Due to environmental challenges, water scarcity has become a global issue, and consumers' water conservation attitudes (WCA) have become crucial. Although traditional media campaigns have a power on consumers' motivation to change their sustainable water consumption behaviours, social media campaigns can be more influential in changing negative attitudes into positive ones toward water conservation. Influencer marketing can especially cause changes in a shorter time since it provides more personal communication than traditional marketing communication. This study aims to reveal whether influencer marketing can change water consumption attitudes (WCA). The main research question is: "Does influencer communication about water conservation cause an attitude change in the followers?" We conducted a quasi-experimental design for three weeks and examined consumers' WCA by pre-and post-test results by using the WCA survey developed by Dolnicar & Hurlimann [1]. Participants answered the survey before and after being exposed to the 24 videos shared by the influencer. The increase in attitude points is statistically significant (t= -15.461, p=.000).
Reservoirs in water supply systems have technological, energetic and security functions which are very important for the overall sustainability of water supply. The change in water consumption regime and/or flow of water into the reservoir affects the water balance in the service reservoir and water pressure in the water supply network. This paper analyzes the changes that occurred in the water consumption regime in Croatia and their effect on the water supply system and its sustainability. It has been found that the changes are significant as well as impacts on energy use, water losses and reliability of water supply. Based on the analysis, the functional dependencies between the key input variables and the operation of the system have been defined and recommendations given for practice.
Rational decision making for water management issues requires reliable estimates of the economic value of water. Given the importance of the water resources and agricultural sector to regional economies, and the importance of irrigation to the agricultural sector, it is necessary to understand the economic performance of water use in crop production. Certainly, net return per unit of water is useful for evaluating the economic performance of water use in crop production. Actually, estimates of the economic value of water are essential for an efficient and equitable allocation of scarce water across locations, uses, users and time periods.The main objective of this study is developing geographic information maps for irrigation water and cultivated crops at the Egyptian governorates. The study is carried out by: i) developing a Geographic Information System and Bata-base for water and cultivated crops at the Egyptian governorates, ii) developing information maps for main Egyptian crops under; cereal, fiber, legumes, vegetables, herbalism, and forages category. These maps illustrate the cultivated area, cost and revenue, water requirement, net return, and economic value of irrigation water for these crops in each governorate of Egypt, and finally, iii) the developed maps was analyzed to distinguish the most water economic value crops.
Operators of wastewater treatment plants first of all are responsible for the required good quality of the effluent before it is discharged to the environment. Today attention is being shifted more and more to optimize the operation of treatment plants not only to reduce energy consumption or other costs in an economic sense but with regard to ecological aspects like reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. So the challenge arises to improve the well established biological treatment processes targeting these goals without decreasing the quality of the effluents. First full-scale applications of high power ultrasound appeared more than ten years ago in Germany for the pre-treatment of waste activated sludge prior to anaerobic stabilization. Today about 80 treatment plants worldwide are equipped with this technology and provide confirmation on the success of this approach. Research is still carried out to better understand how ultrasound manifestations can impact also on aerobic biomass. This article reports on fundamental research as well as full-scale experience for the following applications:Improving N removalReducing excess sludgeCombating filamentous microorganisms
Our goal is to demonstrate the need to design a new type of environmentally friendly intrumentation to face the challenges of the Water Framework Directive. Rivers are spatially and timely structured ecological systems exhibiting hot spots and hot moments that contribute to their overall health status. However, current programs for monitoring water quality (grab samples and laboratory analysis) are based on sampling strategy that do not take into account the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of a water body. To reflect their actual dynamics, a paradigm shift is essential. This requires the development of new monitoring strategies and therefore new instrumentation. This new instrumentation must be able to measure at time scales appropriate to phenomena monitored and at a cost low enough to allow a sufficiently dense deployment in water bodies. We propose to enhance developing wireless networks of autonomous micro-sensors associated with mathematical processing of the collected data. The distinctive feature of this kind of smart sensor comes from the complete monitoring network expected, associating surface- and ground- waters chemistry, electronics and energy harvesting with smart data processing aiming to represent dynamic of basic ecological functions.
Similarly to most of Mediterranean EU member states, Portugal regularly experience severe water supply and demand imbalances, particularly in the summer months. Tourism is a very important economic activity in Portugal and is pushing water demand particularly in regions suffering occasional water deficit, like the southern half part of Portugal mainland. Golf courses are an important tourist factor contributing to water demand rising. A number of golf courses are installed in tourist areas and need high amount of water for irrigation.Water reuse is a very important management strategy in situations of water scarcity. Portugal badly needs to include treated wastewater as a dependable resource in the nation water resources management. Sustainable water reuse requires technical guidelines to ensure the public health and environmental protection but the economic sustainability is crucial for the success of water reuse projects as a strategy of water conservation. This paper briefly presents Portuguese guidelines on water reuse focusing mainly on the aspects to be taken into account in the assessment of the economic viability of water reuse projects, such as the model of tariff structure, the costs to internalise, share of costs among users and recovery of investment costs.
