<p>From long ago, rivers have always sustained livelihoods of the peoples through the utilisation of different natural resources available in the basin. All over the world, many rivers have been dammed in the spirit of performing various purposes: agricultural irrigation, domestic water supply and power generation or flood control.</p><p>By the year 2001, the World Commission on Dams brought into focus the debate on damrelated impacts on local economies, societal cultures, livelihoods security and environmental conservation. The outcome of the World Commission on Dams consultation strongly recommended the governments to involve all stakeholders to address appropriately all issues associated with dams.</p><p>The overall focus of this master thesis is the projected Rusumo Falls dam in the Kagera River Basin (East Africa). Based on literature documentation completed by on-ground observations and qualitative interviews at Rusumo, various issues connected with the dam are presented.</p><p>In the first part, the Kagera River Basin background information is provided. It gives an overview of the physical and human characteristics of the Kagera watershed and subcatchments. A brief history and socio-economic indicators are given to enlighten the outsiders about the development challenges of the riparian countries of Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Regional frameworks for the development and management of Kagera Basin natural resources are presented: The Kagera Basin Organisation and the Nile Basin Initiative.</p><p>Section two analyses the likely social problems around the Rusumo Hydro Electric Project resulting from the land issue and the electricity needs and posing a dilemma for the governments committed to reverse the poverty and developing the economies. Benefits and drawbacks of the dam as perceived by the beneficiaries are thoroughly listed.</p><p>Based on the overwhelming supports from the Rusumo people, the governments of Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania together with the international community, a public participation scenario is suggested in the last chapter. It encourages the governments to come together with all interested groups and the affected people of Rusumo and address any matters associated to the dam management process.</p><p>The conclusion of this study draws some strategies and methods to ensure full popular participation in the dam management. It provides some ways to involve all stakeholders to address the related issues. As the Rusumo people perceptions of the dam possible effects might not be realistic, the popular participation can offer them a good opportunity to handle socio-economic problems such as the land issue, the economy restructure and the nature conservation. In this case study, the government of Rwanda is therefore responsible for the establishment of platforms for a broad popular consultation.</p>

Infectious disease can be transmitted via various environmental pathways, many of which are incorporated into our water and wastewater systems. Quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) can be a valuable tool in identifying hazard exposure pathways and estimating their associated health impacts. QMRA can be applied to establish standards and guidelines and has been adopted by the World Health Organisation for the management of risks from water-related infectious diseases. This thesis aims at presenting a holistic approach for the assessment of microbial health risks in urban water and wastewater systems. The procedure of QMRA is presented, together with the data collected for the case studies, and the results are discussed in a risk management framework. Decentralised drinking water treatment with membranes was shown to be competitive with centralised conventional treatment regarding environmental impacts and health. To attain sufficient die-off of pathogens in order to reduce risks to acceptable levels, facilities that permit the long-term storage of locally collected faeces are required. Issues of operation and mangement are likely to determine the health risks in decentralised systems. While failures in distribution are more likely to result in detectable waterborne disease outbreaks, the number of people at risk of becoming infected with pathogens passing normal treatment, calculated on a yearly basis, can be larger. Site-specific pathogen monitoring of source waters was identified as an important factor for the accurate estimation of risk. Noroviruses, an emerging waterborne pathogen, were shown to have fluctuating concentrations in surface water, with significant peaks during the wintertime. Time series analysis has potential as an early warning system if complemented by regular monitoring to discriminate peaks from random fluctuations. Groups already sensitive to infection, i.e. the elderly, the sick and children, were shown to consume higher volumes of cold tap water than the rest of the population, which may call for special atention in the risk management of drinking water systems. Microbial health risks associated with the handling and reuse of wastewater and sludge were shown to be successfully addressed within the management system Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP). Most exposure points identified could be controlled through easy measures. / Copyright Agreement: Figure 6-1, page 49 and figure 6-2, page 50 in the summary/introduction are reprinted from Water Science and Technology: Water Supply 2(2) 11-18, with permission from the copyright holders, IWA. Note: the median values are missing in the article but the figures have been corrected in the summary/introduction.

