Late developers and the inequity of “equitable utilization” and the harm of “do no harm”

This paper critically examines the Helsinki Rules (1966 Helsinki Rules, 1966. http://www.colsan.edu.mx/investigacion/aguaysociedad/proyectofrontera/Helsinki%20Rules%201966.pdf (http://www.colsan.edu.mx/investigacion/aguaysociedad/proyectofrontera/Helsinki%20Rules%201966.pdf) (Accessed: April 2010).  [Google Scholar]), the United Nations Convention (1997) and the Berlin Rules (2004 Berlin Rules, 2004. http://www.cawater-info.net/library/eng/l/berlin_rules.pdf (http://www.cawater-info.net/library/eng/l/berlin_rules.pdf) (Accessed: April 2010).  [Google Scholar]), looking at their emphasis on the principle either of equitable utilization or of doing no harm and analysing the effect of these principles on late developers within a river basin. The analysis reveals that these rules increasingly favour first developers. Today, late developers have even less incentive to subscribe to these rules, but instead must either utilize their own dominance or have a powerful ally to develop their water resources. Given the Millennium Development Goals, the existing recommendations on the sharing of international rivers should be revised so as not to favour the early developers.     

Water as a Human Right: The Understanding of Water in the Arab Countries of the Middle East

The international community has affirmed the human right to water in a number of international treaties, declarations and other documents. Most notably, the United Nations (UN) Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted in November 2002 a General Comment on the Right to Water setting out international standards and obligations relating to the right to water. Based on the UN concept of water as a human right for selected Arab countries in the Middle East (Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon), the paper analyses if and to what extent these concepts are acknowledged. It aims to identify the scale of knowledge of and commitment to the UN concept in the region, and the main areas of concern in each country regarding water as a human right. The paper summarizes the main challenges facing strategic and coordinated action towards the UN concept of water as a human right, identifies what types of processes and institutions need to be developed to meet the challenges of the concept, and provides best practice examples from countries that have shown innovation. Objectives and priority ideas for activities of non-governmental organizations are recommended.

Water as a Human Right: The Understanding of Water in the Arab Countries of the Middle East

All authors

Simone Klawitter & Hadeel Qazzaz

https://doi.org/10.1080/07900620500036414

Published online:

22 January 2007

Table 1.?Egypt: evaluation of the UN criteria

CSVDisplay Table

Water as a Human Right: The Understanding of Water in the Arab Countries of the Middle East

All authors

Simone Klawitter & Hadeel Qazzaz

https://doi.org/10.1080/07900620500036414

Published online:

22 January 2007

Table 2.?Palestine: evaluation of the UN criteria

CSVDisplay Table

Water as a Human Right: The Understanding of Water in the Arab Countries of the Middle East

All authors

Simone Klawitter & Hadeel Qazzaz

https://doi.org/10.1080/07900620500036414

Published online:

22 January 2007

Table 3.?Jordan: evaluation of the UN criteria

CSVDisplay Table

Water as a Human Right: The Understanding of Water in the Arab Countries of the Middle East

All authors

Simone Klawitter & Hadeel Qazzaz

https://doi.org/10.1080/07900620500036414

Published online:

22 January 2007

Table 4.?Lebanon: evaluation of the UN criteria

CSVDisplay Table

     

An Application of the Contingent Valuation Method to Assess the Efficiency of the Institutional Structure of Irrigation Property Rights: The Case of the Peninsula of Santa Elena,Ecuador

Many of the observed problems of water management in developing countries are linked to inefficient institutional structures of property rights. This is particularly the case with many public irrigation systems that have never achieved the expected social and economic benefits. In this paper it is argued that the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) can be applied to evaluate the degree of inefficiency of such institutional structure for the case of one of the most important irrigation systems in Ecuador in the Peninsula of Santa Elena (PSE). The procedure applied consists of eliciting an economic value among irrigators. Thus, Willingness to Pay (WTP) questions are used to value a specific outcome of a policy intended to assure the right to have an efficient management of the canals. The evaluation criterion consists of comparing the resulting economic value with the price currently charged to irrigators. Any deviation is considered an economic rent which is wasted. Thus, CVM is used to investigate the potential benefits of a hypothetical change in the existing property rights structure. The estimation results assert that the proposed change would provide positive net benefits to water users in the PSE.

An Application of the Contingent Valuation Method to Assess the Efficiency of the Institutional Structure of Irrigation Property Rights: The Case of the Peninsula of Santa Elena, Ecuador

All authors

PAU´L A. HERRERA , GUIDO VAN HUYLENBROECK & RAMO´N L. ESPINEL

https://doi.org/10.1080/07900620412331319171

Published online:

22 January 2007

Figure 1. Predicted probabilities of accepting the price bid for different scenarios of land use and income     

4.

