scholarly journals The Potential of Small Dams for Conjunctive Water Management in Rural Municipalities

Author(s):  
Sara Soares ◽  
Daniela Terêncio ◽  
Luís Fernandes ◽  
João Machado ◽  
Fernando Pacheco

The drinking water supply to Vila Pouca de Aguiar municipality in North Portugal is based on high quality groundwater, namely on nearly one hundred artesian springs and fifty boreholes. The groundwater resources are plentiful on a municipal level, but evidence some deficits at the sub-municipal (village) level, especially during the dry period (July- August) that coincides with the return of many emigrants for holiday time. The deficits affect mostly the municipal capital (Vila Pouca de Aguiar) and a neighboring village (Pedras Salgadas), which populations nearly double or even triple during that period. The estimated annual deficits approach 55,000 m3/yr in those villages. If the anticipated increase in consumption/habitant and decrease in annual rainfall become reality in the next two decades, then the deficits may raise to approximately 90,000 m3/yr. To balance the water supply system, this study proposes its transition towards a conjunctive water management based on surface water stored in small dams and groundwater. A hydrologic modeling involving small forested catchments (< 15 km2) elected the Cabouço watershed as most suited basin to store stream water, because surface water availability is large (2.4 Mm3/yr) and forest cover is dominant (84.8%). Estimated nutrient loads are also compatible with drinking water supply.

2001 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 367-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Alewell ◽  
M. Armbruster ◽  
J. Bittersohl ◽  
C. D. Evans ◽  
H. Meesenburg ◽  
...  

Abstract. The reversal of freshwater acidification in the low mountain ranges of Germany is of public, political and scientific concern, because these regions are near natural ecosystems and function as an important drinking water supply. The aim of this study was to evaluate the status and trends of acidification reversal after two decades of reduced anthropogenic deposition in selected freshwaters of the low mountain ranges in the Harz, the Fichtelgebirge, the Bavarian Forest, the Spessart and the Black Forest. In response to decreased sulphate deposition, seven out of nine streams investigated had significantly decreasing sulphate concentrations (all trends were calculated with the Seasonal Kendall Test). The decrease in sulphate concentration was only minor, however, due to the release of previously stored soil sulphur. No increase was found in pH and acid neutralising capacity (defined by Reuss and Johnson, 1986). Aluminum concentrations in the streams did not decrease. Thus, no major acidification reversal can currently be noted in spite of two decades of decreased acid deposition. Nevertheless, the first signs of improvement in water quality were detected as there was a decrease in the level and frequency of extreme values of pH, acid neutralising capacity and aluminium concentrations in streams. With respect to nitrogen, no change was determined for either nitrate or ammonium concentrations in precipitation or stream water. Base cation fluxes indicate increasing net loss of base cations from all ecosystems investigated, which could be interpreted as an increase in soil acidification. The latter was due to a combination of continued high anion leaching and significant reduction of base cation deposition. No major improvement was noted in biological recovery, however, initial signs of recovery were detectable as there was re-occurrence of some single macroinvertebrate species which were formerly extinct. The results of this study have important implications for water authorities, forest managers and policy makers: the delay in acidification reversal suggests a need for ongoing intensive amelioration of waters, a careful selection of management tools to guarantee sustainable management of forests and the reduction of nitrogen deposition to prevent further acidification of soils and waters. Keywords: freshwater, acidification reversal, drinking water supply, forested catchments, Germany


2012 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-264
Author(s):  
Qingli Cheng ◽  
Hui Wu ◽  
Wenlin Wang ◽  
Yanjü Wu ◽  
Hongli Li ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lakshmi Seewsagur

Data is given as the percentage of water abstracted for drinking supply that comes from surface water. Abstraction sources include: groundwater, spring water, surface water, other sources and imported water. The full data are available online. For more information, visit: www.waterstatistics.org Abstraction Drinking water Human settlements Supply


2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 717-731 ◽  

<p>The Zlatibor mountain massif has significantly changed for the past 20 years due to the&nbsp; development of tourism, which has resulted in an increase in water consumption and environmental threats. This area abounds in considerable surface and groundwater resources, which are not utilised adequately. Surface water characterized by lower quality and unstable regimes was utilised for water supply, while groundwater with better qualitative properties was utilised in a small percentage. A number of significant and gradually developing problems are the direct consequence of this concept of water resource utilisation. So far, water supply of central settlements has been based on the concept of the utilisation of surface water from the Zlatibor reservoir which was built in the year 1972, nowadays being filled up above the designed level, while the centralized water supply of other settlements has not been adequately solved generally. Previous research has indicated that this area is characterized by karstic groundwater reserves of regional character, and in most cases they are not adequately utilised, which has opened the possibility of their proper utilisation and the change to a new concept of water management in the area of Zlatibor.</p> <div> <p>A new concept of water management implies the utilisation of karstic water, primarily, to resolve the public water supply issue. In the future, a number of benefits such as: resolving of centralized water supply issues, reduction of surface water pollution, creating opportunities for the utilisation of surface water for other purposes, creating new tourist zones, reduction of environmental pollution, improvement of the general welfare of the population, etc., will be achieved by this concept. From the aforesaid, it can be concluded that a number of interconnected and integrated benefits will be gained by full implementation of the new concept of karst water utilisation. The application of the concept designed in this way, ultimately implies the establishment of an integrated management of all karst water in the area of Zlatibor. In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary, primarily, to solve the problem of adequate public water supply by karstic groundwater, which implies the establishment of integrated karstic water management in this area, and that is the focus of this paper.</p> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Li ◽  
Linda Parkefelt ◽  
Kenneth M Persson ◽  
Heidi Pekar

