Water Resources Problems in Developing Countries

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Decentralizing water resource management : economic incentives, accountability, and assurance

Private sector involvement and user participation in water resource management are not new, say the authors. They give examples that demonstrate how willing users and the private sector are able to improve water use and play a larger role in water resources management. User participation and private sector involvement, if properly structured, can provide the incentives needed to stabilize and improve the efficiency of irrigation and water supply systems. They can add flexibility, transparency, and accountability and can reduce the state's administrative and financial burden. A 1989 World Bank review of 21 impact evaluations of irrigation projects, for example, found cost recovery to be excellent in those projects in which water management and operations and maintenance had been entrusted to water users. Greater private sector and user participation can effectively increase user responsibility for managing and financing water projects while freeing governments to focus on broader water resource management concerns. The authors provide examples of decentralized water management in developing country water supply and irrigation systems. Governments should: more actively regulate private sector exploitation of groundwater, especially for irrigation; take measures to encourage price competition among private suppliers of water for both domestic and agricultural uses; and play an active role in organizing water user associations, especially for irrigation and rural water supply systems, and in giving them technical assistance. As numerous examples highlight, such activities should be designed to reduce the transaction costs of organizing and to establish a sense of assurance and accountability within the water user community. Once this is done, the community can deal with problems associated with excludability and unwillingness to pay.Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions,Water and Industry,Water Use,Water Conservation,Town Water Supply and Sanitation

The Geochemistry and Origin of Volcanic Features in the Quezaltenango Area

The city of Quezaltenango is located in southwestern Guatemala, approximately 100 kilometers WNW of Guatemala City. The volcanic features of this area represent a portion of the Central American Quaternary volcanic chain. This chain seems to be controlled by the underthrusting of the Cocos plate beneath the Americas and Caribbean plates, which occurs in the Middle American trench. The two overriding plates, which in the Caribbean finds topographical expression in the Cayman Trough. Molnar and Skyes have suggested that faults in eastern Guatemala may represent the continental extension of the transform. Stoiber and Carr feel that this plate boundary is currently rather inactive. Thus, plate convergence in the Middle American Trench seems to be the dominant tectonic feature. Stoiber and Carr have shown that the associated seismic zone dips at an angle of 30 degrees from the trench to a depth of 100 kilometers. At this point a drop in seismic activity occurs which they attribute to the beglnnlng of melting in the subducted plate. Below 150 kilometers seismicity is evident again, but its position indicates a sharp increase in the dip of the seismic zone. They suggest that the steep dip at the depth where melting occurs may account for the linearity of the volcanic chain

The Geochemistry and Origin of Volcanic Features in the Quezaltenango Area

The city of Quezaltenango is located in southwestern Guatemala, approximately 100 kilometers WNW of Guatemala City. The volcanic features of this area represent a portion of the Central American Quaternary volcanic chain. This chain seems to be controlled by the underthrusting of the Cocos plate beneath the Americas and Caribbean plates, which occurs in the Middle American trench. The two overriding plates, which in the Caribbean finds topographical expression in the Cayman Trough. Molnar and Skyes have suggested that faults in eastern Guatemala may represent the continental extension of the transform. Stoiber and Carr feel that this plate boundary is currently rather inactive. Thus, plate convergence in the Middle American Trench seems to be the dominant tectonic feature. Stoiber and Carr have shown that the associated seismic zone dips at an angle of 30 degrees from the trench to a depth of 100 kilometers. At this point a drop in seismic activity occurs which they attribute to the beglnnlng of melting in the subducted plate. Below 150 kilometers seismicity is evident again, but its position indicates a sharp increase in the dip of the seismic zone. They suggest that the steep dip at the depth where melting occurs may account for the linearity of the volcanic chain

Effects of carbon dioxide on trapped electrolyte hydrogen-oxygen, alkaline fuel cells

Effects of carbon dioxide on trapped electrolyte hydrogen-oxygen alkaline fuel cell

REDUCING PHOSPHORUS POLLUTION IN THE MINNESOTA RIVER: HOW MUCH IS IT WORTH?

A mail survey was conducted in Minnesota in 1997 to estimate the value of reducing phosphorus levels in the Minnesota River by 40%. The general population survey of river basin residents was designed to gather information about respondents' use of the Minnesota River in addition to their valuation of a hypothetical water quality improvement program. An estimate of the value of a specific recreational site along the River, the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, was also obtained. Three distinct models were estimated in this research. The first was a contingent valuation model estimating the willingness to pay (WTP) for water quality improvements in the Minnesota River using only stated preference data. There were two different payment vehicles used in this question, an increase in the state income tax and a water bill surcharge. Respondents' annual mean willingness to pay for a 40% reduction in phosphorus was estimated to be $14.07 using this model and the tax vehicle, while the mean willingness to pay via the water bill surcharge was estimated to be$19.64 annually. The second model utilized stated preference data from respondents along with responses about their actual visit behavior. A panel model was constructed using the responses to three separate questions concerning the value of a 40% reduction in phosphorus pollution and yielded an estimate of $38.88 per year. The final model used only data from the subset of respondents who had actually visited the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge. The recreational value of a typical trip to the Refuge was estimated to be$28.71 per individual.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Airspace Technology Demonstration 3 (ATD-3): Dynamic Routes for Arrivals in Weather (DRAW) Technology Transfer Document Summary Version 2.0