Disaggregation Modelling of Annual Flows into Daily Streamflows Using a New Approach of the Method of Fragments     

Maria Manuela Portela  Artur Tiago Silva 《Water Resources Management》2016,30(15):5589-5607

For many decades, synthetic streamflow series have been utilized in hydrology to analyze numerous stochastic problems whose solutions depend on the values of the streamflows and their temporal pattern. The stochastic generation of synthetic streamflows at a given time level can adopt two general approaches: the generation at the required time level by applying an appropriate model; or the generation of annual flows using a suitable annual model, followed by their disaggregation into flows at the required time level. The first approach is feasible for a seasonal or monthly level, but not for a daily level, while the latter can be applied to any level. It also has the advantage of allowing the preservation of the historical statistical properties at both the upper (year) and the lower (season, month or day) time levels. One of the simplest disaggregation models is the method of fragments. Based on the extensive application of that method to the generation of monthly flow series in more than 50 Portuguese river gauges (Silva and Portela, 2011, Hydrol Sci J 57(5): 942–955. doi:  10.1080/02626667.2012.686695, 2012), it was possible to establish a deterministic criterion to define the classes of fragments and to select the fragments that proved to be very robust. That criterion was revisited and modified and applied to the generation of synthetic daily flow series, with even better results. This paper describes the revisited method, presents the results from its application to a few case studies and discusses its relevance to analyze the uncertainty due to the temporal variability of the flow regime.     

5.

Small and Mid-Sized Farmer Irrigation Adoption in the Context of Public Provision of Hydric Infrastructure in Latin America and Caribbean     

Gonzalo Villa-Cox  Paul Herrera  Ramón Villa-Cox  Elvia Merino-Gaibor 《Water Resources Management》2017,31(14):4617-4631

     

6.

Estimation of the Change in Lake Water Level by Artificial Intelligence Methods     

Meral Buyukyildiz  Gulay Tezel  Volkan Yilmaz 《Water Resources Management》2014,28(13):4747-4763

In this study, five different artificial intelligence methods, including Artificial Neural Networks based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO-ANN), Support Vector Regression (SVR), Multi- Layer Artificial Neural Networks (MLP), Radial Basis Neural Networks (RBNN) and Adaptive Network Based Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS), were used to estimate monthly water level change in Lake Beysehir. By using different input combinations consisting of monthly Inflow - Lost flow (I), Precipitation (P), Evaporation (E) and Outflow (O), efforts were made to estimate the change in water level (L). Performance of models established was evaluated using root mean square error (RMSE), mean square error (MSE), mean absolute error (MAE) and coefficient of determination (R²). According to the results of models, ε-SVR model was obtained as the most successful model to estimate monthly water level of Lake Beysehir.     

7.

Public-Private Partnerships: Water and Wastewater Services in France     

Liana Moraru-de Loë  Bruce Mitchell 《国际水》2013,38(3):137-146

ABSTRACT

In France, responsibility for potable water supply and wastewater services has been allocated to the municipal level of government. Water supply and wastewater services can be managed and operated under the authority of municipal governments (la régie) or can be delegated to the private sector through turnkey or full service contracts (concession), leasing arrangements (affermage), or management contracts (prestations de service). About 80 per cent of French people receive their water supply under public-private contracts, and about half the sewage treatment plants in France are operated by private firms.

Relatively few private companies dominate the water supply and wastewater industry. Three are examined here. The Compagnie Générale des Eaux, founded in 1853, is the largest. By the late 1980.7, it employed 138,000 people and supplied water to 22 million people in France and another eight million people through its operations in Europe, North America, Africa, Latin America, and Asia. It also has diversified its activities, and is involved in waste management, energy management, construction, transportation, real estate development. health clinics, and leisure facilities. The Société Lyonnaise des Eaux-DUMEZ, established in 1880, provides water to 10 million people in France and to another 11 million people worldwide. It also is a diversified company and is the largest mortuary company in France. The Société de Distributions d'Eau Intercommunales, created in 1928, is much smaller, distributing water to about 2.4 million people in the South of France. These companies illustrate some alternative ways in which public-private contracts for water supply and wastewater services have been developed in France.     

8.