This questionnaire ranked 29 identified challenges for Finnish water services in the next 20–30 years. The respondents consisted of 48 experts representing equally four interest groups: utility experts, consultants, authorities and associations, and researchers and educators. The three most urgent challenges were Aging infrastructure, Vulnerability and risk management, and Human resources and know-how. In a wider context most of the identified challenges are related to aging infrastructure and competence development. Tiivistelma Tassa kyselytutkimuksessa arvioitiin 29 haasteen merkittavyytta Suomen vesihuollossa seuraavien 20 – 30 vuoden aikana. Tutkimukseen osallistui 48 asiantuntijaa, jotka jakautuivat tasaisesti neljaan intressiryhmaan: vesihuoltolaitosten henkilostoon, konsultteihin, viranomaisiin seka tutkijoihin ja kouluttajiin. Kolme merkittavinta haastetta olivat ikaantyva infrastruktuuri, haavoittuvuus ja riskienhallinta seka henkiloresurssit. Laajasti tulkittuna ikaantyva infrastruktuuri ja osaamisen kehittaminen kattavat suurimman osan identifioiduista haasteista.
Efficiency of electrostatic precipitation of water from air is theoretically analyzed in the paper and inherent limitations are determined. It is shown that water drops below a certain minimum size cannot be extracted from air since they either cannot be charged or their charge is insufficient for precipitation. Values of the minimal and effective radiuses of drops are analytically determined. Enlarging the drops is proposed in order to increase the efficiency of precipitation. Future research considerations are presented and experimental setup parameters are proposed.
The degree and importance of automation at municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have increased with the development of technology and tightening of treatment requirements. The objective of this paper is to assess and document the current status of process automation at WWTPs in Finland to determine successful practices and the needs of plant operators. Renewing ammonia or organic content removal processes to total nitrogen removal processes has also increased the need of Instrumentation, Control and Automation (ICA). The survey has quantified that the reliability and accuracy of the on-line sensor measurement has improved recently, which makes the use of on-line measurements in control more applicable. The use of nutrient sensors in control is apparently still rare at Finnish WWTPs even though their use for monitoring purposes is common. Keywords Automation, control, Finland, instrumentation, sensors, survey, wastewater
In a historical perspective, flood protection in the past was not given high priority - plague and periods of famine and war took precedence. Poverty and a lack of knowledge made it difficult to create safer dikes. Dike engineering did improve in Napoleonic era due to the French Central Government, but many dikes still failed. A historical overview of the causes and mechanisms of dike failures in the Netherlands has been drawn up, and resulted in a list of 337 recorded events leading to an assumed total of 1735 dike failures in the Netherlands between 1134 and 2006. Storm surges were, generally speaking, the primary cause of dike failure, followed by high water and ice drift. Two-thirds of all dikes failed as a result of the inner slope protection or the crest of the dike being eroded. The main causes for this were run-over and wave overflow, which could have been prevented, had the dikes been higher. The second cause of dike failure was ice drift. All other mechanisms were of minor importance, but were in the past either difficult to determine or even know about.
Main focus in this study is in governance of water supply and sanitation development in South Africa and Finland in two towns during the period of late 19th century - early 20th century. Points examined are the development of water supply, water use and sanitation services, patterns of governance, access to clean water and proper sanitation in different areas of cities and technical solutions used.Case Porvoo shows a case of somewhat problematic growth of a city at a time of the emergence of the water issue, when traditional water sources, i.e. wells, were polluted and their yield was inadequate. The systems were established quite early compared to other parts of Finland and were also extraordinary in some respects.In case Durban there was a similar situation at the beginning, there was not enough good water in wells. Based on different geographical surroundings the solution was, however, not the same as in Porvoo.Based on two case studies very far away from each others examples of successful and durable solutions in water supply are available. In this sense, water knows no limits - neither in place nor time. It is noteworthy how similar the problems in many developing countries are at the beginning of the 21st century compared to those faced earlier by developed countries. The underlying factors are the same in both cases: lack of good governance, rapid growth of cities and inadequate resources.
The following work corresponds to a summary of 20 publications from authors from different countries, and which are focused on the ex-post analysis of the influence of institutional, political and economic factors on changes in water quality and quantity. The analysis of each publication comprises a description of the problem and an identification of the methods used by the authors. The findings of the work show that institutional factors (understood here as such administrative measures as treaties, laws, directives, etc.) are identified as the main cause of changes in the quality of water. The methods used for ex-post analysis were mainly focused on the analysis of cost-effectiveness, cost-benefit and "peoples' perception". It is important to point out that just a few of these works actually explain the method used for the evaluation of environmental performance in terms of the quality of water.
