scholarly journals Water resources in Chile: The critical relation between glaciers and mining for sustainable water management

Author(s):  
Antonio Bellisario ◽  
Francisco Ferrando ◽  
Jason Janke

Rock glaciers and debris covered glaciers are often understudied in comparison to their uncovered glacial counterparts (in which stunning surface ice is clearly visible). However, rock glaciers and debris covered glaciers are more abundant, often cover a larger area, and will continue to supply a water resource once other glaciers have melted. The surface rock and weathered material cover on rock glaciers and debris covered glaciers acts as an insulator to protect internal ice. As a result, they maintain a reservoir of ice that will be released as water as the climate warms. In the Central Andes (31°–35° S), these catchments provide a valuable water source for nearby urban areas such as Santiago, Chile, which supports more than 6 million people. They also provide irrigation water for agriculture, supporting the burgeoning wine industry in Chile. However, rock glacier and debris covered glaciers are often misinterpreted as other landforms, and their water source is unrecognized by many. The objective of this research is to provide a methodology to inventory the extent of debris covered and rock glaciers in a catchment to estimate the amount of water contained within these landforms using GIS and remotely sensed data. This methodology could be used to better assess and sustainably manage the water resources in the Dry Andes in general and in the Aconcagua Basin in particular

Author(s):  
Sassi Mohamed Taher

This document is meant to demonstrate the potential uses of remote sensing in managing water resources for irrigated agriculture and to create awareness among potential users. Researchers in various international programs have studied the potential use of remotely sensed data to obtain accurate information on land surface processes and conditions. These studies have demonstrated that quantitative assessment of the soil-vegetation-atmosphere transfer processes can lead to a better understanding of the relationships between crop growth and water management. Remote sensing and GIS was used to map the agriculture area and for detect the change. This was very useful for mapping availability and need of water resources but the problem was concentrating in data collection and analysis because this kind of information and expertise are not available in all country in the world mainly in the developing and under developed country or third world country. However, even though considerable progress has been made over the past 20 years in research applications, remotely sensed data remain underutilized by practicing water resource managers. This paper seeks to bridge the gap between researchers and practitioners first, by illustrating where research tools and techniques have practical applications and, second, by identifying real problems that remote sensing could solve. An important challenge in the field of water resources is to utilize the timely, objective and accurate information provided by remote sensing.


2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (11) ◽  
pp. 1774-1781 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yifan Ding ◽  
Deshan Tang ◽  
Yuhang Wei ◽  
Sun Yin

Water resources in many urban areas are under enormous stress due to large-scale urban expansion and population explosion. The decision-makers are often faced with the dilemma of either maintaining high economic growth or protecting water resources and the environment. Simple criteria of water supply and drainage do not reflect the requirement of integrated urban water management. The Urban-Water Harmony (UWH) model is based on the concept of harmony and offers a more integrated approach to urban water management. This model calculates four dimensions, namely urban development, urban water services, water–society coordination, and water environment coordination. And the Analytic Hierarchy Process has been used to determine the indices weights. We applied the UWH model to Beijing, China for an 11-year assessment. Our findings show that, despite the severe stress inherent in rapid development and water shortage, the urban water relationship of Beijing is generally evolving in a positive way. The social–economic factors such as the water recycling technologies contribute a lot to this change. The UWH evaluation can provide a reasonable analysis approach to combine various urban and water indices to produce an integrated and comparable evaluation index. This, in turn, enables more effective water management in decision-making processes.


Author(s):  
Mykhailo Khvesyk ◽  
Lyudmila Levkovska ◽  
Valeriy Mandzyk

The article is devoted to the development of theoretical approaches to the formation and implementation of the strategy of water policy of Ukraine in the context of climate change. As a result of the conducted research, it is proved that because of influence of various external factors there are changes of basic imperatives of functioning of modern systems of management of water resources. The need to consider these changes by improving the strategic documents that define the priorities and principles of national water management policy is substantiated. It is established that one of the main reasons for the lack of water of good quality is its low value compared to other natural resources. This leads to a lack of legal, organizational, and financial and economic grounds for ensuring the payback of water and water-dependent ecosystem services, which is the reason for lack of funds and relevant work to improve and restore environmental and hydro morphological characteristics of reservoirs and repair and modernization of existing hydraulic structures. In this regard, emphasis is placed on the need to improve methods of economic regulation and the development of mechanisms and tools for financial support of sustainable water management. In the context of the above, it is proposed to include in the list of main tasks of the draft Water Strategy of Ukraine two groups of economic levers to increase the financial base of investment support for sustainable water management. The first group is aimed at improving the rent regulation of special use of water resources and provides for raising standards for unauthorized groundwater production, for companies that produce beverages and sell bottled drinking water, as well as limiting various benefits and preferences when paying special water use fees. The second - to change the system of water resources management, the development of institutional and legal support for their use in a globalized market environment, the implementation of modern instruments of financial and economic support for the formation of territorial water resources on a corporate basis.