Probabilistic Model for the Representation of the Reservoir Water Level of Concrete Dams During Normal Operation Periods     

Renato Pereira  António Lopes Batista  Luís Canhoto Neves 《Water Resources Management》2018,32(9):3041-3052

The dam’s reservoir water level varies over the year according to the water inflow and outflow, as a function of environmental events but also of dam exploitation management policy and human decisions. In the Portuguese dam safety regulation (RSB 2007), the normal water level (NWL) is considered as the optimum exploitation level. However, as proved by the continuous monitoring over the lifetime of a set of dams, the NWL is occasionally exceeded for non-negligible time periods. The reservoir water level, to which the water pressure on the upstream face is related, is a fundamental parameter for the safety and reliability analysis of concrete dams. When water-induced actions are considering the leading loads, only the maximum reservoir water level, usually associated with a high-return-period flood, is relevant. However, for other combinations, in particular, earthquake scenarios, the consideration of the variability of the water level over time is crucial. In reliability analysis of concrete dams, the reservoir water level has been considered either as a deterministic variable, once the loading scenario analyzed assume water-induced actions as leading loads (Westberg 2010), or as a random variable defined using hydrological site information of a specific study case (Altarejos et al. Structural Safety 36-37:1–13 2012). This work proposes a probabilistic model of the reservoir water level of any new dam based only on its geometrical properties, which provides a low-cost alternative to in-depth hydrological analysis. The proposed model can be useful in two stages of the lifecycle of dams: (i) initial design and feasibility stages, and (ii) routine safety assessment of existing structures, as in both stages the costs of a complete hydrological analysis is too high for the level of detail required. For that, the recorded reservoir water level of 27 Portuguese large concrete dams is used. A normalized sinusoidal model, with annual period, is adjusted to the reservoir water level annual history of those dams by beta regression. Generally, a good agreement between observations and the proposed model, for most of the annual adjustments, was achieved. The distribution parameters of the random variables were estimated through the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) method. The physical, model and statistical uncertainties were quantified and can now be included in a reliability analysis procedure.     

9.

A Modified Fu (1981) Equation with a Time-varying Parameter that Improves Estimates of Inter-annual Variability in Catchment Water Balance     

Li  Shuai  Du  Tao  Gippel  Christopher James 《Water Resources Management》2022,36(5):1645-1659

     

10.

Fernkälteversorgung zur Vermeidung von Grundwassererwärmungen und Nutzungskonflikten am Beispiel der Stadt Linz – Bewertung auf Basis ÖWAV-Regelblatt 207 und qualitativer Nutzwertanalyse     

Stefan Krakow  Daniela Fuchs-Hanusch 《?sterreichische Wasser- und Abfallwirtschaft》2016,68(7-8):354-367

Groundwater investigations in Linz have shown, that the temperature in the groundwater reservoir has increased significantly compared to the temperature of the environment. To investigate whether the existing groundwater facilities for cooling have a quantifiable impact on groundwater temperatures all given permissions regarding groundwater usage for cooling premises were analyzed in detail. Therefore data on the yearly amount and type of groundwater usage were collected and sorted for further analyses. Based on these data the length and the width of the temperature flags in the groundwater reservoir were calculated with the thermal formula of Ingerle (1988), modified by Rauch (1992) and corresponding to the ÖVAW technical rule 207. The temperature flags of every groundwater user with cooling purposes were visualized with the software ARCMAP 10.1 and compared with real data from field measurements. Furthermore an analyses of uncertainty for the length of the temperature flags was involved in the study. With this method the areas where a thermic impact to the groundwater reservoir is of a high likelihood because of existing groundwater usage for cooling purposes were identified. Based on this in a next step different alternatives for district cooling were developed involving both central (covering all existing groundwater users) and semi central (covering only parts of existing users) solutions. To compare and evaluate the difference an efficiency analysis was undertaken. In this article the calculation and results of the thermal flag analysis of all relevant groundwater users are presented. Two of the seven alternatives for district cooling are then introduced more detailed. Further the efficiency analysis of the different alternatives is described using economical, ecological and social criteria.     

11.

Field Study of Catch Basin Inserts for the Removal of Pollutants from Urban Runoff     

Konstantinos Kostarelos  Eakalak Khan  Nazzareno Callipo  Jennifer Velasquez  Dave Graves 《Water Resources Management》2011,25(4):1205-1217

Non-point source (NPS) pollution, unlike point source pollution from domestic and industrial wastewater treatment plants, comes from many diffuse sources. It is caused by the movement of rainfall or snowmelt that picks up and carries pollutants to receiving waters. NPS pollution represents the main cause of contamination of many rivers, streams and other water bodies of many developed countries. Best management practices (BMPs) are intended to reduce NPS pollutants, particularly those from highway runoff, e.g., oil and grit separators, grassed swales, vegetated filter strips, retention ponds, and catch basin inserts. A catch basin insert (CBIs) is a device that reduces stormwater pollution from runoff, without requiring any land use because it is typically mounted within a catch basin. In this study, six commercially-available CBIs were installed and monitored at sites along highways in Westchester County that are under the jurisdiction of the New York State Department of Transportation. The study focused on the CBI installation characteristics, durability and maintenance of the catch basin inserts, as well as whether the inserts can be conveniently, safely, and economically installed and maintained. The CBIs were the Ultra-Urban® Filter, StreamGuard $_{\mbox{{\texttrademark}}}$ Passive Skimmer, StreamGuard $_{\mbox{{\texttrademark}}}$ Catch Basin Insert, FloGard Filter $_{\mbox{{\texttrademark}}}$ , Hydro-Kleen $_{\mbox{{\texttrademark}}}$ Filtration System, Silt Sack®.     