Cyanobacteria in fresh water can cause serious threats to drinking water supplies. Managing cyanobacterial blooms particularly at small drinking water treatment plants is challenging. Because large amount of cyanobacteria may cause clogging in the treatment process and various cyanotoxins are hard to remove, while they may cause severe health problems. There is lack of instructions of what cyanobacteria/toxin amount should trigger what kind of actions for drink-ing water management except for Microcystins. This demands a Cyanobacteria Management Tool (CMT) to help regula-tors/operators to improve cyanobacteria/cyanotoxin monitoring in surface waters for drinking water supply. This project proposes a CMT tool, including selecting proper indicators for quick cyanobacteria monitoring and verifying quick analysis methods for cyanobacteria and cyanotoxin. This tool is suggested for raw water management regarding cyano-bacteria monitoring in lakes, especially in boreal forest climate. In addition, it applies to regions that apply international WHO standards for water management. In Swedish context, drinking water producers which use raw water from lakes that experience cyanobacterial blooms, need to create a monitoring routine for cyanobacteria/cyanotoxin and to monitor beyond such as Anatoxins, Cylindrospermopsins and Saxitoxins. Using the proposed CMT tool will increase water safety at surface water treatment plants substantially by introducing three alerting points for actions. CMT design for each local condition should integrate adaptive monitoring program.


Author(s):  
Ashlynn S. Stillwell ◽  
Carey W. King ◽  
Michael E. Webber

Energy and water are interrelated. We use water for energy, for example to cool thermoelectric power generation and produce liquid fuels. Conversely, we use energy for the collection, treatment, disinfection, and distribution of water and wastewater. In the water sector, strain on existing water supplies, population growth, and the push toward stricter water and wastewater treatment standards potentially leads to more energy-intensive water. Treating water to more stringent potable standards requires additional energy beyond conventional treatment. Additionally, as existing water supplies become increasingly strained in some locations, water planners turn to alternative options to quench cities’ thirst. Among these options for inland cities is desalination of seawater followed by long-haul water transfer. Though many desalination technologies exist to treat seawater to potable standards, reverse osmosis membranes are the most common technology in use because of their cost-effectiveness and productivity as compared with more traditional techniques such as multi-effect distillation. [1] However, the high pressures required for reverse osmosis make desalination a very energy-intensive water supply option. The subsequent conveyance of desalinated water through long-haul pipelines also requires large amounts of energy. Even for local water production, 85% of the energy required for standard surface water treatment goes toward water distribution, and so adding in long-haul will only increase this requirement. [2] To examine desalination and long-haul transfer as a drinking water supply option, Texas was chosen as a test-bed with desalination near Houston and long-haul transfer to the rapidly-growing Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Various pipeline routes were modeled to simulate options for long-haul desalinated water transfer. Elevation change over the route of the long-haul transfer pipeline was determined using a digital elevation model of the state of Texas. These elevation data were then used to calculate energy requirements for water pumping with standard assumptions for pump performance, efficiency, and rating. Combining these energy requirements with the energy demands for desalination provides an estimate of this option as a water supply for Dallas-Fort Worth. Results suggest that desalination and long-haul transfer as a drinking water supply is 9 to 23 times more energy-intensive per unit of water than conventional treatment of local surface water sources, an increase of 230 to 630 megawatt-hours per day for 20 million gallons. Ensuring adequate water supplies for the future is important, as is developing these water supplies in a sustainable manner. The energy-intensity of desalination and long-haul transfer as a drinking water supply suggests this option is not a sustainable water or energy policy decision if other less energy-intensive options exist.


Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 928
Author(s):  
Halima Jounaid ◽  
Taha Attou ◽  
Toufik Remmal ◽  
Aimad Bouaziz

Taourit-Oujda corridor (T.O.C.) is a geological entity of north-eastern Morocco with a total area of 4000 Km2. The drinking water supply in this arid region still faces challenges that meet a growing demand for a shortage of fresh water. This shortage is mainly due to the scarcity and irregularity of the precipitations, the overexploitation of the water resources, and the decrease of the capacity of storage dams that are the main source of drinking water supply in this area. This work aims at estimating deficit (to 2040) for drinking water provided by Machraa Hammadi dam and proposing favourable drilling sites to strengthen drinking water supply through the identification of groundwater resources that can be used in quantity and quality. To do this, a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) covering geological, hydrogeological and hydro-chemical aspects using the Geographical Information System (GIS) was carried out. This study shows that T.O.C. aquifer is more productive in the south-west of it, in the centre near the El Aioun municipality and in the north-east at the town of Sidi Bouhouria. According to Moroccan standards, defining the quality norms of surface waters, waters destined for irrigation, and of surface waters used for the production of drinking water, the groundwater in the center and north-east areas is also with good to medium overall quality groundwater.


2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abu Hena Mustafa Kamal Sikder ◽  
Mashfiqus Salehin

Availability of safe drinking water is considered a key challenge in the coastal region of Bangladesh. High concentrations of salinity, iron and arsenic, and the unavailability of suitable aquifers, have deterred the exploitation of groundwater resources. In addition the cyclonic storm surge is a major threat to this system. Cyclones accompanied by storm surges in the coastal area cause significant deterioration of drinking water supply and sanitation. Water professionals have launched some initiatives to promote small-scale, alternative safe water sources (e.g. rainwater harvesting, pond sand filters and piped water techniques) to provide sustainable solutions to the problem. However, a systematic evaluation of the alternatives that considers social, technical and economic criteria has not been carried out so far. The present study is an attempt to evaluate the alternative options for drinking water supply in a cyclone-prone area. The authors conducted a multi-criteria analysis and reached the conclusion that rainwater harvesting is the most suitable option for the area. Moreover, the final result was shared with the users to obtain their feedback to ensure sustainability of the water source.


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