Petir ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Yan Mitha Djaksana

Related to water resources is one of the problems that often occurs in certain areas that have large populations such as urban areas, in addition to having to provide water that is used for daily activities, today many urban residents live in urban hardships, so an alternative is needed in providing resources water that must be purchased in daily necessities, in this paper we proposed a framework for support urban farming that we called the smart water management system by utilizing the IoT (Internet of Thinks) technology specifically sensors and machine learning algorithms in managing available water resources. many researchers have developed a similar model, but the framework model that we proposed using reuse water and filtered rainwater so that it meets the minimum quality requirements of water that can be reused in agriculture, so we hopes to make domestic water use more effective and efficient and predictable water consumption and availability.


2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 340-353 ◽  

Groundwater plays an important role for urban and agricultural water supply in northern part of Peloponnesus. Despite increasing environmental awareness in this area, groundwater is a resource that is being stressed. Groundwater provides about 80% the total quantity of water supply. Distribution of water resources is nonhomogeneous in this region. In general the eastern part is semiarid, whereas the western part is supplied with abundant water. Surface water potential in North Peloponnesus estimated to be 0.9- 1.2x109 m3 y-1. Overexploitation of groundwater and the extensive agriculture has created environmental problems in some aquifers (sea water intrusion, nitrate pollution). Seawater intrusion occurs in some coastal aquifers, where negative water balance has been established. High percentage of the examined samples exceeded the maximum admissible nitrate concentration of 50 mg l-1, set by EU for drinking water. Groundwater in urban areas has been contaminated to varying degrees. The water quality is classified into Ca-HCO3 type (fresh water) and Na-HCO3 or Na-Cl type (brackish waters) in the coastal part, due to seawater intrusion. Some recommendations are made in order to safeguard high water quality and to develop new ways of providing water source in the study area. Moreover, an integrated and comprehensive management scheme should be applied, aiming at sustainability of water resources and based on surface water and groundwater exploitation, simultaneously.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (22) ◽  
pp. 7709
Author(s):  
Günter Müller-Czygan ◽  
Viktoriya Tarasyuk ◽  
Christian Wagner ◽  
Manuela Wimmer

Water is increasingly taking center stage when it comes to coping with climate change. Especially in urban areas, negative consequences from heavy rainfall events and prolonged dry periods are rising worldwide. In the past, the various tasks of urban water management were performed by different departments that often did not cooperate with each other (water supply, wastewater disposal, green space irrigation, etc.), as the required water supply was not a question of available water volumes. This is already changing with climate change, in some cases even dramatically. More and more, it is necessary to consider how to distribute available water resources in urban areas, especially during dry periods, since wastewater treatment is also becoming more complex and costly. In the future, urban water management will examine water use in terms of its various objectives, and will need to provide alternative water resources for these different purposes (groundwater, river water, storm water, treated wastewater, etc.). The necessary technological interconnection requires intelligent digital systems. Furthermore, the water industry must also play its role in global CO2 reduction and make its procedural treatment processes more efficient; this will also only succeed with adequate digital systems. Although digitization has experienced an enormous surge in development over the last five years and numerous solutions are available to address the challenges described previously, there is still a large gap between the scope of offerings and their implementation. Researchers at Hof University of Applied Sciences have investigated the reasons for this imbalance as part of WaterExe4.0, the first meta-study on digitization in the German-speaking water industry, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Only 11% of roughly 700 identified products, projects and studies relate to real applications. For example, the surveyed experts of the water sector stated that everyday problems are considered too little or hardly at all in new solutions, which greatly overburdens users. Furthermore, they see no adequate possibility for a systematic analysis of new ideas to identify significant obstacles and to find the best way to start and implement a digitization project. The results from four methodologically different sub-surveys (literature and market research, survey, expert interviews and workshops) provide a reliable overview of the current situation in the German-speaking water industry and its expectations for the future. The results are also transferable to other countries.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-18
Author(s):  
Б. Тайванбат ◽  
О. Алтансүх ◽  
М. Энх-Үүр ◽  
K. Van Leeuwen ◽  
Steven H. A. Koop

The large number of people living together in urban areas requires a comprehensive solutions for issues such as the reasonable allocation and adequate use of natural resources, urban planning, and efficient waste management to meet the city's needs.  One of the main factors influencing the health and comfort of urban residents is the supply of clean water and sewerage systems. Therefore, in order to rationally allocate and use water resources to meet urban needs, and to create a healthy and comfortable living environment for city residents, it is necessary to develop an integrated water resources management plan at the national and basin levels, as well as an integrated water management plan and assessment for city level. In addition to assessing the current state of water management, it is important to identify factors and trends that may further strain water resources to prevent future risks. To address the pressures on water management in Ulaanbaatar and Darkhan, representing Mongolia's urban areas, the City Blueprint Approach, developed by the EU Water   Innovation Partnership and the Dutch Institute of Water Cycle, was used in this study. Currently, this approach is used in about 80 cities in more than 40 countries, it is a relatively new and innovative method among Asian cities. As a result, water management in Ulaanbaatar and Darkhan is hampered by both social, economic, and environmental factors.


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