12.

Assessment of the Contributions of Traditional Qanats in Sustainable Water Resources Management     

Homayoun Motiee  Edward Mcbean  Ali Semsar  Bahram Gharabaghi  Vahid Ghomashchi 《国际水资源开发杂志》2006,22(4):575-588

Qanats (Kanats) have been an ancient, sustainable system facilitating the harvesting of water for centuries in Iran, and more than 34 additional countries of the world. These subterranean channels have been used for the transference of snowmelt water from the mountainous terrain for thousands of years. Agricultural, industrial and urban demands for fresh water have brought about increasing demands for water, the elixir of life. In response, the harvesting of water via deep groundwater wells throughout arid zones has disturbed the aquifers, and resulted in the abandonment of some qanats. Qanats in the province of Yazd City are witnessing this depletion. This paper introduces qanats, objectives causing their creation, construction materials, locations and their importance in different times, as well as their present role in Iran. Further, current qualitative and quantitative analyses of the qanats in Tehran are identified.     

13.

Efficiency in the Consolidation of the Italian Water Sector     

Graziano Abrate  Clementina Bruno  Fabrizio Erbetta  Giovanni Fraquelli  Anna Giolitti 《Water Resources Management》2017,31(8):2447-2463

Despite since the mid-90s the regulation has encouraged horizontal and vertical bundling, the Italian water and sewerage industry is still largely fragmented. This work investigates the potential benefits of the process of consolidation, relying on realistic ex-ante merger hypotheses. A parametric methodology is used to implement the Bogetoft and Wang 2005’s decomposition of potential gains from mergers (J Prod Anal 23:145–171). When looking at strictly technological aspects, results do not provide univocal evidence in favor or against merger strategies, recommending a case-by-case approach in evaluating real merger projects. Moreover, the largest potential gains are due to managerial rather than technological inefficiency, thus their effective ex-post attainment ultimately depend on the ability to tackle the change and on political will.     

14.

Water Demand Forecasting Model for the Metropolitan Area of São Paulo,Brazil     

Cláudia Cristina dos Santos  Augusto José Pereira Filho 《Water Resources Management》2014,28(13):4401-4414

This work is concerned with forecasting water demand in the metropolitan area of São Paulo (MASP) through water consumption, meteorological and socio-environmental variables using an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) system. Possible socio-environmental and meteorological conditions affecting water consumption at Cantareira water treatment station (WTS) in the MASP, Brazil were analyzed for the year 2005. Eight model configurations were developed and used for the Cantareira WTS. The best performance was obtained for 12-h average of the input variables. The ANN model performed best with three times steps in advance. The hourly forecasting was obtained with acceptable error levels. Model results indicate an overall tendency for small errors. The proposed method is useful tool for water demand forecasting and water systems management. The paper is an important contribution since it takes into account weather variables and introduces some diagnostic studies on water consumption in one of the largest urban environments of the planet with its unique peculiarities such as anthropic affects on weather and climate that feeds back into the water consumption. The averaging is a low pass filter indeed and we used it to improve Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR).     

15.

Scaling of maximum probability density function of velocity increments in turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection     

《水动力学研究与进展(B辑)》2014,26(3):351-362

In this paper, we apply a scaling analysis of the maximum of the probability density function(pdf) of velocity increments, i.e., max() = max()up p u, for a velocity field of turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection obtained at the Taylor-microscale Reynolds number Re60. The scaling exponent is comparable with that of the first-order velocity structure function, (1), in which the large-scale effect might be constrained, showing the background fluctuations of the velocity field. It is found that the integral time T(x/ D) scales as T(x/ D)(x/ D), with a scaling exponent =0.25 0.01, suggesting the large-scale inhomogeneity of the flow. Moreover, the pdf scaling exponent (x, z) is strongly inhomogeneous in the x(horizontal) direction. The vertical-direction-averaged pdf scaling exponent (x) obeys a logarithm law with respect to x, the distance from the cell sidewall, with a scaling exponent 0.22 within the velocity boundary layer and 0.28 near the cell sidewall. In the cell's central region, (x, z) fluctuates around 0.37, which agrees well with (1) obtained in high-Reynolds-number turbulent flows, implying the same intermittent correction. Moreover, the length of the inertial range represented in decade()IT x is found to be linearly increasing with the wall distance x with an exponent 0.65 0.05.     

