Search results for "RESOURCES"
showing 10 items of 1614 documents
The Influence of Seasonality on the Economic Efficiency of Wastewater Treatment Plants
2010
Many tourist areas are often characterized with seasonal water demand. The influence of seasonality on water management is more intensive in the context of water scarcity. Thus the use of so-called non-conventional water resources in these areas becomes a key aspect. In this sense, efficient performance, both in technical and cost terms, favors water reuse possibilities and, therefore, increases the supply of non-conventional resources. In tourist areas, seasonality is a determining factor in the efficiency of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) as these are operating at full capacity only during the summer season while the rest of the year they have under-utilization problems. Using the Fr…
Adjusting to Climate Change: Implications of Increased Variability and Asymmetric Adjustment Costs for Investment in Water Reserves
1997
Abstract In this paper we study the determination of optimal water storage capacity in a region, taking into account that the supply of the resource, the flow into the reserve, is uncertain, that a measure of the uncertainty, the variance, is likely to increase with climate change, that building capacity is costly, and that the development of water resources may entail alsoenvironmental costs. We find that water storage capacity in the long run ispositivelyrelated to increases in uncertainty if the marginal benefit of water withdrawal isconvexand that, for the case of costly reversibility of investment, a range of inaction for investment appears, and the stability of water storage capacity …
Energy, water and environmental balance of a complex water supply system
2015
The present paper describes the analysis of water and energy balance in a complex urban water supply system. The analysis was carried out employing Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) methodologies. The LCA approach was integrated with the analysis of the system energy and water balance. For a real size water supply system, based on the results of the individual LCAs, the current baseline was constructed highlighting the water, energy and environmental (in terms of CO2eq emissions in the atmosphere) costs of supplied water. Then, three different mitigation measures have been evaluated: the first is based on energy production by installation of photovoltaic systems; the second is based on energy recov…
ECONOMIC AND TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY OF WASTEWATER PLANTS: A BASIC REQUISITE TO THE FEASIBILITY OF WATER REUSE PROJECTS
2006
The water reuse could be considered essential both from a social and also an environmental and health point of view. In light of the growing importance of water reuse as an alternative source of water resources in many regional areas, the objective of this paper is to analyse the efficiency of wastewater treatment plants. Efficient performance, both in technical and economic terms favours reuse possibilities and, therefore, increases the water supply. An analytical benchmarking methodology based on non-radial measures gives us an efficiency indicator for each input considered in the wastewater treatment process. These indicators, obtained by means of mathematical programming techniques, are…
Desertification and Water Scarcity as a Security Challenge in the Mediterranean
2009
There is a new perception of a global dimension: environmental security. The protection of our fixed and shared environment is gradually coming to people’s attention as an obligatory requirement for equitable development, in order to prevent disasters related to environmental security and to avoid conflicts. The Euro-Mediterranean Region is also immersed in this general trend partly as a consequence of more frequent severe environmental events, such as forest fires, floods and landslides, droughts, torrential rains, heat waves and water scarcity. The Southern and Eastern shores of the Mediterranean undergo even more harsh environmental impacts affecting the stability of the land, its capaci…
Climate change impact on SWAT simulated streamflow in western Kenya
2008
Weather and climate extremes such as droughts and floods have far reaching impacts in Kenya. They have had implications in a variety of sectors including agriculture, water resources, health, energy, and disaster management among others. Lake Victoria and its catchment support millions of people and any impact on its ability to support the livelihoods of the communities in this region is of major concern. Thus, the main objective of this study was to assess the potential future climatic changes on the Nzoia catchment in the Lake Victoria basin, and how they might affect streamflow. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool was used to investigate the impact of climatic change on streamflow of the …
Modeling belowground water table fluctuations in the Everglades
2010
[1] Humid lands, such as riparian zones, peatlands, and unsubmerged wetlands, are considered among the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems, providing a bountiful habitat for a large number of plant and animal species. In such ecosystems, the water table dynamics play a key role in major ecohydrological processes. The aim of the present study is to test with field data a recent analytical model for the estimation of the long-term probability distribution of the belowground water table position in groundwater-dependent environments. This model accounts for stochastic rainfall and processes such as infiltration, root water uptake, water flow from/to an external water body, and capillar…
Comparative Analysis Between France and Italy
2016
In this chapter, the role of river contracts in European and national water policies has been analyzed, by observing the two paradigmatic contexts of France and Italy. The comparative analysis undertaken both with respect to the experiences of water management policies and river contracts, allows to more deeply assess the governance processes of water resources and understand their political, legal and socio economic scopes. In addition, the comparison of these two national contexts has highlighted the opportunities for actual integration between practices of urban and territorial planning, and water management policies. The analysis has been specifically focused on the respective normative…
Theoretics and Methodology
2016
Since 2000 in Europe an integrated management framework has been developed to innovate exploitation and safeguard of water resources. In this context the EU Water Framework Directive has identified the hydrographic basin as the optimal territorial unit for promoting new participatory policies, based both on the interaction of stakeholders and the coordination of sectorial instruments. In this scenario, river contracts assumed a strategic role both in addressing these purposes and supporting the dialogue and integration between interests of public and private stakeholders. This chapter illustrates the theoretical and methodological framework, and the comparative approach on which the researc…
On the influences of vegetation biomass on COSMO-Skymed X-band
2011
The knowledge of spatial and temporal variability of land cover is important to manage water resources for yield forecasting, water stress prediction, irrigation water management and flood protection. Cloud cover dramatically reduces the temporal resolution of optical data thus limiting their operational use; in addition, the spatial resolution is often inadequate for applications in heterogeneous areas. On the other hand, algorithms based on Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) implemented to retrieve vegetation parameters are not yet fully validated. New SAR missions (COSMO-Skymed and Terrasar-X) may represent a suitable source of data for operational uses due to the high spatial and temporal r…