Organised public water supply in Espoo started in 1934. In the Finnish context the City of Espoo is young, modern, and large in terms of its area, being the second largest city in Finland, with a population exceeding 230,000. Espoo is located next to Helsinki, the capital city of Finland. Espoo has grown very rapidly; in the early 1950s, the city had less than 30,000 people. There are numerous challenges for the future; the growth and population estimate by 2040 is 85,000.In 2007 about 70 percent of the distributed water was purchased from the city of Helsinki. The purification plant, Suomenoja, was completed in 1969 and it was operating in 2007 but there was a new wastewater treatment plant under preparation because the capacity of old plant was filling up. Wastewaters from neighbour municipalities were also purified there.This paper aims at discussing colorful periods of water services in Espoo. There are nine different episodes in water services, which can be recognized. First episode was in 1934 when organised water services both by the municipality and the private sector were started. Last, the ninth one was in 1994 when Waterworks become a public enterprise.
In arid and semi-arid regions where precipitation is low or infrequent during the dry season, it is necessary to store a maximum amount of rainwater during the wet season for use during the dry season in the agriculture sector. Rainfall in the northern section of Saudi Arabia ranges from 100 to 200 mm. The shortage of rainfall, the high soil water evaporation and the deep-water percolation are the main problems that face the agriculture in the area under study. So, this study aims to evaluate a new technique of water harvesting depending upon reducing both evaporation and deep percolation of water. Several field plots (3-m wide, 5-m length, and 1 m-apart each) in the Agriculture and Veterinary Faculty Farm, Qassim University, were selected to carry out this study. A big metal cylinder was designed to dig conical pits (0.10-m depth and 0.10-m inside diameter) in the soil surface. These pits were means for collecting the rainfall or the sprinkler irrigation water. The pits were 0.30 m apart. A single plant of faba bean (Vicia faba, L) was planted nearby the pits on October 10, 2003 (winter season). Similarly, corn (Zea mays, L) and green bean (Phaseolus vulgaris, L) plants were sown on April 6, 2004 (summer season). Five treatments were used for rainfall harvesting including flat soil surface (control), empty conical pits, conical pits filled with fresh grass residues, conical pits filled with gravels and conical pits covered after plant emergence by drilled black plastic (winter season) or white plastic (summer season) sheet. Sprinkler irrigation system was used to simulate the rainfall when it was limited. Three replications were assigned for each treatment. The growth and yield parameters were monitored during the growing season that lasted on March 9, 2004 (winter season) and on July 20, 2004 (summer season).The growth rate of faba bean (Vicia faba, L) for the plastic treatment was 9.5 mm/day while it was 5.9 mm/day for either the flat or grass residue treatment. The yield of faba bean (Vicia faba, L) decreased in the order of plastic> gravel> grass> pit> flat treatments. The fresh weight of green bean (Phaseolus vulgaris, L) showed a decrease in the order of gravel> plastic> pit> grass> flat treatments. In the corn (Zea mays, L) experiment, all treatments gave greater yield than that of the flat surface treatment (control). The results of this study validated that the soil surface management positively influences the crop yield and water conservation. Therefore, by using the designed machine, it can be seen the enhance of the soil water storage in situ leading to a great crop yield.
Retention ponds and wetlands are frequently used in stormwater management to remove pollutants, reduce flow peaks and improve scenic views in parks and along roads. This study analyzes the correlation between long-term removal efficiency of pollutants (total suspended solids and heavy metals) and specific pond area (ratio between effective drainage area and surface area). For this purpose, all data on ponds in Sweden that have been monitored were collected and evaluated. The results show that of 27 measured ponds only nine had monitoring programs that were correctly designed to reveal anything about pollutant removal; this is because grab samples had been used to a large extent. There was no possibility to establish a correlation between specific pond area and long-term removal efficiency, even when the pond area was adjusted with regard to the amount of dead zones. This constitutes a "negative" research finding, but an important one since it indicates that other factors ought to be included when retention ponds are to be sized and designed, such as concentration of pollutants and vegetation.
The performance of the nanofiltration of surface water, using a spiral-wound module, was accessed for the particular case of the Tagus River surface water collected at ca. 40 km of Lisbon (Portugal). The nanofiltration experiments were performed in the nanofiltration laboratory unit with a spiral wound module with 2.6 m2 of membrane area (Filmtec NF2702540, DOW Chemical), for different transmembrane pressures, recirculation flow rates and water recovery rates. The permeate flux and the rejection coefficients of total organic carbon (TOC), adsorbable organic halogens (AOX) and inorganic ions were measured.The rejection coefficient of bivalent ions was in the range of 80-98% and for monovalent ions was in the range of 20-70%. The rejection coefficient increases with the transmembrane pressure and is not dependent on the water recovery rate, for the range of operating conditions investigated. The recirculation flow rate had almost no effect on the rejection coefficient of the ions, indicating that the concentration polarization was not severe.The NF process has a rejection of TOC higher than 80%, contributing to reduce strongly the formation of disinfection by-products precursors. The process is also adequate to remove partially the AOX from the surface water. Depending on the operating conditions, the rejection coefficient of AOX was in the range between 26% and 72% for transmembrane pressures higher than 400 kPa.