16.

A Novel Hybrid Approach for Predicting Western Australia’s Seasonal Rainfall Variability     

Islam  Farhana  Imteaz  Monzur Alam 《Water Resources Management》2022,36(10):3649-3672

     

17.

Effects of Diversion Wall on the Hydrodynamics and Withdrawal Sediment of A Lateral Intake     

Zhao  Wenlong  Zhang  Jian  He  Wei  shi  Lin  Chen  Xuyun 《Water Resources Management》2022,36(3):1057-1073

     

18.

Identification of Homogeneous Rainfall Regimes in Northeast Region of India using Fuzzy Cluster Analysis   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Manish Kumar Goyal  Vivek Gupta 《Water Resources Management》2014,28(13):4491-4511

Regionalization methods are often used in hydrology for frequency analysis of floods. The hydrologically homogeneous regions should be determined using cluster analysis instead of the geographically close stations. In view of the ongoing environmental and climate changes in the Northeastern of India, regionalization of homogeneous rainfall region is essential to lay out an effective flood frequency analysis of this region. The choice of appropriate cluster approach used according to the data of the basin is also significant. In the context of this study, total precipitation data of stations operated by Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) in Northeastern of India basins for cluster analysis are used. Further, five cluster validity indices, namely Partition Coefficient, Partition Entropy, Extended Xie-Beni index, Fukuyama-Sugeno index and Kwon index have been tested to determine the effectiveness in identifying optimal partition provided by the fuzzy c mean clustering algorithm (FCM). A comparison is also performed using K- Mean clustering algorithm. Additionally, regional homogeneity tests based on l-moments approach are used to check homogeneity of regions identified by both cluster analysis approaches. It was concluded that regional homogeneity test results show that regions defined by FCM method are sufficiently homogeneous for regional frequency analysis.     

19.

Small Amplitude Sharp Pressure Waves to Diagnose Pipe Systems   总被引：2，自引：2，他引：0  

Silvia Meniconi  Bruno Brunone  Marco Ferrante  Christian Massari 《Water Resources Management》2011,25(1):79-96

In this paper the possibility of using transient tests, generated by the Portable Pressure Wave Maker (PPWM) device, as a powerful tool in the management of pipe systems, is demonstrated. Specifically, tests carried out in different experimental set-ups at the Water Engineering Laboratory of the University of Perugia, Italy show that small amplitude sharp pressure waves produced by the PPWM allow to locate and evaluate the entity of anomalies, such as leaks, illegal branches, partial blockages, and negligently partially closed in-line valves. To improve the precision of localization of anomalies, arrival times of pressure waves are detected by means of wavelet analysis. Simple relations based on the water hammer theory are proposed to evaluate the entity of the anomalies.     

20.

Regional Differences in the Price Elasticity of Residential Water Demand in Spain     

David Hoyos  Alaitz Artabe 《Water Resources Management》2017,31(3):847-865

This paper explores the influence of regional climate variability on the elasticity of price for residential water demand in Spain. The data comes from the Spanish Survey of Family Budget (INE 2012), a national based survey of household living conditions including more than 15,000 observations. The econometric analysis included other determinants of residential water demand in Spain such as income and household characteristics. In line with the broad literature, the demand for water in Spain is found to be inelastic, although price elasticity differs notably when accounting for different climatic regions in the territory. The results have noteworthy policy implications as water pricing is considered an efficient means of long term sustainable planning of water resources management. The results imply that policy makers may have reasons to explore differentiating the impacts of water efficiency measures by region.     

Disaggregation Modelling of Annual Flows into Daily Streamflows Using a New Approach of the Method of Fragments

For many decades, synthetic streamflow series have been utilized in hydrology to analyze numerous stochastic problems whose solutions depend on the values of the streamflows and their temporal pattern. The stochastic generation of synthetic streamflows at a given time level can adopt two general approaches: the generation at the required time level by applying an appropriate model; or the generation of annual flows using a suitable annual model, followed by their disaggregation into flows at the required time level. The first approach is feasible for a seasonal or monthly level, but not for a daily level, while the latter can be applied to any level. It also has the advantage of allowing the preservation of the historical statistical properties at both the upper (year) and the lower (season, month or day) time levels. One of the simplest disaggregation models is the method of fragments. Based on the extensive application of that method to the generation of monthly flow series in more than 50 Portuguese river gauges (Silva and Portela, 2011, Hydrol Sci J 57(5): 942–955. doi:  10.1080/02626667.2012.686695, 2012), it was possible to establish a deterministic criterion to define the classes of fragments and to select the fragments that proved to be very robust. That criterion was revisited and modified and applied to the generation of synthetic daily flow series, with even better results. This paper describes the revisited method, presents the results from its application to a few case studies and discusses its relevance to analyze the uncertainty due to the temporal variability of the flow regime.     

