A GIS-based methodological framework to identify superficial water sources and their corresponding conduction paths for gravity-driven irrigation systems in developing countries

The limited availability of fresh water is a major constraint to agricultural productivity and livelihood security in many developing countries. Within the coming decades, smallholder farmers in drought-prone areas are expected to be increasingly confronted with local water scarcity problems, but their access to technological knowledge and financial resources to cope with these problems is often limited. In this article, we present a methodological framework that allows for identifying, in a short period of time, suitable and superficial water sources, and cost-effective water transportation routes for the provisioning of gravity-driven irrigation systems. As an implementation of the framework, we present the automated and extensible geospatial toolset named “AGRI’’, and elaborate a case study in Western Honduras, where the methodology and toolset were applied to provide assistance to field technicians in the process of identifying water intake sites and transportation routes. The case study results show that 28 % of the water intake sites previously identified by technicians (without the support of AGRI) were found to be not feasible for gravity-driven irrigation. On the other hand, for the feasible water intake sites, AGRI was able to provide viable and shorter water transportation routes to farms in 70 % of the cases. Furthermore, AGRI was able to provide alternative feasible water intake sites for all considered farms, with correspondingly viable water transportation routes for 74 % of them. These results demonstrate AGRI’s potential to reduce time, costs and risk of failure associated with the development of low-cost irrigation systems, which becomes increasingly needed to support the livelihoods of some of the world’s most vulnerable populations

Economic and Organizational Issues in Alaska Water Quality Management

The work upon which this report (Proj. A-029-ALAS) is based was supported by funds provided by the United States Department of the Interior, Office of Water Resources Research, as authorized under the Water Resources Act of 1964

Oil and gas pipeline distribution networks: a new approach to access their vulnerability and risk

The main objective of this research work is to introduce the emerging theory of vulnerability of water pipe networks and, in particular, its theoretical concepts, extrapolating them to the oil and gas pipeline distribution network fields. This expansion is almost direct and could give an important contribution for the design of new network systems, as well as for the assessment, rehabilitation and management of the existing networks and systems. The fundamental contributions of this theory are to design network pipelines more robust but also to give guidance to the technical community in order to achieve a more efficient management of this type of systems. Some highlights on risk assessment and failure scenarios of this type of systems are also given in this paper

Development and execution of asset criticality framework: a study of water and wastewater infrastructure at Toowoomba Regional Council

Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) is proceeding to develop a documented asset management system which includes the use of criticality. Criticality is a rating assigned to an asset based on its consequence of failure. A criticality analysis identifies assets that are fundamental to performance and provides a basis for strategic decision-making. The aim of this dissertation was to provide TRC with the framework required to perform an asset criticality analysis on its water and wastewater asset base. Criticality assessment criteria were developed in conjunction with TRC’s Enterprise Risk Policy to ensure consequences were assessed against corporate interests. Severity scorecards were established to quantify the impact of the consequences and guidelines were created to ensure consistent application. A model was produced in Microsoft Excel to process data and automate criticality calculations. The methodology and model were applied to a total of 1210 assets which varied in size, cost, location and function. The resulting asset criticality ratings were realistic and provided an accurate representation of their relative importance. In total, the criticality ratings indicated that 23.64 percent were non-critical, 73.55 percent were partially critical, 2.73 percent were critical and 0.083 percent were extremely critical. The results indicated that the criticality framework was suitable for use by TRC and would provide a comprehensive foundation to standardise decision-making, identify critical assets and prioritise asset management activities to optimise the distribution of funds and resources

Methodology to evaluate the risk of a vulnerable failure scenario in a water pipe network

The emerging theory of vulnerability of water pipe networks intends to give an important contribution for the design of this important component of water supply systems, as well as, for the assessment, rehabilitation and management of the existing ones. The fundamental contribution of this theory is to design water pipe networks more robust since it is able to identify the most vulnerable parts of them. The concept of vulnerability is associated with the disproportionateness of the failure consequences in relation to the initial damage. It is not a theory of robustness. The main objective of this research work is to explain how the risk of a vulnerable failure scenario of a water pipe network may be accessed and how the theory of vulnerability can be relevant

Commission v. Gazprom: The antitrust clash of the decade? CEPS Policy Brief No. 285, 31 October 2012

This new CEPS Policy Brief boldly asserts that the antitrust case launched by DG Competition against Gazprom on September 4th will turn out to be the landmark antitrust case of this decade, in much the same way that Microsoft v. Commission was the defining antitrust lawsuit of the last decade. The paper argues that, for a host of political and economic reasons, this case is likely to be hard fought by both sides to a final prohibition decision and then onwards into the EU courts. In the process, the European gas market and the powers of DG Competition in the energy field are likely to be transformed

