The Potchefstroom Campus of the North West University contains old water pipelines that are not well documented. Many of the newer water pipelines are not well documented either. A central data storage system that could contain the information with ease of access to update and retrieve information of these waterlines is lacking. There is a need to find a way that existing potable water network data could be represented and stored with GIS. The solution would contribute to the management of the water system on Campus. The aim of this study is to create a seamless geodatabase as a pilot project for the potable water infrastructure at the Potchefstroom Campus of the North West University. The pilot project focuses on buildings E4 and E6. ArcGIS 10 was selected to serve as the key software system that would be applied as a medium to solve and represent the problem. ArcGIS geodatabase serves as a container to store spatial data with. Data with regard to the potable water system was collected from various sources of which available electronic and hard copy CAD data was the general format. A file geodatabase was created in ArcCatalog with a standard co-ordinate system as reference to the data. ArcMap was applied for 2D editing and georeferencing of the CAD drawings which were followed by a composition of attribute data for the created features. The end result was represented in ArcScene for 3D visualization and 3D analysis. It also provided ease of access to the attribute information and relationships and the capability to perform the shortest route analysis. / Thesis (M.Sc. (Geography and Environmental Studies))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

The Potchefstroom Campus of the North West University contains old water pipelines that are not well documented. Many of the newer water pipelines are not well documented either. A central data storage system that could contain the information with ease of access to update and retrieve information of these waterlines is lacking. There is a need to find a way that existing potable water network data could be represented and stored with GIS. The solution would contribute to the management of the water system on Campus. The aim of this study is to create a seamless geodatabase as a pilot project for the potable water infrastructure at the Potchefstroom Campus of the North West University. The pilot project focuses on buildings E4 and E6. ArcGIS 10 was selected to serve as the key software system that would be applied as a medium to solve and represent the problem. ArcGIS geodatabase serves as a container to store spatial data with. Data with regard to the potable water system was collected from various sources of which available electronic and hard copy CAD data was the general format. A file geodatabase was created in ArcCatalog with a standard co-ordinate system as reference to the data. ArcMap was applied for 2D editing and georeferencing of the CAD drawings which were followed by a composition of attribute data for the created features. The end result was represented in ArcScene for 3D visualization and 3D analysis. It also provided ease of access to the attribute information and relationships and the capability to perform the shortest route analysis. / Thesis (M.Sc. (Geography and Environmental Studies))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

Despite the emphasis of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) on 'soft' demand-side management, large-scale water infrastructure is increasingly being constructed in basins managed under an IWRM framework. While there has been substantial research on IWRM, few scholars have unpacked how IWRM and large-scale water infrastructure development coexist and conflict. Piura, Peru is an important site for understanding how IWRM and capital-intensive, concrete-heavy water infrastructure development articulate in practice. After 70 years of proposals and planning, the Regional Government of Piura began construction of the mega-irrigation project, Proyecto Especial de Irrigacion e Hidroelectrico del Alto Piura (PEIHAP) in 2013. PEIHAP, which will irrigate an additional 19,000 hectares (ha), is being realised in the wake of major reforms in the Chira-Piura River Basin, a pilot basin for the IWRM-inspired 2009 Water Resources Law. We first map the historical trajectory of PEIHAP as it mirrors the shifting political priorities of the Peruvian state. We then draw on interviews with the newly formed River Basin Council, regional government, PEIHAP, and civil society actors to understand why and how these differing water management paradigms coexist. We find that while the 2009 Water Resources Law labels large-scale irrigation infrastructure as an 'exceptional measure', this development continues to eclipse IWRM provisions of the new law. This uneasy coexistence reflects the parallel desires of the state to imbue water policy reform with international credibility via IWRM while also furthering economic development goals via large-scale water infrastructure. While the participatory mechanisms and expertise of IWRM-inspired river basin councils have not been brought to bear on the approval and construction of PEIHAP, these institutions will play a crucial role in managing the myriad resource and social conflicts that are likely to result.

