The Critical Role of Impact Distribution for Local Recycled Water Systems

Small-scale or local recycled water systems are increasingly being installed in urban centers in Australia, and throughout the world. These (often private) systems are in building basements, parks, on industrial sites and within small communities that are already serviced by existing public centralized water and wastewater networks. A consistent and fair assessment of the value of such local recycling systems, particularly in relation to centralized extension, augmentation and replacement, has proved to be problematic. This paper reveals why. It suggests that the traditional characterization of impacts into social, environmental, economic and at times technical groupings misses a key aspect in understanding the relative costs, benefits and risks of these systems: their distribution across the wide range of stakeholder groups. This paper proposes that accounting for the distribution of impacts is critical for assessments that include options of different scales and different levels of responsibility as there is a significant difference in the impact distribution between conventional urban water services and small-scale, local recycled water systems. This will help practitioners better understand the consequences of varying the impact distribution, particularly when moving from substantially public responsibility and ownership of assets to a mix of public and private responsibility and ownership

Linking arable and livestock farms: Impact of grazing sheep on winter cereals and soil health

Given, in recent years, the UK has experienced a number of extreme weather events, and climate modellers are predicting these to occur more frequently in future, there is concern by some farmers in their ability to reliably provide sufficient homegrown forage for their ruminant livestock, especially over the winter period before grass fields are ready. There is also a desire by some arable farms to include livestock within their system in some way in order to try improving their soil health and in particular levels of residual nitrogen and organic matter through the act of animal manuring and urine deposition. These arable farmers do not necessarily want to change to a fully mixed farming system, or have overall responsibility for the animals involved. The grazing of winter cereals on arable farms by local shepherds / graziers has potential to provide a route to achieve this mutualistically beneficial relationship. This paper is based on a recent series of controlled field experiments and farmer led demonstrations in NE Scotland that have been used to test the hypothesis that the grazing of winter cereals can provide both a valuable late winter feed source for ruminants, as well as maintain acceptable grain and straw yields, while maintaining soil “health”. The overall aim was to assess a number of factors, including how crop establishment timing, grazing timing, intensity and stocking rate impacts on the performance of different winter cereals and the potential for economic and environmental benefits associated with this practice to be achieved.Results to date suggest that winter wheat, winter barley and winter oats can be grazed quite heavily, using either intensive grazing over a short period of time, or less intensive grazing over a longer period of time, without any clear negative impacts on a range of crop (including yield and quality) or soil factors. Analysis of the feed value of these crops at the time grazing has taken place, typically for between a few days and several weeks, within the period late November through to mid-March, has been consistently impressive. <br/

Effect of Re-Wetting Treatment on the Dimensional Changes of Sugar Maple Wood

Air-dry wood samples are often simply re-wetted by direct immersion in order to raise the moisture content above the fiber saturation point. It is assumed that this treatment has no effect on the properties of wood and is equivalent to the green condition. A preliminary study was undertaken here to evaluate the influence of water re-saturation processes on the dimensional changes in sugar maple wood. Matched samples were subjected to three different full-water saturation treatments, from a four-step mild procedure to a one-step drastic procedure. Results showed that the re-wetting process had a significant effect on swelling and shrinkage of sugar maple wood

Linking arable and livestock farms: Impact of grazing sheep on winter cereals and soil health

Given, in recent years, the UK has experienced a number of extreme weather events, and climate modellers are predicting these to occur more frequently in future, there is concern by some farmers in their ability to reliably provide sufficient homegrown forage for their ruminant livestock, especially over the winter period before grass fields are ready. There is also a desire by some arable farms to include livestock within their system in some way in order to try improving their soil health and in particular levels of residual nitrogen and organic matter through the act of animal manuring and urine deposition. These arable farmers do not necessarily want to change to a fully mixed farming system, or have overall responsibility for the animals involved. The grazing of winter cereals on arable farms by local shepherds / graziers has potential to provide a route to achieve this mutualistically beneficial relationship. This paper is based on a recent series of controlled field experiments and farmer led demonstrations in NE Scotland that have been used to test the hypothesis that the grazing of winter cereals can provide both a valuable late winter feed source for ruminants, as well as maintain acceptable grain and straw yields, while maintaining soil “health”. The overall aim was to assess a number of factors, including how crop establishment timing, grazing timing, intensity and stocking rate impacts on the performance of different winter cereals and the potential for economic and environmental benefits associated with this practice to be achieved.Results to date suggest that winter wheat, winter barley and winter oats can be grazed quite heavily, using either intensive grazing over a short period of time, or less intensive grazing over a longer period of time, without any clear negative impacts on a range of crop (including yield and quality) or soil factors. Analysis of the feed value of these crops at the time grazing has taken place, typically for between a few days and several weeks, within the period late November through to mid-March, has been consistently impressive. <br/

Opportunities to utilize traditional phenological knowledge to support adaptive management of social-ecological systems vulnerable to changes in climate and fire regimes

The field of adaptive management has been embraced by researchers and managers in the United States as an approach to improve natural resource stewardship in the face of uncertainty and complex environmental problems. Integrating multiple knowledge sources and feedback mechanisms is an important step in this approach. Our objective is to contribute to the limited literature that describes the benefits of better integrating indigenous knowledge (IK) with other sources of knowledge in making adaptive-management decisions. Specifically, we advocate the integration of traditional phenological knowledge (TPK), a subset of IK, and highlight opportunities for this knowledge to support policy and practice of adaptive management with reference to policy and practice of adapting to uncharacteristic fire regimes and climate change in the western United States

Management factors affecting faba bean yield

Faba bean yields are often lower than they could be if appropriate interventions were taken. We surveyed literature on quantitative impacts of management choices related to region of adaptation, soil and water management, nitrogen nutrition and pollination. At least six adaptation classes can be resolved, differing in autumn vs spring sowing and maturity time. The crop is very responsive to alleviation of drought, soil compaction, soil acidity and waterlogging. The crops dependence on bee-mediated pollination is well known, but there are no guidelines on the adequacy of pollination in a commercial crop. Recognition of stress symptoms and the application of appropriate inputs can enable farmers to greatly increase crop yields

Management factors affecting faba bean yield

Faba bean yields are often lower than they could be if appropriate interventions were taken. We surveyed literature on quantitative impacts of management choices related to region of adaptation, soil and water management, nitrogen nutrition and pollination. At least six adaptation classes can be resolved, differing in autumn vs spring sowing and maturity time. The crop is very responsive to alleviation of drought, soil compaction, soil acidity and waterlogging. The crops dependence on bee-mediated pollination is well known, but there are no guidelines on the adequacy of pollination in a commercial crop. Recognition of stress symptoms and the application of appropriate inputs can enable farmers to greatly increase crop yields