The Right to Water, Law and Municipal Practice: Case Studies from India

Recognition of the right to water in Indian courts has had little impact on the ground. This paper explores the seeming disjuncture between what happens in the court and the everyday reality of living with a less-than-perfect claim on city water services in India’s urban slums. The paper seeks to understand and contextualise a court ruling which looks like it declares a right to water for people in urban slums, but in effect gives them little beyond what they already had. The paper also looks at the ‘everyday reality’ of municipal administration and the provision of drinking water in slums through in-house connections and community taps. In both case studies, the author looks to understand how the practice relates to frameworks of law and policy that shape the rationality and scope of action of the actors concerned, both judges and municipal officials. She found that the issue of land was the main stumbling block in both places, but it was conceptualized a little differently in each situation. These case studies underscore the critical importance of making the local interface between poor people and the state more empowering in order for rights to become local and meaningful.

Determining the best strategy to reduce losses in Banias water network, based on the Analytical Hierarchy Process AHP: تحديد الاستراتيجية الأفضل لتخفيف الفواقد في شبكة مياه مدينة بانياس بالاعتماد على طريقة التحليل الهرمي Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)

The study aims to choose the best strategy for reducing Water losses in Banias City Water Distribution network, that reaches a large percentage about 65%, based on the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The strategies (alternatives), the main and secondary criteria necessary to reach the construction of the decision matrix and the development of the final strategies for the work of the Establishment in accordance with it, based on the opinions of experts in the Banias Water Establishment, in addition to references and previous studies in the field of research. The necessary questionnaire was prepared and then distributed to a group of experts (30 experts) of engineers and technicians working in Banias Water Establishment, and thus conducting comparison process between the main criteria, the sub- criteria, and the alternatives for the sub- criteria. The Expert Choice Software Which is based on AHP method, is used, and It automatically performs mathematical processes and calculates final relative weights to obtain the final decision matrix. The results showed that the strategy of dividing the network into district metered areas ranked first, with the highest rating of 27.8%, followed by the strategy of control and pressure management with 13.6%, while the strategy of replacing meters came last with 3.5%.

Land-Use Readjustment For Roi Et Government Centre, Thailand

This paper aims to present the planning and design of Roi Et provincial government center master plan according to the land use readjustment theoretical framework in the urban design process. This approach maintains the basis that the uniqueness of the original area should be maintained, and the effectiveness of the area application should be increased, and thereby increasing the efficiency of space utilization. The results of the study include, respectively, the scoping of the study area, the investigation of the existing land uses and accessibility, and the readjusting the land uses with the concept of mix-use planning. Moreover, it is suggested that there should be further studies about the architectural styles showing the uniqueness of Roi Et city, water management for watering plants, and planting design of local species.

Organisational Learning Strategies and Employee Performance in Water and Sewerage Companies: Empirical from Nairobi City County, Kenya

Despite organisational learning strategies being focal in enabling employee’s development, Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company is unable to employ organisational learning strategies for sustainable employee performance. Owing to the failures in addressing these concerns. this research accessed the manner in which organisational learning strategies related to employee performance in this company. The objectives of the research were to specifically establish the effect of; acquiring information, distributing information, interpreting information, behavioural and cognitive changes on the performance of public water utilities in Kenya. In its methodology, the research espoused descriptive research design as it used 374 senior officers of Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company as its target population. The sample size drawn from this population was 112 respondents; accounting for 30% of the entire population. The research sought data from primary sources, which was collected through administration of structured questionnaire. Quantitative approach was employed in analysis to obtain descriptive statistics as well as inferential statistics. The inferential statistics were for testing existence of relationship and for predicting a study model. The study found that at 5% significance level, acquiring information there is a strongly positively significant effect on employee performance at Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company, distributing information has a low significant negative effect on employee performance at Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company, practising interpreting information at Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company has a strong significant positive influence on its performance of employees, and behavioural and cognitive changes strongly significantly and positively affect performance of employee at Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company. The study suggested new organizational learning approaches for implementation by Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company to improve their employee efficiency and hence enhance their performance.

Studi Analisa Potensi Sumber Air sebagai Pembangkit Listrik Tenaga Mikrohidro (PLTMH) di Karungan Kelurahan Mamburungan Timur Kota Tarakan

The supply of electrical energy in Tarakan City, North Kalimantan, still relies on diesel power which uses a limited number of petroleum energy sources. There is a need for research related to renewable energy sources that have the potential to become alternative energy for the people of Tarakan City. Water is an energy source that has great potential to generate electricity. The energy source that should be taken into account is micro-hydro which can be used as a Micro-hydro Power Plant (PLTMH). A survey of micro-hydro sources in Tarakan City, precisely in the Karungan area, East Mamburungan Village, has been carried out with the direct measurement method of water discharge and the relationship with the power generated. The result shows the water source has a discharge 0.00034 m3/ s, the water velocity of 0.035 m/s and generates power only up to 1.1 watts. Based on the power obtained, the water source in this place cannot be used as a source of micro-hydro energy, but has the potential as a source of pico-hydro energy.

Management of Listeria monocytogenes on Surfaces via Relative Air Humidity: Key Role of Cell Envelope

Although relative air humidity (RH) strongly influences microbial survival, its use for fighting surface pathogens in the food industry has been inadequately considered. We asked whether RH control could destroy Listeria monocytogenes EGDe by envelope damage. The impact of dehydration in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) at 75%, 68%, 43% and 11% RH on the bacterial envelope was investigated using flow cytometry and atomic force microscopy. Changes after rehydration in the protein secondary structure and peptidoglycan were investigated by infrared spectroscopy. Complementary cultivability measurements were performed by running dehydration–rehydration with combinations of NaCl (3–0.01%), distilled water, city water and PBS. The main results show that cell membrane permeability and cell envelope were greatly altered during dehydration in PBS at 68% RH followed by rapid rehydration. This damage led cells to recover only 67% of their initial volume after rehydration. Moreover, the most efficient way to destroy cells was dehydration and rehydration in city water. Our study indicates that rehydration of dried, sullied foods on surfaces may improve current cleaning procedures in the food industry.