Erosion corrosion of plumbing materials in domestic water systems is a complex phenomenon driven by water quality, hydrodynamic and electrochemical factors. Erosion corrosion accounts for over a third of copper hot water system failures in the U.S., hundreds of millions in damage, and may be expected to increase with newer Legionella control strategies including increased use of water recirculation and high temperatures. Additionally, some nonleaded alloys introduced after the passage of a new federal law restricting lead content in plumbing, have been anecdotally implicated as failing prematurely from erosion corrosion compared to traditional alloys. This dissertation includes 1) a critical review of the literature, 2) investigation of a recent rapid erosion corrosion failure in a large building plumbing system, 3) replication of this phenomena in copper and nonleaded brass in laboratory studies, and 4) evaluation of 12 nonleaded alloys against conventional leaded brass. Current plumbing codes and guidelines to prevent erosion corrosion were found to be widely inconsistent and lacking scientific evidence. Large-scale recirculating hot water pipe-loop experiments demonstrated that an aggressive hard water with entrained aragonite (CaCO3) particles could cause fully penetrative failures (i.e., leaks) in brand new copper pipe and nonleaded brass fittings in just 3-49 days. This represents the first time rapid erosion corrosion failures have ever been replicated in the laboratory under conditions similar to those encountered in practice. The entrained particulates dramatically accelerated attack on metals, especially at pipe bends. In general, lowering pH, increasing flow velocity, increasing temperatures, entrainment of particles (of bigger sizes), and addition of chlorine disinfectant increased erosion corrosion rates. These results scientifically proved that hard waters are not inherently less aggressive than soft water, and in fact if CaCO3 solids form they can be much more aggressive. Finally, cavitation and erosion corrosion resistance of 12 nonleaded alloys was evaluated against leaded brass; stainless steels demonstrated superior performance, silicon brass had the greatest susceptibility and remaining alloys were in the middle. This performance data can aid decision making regarding choice of alloys for various water applications. Our work over the years, including involvement in the Flint Water Crisis, demonstrated that practicing trustworthy science as a public good requires commitment to scientific rigor, truth-seeking, managing conflicts of interest, and comprehensible evidence-based science communication. Critical problems in 21st century public science were highlighted including perverse incentives, misconduct, postmodernist "science anarchist" thought, and ineffectiveness of U.S. water utilities in communicating tap water safety to the American public. / Ph. D.

Thesis (Ph. D. (Administration Development Planning and Management)) -- University of LImpopo, 2017 / Whilst previous research has largely blamed inadequate finance as the cause of insufficient water provision and concomitant development implications such as poverty and food production; this thesis, took a slightly different turn and engaged on a critical deconstruction of the relationship between water infrastructure financing and water provision in South Africa. Archival data on South Africa between 1994 and 2014 were collected on water provision, water-asset finance, governance effectiveness, corruption, violence, accountancy and voice. Data were analysed using the OLS regression fixed effect. Findings from the analysis showed that against popular belief, there was lack of significant relationship between water asset finance and water provision. However, nonfinancial variables namely corruption, social violence, accountability and voice of citizens in development decisions showed a significant relationship with water provision. In addition, the analysis showed that water provision is significantly related to cereal production and incidence of poverty. Therefore, the thesis emphasized that rural development could be enhanced through an improved effort on water provision, which would increase cereal production and reduce the incidence of poverty. It stressed however, that provision of water asset finance without attention and control of nonfinancial variables might have the tendency to derail water provision initiatives in South Africa. The thesis made an original contribution by proposing a conceptual framework for employing and researching the catalyst for water provision in South Africa. It also developed three novel research models for future research. Key words: Infrastructure financing, water infrastructure, water provision, water and development, governance, accountability, poverty reduction