There is an urgent need for Bangladesh to identify the arsenic (As) contaminated tubewells (TWs) in order to assess the health risks and initiate appropriate mitigation measures. This involves testing water in millions of TWs and raising community awareness about the health problems related to chronic As exposure from drinking water, and providing alternative safe water option for the exposed population of the country. The use of spatial maps in a participatory context emerged as an important tool for an effective and rational distribution of alternative safe water options for the exposed population of the country. Field test kit offers the only practical tool available to screen all the TW water considering the time frame and financial resources of the country. A comparison of the field test kit results and laboratory measurements by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) as “gold standard” for As in water of 12,532 TWs in Matlab upazila (sub-district) in Bangladesh, indicates that the field test kit correctly determined the status of 87% of the As levels compared to the Bangladesh Drinking Water Standard (BDWS) of 50 μg/L, and 91% of the World Health Organization (WHO) drinking water guideline value of 10 μg/L. In order to identify the sustainable alternative safe water options, different type of safe water options were distributed in Sonargaon and Jhikargachha upazilas (sub-district) in 2001 and later revisited the options in 2004 to identify the sustainable ones. It was observed that community acceptability of the distributed options was not encouraging; less than 2% of the provided options were found to be in use. However, two new approaches emerged from people’s initiatives, which were making rapid and positive contributions to safe water coverage: switching to the existing As-safe TWs and reinstalling TWs at 50-100 m depths by looking at particular type of sediment colours. A study was conducted in Matlab upazila to validate the concept of installation/reinstallation of TWs at certain depths, a new concept promoted by local drillers (masons). The study revealed that locally a thick layer of black to grey sediments overlies an oxidized unit of yellowish-grey to reddish-brown sediments. The correlation between the colour of both units and the groundwater redox conditions was investigated to provide an easy tool for targeting low-arsenic groundwater. The water abstracted from black sediments contained high amount of As concentration but the concentration decreased towards the yeallowish to red sediments. Three boreholes verified the driller's perception of the subsurface lithologic conditions. Discrepancies between the driller's and the research team description of the sediment colours were insignificant. This study shows that sediment colour is a reliable indicator of high and low As-concentrations in TW water and can be used by local drillers to install TW. Lack of financial resources and identification of an appropriate distribution tools are some of the major obstacles to provide sustainable solution to the exposed population of the country. Spatial mapping exercise along with community participation can help maximize the safe water coverage of different alternative safe water options by reducing financial involvement. Combining people’s voice with that of spatial information gave better results and the method is already been proved useful in targeting non-served areas. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methods along with geographical information system (GIS) used in the study to obtain relevant information. Participants from different focus groups were asked to determine their ‘own priorities’ for spatial planning of alternative arsenic-safe water options. The study discusses community perspectives on demand-based safe water options and reveals the suitability of using participatory geographic information system (PGIS) technique to target non-served areas for rational distribution of safe water options. / QC 20100716

Today, there is a general notion that water resources are best managed according to their river basins. River basin management may be approached from a wide variety of angles. This thesis focuses on information management, institutional arrangements and strategic policy support, with special reference to the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). The overall objective is to examine strategies, possibilities and hindrances for river basin management, with the ultimate goal of identifying key aspects to be considered - and prioritised - for “successful” European water management and WFD implementation. An assessment of the information management of three transboundary water regimes in Europe showed that a technical/scientific paradigm ap-pears to dominate in river basin accords. This is visible, for example, in the data collection, which is dominated by state and environmental impact information, and the use of passive channels for communicating with stakeholders and other interest groups. The studies addressing institutional arrangements for river basin management according to the WFD showed that the implementa-tion level of the directive is relatively low – both at national and international levels. For instance, competent authorities have not been established (strictly) according to the borders of the estab-lished River Basin District (RBDs). Further, in international RBDs, the ambitions and plans for cooperation vary considerably. Despite the general low implementation level, steps have still been taken in the “direction” of river basin management. At the national level, all examined countries have established RBDs according to river basins, and at the international level, joint river basin management plans will probably be coordinated for a majority of river basins shared by EU Member States. However, the same pattern could not be discerned for river basins extending outside the borders of the EU. In order to support strategic policy making on issues related to the implementation of the WFD, two assessments were made, one addressing international co-operation and water quality in the Baltic Sea Region, and one encompassing rankings of all the newly established RBDs based on a number of identical indicators. Although there is a need to refine these assessments, they may be regarded as simple – but yet robust – models for bench-marking. / QC 20100914

This thesis analyzes how social and environmental inequalities have interacted throughout Washington, D.C.’s urban and environmental history to shape the Anacostia River and its Near Southeast waterfront into urbanized and industrialized landscapes. Drawing on the principles of environmental justice, urban political ecology, and environmental history, I examine the construction of urban rivers and waterfront space over time. I link the ecological and social decline of the Anacostia River and Near Southeast neighborhood to a broader national pattern of environmental degradation and social inequality along urban rivers that resulted from urban industrialization and federal water management. Finally, I discuss the recent national trend in redevelopment of formerly industrial urban waterfronts. In particular, I focus on two brownfield redevelopment projects in Near Southeast: the Washington National’s baseball stadium at Nationals Park, completed in 2008, and the ongoing construction of The Yards mixed-use development complex. The Anacostia River has served as a touchstone throughout Near Southeast’s shifting neighborhood identity and land use. This thesis uses the river as a starting point at which to begin an exploration of a long history of social and environmental inequality in waterfront Washington, D.C.