Estimation of the Change in Lake Water Level by Artificial Intelligence Methods

In this study, five different artificial intelligence methods, including Artificial Neural Networks based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO-ANN), Support Vector Regression (SVR), Multi- Layer Artificial Neural Networks (MLP), Radial Basis Neural Networks (RBNN) and Adaptive Network Based Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS), were used to estimate monthly water level change in Lake Beysehir. By using different input combinations consisting of monthly Inflow - Lost flow (I), Precipitation (P), Evaporation (E) and Outflow (O), efforts were made to estimate the change in water level (L). Performance of models established was evaluated using root mean square error (RMSE), mean square error (MSE), mean absolute error (MAE) and coefficient of determination (R²). According to the results of models, ε-SVR model was obtained as the most successful model to estimate monthly water level of Lake Beysehir.     

Public-Private Partnerships: Water and Wastewater Services in France

ABSTRACT

In France, responsibility for potable water supply and wastewater services has been allocated to the municipal level of government. Water supply and wastewater services can be managed and operated under the authority of municipal governments (la régie) or can be delegated to the private sector through turnkey or full service contracts (concession), leasing arrangements (affermage), or management contracts (prestations de service). About 80 per cent of French people receive their water supply under public-private contracts, and about half the sewage treatment plants in France are operated by private firms.

Relatively few private companies dominate the water supply and wastewater industry. Three are examined here. The Compagnie Générale des Eaux, founded in 1853, is the largest. By the late 1980.7, it employed 138,000 people and supplied water to 22 million people in France and another eight million people through its operations in Europe, North America, Africa, Latin America, and Asia. It also has diversified its activities, and is involved in waste management, energy management, construction, transportation, real estate development. health clinics, and leisure facilities. The Société Lyonnaise des Eaux-DUMEZ, established in 1880, provides water to 10 million people in France and to another 11 million people worldwide. It also is a diversified company and is the largest mortuary company in France. The Société de Distributions d'Eau Intercommunales, created in 1928, is much smaller, distributing water to about 2.4 million people in the South of France. These companies illustrate some alternative ways in which public-private contracts for water supply and wastewater services have been developed in France.     

Probabilistic Model for the Representation of the Reservoir Water Level of Concrete Dams During Normal Operation Periods

The dam’s reservoir water level varies over the year according to the water inflow and outflow, as a function of environmental events but also of dam exploitation management policy and human decisions. In the Portuguese dam safety regulation (RSB 2007), the normal water level (NWL) is considered as the optimum exploitation level. However, as proved by the continuous monitoring over the lifetime of a set of dams, the NWL is occasionally exceeded for non-negligible time periods. The reservoir water level, to which the water pressure on the upstream face is related, is a fundamental parameter for the safety and reliability analysis of concrete dams. When water-induced actions are considering the leading loads, only the maximum reservoir water level, usually associated with a high-return-period flood, is relevant. However, for other combinations, in particular, earthquake scenarios, the consideration of the variability of the water level over time is crucial. In reliability analysis of concrete dams, the reservoir water level has been considered either as a deterministic variable, once the loading scenario analyzed assume water-induced actions as leading loads (Westberg 2010), or as a random variable defined using hydrological site information of a specific study case (Altarejos et al. Structural Safety 36-37:1–13 2012). This work proposes a probabilistic model of the reservoir water level of any new dam based only on its geometrical properties, which provides a low-cost alternative to in-depth hydrological analysis. The proposed model can be useful in two stages of the lifecycle of dams: (i) initial design and feasibility stages, and (ii) routine safety assessment of existing structures, as in both stages the costs of a complete hydrological analysis is too high for the level of detail required. For that, the recorded reservoir water level of 27 Portuguese large concrete dams is used. A normalized sinusoidal model, with annual period, is adjusted to the reservoir water level annual history of those dams by beta regression. Generally, a good agreement between observations and the proposed model, for most of the annual adjustments, was achieved. The distribution parameters of the random variables were estimated through the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) method. The physical, model and statistical uncertainties were quantified and can now be included in a reliability analysis procedure.     

