Search results for "water resource"
showing 10 items of 225 documents
Cost–benefit analysis of water-reuse projects for environmental purposes: A case study for Spanish wastewater treatment plants
2011
Water reuse is an emerging and promising non-conventional water resource. Feasibility studies are essential tools in the decision making process for the implementation of water-reuse projects. However, the methods used to assess economic feasibility tend to focus on internal costs, while external impacts are relegated to unsubstantiated statements about the advantages of water reuse. Using the concept of shadow prices for undesirable outputs of water reclamation, the current study developed a theoretical methodology to assess internal and external economic impacts. The proposed methodological approach is applied to 13 wastewater treatment plants in the Valencia region of Spain that reuse ef…
The social benefits of restoring water quality in the context of the Water Framework Directive: A comparison of willingness to pay and willingness to…
2009
The Water Framework Directive (WFD) is by far the most important piece of water legislation in Europe for the coming decades. Its main aim is to achieve "good ecological status" for all water resources by 2015. The economic valuation of the non-market benefits derived from improving water quality is an important input in assisting the design and implementation of efficient and effective water management policies. In this study, the contingent valuation method has been applied with a double purpose. On the one hand, we have estimated the value of a hypothetical improvement in water quality of a river asking individuals about their willingness to pay, and on the other hand, the issue of exemp…
Estimating willingness to pay for desalinated seawater: the case of Djerba Island, Tunisia
2017
AbstractWater scarcity can be a growth-limiting factor. Non-conventional water resources, such as desalinated water, represent an alternative means of guaranteeing access to water while reducing water stress. In this study, a contingent valuation survey carried out in Djerba Island, Tunisia, allows the joint modelling of two decisions: societal support for the construction of a desalination plant and households’ willingness to pay for desalinated water. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study to date has addressed this relationship. We find that although a clear majority of households are in favour of using desalinated water, far fewer are willing to pay for it. The article conclude…
Identification of Potential Locations for Run-of-River Hydropower Plants Using a GIS-Based Procedure
2019
The increasing demand for renewable and sustainable energy sources has encouraged the development of small run-of-river plants. Preliminary studies are required to assess the technical and economic feasibility of such plants. In this context, the identification of optimal potential run-of-river sites has become a key issue. In this paper, an approach that is based on GIS tools coupled with a hydrological model has been applied to detect potential locations for a run-of-river plant. A great number of locations has been analyzed to identify those that could assure the achievement of different thresholds of potential power. The environmental and economic feasibility for small hydropower projec…
Coping with uncertainty in the assessment of atmospheric pollution with lichen transplants
2019
In the assessment of atmospheric deposition using lichen transplants, coping with uncertainty is mandatory in cases of environmental forensics, when understanding whether an area is polluted or not, or tracing a given pollution source is of paramount importance. In this article, we have suggested a method based on the calculation of exposed-to-control ratios of element concentrations and on the quantification of the overall uncertainty associated with such calculation, which proved to be very robust and can be applied in most cases using a minimum of three replicates. The method allowed the selection of significantly accumulated elements i.e. those polluting the site under study, as well as…
EVASPA (EVapotranspiration Assessment from SPAce) tool: an overview
2013
International audience; Evapotranspiration (ET) is a fundamental variable of the hydrological cycle and its estimation is required for irrigation management, water resources planning and environmental studies. Remote sensing provides spatially distributed cost-effective information for ET maps production at regional scale. We have developed EVASPA too for mapping ET from remote sensing data at spatial and temporal scales relevant to hydrological or agronomica studies. EVASPA includes several algorithms for estimating evapotranspiration and various equations for estimating the required input information (net radiation, ground heat flux, evaporative fraction…), which provides a way to assess …
Irrigation water intensity and climate variability: an agricultural crops analysis of Italian regions
2020
This paper examines the relationship between the requirement of water resources for irrigation and climate variability and analyses the ranking of the best and worst performance of irrigation water intensity for each Italian region. To measure water resources demanded by agriculture, the irrigation water intensity (IWI) indicator has been computed as the ratio between volumes of irrigation water and total crop harvested. By applying panel data methodologies to a regional dataset spanning from 2000 to 2009, we may address heterogeneity and omitted variable issues. By merging meteo-climatic with agricultural variables, we may confirm that water precipitations, maximum temperature, irrigation …
Rainwater harvesting in urban areas of developed countries. The state of the art (1980-2017)
2020
Many urban areas suffer from water scarcity although paradoxically, a local source such as rainwater is mostly treated as a risk rather than a valuable resource. This change of paradigm is included in the 'integrated water resources management' and 'demand management' approach. The aim of this research is to identify and analyse studies that explore subject matters concerning rainwater in the integrated management systems of water resources into developed countries. The research methodology consisted in a literature review (from the 1980s to 2017) of territorial studies that examine rainwater harvesting in urban areas of the developed countries. To this end, a bibliometric analysis has been…
River Contracts for Innovation in Territorial Governance
2016
Emerged in France in 1980s as agreements oriented to the requalification of rivers and lakes, river contracts represent an important outcome of the decentralization process, developed in Europe in reply to the growing institutional fragmentation. In this scenario, rivers have become a dialectic arena in which the exploitation and management of water resources came to terms with environmental instances, and offered the breeding ground for concerted efforts between policy makers, stakeholders and communities. In this chapter, the analysis is focused on the river contract model and the related set of instruments capable of supporting concerted and participatory management processes both with r…
Minería de oro: promesas, conflictos y desilusión en Cerro de San Pedro, México
2018
Este artículo analiza los conflictos por los recursos agua y tierra en Cerro de San Pedro, México, cuando una empresa minera canadiense inició una mina a cielo abierto en este municipio. Examinamos diferentes posiciones en el conflicto entre la mina de oro y los habitantes locales, y cómo ambivalentes regulaciones nacionales y organismos gubernamentales permitieron que una empresa extranjera operara sin los permisos requeridos. Para analizar el conflicto utilizamos el marco de Escalones de Análisis de Derechos, que distingue cuatro capas de disputa: sobre los recursos; el contenido de las normas; el poder de decisión; y los discursos. Discutimos cómo la auto-representación de la empresa ext…