This thesis examines the evaluation of the economic, environmental and social effects of dams, and lessons learned from previous dams. It then focuses on cost benefit analysis as a decision-making tool pre-project for evaluating the potential gains and losses of building a dam; and as a framework for evaluating dams in operation. It reviews the basic assumptions required for a legitimate cost benefit analysis, and the inherent limitations of this method. It uses the Sardar Sarovar dam as a case study for the use and abuse of cost benefit analysis in decision-making, interstate politics, propaganda and activism. It also illustrates the difficulties in dividing costs and benefits in an equitable manner at national, state, and grassroots levels.

Commercial fisheries on the West Coast are traditionally managed under large-scale management and conservation plans implemented by state and federal agencies. This scale of management can present obstacles for fishing communities. This thesis examines emerging cases of attempts to define and implement sustainable management of commercial fisheries under a community-based co-management model. In Port Orford, Sitka, San Diego and Santa Barbara, preliminary community-based co-management models are enabling fishing communities to pursue social sustainability through preserving access, participating in local science, and direct marketing for fish products. These communities are actively reshaping traditional models of conceptualizing and managing common-pool resources like fisheries.

The purposes of this study are: (1) to consider factors that influenced the creation of Nolin Reservoir, and the selection of its recreation sites, (2) to consider the growth and the variations in attendance and participation in activities as a function of quantity and quality of available facilities and accessibility, and (3) to trace the changes that the creation of the reservoir has brought on the surrounding land use, value and ownership. Through the use of questionnaires, interviews and field investigations, the purposes were accomplished. Nolin Reservoir was constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers. After extensive study, the cost and availability of materials for construction were found to be the major factors in selecting the dam site and public use areas. Attendance and participation at the reservoir and at particular recreation sites were found to vary. Such factors as the physical setting, accessibility, quantity and quality of facilities, and distance of each center to an urban area were found to have played significant roles in the analysis. Tracing the changes in land use, value and ownership, it was determined that agricultural use has been converted into recreational use. This change has brought about other changes. Land values began to rise. In eleven years (1964-1974), land values have increased about 500 percent. The increase in land value had induced many types of land ownerships in the basin. Developers became active, and subdivisions were introduced in 1964. By 1974, there were 75 subdivisions in the basin. Many farmers converted their arable land into housing development and commercial uses of land have also developed.

Sustainability is a buzzword covering a variety of fields and subjects. For the purposes of my research sustainability is “the ability to keep going over the long haul. As a value, it refers to giving equal weight in your decisions to the future as well as the present” (Gilman 1). The sustainability movement refers to activists, educators and researchers who are dedicated to finding high quality ways of living in the world that are environmentally benign for all who are now living as well future generations to come (Gilman 1). This research focuses on three women who engage in voluntary simplicity— “simplicity that is voluntary-consciously chosen, deliberate, and intentional- [and] supports a higher quality of life” (Elgin 4). The complexity of the subject of sustainability is why I chose to narrow my focus to such a worldview and because much of my educational background is in Gender and Women’s Studies I specifically focus on women. Feminist ethnographic methods of participant observation are utilized as well as rhetorical analysis. I examine the attentive roles that have afforded these women the ability to form intimate social as well as ecological relations in their community. The observations are recorded in a narrative form and contribute to the growing knowledge base of sustainability as well as resilience studies. The lack of sustainable practices on a large scale in our country affects every citizen who lives here through environmental problems like climate change and peak oil. The narrative form allows the research I have collected to maintain an accessible language which is important in reaching a greater audience beyond that of academia. The narrative shows easy, manageable sustainable choices and changes that can be applied at the micro as well as macro level. These choices and changes are not exhaustive or all inclusive; rather they are suggestions for those who are interested in joining the sustainability movement.

As the human population increases, it becomes increasingly more important for society to understand the impact of humans on the environment. Preserving fixed resources by engaging in sustainable practices is necessary to ensure those resources are available for future generations. Since the early 1960s, policy makers and educators alike have sought to ensure that students graduate environmentally literate. Previous research has identified a multitude of barriers that limit classroom teacher’s ability to integrate environmental education into their curriculum. The purpose of this study was to investigate how teachers overcome those barriers that restrict the integration of action based environmental education into the public school classroom. This was a three case study of public high school teachers. Data were gathered for this qualitative study through observations, interviews, and the collection of documents. Constant comparative method was utilized to analyze data. The researcher conducted a within-case analysis for each case and a cross-case analysis as well. Through the use of coding, the researcher identified patterns and themes across cases. Barriers identified by participants included resources, time, and risk. The primary factors uncovered by this study, which potentially affect teacher efficacy, are personal and educational background, the availability of mentors, and support of outside agencies. The implications for policy makers and institutions of higher education that can be drawn from this study are that, through the course of teacher undergraduate and graduate education, teachers should be provided with field experiences in the area of environmental education. In addition to providing field experiences, finding ways to link teachers to outside environmentally focused agencies and mentors increases teacher efficacy by providing support and resources.