Measuring of radioactive contamination by Gamma-ray Spectroscopy for many water projects in Baghdad City

The study aims to provide the effective monitoring of radioactive contents in refining water stations. Attempts were made to measure the radionuclide’s concentrations level which indicates to radioactive contamination in the samples of raw water taken from the Tigris River and samples of river sediments. The radionuclides contents have been obtained using the gamma-ray spectroscopy technique. Analysis system (HPGe) has been applied to measure the radioactivity concentration of Uranium, Radium, and Thorium in water and sediment samples. For solid samples (sediments), results have shown that the activity for238U the range was from (52±5.31Bq/kg)In S4 to(120±8)in S3, for 232Th the range was from(26±2.4Bq/kg)in S1to (48±3.1Bq/kg) in S3, for 40K, the range was from (247±17Bq/kg) in s4 to (453±18Bq/kg) in S3, for 137Cs the range was from(1.28±0.1Bq/kg) in S3 to (7.8±0.67) in S2. For liquid samples (water), the activity for 238U was from (10±1 Bq/l) in Kh1to(38±4.2Bq/l) in D1, for 232Th was from (1±0.35Bq/l) in kD1 to (1.8±0.60Bq/l) in D1, for 40K was from (10±0.3 Bq/l), in ka1to(48±5.7Bq/l) in KD1. In the final step (drinking water) showed only 40K isotope appeared at range(18±0.03 - 55±0.06Bq/l).

Stakeholder Consultation and Implementation Water Projects: A Case of Machakos County, Kenya.

For projects to be successfully implemented, consultation between the implementing agencies should be factored in as a project planning and management process. This paper looks at the influence of stakeholder consultation on the implementation of water projects in Machakos County, Kenya. The study targeted 172 water projects under implementation in the County of Machakos with respondents being seven members of project management committees. A simple random sampling technique was used in selecting 17 water projects. A questionnaire was used to collect data from 120 respondents managing 17 water projects. Quantitative collected data was analysed using descriptive (means, standard deviation, frequencies, and percentages) inferential statistics (correlation statistics). The study established a strong positive correlation (r = 0.652) between the strategy of consulting stakeholders and the implementation of water projects. The study concluded that increased stakeholders’ consultation would result in effective water projects implementation in the county. The study recommends that there is a need for the identification of link persons or officials who will always represent them during the implementation process.

Emerging Pillars for IWRM Implementation In Bangladesh

Since the early 1990s, the IWRM approach has been performing for improving the water sector through minimising the water crisis in Bangladesh. Therefore, Bangladesh has developed three pillars (e.g., enabling environment, institutional arrangement, management instruments, etc.) favouring IWRM to meet the desired goal. Despite the ability to adequately address the cross-cutting and multiple issues of the water sector of Bangladesh, the IWRM approach is getting more complex day by day because the steps taken under the pillars may not work correctly. Given above, an attempt has been made to analyse how the existing contradictions in IWRM pillars (designed by Bangladesh) affect IWRM effectiveness. Using document analysis and semi-structured interviews, this paper provides an understanding of existing inconsistencies of IWRM pillars and the necessity of enhancing IWRM pillars for increasing IWRM implementation effectiveness in Bangladesh. The implementation challenges of the policy networks (policy, plan, strategy etc.) and implementation networks (water projects) made to ensure enabling environment affect IWRM effectiveness. Institutional power and responsibility are not defined in the policy rules and regulations correctly, causing problems in the institutional arrangement, which has affected IWRM effectiveness. Database related issues about the management instruments are also responsible in this regard. Necessary strategies and measures as per network management are recommended to enhance IWRM tools by resolving irregularities and improving IWRM effectiveness in Bangladesh.

Infrastructural Investments and Economic Growth: Evidence from Pakistan

Purpose: The goal of this study is to make an attempt to find out the relationships between infrastructural investments and economic growth. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study employs time series data over the years from 1972 to 2020. To observe the long-run and short-run impact of infrastructural investments on economic growth, an ARDL modeling approach to co- integration is used that is most suitable technique over some other techniques of integration after inspecting the stationary level of data via ADF test. Findings: The findings of the study indicate that Investments on Railways, Roads, Gas Projects, Telecommunication, Water Projects and Power Projects appear as efficient factors for enhancing economic growth of Pakistan in the long run. Implications/Originality/Value: It is suggested that government should increase the public and private investment for development of Railways, Roads, Telecommunication and Water projects in Pakistan.

Monitoring Reservoirs from Subsea Wells: Ultra-Long Step out VSP Acquisition Using Enhanced Back-Scattering Fiber

While DAS VSP has become relatively standard in dry-tree applications, acquiring data in subsea wells has remained a technical challenge as umbilical can be tens of kilometers long, thereby reducing the overall quantity of backscattered light to the topside interrogator. This adds to the attenuation due to connectors at the wellhead and along the optical path. Yet, the need for subsea DAS interrogation is high, particularly with the onset of complex, deep-water projects that will require on-demand monitoring capabilities. In this article, we report on the successful acquisition and subsequent processing of a zero-offset VSP in an ultra-long step-out context. We simulated a subsea well with 69km worth of lead-in fiber to the wellhead, including attenuation at the wellhead mimicking the connectors. The attenuation was tackled by using an active, subsea amplifier (that would normally sit at the wellhead), and an in-house developed engineered fiber that provides a significant uplift in backscattered energy. We acquired this ZVSP both on fiber and with a standard wireline tool string for comparison. The approach presented here combines hardware and processing strategies to tackle the long step-out challenge. We demonstrate the ability to record seismic data even at very large step-out, a requirement for subsea well monitoring.