Impact of New Madrid Seismic Zone Earthquakes on the Central USA, Vol. 1 and 2

The information presented in this report has been developed to support the Catastrophic Earthquake Planning Scenario workshops held by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Four FEMA Regions (Regions IV, V, VI and VII) were involved in the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) scenario workshops. The four FEMA Regions include eight states, namely Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Missouri. The earthquake impact assessment presented hereafter employs an analysis methodology comprising three major components: hazard, inventory and fragility (or vulnerability). The hazard characterizes not only the shaking of the ground but also the consequential transient and permanent deformation of the ground due to strong ground shaking as well as fire and flooding. The inventory comprises all assets in a specific region, including the built environment and population data. Fragility or vulnerability functions relate the severity of shaking to the likelihood of reaching or exceeding damage states (light, moderate, extensive and near-collapse, for example). Social impact models are also included and employ physical infrastructure damage results to estimate the effects on exposed communities. Whereas the modeling software packages used (HAZUS MR3; FEMA, 2008; and MAEviz, Mid-America Earthquake Center, 2008) provide default values for all of the above, most of these default values were replaced by components of traceable provenance and higher reliability than the default data, as described below. The hazard employed in this investigation includes ground shaking for a single scenario event representing the rupture of all three New Madrid fault segments. The NMSZ consists of three fault segments: the northeast segment, the reelfoot thrust or central segment, and the southwest segment. Each segment is assumed to generate a deterministic magnitude 7.7 (Mw7.7) earthquake caused by a rupture over the entire length of the segment. US Geological Survey (USGS) approved the employed magnitude and hazard approach. The combined rupture of all three segments simultaneously is designed to approximate the sequential rupture of all three segments over time. The magnitude of Mw7.7 is retained for the combined rupture. Full liquefaction susceptibility maps for the entire region have been developed and are used in this study. Inventory is enhanced through the use of the Homeland Security Infrastructure Program (HSIP) 2007 and 2008 Gold Datasets (NGA Office of America, 2007). These datasets contain various types of critical infrastructure that are key inventory components for earthquake impact assessment. Transportation and utility facility inventories are improved while regional natural gas and oil pipelines are added to the inventory, alongside high potential loss facility inventories. The National Bridge Inventory (NBI, 2008) and other state and independent data sources are utilized to improve the inventory. New fragility functions derived by the MAE Center are employed in this study for both buildings and bridges providing more regionally-applicable estimations of damage for these infrastructure components. Default fragility values are used to determine damage likelihoods for all other infrastructure components. The study reports new analysis using MAE Center-developed transportation network flow models that estimate changes in traffic flow and travel time due to earthquake damage. Utility network modeling was also undertaken to provide damage estimates for facilities and pipelines. An approximate flood risk model was assembled to identify areas that are likely to be flooded as a result of dam or levee failure. Social vulnerability identifies portions of the eight-state study region that are especially vulnerable due to various factors such as age, income, disability, and language proficiency. Social impact models include estimates of displaced and shelter-seeking populations as well as commodities and medical requirements. Lastly, search and rescue requirements quantify the number of teams and personnel required to clear debris and search for trapped victims. The results indicate that Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri are most severely impacted. Illinois and Kentucky are also impacted, though not as severely as the previous three states. Nearly 715,000 buildings are damaged in the eight-state study region. About 42,000 search and rescue personnel working in 1,500 teams are required to respond to the earthquakes. Damage to critical infrastructure (essential facilities, transportation and utility lifelines) is substantial in the 140 impacted counties near the rupture zone, including 3,500 damaged bridges and nearly 425,000 breaks and leaks to both local and interstate pipelines. Approximately 2.6 million households are without power after the earthquake. Nearly 86,000 injuries and fatalities result from damage to infrastructure. Nearly 130 hospitals are damaged and most are located in the impacted counties near the rupture zone. There is extensive damage and substantial travel delays in both Memphis, Tennessee, and St. Louis, Missouri, thus hampering search and rescue as well as evacuation. Moreover roughly 15 major bridges are unusable. Three days after the earthquake, 7.2 million people are still displaced and 2 million people seek temporary shelter. Direct economic losses for the eight states total nearly $300 billion, while indirect losses may be at least twice this amount. The contents of this report provide the various assumptions used to arrive at the impact estimates, detailed background on the above quantitative consequences, and a breakdown of the figures per sector at the FEMA region and state levels. The information is presented in a manner suitable for personnel and agencies responsible for establishing response plans based on likely impacts of plausible earthquakes in the central USA.Armu W0132T-06-02unpublishednot peer reviewe

Analysis of Natech Risk for Pipelines: A Review

Natural events, such as earthquakes and floods, can trigger accidents in oil and gas pipeline with potentially severe consequences to the population and to the environment. These conjoint technological and natural disasters are termed natech accidents. The present literature review focuses on the risk analysis state‐of‐the‐art of seismic and flood events that can impact oil and gas transmission pipelines. The research has focused on methodologies that take into account the characteristics of natech events: for instance, the characterization of the triggering natural hazard and the final accident scenarios, as well as fragility curves for the specific assessment of the potential consequences of natech accidents. The result of this research shows that the literature on seismic risk analysis offers the largest number of examples and methodologies, although most studies focused on structural damage aspects without considering the consequences of a potential loss of containment from the pipelines. Very little work was found on flood risk assessment of natech events in pipelines.JRC.G.6-Security technology assessmen