Confronting the Nation's Water Problems

Confronting the Nation's Water Problems PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 030916589X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
In order to confront the increasingly severe water problems faced by all parts of the country, the United States needs to make a new commitment to research on water resources. A new mechanism is needed to coordinate water research currently fragmented among nearly 20 federal agencies. Given the competition for water among farmers, communities, aquatic ecosystems and other users-as well as emerging challenges such as climate change and the threat of waterborne diseases-Confronting the Nation's Water Problems concludes that an additional $70 million in federal funding should go annually to water research. Funding should go specifically to the areas of water demand and use, water supply augmentation, and other institutional research topics. The book notes that overall federal funding for water research has been stagnant in real terms for the past 30 years and that the portion dedicated to research on water use and social science topics has declined considerably.

Confronting the Nation's Water Problems

Confronting the Nation's Water Problems PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 030916589X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Get Book Here

Book Description
In order to confront the increasingly severe water problems faced by all parts of the country, the United States needs to make a new commitment to research on water resources. A new mechanism is needed to coordinate water research currently fragmented among nearly 20 federal agencies. Given the competition for water among farmers, communities, aquatic ecosystems and other users-as well as emerging challenges such as climate change and the threat of waterborne diseases-Confronting the Nation's Water Problems concludes that an additional $70 million in federal funding should go annually to water research. Funding should go specifically to the areas of water demand and use, water supply augmentation, and other institutional research topics. The book notes that overall federal funding for water research has been stagnant in real terms for the past 30 years and that the portion dedicated to research on water use and social science topics has declined considerably.

Integrated Water Resources Management in Practice

Integrated Water Resources Management in Practice PDF Author: Roberto Lenton
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136562877
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
Better water management will be crucial if we are to meet many of the key challenges of this century - feeding the worlds growing population and reducing poverty, meeting water and sanitation needs, protecting vital ecosystems, all while adapting to climate change. The approach known as Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is widely recognized as the best way forward, but is poorly understood, even within the water sector. Since a core IWRM principle is that good water management must involve the water users, the understanding and involvement of other sectors is critical for success. There is thus an urgent need for practical guidance, for both water and development professionals, based on real world examples, rather than theoretical constructs. That is what this book provides. Using case studies, the book illustrates how better water management, guided by the IWRM approach, has helped to meet a wide range of sustainable development goals. It does this by considering practical examples, looking at how IWRM has contributed, at different scales, from very local, village-level experiences to reforms at national level and beyond to cases involving trans-boundary river basins. Using these on-the-ground experiences, from both developed and developing countries in five continents, the book provides candid and practical lessons for policy-makers, donors, and water and development practitioners worldwide, looking at how IWRM principles were applied, what worked, and, equally important, what didn‘t work, and why. Published with the Global Water Partnership

Legal Rights for Rivers

Legal Rights for Rivers PDF Author: Erin O'Donnell
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429889607
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
In 2017 four rivers in Aotearoa New Zealand, India, and Colombia were given the status of legal persons, and there was a recent attempt to extend these rights to the Colorado River in the USA. Understanding the implications of creating legal rights for rivers is an urgent challenge for both water resource management and environmental law. Giving rivers legal rights means the law can see rivers as legal persons, thus creating new legal rights which can then be enforced. When rivers are legally people, does that encourage collaboration and partnership between humans and rivers, or establish rivers as another competitor for scarce resources? To assess what it means to give rivers legal rights and legal personality, this book examines the form and function of environmental water managers (EWMs). These organisations have legal personality, and have been active in water resource management for over two decades. EWMs operate by acquiring water rights from irrigators in rivers where there is insufficient water to maintain ecological health. EWMs can compete with farmers for access to water, but they can also strengthen collaboration between traditionally divergent users of the aquatic environment, such as environmentalists, recreational fishers, hunters, farmers, and hydropower. This book explores how EWMs use the opportunities created by giving nature legal rights, such as the ability to participate in markets, enter contracts, hold property, and enforce those rights in court. However, examination of the EWMs unearths a crucial and unexpected paradox: giving legal rights to nature may increase its legal power, but in doing so it can weaken community support for protecting the environment in the first place. The book develops a new conceptual framework to identify the multiple constructions of the environment in law, and how these constructions can interact to generate these unexpected outcomes. It explores EWMs in the USA and Australia as examples, and assesses the implications of creating legal rights for rivers for water governance. Lessons from the EWMs, as well as early lessons from the new ‘river persons,’ show how to use the law to improve river protection and how to begin to mitigate the problems of the paradox.

International Investment Law and Water Resources Management

International Investment Law and Water Resources Management PDF Author: Ana Maria Daza-Clark
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004335307
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
Hydrological variability, increasing competition for water, and the need for regulatory flexibility may increasingly compel governments to adopt measures with significant economic impact on foreign investment. In International Investment Law and Water Resources Management, Daza-Clark offers an appraisal of indirect expropriation, revisiting the well-known doctrine of the police power. Through the lens of international investment law, the author explores a framework that assesses the legitimate exercise of police power with particular attention to the special nature of water resources.

