. These results reveal that water conservancy construction, agroforestry activities, and increasing urbanization have a great impact on the surrounding environment of the Yongding River (Beijing section). This study discusses in detail how the current situation can be attributed to of human activities, policies, economic development, and ecological conservation Furthermore, it suggests improvement by strengthening the governance of the riverbed and the riverside. These results and discussion can be a reference and provide decision support for the management of southwest Beijing or similar river basins in peri-urban areas.

Literacy and Education: Fifth Release From the 1961 Census of Pakistan (Review Article)

1963 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 424-442
Author(s):  
Jamila Akhtar
Keyword(s):  
Population Growth ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Review Article ◽  
Interim Report ◽  
Educational Levels ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
The Past ◽  
Review Articles ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Age And Sex

This review of the Literacy and Education Bklletin1 of the 1961 Census is fourth in the series of review articles published in this journal2. The Bulletin under review forms a part of the interim report on the characteristics of the population of Pakistan. It gives information on the number of illiterate and literate persons by age and sex for rural and urban areas on division and district basis; illiterate and literate.population in selected cities and towns; and the educational levels attained by the literate population by age and sex for divisions and districts. Relevant statistical notes and statements precede the tables in the Bulletin. The objective of this review is to describe the meaningfulness and significance of literacy statistics. To this end, a distinction is made between formal and functional levels of literacy. Comparisons of the 1951 and 1961 census figures are undertaken to indicate the progress of literacy and education during the past decade with reference to the effect of intercensal rate of population growth on such progress. Certain questions regarding the reliability of data are raised, which emphasize the need for caution in the interpretation of literacy statistics.

scholarly journals Food and Religion in Sicily—A New Green Tourist Destination by an Ancient Route from the Past

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6686
Author(s):  
Bellia Claudio ◽  
Scavone Valeria ◽  
Ingrassia Marzia
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Marketing Strategies ◽  
Christian Identity ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Wine Tourism ◽  
Policy Delphi ◽  
The Past ◽  
Support Policy ◽  
Pilgrimage Tourism ◽  
The City

The Francigena Way (Via Francigena) is a long international itinerary that was awarded recognition as a Culture Route of the Council of Europe. It starts in Canterbury (UK), touches 13 European regions and ends in Rome. An ancient track of this route is in Sicily (Southern Italy), and its name is Magna Via Francigena (Great Francigena Way). This track is a pilgrimage route that connects two ancient port cities, Palermo and Agrigento, passing through internal rural territories that now deal with the exodus of population from rural to urban areas. The route passes through the Sicilian territory named “Upper-Belìce corleonese”, a rural area around the city of Corleone (a little village known worldwide for the sad Mafia events) that includes a number of municipalities. In the past, this religious pilgrimage was a fundamental part of the expression of faith for Christians and now still represents for Sicilians a strong symbol of Christian identity. In recent decades, pilgrimage tourism around the world has grown significantly each year. The aim of the study is to know the pilgrims’ motivations for choosing the Magna Via Francigena pilgrimage as a vacation and any possible similarities between pilgrimage tourism and food and wine tourism, in the wider context of sustainable and slow tourism. The Policy Delphi method was applied to collect the opinions of the stakeholders involved. The study highlighted the strong link between religious motivations and local enogastronomy, culture, art and nature. Results will support policy-making in the development of integrated territorial tourist marketing strategies.

scholarly journals A Study on Urban Inundation Using SWMM in Busan, Korea, Using Existing Dams and Artificial Underground Waterways

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 1708
Author(s):  
Yeon-Moon Choo ◽  
Sang-Bo Sim ◽  
Yeon-Woong Choe
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Flood Damage ◽  
Virtual Model ◽  
Sustainable Cities ◽  
Annual Average ◽  
New Methods ◽  
Average Rainfall ◽  
Reduction Methods ◽  
Urbanized Areas