Fernkälteversorgung zur Vermeidung von Grundwassererwärmungen und Nutzungskonflikten am Beispiel der Stadt Linz – Bewertung auf Basis ÖWAV-Regelblatt 207 und qualitativer Nutzwertanalyse

Groundwater investigations in Linz have shown, that the temperature in the groundwater reservoir has increased significantly compared to the temperature of the environment. To investigate whether the existing groundwater facilities for cooling have a quantifiable impact on groundwater temperatures all given permissions regarding groundwater usage for cooling premises were analyzed in detail. Therefore data on the yearly amount and type of groundwater usage were collected and sorted for further analyses. Based on these data the length and the width of the temperature flags in the groundwater reservoir were calculated with the thermal formula of Ingerle (1988), modified by Rauch (1992) and corresponding to the ÖVAW technical rule 207. The temperature flags of every groundwater user with cooling purposes were visualized with the software ARCMAP 10.1 and compared with real data from field measurements. Furthermore an analyses of uncertainty for the length of the temperature flags was involved in the study. With this method the areas where a thermic impact to the groundwater reservoir is of a high likelihood because of existing groundwater usage for cooling purposes were identified. Based on this in a next step different alternatives for district cooling were developed involving both central (covering all existing groundwater users) and semi central (covering only parts of existing users) solutions. To compare and evaluate the difference an efficiency analysis was undertaken. In this article the calculation and results of the thermal flag analysis of all relevant groundwater users are presented. Two of the seven alternatives for district cooling are then introduced more detailed. Further the efficiency analysis of the different alternatives is described using economical, ecological and social criteria.     

Field Study of Catch Basin Inserts for the Removal of Pollutants from Urban Runoff

Non-point source (NPS) pollution, unlike point source pollution from domestic and industrial wastewater treatment plants, comes from many diffuse sources. It is caused by the movement of rainfall or snowmelt that picks up and carries pollutants to receiving waters. NPS pollution represents the main cause of contamination of many rivers, streams and other water bodies of many developed countries. Best management practices (BMPs) are intended to reduce NPS pollutants, particularly those from highway runoff, e.g., oil and grit separators, grassed swales, vegetated filter strips, retention ponds, and catch basin inserts. A catch basin insert (CBIs) is a device that reduces stormwater pollution from runoff, without requiring any land use because it is typically mounted within a catch basin. In this study, six commercially-available CBIs were installed and monitored at sites along highways in Westchester County that are under the jurisdiction of the New York State Department of Transportation. The study focused on the CBI installation characteristics, durability and maintenance of the catch basin inserts, as well as whether the inserts can be conveniently, safely, and economically installed and maintained. The CBIs were the Ultra-Urban® Filter, StreamGuard $_{\mbox{{\texttrademark}}}$ Passive Skimmer, StreamGuard $_{\mbox{{\texttrademark}}}$ Catch Basin Insert, FloGard Filter $_{\mbox{{\texttrademark}}}$ , Hydro-Kleen $_{\mbox{{\texttrademark}}}$ Filtration System, Silt Sack®.     

Assessment of the Contributions of Traditional Qanats in Sustainable Water Resources Management

Qanats (Kanats) have been an ancient, sustainable system facilitating the harvesting of water for centuries in Iran, and more than 34 additional countries of the world. These subterranean channels have been used for the transference of snowmelt water from the mountainous terrain for thousands of years. Agricultural, industrial and urban demands for fresh water have brought about increasing demands for water, the elixir of life. In response, the harvesting of water via deep groundwater wells throughout arid zones has disturbed the aquifers, and resulted in the abandonment of some qanats. Qanats in the province of Yazd City are witnessing this depletion. This paper introduces qanats, objectives causing their creation, construction materials, locations and their importance in different times, as well as their present role in Iran. Further, current qualitative and quantitative analyses of the qanats in Tehran are identified.     

Efficiency in the Consolidation of the Italian Water Sector

Despite since the mid-90s the regulation has encouraged horizontal and vertical bundling, the Italian water and sewerage industry is still largely fragmented. This work investigates the potential benefits of the process of consolidation, relying on realistic ex-ante merger hypotheses. A parametric methodology is used to implement the Bogetoft and Wang 2005’s decomposition of potential gains from mergers (J Prod Anal 23:145–171). When looking at strictly technological aspects, results do not provide univocal evidence in favor or against merger strategies, recommending a case-by-case approach in evaluating real merger projects. Moreover, the largest potential gains are due to managerial rather than technological inefficiency, thus their effective ex-post attainment ultimately depend on the ability to tackle the change and on political will.     

