Sustainable groundwater development for improved livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa

At least 400 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa source their domestic water supply from groundwater. Yet this often abundant resource only accounts for around 20% of total irrigation. More widespread irrigation could help reduce rural poverty, improve food security, and counter droughts. Why is groundwater so under-tapped

Achieving sustainable sanitation chains through better informed and more systematic improvements: lessons from multi-city research in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper was accepted for publication in the journal Environmental Science: Water Research Technology and the definitive published version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C5EW00255A.This paper presents the synthesised findings of the SPLASH Urban Sanitation research programme through the framework of the sanitation service chain. Urban sanitation service chains are complex and fragmented, involving a multiplicity of service providers and typically resulting in unsustainable or inadequate services. The aggregate data set covers a wide range of research methods including; household surveys, a randomised control trial, a willingness to pay survey prototype testing of technologies, focus group discussions and deliberative forums. Thorough the research, it has been possible to identify situations where incremental improvements are being made with varying degrees of success. Most importantly, it has identified weaknesses to the sanitation service chains where progress is either slow or extremely limited. It is through these weaknesses that key questions affecting the long term sustainability of sanitation service chains need to be answered

Tap water costs and service sustainability, a close relationship

Water is currently an essential and strategic resource for society and its importance will rise in the future due to the increasing number of threats. However, water management is not currently up to par taking into consideration this well acknowledged importance. Generally speaking, water use is not efficient and loss figures are often too high. The reasons behind this situation are complex and diverse, however, in principle, they can be divided into four categories: cultural, political, social and economic. Since the latter are of most importance, this paper focuses on water costs from source to tap. The economic analysis presented quantifies the costs of a sustainable urban water service in a structured way. The second part of the paper present a case study in which the economic losses linked to leakage are assessed as a function of how expenses are recovered. The cost of apparent losses could also be assessed in a similar way and will always be higher, since apparent losses (unlike real ones) are present throughout the whole water cycle, thus increasing the unit costs.Cabrera Marcet, E.; Pardo Picazo, MA.; Cabrera Rochera, E.; Arregui De La Cruz, F. (2013). Tap water costs and service sustainability, a close relationship. Water Resources Management. 27(1):239-253. doi:10.1007/s11269-012-0181-3S239253271Almandoz J, Cabrera E, Arregui F, Cabrera Jr E, Cobacho R (2005) Leakage assessment through water networks simulation. J Water Resour Plan Manag ASCE. Nov-Dic. 2005 pp 458–466BDEW (German Association of Energy and Water Industries) (2010) Comparison of European Water and Wastewater Prices German Association of Energy and Water Industries, BonnCabrera E, Pardo MA, Cobacho R, Arregui FJ, Cabrera Jr E (2010) Energy audit of water networks. J. Water Resour. Plan. Manag. ASCE. Nov–Dic. 2010 pp 669–677Coase RH (1960) The problem of social cost. J Law Econ, October 1960den Blanken M (2009) Asset Management. A necessary tool for a modern water company AWWA International Conference on Strategic Asset Management. Miami 11–13 November 2009EPO (Eurostat Press Office) (2010) Facts and figures on the environment: from environmental taxes to water resources. Eurostat Press Office, Luxembourg, December 2010EU (European Union) (2000) Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000. Off J Eur Communities 22.12.2000. Pp L 327/1 to L 327/72IWA (International Water Association) (2010) International statistics for water services. Montreal 2010. Canada. International Water Association, LondonKanakoudis V, Tolikas D (2001) The role of leaks and breaks in water networks: technical and economical solutions. J Water SRT - Aqua 50(2001):301–311Kanakoudis V, Tsitsifli S (2009) Water pricing policies in Greece: is there a Common Understanding?. 2nd International conference on water economics, statistics, and finance Alexandroupolis, Thrace, Greece, 3–5 July 2009.Kanakoudis V, Gonelas K, Tolikas D (2011) Basic principles for urban water value assessment and price setting towards its full cost recovery – pinpointing the role of the water losses. J Water Supply: Res Technol 60(1):27–39Logar I, Van den Berg J (2012) Methods to assess costs of drought damages and policies for drought mitigation and adaptation: Review and recommendations. Water Resour Manag. doi: 10.1007/s11269-012-0119-9Molinos-Senante M, Hernández-Sancho F, Sala-Garrido R (2012) Tariffs and cost recovery in water reuse. Water Resour Manag. doi: 10.1007/s11269-012-0111-4NRC (National Research Council) (2008) Desalination a national perspective. NAP Press, Washington, D.C. National Research Council, Ottawa, CanadaOECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) (2010) Pricing water resources and water and sanitation services. OECD, ParisOFWAT (Office of Water Services) (2009) Future water and sewerage charges 2010-15: Final determinations. OFWAT (Office of Water Services), Birmingham UKRogers P, Bhatia R, Huber A (1998) Water as a social and economic good: How to put the principle into practice. Global Water Partnership, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.Roth A (2001) Water pricing in the EU. A review. European Environmental Bureau (EEB), BrusselsWonnacott P, Wonnacott R (1990) Economics, 4th edn. John Wiley, 1990Zhu X, van Ierland EC (2012) Economic modeling for water quantity and quality management: a welfare program approach. Water Resour Manag. doi: 10.1007/s11269-012-0029-

Defining complementary tools to the IVI. The Infrastructure Degradation Index (IDI) and the Infrastructure Histogram (HI)