The State of the World's Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture

The State of the World's Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture PDF Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136498877
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
The State of the World's Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture is FAO's first flagship publication on the global status of land and water resources. It is an 'advocacy' report, to be published every three to five years, and targeted at senior level decision makers in agriculture as well as in other sectors. SOLAW is aimed at sensitizing its target audience on the status of land resources at global and regional levels and FAO's viewpoint on appropriate recommendations for policy formulation. SOLAW focuses on these key dimensions of analysis: (i) quantity, quality of land and water resources, (ii) the rate of use and sustainable management of these resources in the context of relevant socio-economic driving factors and concerns, including food security and poverty, and climate change. This is the first time that a global, baseline status report on land and water resources has been made. It is based on several global spatial databases (e.g. land suitability for agriculture, land use and management, land and water degradation and depletion) for which FAO is the world-recognized data source. Topical and emerging issues on land and water are dealt with in an integrated rather than sectoral manner. The implications of the status and trends are used to advocate remedial interventions which are tailored to major farming systems within different geographic regions.

Water Resource Conflicts and International Security

Water Resource Conflicts and International Security PDF Author: Dhirendra K. Vajpeyi
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 0739168177
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
Water Resource Conflicts and International Security: A Global Perspective is an edited collection by Dhirendra K. Vajpeyi which analyzes the increasing global demand for water in economic and social development, and the dire need to efficiently manage this vital natural resource, particularly in water-scarce countries in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Several environmental- and human-induced factors, such as urbanization, industrialization, climate change, and agricultural needs, have created a near-crisis situation in many countries. Subsequently, there is an increasingly intense competition to utilize available water resources in these most heavily-affected regions; transboundary rivers, lakes, and streams which are shared by more than one country pose potential for political conflict, armed conflict, and, in the best of cases, cooperation. The contributors of Water Resource Conflicts and International Security present ten case studies in seven chapters, highlighting the competition between countries in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. In his conclusion, Dhirendra K. Vajpeyi suggests several policy measures that governments may implement in order to minimize the potential for conflict.

Water Conservation, Reuse, and Recycling

Water Conservation, Reuse, and Recycling PDF Author: Academy of Sciences of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309181194
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
In December 2002, a group of specialists on water resources from the United States and Iran met in Tunis, Tunisia, for an interacademy workshop on water resources management, conservation, and recycling. This was the fourth interacademy workshop on a variety of topics held in 2002, the first year of such workshops. Tunis was selected as the location for the workshop because the Tunisian experience in addressing water conservation issues was of interest to the participants from both the United States and Iran. This report includes the agenda for the workshop, all of the papers that were presented, and the list of site visits.

Water for the Future

Water for the Future PDF Author: U.S. National Academy of Sciences
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 030906421X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
This book is the result of a joint research effort led by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and involving the Royal Scientific Society of Jordan, the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and the Palestine Health Council. It discusses opportunities for enhancement of water supplies and avoidance of overexploitation of water resources in the Middle East. Based on the concept that ecosystem goods and services are essential to maintaining water quality and quantity, the book emphasizes conservation, improved use of current technologies, and water management approaches that are compatible with environmental quality.

Competition and Conflicts on Resource Use

Competition and Conflicts on Resource Use PDF Author: Susanne Hartard
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319109545
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
This book reflects on the causes of resource-based conflicts and competition, and presents solutions for safely and sustainably providing resources with a focus on material flow management. The contributions from different disciplines highlight issues such as safe access to resources, conflicts over water and energy supplies, waste of strategic mineral resources, sustainable resource consumption, and renewable energy technologies.

Competition for Water Resources

Competition for Water Resources PDF Author: Jadwiga R Ziolkowska
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0128032383
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 480

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Book Description
Competition for Water Resources: Experiences and Management Approaches in the U.S. and Europe addresses the escalation of global issues regarding water scarcity and the necessary, cost-effective strategies that must be put in place in order to deal with escalating water crisis. The book evaluates use and competition for water resources in the U.S. and Europe, emphasizing the problems and challenges of dealing with tradeoffs in water. In addition, the book discusses water management strategies that can be used to optimize water use and allocation, mitigate water scarcity, and adapt to water scarcity. Supplementing the numerous case studies, the book includes lessons learned from applying specific strategies and approaches. This comprehensive overview and comparison of management practices across two continents is an invaluable resource for researchers, policymakers, and educators in water. - Provides a national and regional perspective through the use of country specific case study examples - Includes a comparative analysis between the U.S. and Europe, illustrating experiences in water management from two sides of the Atlantic - Covers interdisciplinary topics related to water, such as agriculture and energy