The annual average rainfall in Busan area is increasing, causing frequent flooding of Busan’s Suyeong and Oncheon rivers. Due to the increase in urbanized areas and climate change, it is difficult to reduce flood damage. Therefore, new methods are needed to reduce urban inundation. This study models the effects of three flood reduction methods involving Oncheon River, Suyeong River, and the Hoedong Dam, which is situated on the Suyeong. Using EPA-SWMM, a virtual model of the dam and the rivers was created, then modified with changes to the dam’s height, the installation of a floodgate on the dam, and the creation of an underground waterway to carry excess flow from the Oncheon to the Hoedong Dam. The results of this study show that increasing the height of the dam by 3 m, 4 m, or 6 m led to a 27%, 37%, and 48% reduction in flooding, respectively, on the Suyeong River. It was also found that installing a floodgate of 10 × 4 m, 15 × 4 m, or 20 × 4 min the dam would result in a flood reduction of 2.7% and 2.9%, respectively. Furthermore, the construction of the underground waterway could lead to an expected 25% flood reduction in the Oncheon River. Measures such as these offer the potential to protect the lives and property of citizens in densely populated urban areas and develop sustainable cities and communities. Therefore, the modifications to the dam and the underground waterway proposed in this study are considered to be useful.

scholarly journals Hydroclimate variability in the low-elevation Atacama Desert over the last 2500 yr

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 287-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. M. Gayo ◽  
C. Latorre ◽  
C. M. Santoro ◽  
A. Maldonado ◽  
R. De Pol-Holz
Keyword(s):  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Atacama Desert ◽  
Plant Macrofossils ◽  
Central Andes ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Riparian Ecosystems ◽  
Independent Evidence ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Climate Fluctuations ◽  
The Past

Abstract. Paleoclimate reconstructions reveal that Earth system has experienced sub-millennial scale climate changes over the past two millennia in response to internal/external forcing. Although sub-millennial hydroclimate fluctuations have been detected in the central Andes during this interval, the timing, magnitude, extent and direction of change of these events remain poorly defined. Here, we present a reconstruction of hydroclimate variations on the Pacific slope of the central Andes based on exceptionally well-preserved plant macrofossils and associated archaeological remains from a hyperarid drainage (Quebrada Maní, ∼21° S, 1000 m a.s.l.) in the Atacama Desert. During the late Holocene, riparian ecosystems and farming social groups flourished in the hyperarid Atacama core as surface water availability increased throughout this presently sterile landscape. Twenty-six radiocarbon dates indicate that these events occurred between 1050–680, 1615–1350 and 2500–2040 cal yr BP. Regional comparisons with rodent middens and other records suggest that these events were synchronous with pluvial stages detected at higher-elevations in the central Andes over the last 2500 yr. These hydroclimate changes also coincide with periods of pronounced SST gradients in the Tropical Pacific (La Niña-like mode), conditions that are conducive to significantly increased rainfall in the central Andean highlands and flood events in the low-elevation watersheds at inter-annual timescales. Our findings indicate that the positive anomalies in the hyperarid Atacama over the past 2500 yr represent a regional response of the central Andean climate system to changes in the global hydrological cycle at centennial timescales. Furthermore, our results provide support for the role of tropical Pacific sea surface temperature gradient changes as the primary mechanism responsible for climate fluctuations in the central Andes. Finally, our results constitute independent evidence for comprehending the major trends in cultural evolution of prehistoric peoples that inhabited the region.

scholarly journals Nitrogen Mass Balance and Pressure Impact Model Applied to an Urban Aquifer

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitja Janža ◽  
Joerg Prestor ◽  
Simona Pestotnik ◽  
Brigita Jamnik
Keyword(s):  
Groundwater Quality ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Nitrate Concentration ◽  
Impact Model ◽  
Sewer System ◽  
Management Measures ◽  
Pressure Impact ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The City

