Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This study examines the problems of implementing water allocation policy in the context of the local state bureaucracy as well as the specific experiences of local black emerging farmers in the Breede Gouritz Water Management Area. This study used qualitative research methods and is based on many hours of interviews and observing bureaucrats and stakeholders at the receiving end of the bureaucratic business process of water allocation. It is not only concerned with the physical and technical aspects of access but explores how the different role players interact, navigate, shape, frame and manage challenges to gain access to and control water for productive use. The actual experiences and understandings of the stakeholders in their own contexts when engaging with the access to water are crucial to gain a comprehensive understanding and insight into the influence of bureaucracy and power relations. This thesis therefore maps the confusions and incapacities and shows that even though the South African laws are based on the best international frameworks, they fail, as they do not sufficiently address the unique environment and landscape. Existing scholarship has not adequately researched local bureaucratic power. At the coalface of implementation, bureaucrats make up their own rules to cope with rapid policy churning. Combined with existing power relations, policy implementation and policy direction is steered towards different and unintended trajectories, making transformation a challenge to achieve. Consequently, my main finding is that there have been constant and rapid legislative and policy changes but they have simply added to the confusion and instability.

With an ever-increasing population and global warming, fresh water resources are nearing depletion resulting in a global water crisis. As a consequence, cases of drought have been reported worldwide especially in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to climate change, urbanisation adds strain to infrastructure as well as water supply and the management of water resources. As a result, most developing countries are faced with a water management challenge. There is thus a need for a paradigm shift towards an Integrated Water Management (IWM) approach. Worldwide, countries have responded to the Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) concept through the implementation of various management strategies; with Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) emerging from Australia. Some closely allied management strategies in response to IUWM emerged in the USA as Low-Impact Development (LID), in the UK as Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS), and in New Zealand as Low-Impact Urban Design and Development (LIUDD). Namibia is situated along the south-west coast of Africa and is considered the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa. It is characterised by a semi-arid environment, with more than 80% covered by desert or semi-desert. The country is regularly afflicted by drought and has fluctuating and unreliable rainfall patterns, often accompanied by high evaporation rates. The City of Windhoek, as the capital city, the biggest municipality and also the largest densely populated town in Namibia, is faced with an ever-increasing shortage of water for its inhabitants. For close to 50 years, the water scarcity situation has led to direct waste water reclamation for potable re-use in Windhoek. Other measures implemented by the City of Windhoek (CoW) towards IUWM include Water Demand Management (WDM), Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) and Water Conservation (WC). In order for Windhoek to transform into a Water Sensitive City, the implementation of WSUD is imperative. Although the CoW has implemented measures towards IUWM, more options still need to be explored in order to contribute to IUWM processes and to ultimately become a Water Sensitive City. This research was aimed at conducting a comprehensive review of existing WSUD practices within the CoW and identifying gaps pertaining to WSUD implementation. The research confirmed, via a review of relevant literature, that the implementation of WSUD mainly flourishes when documented policies and regulations drive implementation. To review WSUD implementation in the CoW, this study followed a qualitative research approach by gathering data via online questionnaires using the SurveyMonkey platform. To validate the survey outcomes, structured interviews were conducted with selected survey participants to gain more insight into the outcomes. For the data collection, the study targeted a sample of managers and specialists from the three departments within the CoW that deal with urban infrastructure design and planning. A 72% response rate was achieved. The study revealed that there was a general understanding and knowledge of WSUD concepts among all the CoW stakeholders involved in water management, planning and design. This was mostly due to their academic knowledge and sometimes via exposure to existing WSUD practices within the city. Water Demand Management, Water Recycling, and Voluntary Green Roofs and Rainwater Harvesting were identified as existing WSUD options currently practised within the CoW. The study identified lack of capacity, lack of knowledge, lack of management support, a fragmented approach, the absence of policies and legislation, and no perceived financial benefits as barriers to WSUD implementation within the CoW. Based on the above findings, the study recommended that the City of Windhoek address existing barriers to WSUD implementation, increase awareness of WSUD within the city, secure government funding and apply for carbon credits to upscale the implementation of WSUD.

No description available.

The subject of this diploma thesis is the proposal of savings of water sources and energy in the reptile pavilion at ZOO Brno. The theoretical part describes the current state of water management at the Zoo Brno. The practical part deals with potential water sources, analyzing them according to current legislation and assessing the suitability of resources. Part is devoted to measures to conserve energy.

Master´s thesis deals with the study of lakes locality called Holasecka jezera in southern part of Brno. The study gives complex evaluation of present condition of the locality and closely aims at Holasecka jezera restoration, including technical and environmentally friendly measures. Restoration and construction of new water management objects is designed together with creation of nature development zones and financial evaluation of designed measures.

Subject of this thesis is optimalization of storage function of water management system. The work is based on dissertation thesis of Ing. Pavel Menšík Ph.D. Automatization of   storage function of water management system. As optimalization method was chosen diferential evolution. Sequential version of the method will be implemented as a first step, followed by CPU accelerated and   GPU accelerated versions.