Airspace Technology Demonstration 3 (ATD-3) is part of NASAs Airspace Operations and Safety Program (AOSP) specifically, its Airspace Technology Demonstrations (ATD) Project. ATD-3 is a multi-year research and development effort which proposes to develop and demonstrate automation technologies and operating concepts that enable air navigation service providers and airspace users to continuously assess weather, winds, traffic, and other information to identify, evaluate, and implement workable opportunities for flight plan route corrections that can result in significant flight time and fuel savings in en route airspace. In order to ensure that the products of this tech-transfer are relevant and useful, NASA has created strong partnerships with the FAA and key industry stakeholders. This summary document and accompanying technology artifacts satisfy the third Research Transition Product (RTP) defined in the Applied Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) Research Transition Team (RTT) Plan, which is Dynamic Routes for Arrivals in Weather (DRAW). This technology transfer consists of artifacts for DRAW Arrival Metering (AM) Operations delivered in June 2018, DRAW AM updates, and DRAW Extended Metering (XM) Operations. Blue highlighting indicates the new or modified deliverables. Some of the artifacts in this technology transfer have distribution restrictions that need to be followed. Distribution information is noted in each section. DRAW is a trajectory-based system that combines the legacy Dynamic Weather Routes (DWR) weather avoidance technology with an arrival-specific rerouting algorithm and arrival scheduler to improve traffic flows on weather-impacted arrival routes into major airports. First, DRAW identifies flights that could be rerouted to more efficient Standard Terminal Arrival Routes (STARs) that may have previously been impacted by weather. Second, when weather is impacting the arrival routing, DRAW proposes simple arrival route corrections that enable aircraft to stay on their flight plan while avoiding weather. The DRAW system proposes reroutes early enough to allow Time Based Flow Management (TBFM) to make the necessary schedule adjustments. As a result, metering operations can be sustained longer and more consistently in the presence of weather because the arrival schedule accounts for the dynamic routing intent of arrival flights to deviate around weather. The first DRAW tech transfer in June 2018 focused on arrival metering operations with the DRAW algorithm implemented in the NASA Center TRACON Automation System (CTAS) automation software. This tech transfer delivery includes updates for DRAW implemented in FAAs TBFM 4.7 automation software and preliminary research into DRAW for XM operations

Numerical modelling of liquid droplet dynamics in microgravity

Microgravity provides ideal experimental conditions for studying highly reactive and under-cooled materials where there is no contact between the sample and the other experimental apparatus. The non-contact conditions allow material properties to be measured from the oscillating liquid droplet response to perturbations. This work investigates the impact of a strong magnetic field on these measurement processes for weakly viscous, electrically conducting droplets. We present numerical results using an axisymmetric model that employs the pseudo-spectral collocation method and a recently developed 3D model. Both numerical models have been developed to solve the equations describing the coupled electromagnetic and fluid flow processes. The models represent the changing surface shape that results from the interaction between forces inside the droplet and the surface tension imposed boundary conditions. The models are used to examine the liquid droplet dynamics in a strong DC magnetic field. In each case the surface shape is decomposed into a superposition of spherical harmonic modes. The oscillation of the individual mode coefficients is then analysed to determine the oscillation frequencies and damping rates that are then compared to the low amplitude solutions predicted by the published analytical asymptotic theory

Computing Fast and Reliable Gravitational Waveforms of Binary Neutron Star Merger Remnants

Gravitational waves have been detected from the inspiral of a binary neutron-star, GW170817, which allowed constraints to be placed on the neutron star equation of state. The equation of state can be further constrained if gravitational waves from a post-merger remnant are detected. Post-merger waveforms are currently generated by numerical-relativity simulations, which are computationally expensive. Here we introduce a hierarchical model trained on numerical-relativity simulations, which can generate reliable post-merger spectra in a fraction of a second. Our spectra have mean fitting factors of 0.95, which compares to fitting factors of 0.76 and 0.85 between different numerical-relativity codes that simulate the same physical system. This method is the first step towards generating large template banks of spectra for use in post-merger detection and parameter estimation.Comment: Submitted to PRL. 6 pages, 4 figure

COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS FOR THE MINNESOTA RAIL SERVICE IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM METHODOLOGY AND A CASE STUDY

The objective of this study is to develop a methodology for evaluating the economic feasibility of participating in the Minnesota Rail Service Improvement Program by eligible individuals or groups.Public Economics,