Water Demand Forecasting Model for the Metropolitan Area of São Paulo,Brazil

This work is concerned with forecasting water demand in the metropolitan area of São Paulo (MASP) through water consumption, meteorological and socio-environmental variables using an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) system. Possible socio-environmental and meteorological conditions affecting water consumption at Cantareira water treatment station (WTS) in the MASP, Brazil were analyzed for the year 2005. Eight model configurations were developed and used for the Cantareira WTS. The best performance was obtained for 12-h average of the input variables. The ANN model performed best with three times steps in advance. The hourly forecasting was obtained with acceptable error levels. Model results indicate an overall tendency for small errors. The proposed method is useful tool for water demand forecasting and water systems management. The paper is an important contribution since it takes into account weather variables and introduces some diagnostic studies on water consumption in one of the largest urban environments of the planet with its unique peculiarities such as anthropic affects on weather and climate that feeds back into the water consumption. The averaging is a low pass filter indeed and we used it to improve Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR).     

Scaling of maximum probability density function of velocity increments in turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection

In this paper, we apply a scaling analysis of the maximum of the probability density function(pdf) of velocity increments, i.e., max() = max()up p u, for a velocity field of turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection obtained at the Taylor-microscale Reynolds number Re60. The scaling exponent is comparable with that of the first-order velocity structure function, (1), in which the large-scale effect might be constrained, showing the background fluctuations of the velocity field. It is found that the integral time T(x/ D) scales as T(x/ D)(x/ D), with a scaling exponent =0.25 0.01, suggesting the large-scale inhomogeneity of the flow. Moreover, the pdf scaling exponent (x, z) is strongly inhomogeneous in the x(horizontal) direction. The vertical-direction-averaged pdf scaling exponent (x) obeys a logarithm law with respect to x, the distance from the cell sidewall, with a scaling exponent 0.22 within the velocity boundary layer and 0.28 near the cell sidewall. In the cell's central region, (x, z) fluctuates around 0.37, which agrees well with (1) obtained in high-Reynolds-number turbulent flows, implying the same intermittent correction. Moreover, the length of the inertial range represented in decade()IT x is found to be linearly increasing with the wall distance x with an exponent 0.65 0.05.     

Identification of Homogeneous Rainfall Regimes in Northeast Region of India using Fuzzy Cluster Analysis

Regionalization methods are often used in hydrology for frequency analysis of floods. The hydrologically homogeneous regions should be determined using cluster analysis instead of the geographically close stations. In view of the ongoing environmental and climate changes in the Northeastern of India, regionalization of homogeneous rainfall region is essential to lay out an effective flood frequency analysis of this region. The choice of appropriate cluster approach used according to the data of the basin is also significant. In the context of this study, total precipitation data of stations operated by Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) in Northeastern of India basins for cluster analysis are used. Further, five cluster validity indices, namely Partition Coefficient, Partition Entropy, Extended Xie-Beni index, Fukuyama-Sugeno index and Kwon index have been tested to determine the effectiveness in identifying optimal partition provided by the fuzzy c mean clustering algorithm (FCM). A comparison is also performed using K- Mean clustering algorithm. Additionally, regional homogeneity tests based on l-moments approach are used to check homogeneity of regions identified by both cluster analysis approaches. It was concluded that regional homogeneity test results show that regions defined by FCM method are sufficiently homogeneous for regional frequency analysis.     

Small Amplitude Sharp Pressure Waves to Diagnose Pipe Systems

In this paper the possibility of using transient tests, generated by the Portable Pressure Wave Maker (PPWM) device, as a powerful tool in the management of pipe systems, is demonstrated. Specifically, tests carried out in different experimental set-ups at the Water Engineering Laboratory of the University of Perugia, Italy show that small amplitude sharp pressure waves produced by the PPWM allow to locate and evaluate the entity of anomalies, such as leaks, illegal branches, partial blockages, and negligently partially closed in-line valves. To improve the precision of localization of anomalies, arrival times of pressure waves are detected by means of wavelet analysis. Simple relations based on the water hammer theory are proposed to evaluate the entity of the anomalies.     

Regional Differences in the Price Elasticity of Residential Water Demand in Spain

This paper explores the influence of regional climate variability on the elasticity of price for residential water demand in Spain. The data comes from the Spanish Survey of Family Budget (INE 2012), a national based survey of household living conditions including more than 15,000 observations. The econometric analysis included other determinants of residential water demand in Spain such as income and household characteristics. In line with the broad literature, the demand for water in Spain is found to be inelastic, although price elasticity differs notably when accounting for different climatic regions in the territory. The results have noteworthy policy implications as water pricing is considered an efficient means of long term sustainable planning of water resources management. The results imply that policy makers may have reasons to explore differentiating the impacts of water efficiency measures by region.