The assurance of drinking water supply is one of the biggest emerging global challenges, especially in urban areas. In this respect, groundwater and its management in the urban environment are gaining importance. This paper presents the modeling of nitrogen load from the leaky sewer system and from agriculture and the impact of this pressure on the groundwater quality (nitrate concentration) in the urban aquifer located beneath the City of Ljubljana. The estimated total nitrogen load in the model area of 58 km2 is 334 ton/year, 38% arising from the leaky sewer system and 62% from agriculture. This load was used as input into the groundwater solute transport model to simulate the distribution of nitrate concentration in the aquifer. The modeled nitrate concentrations at the observation locations were found to be on average slightly lower (2.7 mg/L) than observed, and in general reflected the observed contamination pattern. The ability of the presented model to relate and quantify the impact of pressures from different contamination sources on groundwater quality can be beneficially used for the planning and optimization of groundwater management measures for the improvement of groundwater quality.

Approaches to Urban Noise Management in India

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neelima S. Naik
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Environmental Concern ◽  
Noise Pollution ◽  
Noise Levels ◽  
Urban Noise ◽  
Master Plans ◽  
The Past ◽  
Metropolitan Cities

Noise pollution in urban areas is recognized as a major environmental concern in India. The lack of infrastructure and fast paced life in major metropolitan cities of India has made the urban environment extremely crowded, busy as well as noisy and as a result the millions of people living in the major metropolitan areas are suffering from the impacts of noise pollution. Noise levels are escalating at such a rate that it has become a major threat to the quality of human lives. Direct links between noise and health have been established by research conducted over the past few decades. There are several causes for urban degradation such as population migration, environmental considerations not adequately being incorporated into master plans, uncoordinated and haphazard development, weak implementation of plans and laws and inadequate institutional competences and resource crunch. This paper discusses the causal factors, impacts and the different approaches adopted by the Central Government as well as some major State Pollution Control Boards to curb the urban noise problem and the need for looking into non-conventional solutions such as Ecocity programme to bring in visible environmental improvement.

scholarly journals Wind Energy Potential at Badin and Pasni Costal Line of Pakistan

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ghulam Sarwar Kaloi ◽  
Jie Wang ◽  
Mazhar H Baloch ◽  
Sohaib Tahir
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Wind Energy ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Interconnection Network ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Energy Sector ◽  
Energy Crisis ◽  
Energy Potential ◽  
The Past ◽  
Wind Energy Potential

Unfortunately, Pakistan is facing an acute energy crisis since the past decade due to the increasing population growth and is heavily dependent on imports of fossil fuels. The shortage of the electricity is 14-18 hours in rural areas and 8-10 hours in urban areas. This situation has been significantly affecting the residential, industrial and commercial sectors in the country. At this time, it is immense challenges for the government to keep the power supply provision continue in the future for the country. In this situation, it has been the increased research to explore renewable energy resources in the country to fulfill the deficit scenario in the state. The renewable energy sector has not penetrated in the energy mix, currently in the upcoming markets. This paper highlights the steps taken by the country in the past and is taking steps at the present time to get rid of from the existing energy crisis when most urban areas are suffering from power outages for 12 hours on regular basis. Until 2009, no single grid interconnected wind established, but now the circumstances are changing significantly and wind farms are contributing to the national grid is the reality now. The initiation of the three wind farms interconnection network and many others in the pipeline are going to be operational soon. The federal policy on wind energy system has recently changed. Surprisingly, the continuing schemes of the wind farm are getting slow. This paper reviews developments in the wind energy sector in the country and lists some suggestions that can contribute to improving the penetration of wind energy in the national energy sector.Keywords: Wind energy, evolution of wind resource, Wind sites of PakistanArticle History: Received Dec 16th 2016; Received in revised form May 15th 2017; Accepted June 18th 2017; Available onlineHow to Cite This Article: Kaloi,G.S., Wang, J., Baloch, M.H and Tahir, S. (2017) Wind Energy Potential at Badin and Pasni Costal Line Pakistan. Int. Journal of Renewable Energy Development, 6(2), 103-110.https://doi.org/10.14710/ijred.6.2.103-110

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