Thesis (doctoral)--Göteborg University, 2006. / Added t.p. with thesis statement inserted. Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-227).

Thesis (doctoral)--Göteborg University, 2006. / Added t.p. with thesis statement inserted. Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-227).

This study examines whether water conservation is actually being incorporated into municipal water management practices. The development of a conservation policy from a general goal declaration to specific programmatic practices is reviewed for a Texas state water agency, the Texas Water Development Board. From January 1986 through September 1989, 102 political units in Texas applied to the Board for water-related loan funds and thus were required to implement municipal water conservation plans. Two aspects of this conversation policy are assessed: one, the Board's procedural arrangements for the development and review of water conservation plans, and two, the conservation plans of each political unit. It is concluded that Texas state water managers, and local manager also, have yet to incorporate conservation as a significant planning tool for the achievement of water management goals.

As Indian cities expand, conflicts over limited potable water supply and access are intensifying. These conflicts place water at the center of socio-spatial, cultural, political and ecological tensions in the city. Women from urban poor neighborhoods resort to stealing, storing, buying and borrowing water to meet the daily needs of their households. However, land tenure determines access to water. Exercising its juridical powers, the state legalizes certain spaces and practices (planned neighborhoods; buying and storing water) and criminalizes others (slums; stealing water). Thus, the state controls: i) who has legal access to potable water; ii) how potable water is legally collected; and iii) where potable water is legally available. My research uses a mixed methods approach to analyze water access, supply and management in New Delhi, India. Using primary data collected in 2009-2010 through surveys, interviews, focus groups, and participant observation, I analyze how women from two urban poor neighborhoods of New Delhi (one, a regularized inner city slum and the other, a resettlement colony) access and use potable water. I also investigate how city planners, state officials, and engineers, perceive water needs and water collection strategies of the residents from low-income neighborhoods. My findings indicate that the state’s responses to the lack of water security in Delhi are limited to technical and engineering solutions aimed at addressing the ‘water problems’ (Zerah, 2000), which, in turn normalize discourses of scarcity (Mehta, 2005; Swyngedouw, 2003), theft and overuse (Baviskar, 2003). I argue that water security is a discourse that draws on the technicist and economistic approaches of Western-dominated international planning, and therefore all attempts to address water (in)security that emerge from this discourse leads to water policies that ignore social constructions and context of water, especially gender. I found that women from low-income neighborhoods bear a disproportionate burden of the social, political, and physical consequences of limited potable water access. In planned low-income neighborhoods, women’s vulnerabilities emerging from lack of access to potable water are exacerbated. This implies that planning in cities such as New Delhi is unable to address the daily water needs of urban poor women. These findings indicate that planning initiatives in cities such as New Delhi, should explicitly respond to the current practices and needs of women, thus minimizing the distance between technocrats and the urban poor. / text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2003. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-139). Also available via the Internet.

Management of water resources has become more complex in recent years as a result of changing attitudes towards sustainability and the attribution of greater attention to environmental issues, especially under a scenario of water scarcity risk introduced by climate changes and anthropogenic pressures. This thesis addresses the conflicts in optimizing multi-purpose hydropower operations under an environment where objectives are often conflicting and uncertain. Mathematical programming formulations can be used to achieve flexible, feasible and optimal operation and planning solutions to satisfy expectations of multiple stake-holders, including regulatory environmental compliance and sustainability. Innovative optimization models using MINLP with binary variables, fuzzy set theory, partial constraint satisfaction and multi-objective formulations incorporating unit commitment problem and adaptive real-time operations are developed and applied to a real life case study. These methodologies provide advances and valuable insights on optimal operations of hydropower systems under uncertain decision making environments. / by Andre Rodrigues Ferreira. / Thesis (M.S.C.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

University of Macau / Faculty of Law

Mémoire (M.Sc.A.)--Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 1986. / Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU

Thesis (M.Sc. (Geography)) - Rhodes University, 2008

Thesis (Ph.D.(International Politics))-University of Pretoria, 2004. / Summaries in English and Afrikaans. Includes bibliographical references.