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This dissertation consists of three essays that examine consumer behavior with respect to drinking water quality issues. The first essay uses contingent valuation method to explore consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for a hypothetical material in home drinking water infrastructure that will remain leak free. Willingness to pay is investigated using both dichotomous choice and dichotomous choice with follow-up formats using a national telephone survey of consumers. Our results indicate that consumers' concerns about future system failures and income positively affect their WTP for an improved material while satisfaction with the water quality, education and the bid amount asked negatively affect their WTP for an improved material. There are no significant differences in the determinants of WTP between respondents who have experienced problems with home water infrastructure and respondents who have not. Furthermore, the estimated mean WTP does not change significantly between the dichotomous choice questioning format and the dichotomous choice with follow-up format The second essay investigates the determinants of consumers' willingness to accept improvement programs for three drinking water issues: water quality, pinhole leaks in home plumbing infrastructure and aging public infrastructure. The research is based on a mail survey of consumers in Northern Virginia and the Maryland suburbs of Washington D.C. The analysis focuses on the relationship between information, risk perceptions and willingness to pay. Results indicate that the choice to support any of the programs is negatively affected by the cost of the proposed improvement. Consumers' risk perceptions, the external information provided in the survey and whether they read the annual report from their water utility affect their choices for investment in improvement programs. The third essay examines the effect of risk perceptions about tap water, general risk aversion and consumers' characteristics on their decision to avert drinking water risks and related expenditures. Results are based on the same survey data from the second study. The risk aversion measure is elicited using the sequence of questions employed in the National Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Results indicate that consumers' risk perceptions affect both the decision to avert and the amount spent on averting activities. However, we do not find a significant impact of risk aversion on averting behavior. In addition we find that respondents were more likely to use water treatments if they were unsatisfied with their tap water or had problems or concerns with water odor and particles. / Ph. D.

This comparative study of two urban areas—Kolda, Senegal and the Historic Anacostia Neighborhood in Washington, D.C.—explores how landscape infrastructure can decrease the scalar disconnect between the global water crisis and local water use practices. By looking at one city in the Global North and one in the Global South with similar risk of water stress, I am able to compare cultural aesthetics and engage two different levels of infrastructural build out (World Resources Institute, Water Risk Atlas). The design approach draws inspiration from Lawrence Halprin's notion of "experiential equivalents," and proposes a suite of site scale water sources and seeps (Halprin, Ghirardelli Plaza). Unlike Halprin, whose designs primarily use, interpret, and express natural elements, cultural interactions with water as well as natural systems drive the designs in Kolda and Anacostia. Thus, the speculative designs I am presenting weave the experiences of sourcing water, filtering water, and water seeps into the existing urban and cultural fabric. By taking a systemic and episodic approach to public landscape development, not only will these infrastructural landscapes serve the community but the aesthetic experience of the designs also becomes part of daily life. Perhaps as Elizabeth Meyer theorizes in "Beyond 'Sustaining Beauty'", these designed landscapes "can contribute to…]a new ethos of a sustainable perception and living." Furthermore, this project presents a kit of parts for community-based development, suggesting the ability to extend the landscape infrastructure systems in Kolda and Anacostia and providing the tools for other communities. / Master of Landscape Architecture

This thesis deals with the evaluation of reports about operations of water infrastructure of the company of VS Chrudim, as. This company provided the reports for the years 2008-2012. The main purpose of this thesis is the analysis of these reports and propositions of modifications, particularly in the evaluation of the technical condition of water mains and assessment of the reports as a basis for a financing plan for recovery.

PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP AS A POLICY INSTRUMENT: THE CASE OF &Ccedil / ALBiR This dissertation assesses the nature and features of public-private partnerships in the case of &Ccedil / ALB&amp / #272 / R. In this study, the public policy literature (especially policy transfer, policy formation and implementation, and network approach) has been used to explain the policy process for the adoption of such a policy instrument. The findings of this study can be summarized as: Firstly, this study indicates that the selection of policy instrument- public private partnership- in the case of &Ccedil / ALB&amp / #272 / R was not neutral as the proponents of managerialism assert but it was ideological. Secondly, there occurred a democratic legitimacy problem for the establishment of public-private partnerships in &Ccedil / ALB&amp / #272 / R case when citizens in the elections elected a mayor who was against privatization. Thirdly, after the establishment of public-private partnership the steering performed by &Ccedil / ALBiR is not traditional command and control mechanism but instead it is managerial collaboration and persuasion mechanism. In addition, local government&rsquo / s working in accordance with managerial principles has brought about the elimination of public values. Lastly, this study shows that public-private partnership is not efficient enough due to compensation fee paid in early years, high operating expenses, and blurring of boundaries between public and private sector. Therefore, the main argument of this dissertation is that public-private partnerships as policy tools should be assessed case by case since so called characteristics of public-private partnerships such as efficiency, and equity may not exist as in case of &Ccedil / ALBiR.