Water Woes: Conserving and Managing Our Future Lifeline

by H D Kumar

ISBN: 9789359197692
View Ebook
Imprint : Daya Publishing House
Year : 2025
Price : Rs. 14195.00
Biblio : xi+392p., figs., tabls., ind., 23 cm

About The Book

A recent millennium ecosystem assessment conducted by experts from 95 countries concluded that a substantial fraction of the ecosystem services that support life on Earth, including freshwater, are being degraded or used unsustainably. This book examines the underlying causes and suggests ways and means to reverse this alarming trend. The objective is not only to raise public awareness of water-related matters but also to suggest innovative new concepts in freshwater conservation and management so as to inspire policy makers and water supply managers to look at these matters critically from a new perspective. Tangible improvements in the sustainable use of freshwater resources can be made by protecting and enhancing local watersheds, reducing water pollution, improving the availability of good quality water and the efficiency of environmental sanitation services, and promoting public health. The monograph gives brief accounts of a variety of aquatic resources, water harvesting, and water for development and health. It introduces the looming water crisis and discusses suitable conservation and management strategies. It should serve as a supplementary text for water-related courses in traditional and agricultural universities as well as Institute of Technology.

Table of Contents

Contents Chapter 1: General Introduction; Water in the humid tropics, Population and demands on water, The tropical water cycle, Surface water/groundwater, Deforestation and reforestation, Rural/urban water-related problems, Water quality and its regulation, Virtual water, Water resources in the second wettest country, Water and climate; Chapter 2: Groundwater; Introduction, Pollution, Erosion and leaching, Extraction, Long-term risks, Land subsidence, Quality, Salt-water intrusion and salinization, Quality deterioration, Phytotechnology, Global nitrogen pollution, Ecological sanitation, Demand and supply, Water resource protection, Impacts of urban areas, Achievable artificial groundwater recharge; Chapter 3: Inland Waters: Lakes, Wetlands, Rivers; Introduction, Water resources, Light penetration, Internal loading, Sediment dynamics and pollutant mobility, Mercury in lake sediments, Biofilms in sediments and on suspended particulate matter, Treatment of river sediments, Lake biota and eutrophication, Organic matter, Nuisance odours, Soil water balance and droughts, Urban water supplies, Biodiversity, Stress and disturbance, Response of plant communities, Species response to disturbance, Ecosystem resilence after a disturbance?, Restoring lake vegetation, The great lakes, Lakes in Italy, Lakes and sustainable societies, Wetland use and impact (Lake Victoria Kenya), Freshwater lakes in arid zones, rivers and streams, Flow regulation of large river systems, Artificial intelligence and river biomonitoring, River restoration, Urban stream restoration; Chapter 4: Water: Commodity or Human Right? Introduction, Environmentally sound management, integration of environmental and social concerns into water resources development and management, Hazards and health risks from lakes, Ecological principles of watershed management, Environmental and social effects of water resources development programmes and projects, Environmental and social problems arising from conflicting water-land uses, Delinking water rights from land rights, water versus oil, Access to water resources among competing users and uses: Efficiency vs equity, Water as a pillar of livelihood, Cultural importance of water, Agro-pillar of livelihood, Cultural importance of water, Agro-ecological regions (AERs), The water-food 2025 project, Future water-food security, Global water security, Drought mitigation; Chapter 5: Water for Development and Health; Introduction, Increasing demand, Socio-economic development, Contributions of water resources development, Impacts of socio-economic development on water resources, Industrial development, Economics and sustainable water use, Water and health, Eutrophication and the food chain, Chronology of health-related advances, Inadequate environmental sanitation, Material flow analysis for environmental sanitation planning, Health and the water cycle, Health status and primary health care, The threshold saturation concept, Public health and population grow