[EN] The Infrastructure Value Index (IVI) is quickly becoming a standard as a valuable tool to quickly assess the state of urban water infrastructure. However, its simple nature (as a single metric) can mask some valuable information and lead to erroneous conclusions. This paper introduces two complementary tools to IVI: The Infrastructure Degradation Index (IDI) and the Infrastructure Histogram (HI). The IDI is focused on time (compared to the IVI, focused on value), represents an intuitive concept and behaves in a linear way. The joint analysis of IVI and IDI provides results in a more complete understanding of the state of the assets, while maintaining the simplicity of the tools. The Infrastructure Histogram allows for a full evaluation of the infrastructure state and provides a detailed picture of network age compared to its expected life, as well as an order of magnitude of the required investments in the following years.Cabrera Rochera, E.; Estruch-Juan, ME.; Gomez Selles, E.; Del Teso-March, R. (2019). Defining complementary tools to the IVI. The Infrastructure Degradation Index (IDI) and the Infrastructure Histogram (HI). Urban Water Journal. 16(5):343-352. https://doi.org/10.1080/1573062X.2019.1669195S343352165Alegre, H., Vitorino, D., & Coelho, S. (2014). Infrastructure Value Index: A Powerful Modelling Tool for Combined Long-term Planning of Linear and Vertical Assets. Procedia Engineering, 89, 1428-1436. doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2014.11.469Amaral, R., Alegre, H., & Matos, J. S. (2016). A service-oriented approach to assessing the infrastructure value index. Water Science and Technology, 74(2), 542-548. doi:10.2166/wst.2016.250Aware-p.org. 2014. “AWARE-P/Software.” Accessed 25 November 2018. http://www.aware-p.org/np4/software/Baseform. 2018. “Baseform.” Accessed 24 November 2018. https://baseform.com/np4/productCanal de Isabel II Gestión. 2012. Normas Para Redes de Abastecimiento. [Standards for Water Supply Networks.]. https://www.canalgestion.es/es/galeria_ficheros/pie/normativa/normativa/Normas_redes_abastecimiento2012_CYIIG.pdfFrost, and Sullivan. 2011. “Western European Water and Wastewater Utilities Market.” https://store.frost.com/western-european-water-and-wastewater-utilities-market.html#section1Leitão, J. P., Coelho, S. T., Alegre, H., Cardoso, M. A., Silva, M. S., Ramalho, P., … Carriço, N. (2014). Moving urban water infrastructure asset management from science into practice. Urban Water Journal, 13(2), 133-141. doi:10.1080/1573062x.2014.939092Marchionni, V., Cabral, M., Amado, C., & Covas, D. (2016). Estimating Water Supply Infrastructure Cost Using Regression Techniques. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 142(4), 04016003. doi:10.1061/(asce)wr.1943-5452.0000627Marchionni, V., Lopes, N., Mamouros, L., & Covas, D. (2014). Modelling Sewer Systems Costs with Multiple Linear Regression. Water Resources Management, 28(13), 4415-4431. doi:10.1007/s11269-014-0759-zPulido-Velazquez, M., Cabrera Marcet, E., & Garrido Colmenero, A. (2014). Economía del agua y gestión de recursos hídricos. Ingeniería del agua, 18(1), 95. doi:10.4995/ia.2014.3160Rokstad, M. M., Ugarelli, R. M., & Sægrov, S. (2015). Improving data collection strategies and infrastructure asset management tool utilisation through cost benefit considerations. Urban Water Journal, 13(7), 710-726. doi:10.1080/1573062x.2015.102469

Using smart pumps to help deliver universal access to safe and affordable drinking water

It is estimated that broken water pumps impact 62 million people in sub-Saharan Africa. Over the last 20 years, broken handpumps have represented US$1·2–1·5 billion of lost investment in this region, with 30–40% of rural water systems failing prematurely. While the contributory factors are complex and multi-faceted, the authors consider that improved post-construction monitoring strategies for remote water projects, which rely on smart pumps to monitor operational performance in place of physical site visits, may address some of these problems and help reduce the heavy time and resource demands on stakeholders associated with traditional monitoring strategies. As such, smart pumps could play a significant role in improving project monitoring and might subsequently help deliver universal access to safe and affordable drinking water by 2030, which constitutes one of the key targets of United Nations sustainable development goal 6 and is embedded in some national constitutions

Factors influencing pigment production by halophilic bacteria and its effect on brine evaporation rates

The disposal of reject brine, a highly concentrated waste by-product generated by various industrial processes, represents a major economic and environmental challenge. The common practice in dealing with the large amounts of brine generated is to dispose of it in a pond and allow it to evaporate. The rate of evaporation is therefore a key factor in the effectiveness of the management of these ponds. The addition of various dyes has previously been used as a method to increase the evaporation rate. In this study, a biological approach, using pigmented halophilic bacteria (as opposed to chemical dyes), was assessed. Two bacteria, an Arthrobacter sp. and a Planococcus sp. were selected due to their ability to increase the evaporation of synthetic brine. When using industrial brine, supplementation of the brine with an iron source was required to maintain the pigment production. Under these conditions, the Planococcus sp. CP5-4 produced a carotenoid-like pigment, which resulted in a 20% increase in the evaporation rate of the brine. Thus, the pigment production capability of halophilic bacteria could potentially be exploited as an effective step in the management of industrial reject brines, analogous to the crystallizer ponds used to mine salt from sea water

Comment letters to the National Commission on Commission on Fraudulent Financial Reporting, 1987 (Treadway Commission) Vol. 2

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_sop/1662/thumbnail.jp