En quelques décennies, le changement climatique s’est affirmé comme un objet de recherche central pour la communauté scientifique et comme une question sociale et politique de premier plan. Deux modes d’action dominants, relayés par les travaux du GIEC, ont fait office de réponse institutionnelle : l’atténuation, d’une part, l’adaptation, d’autre part. Cette seconde réponse s’est imposée comme une voie politique potentielle, en empruntant l’argument d’un impératif de survie de l’humanité et en adoptant la forme d’un vaste programme normatif. Dans une première partie, nous interrogeons la construction scientifique et politique ainsi que la diffusion de ces politiques d’adaptation au changement climatique en tant que cadre émergent structurant d’une action publique globale, transversale et multiniveaux. Nous analysons particulièrement le processus d’institutionnalisation convergent des politiques d’adaptation au changement climatique en France et au Québec. Dans une seconde partie, la thèse vise à expliquer les enjeux de la diffusion de l’adaptation au changement climatique dans les politiques territoriales de gestion des risques et de gouvernance des ressources en eau. En mobilisant, un cadre théorique empruntant à la sociologie des épreuves, à l’actionnisme et à la sociologie des espaces de définitions des problèmes publics, la thèse permet de déterminer ce que peut produire la mise en visibilité du changement climatique dans la gestion territoriale de l’eau. On reviendra ainsi sur trois situations contrastées. Tout d’abord, un cas d’expertise de type lanceurs d’alerte lors de la gestion d’une inondation (Richelieu, Québec). Une situation où l’expertise s’intègre dans les enjeux actuels de gestion de l’eau (la révision du plan de gestion des étiages de la Garonne), cependant l’appropriation stratégique des incertitudes du changement climatique par les acteurs de l’eau contraint le potentiel transformateur et enfin une dernière situation où l’expertise dégagée des enjeux actuels (la prospective Garonne 2050) tend à produire une tension cognitive qui se révèle insuffisante pour engager les acteurs vers de nouvelles pratiques. Il ressort finalement de ces nouvelles exigences qu’impose l’adaptation au changement climatique entrent en contradiction avec les intérêts et les temporalités plus courtes qui prévalent encore dans les activités locales de gestion. / In the space of a few decades, climate change has established itself as a central object of research for the scientific community and as a high profile social and political question. Closely associated with the work of the IPCC, two dominant modes of action have supplied the institutional response : these are, respectively, mitigation and adaptation. The latter has established itself as a potential path for policy by appealing to the imperative of human survival and adopting the form of a vast normative program. In the first part, I question the scientific and political construction and dissemination of these policies for adapting to climate change as an emerging framework for structuring cross-and multi-global public action. In particular, I analyze the institutionalization process of convergent adaptation policies to climate change in France and Quebec. In the second part, I consider the issues involved in the spread of climate change adaptation via territorial risk management policies and water resource governance. By mobilizing a theoretical framework borrowed from the sociology of tests, actionnism and sociology of social problems, the thesis determines that can produce increasing the visibility of climate change in the territorial management water. This will return three contrasting situations. First, a case of flood management (Richelieu, Quebec) that have been criticized by experts in hydrology and climate change. A situation where expertise integrates into current issues of water management (revision of the management plan for low flow of the Garonne), however ownership of the strategic uncertainties of climate change by water stakeholders forced the transformative potential and the last one situation where the clear expertise of current issues (prospective Garonne 2050) tends to produce an insufficient cognitive tension to engage stakeholders on new practices. Finally, these new requirements imposed by adaptation to climate change conflict with the interests and shorter time frames that still prevail in the local management activities.

La gestion durable de la demande d’eau résidentielle par la tarification incitative représente actuellement la seule alternative non technique permettant de retarder le recours à la mobilisation des ressources non conventionnelles qui se caractérisent par un coût très élevé. Dans cette thèse, nous utilisons des données tunisiennes mesurant la consommation par régions et par trimestre sur longue période 1980-2007. Deux blocs de consommation, un bloc inférieur et un bloc supérieur sont analysés, afin d’évaluer le succès et le rôle incitatif de la tarification progressive dans la gestion de la demande. La thèse propose ainsi deux essais en termes de cointégration et de modèles à correction d’erreurs pour étudier les déterminants de la demande à court et à long terme. Nous utilisons d’abord des données chronologiques saisonnières relatives à la Tunisie pour estimer la fonction de la demande d’eau. Nos résultats suggèrent des pistes de réforme du système de prix en vigueur actuellement de manière uniforme à l’échelle du pays. L’alternance des saisons sèches et pluvieuses affecte le comportement des ménages et augmente l’élasticité prix de la consommation d’eau. Les consommateurs du bloc inférieur sont les plus touchés par la progressivité de tarif. Par conséquent, Nous proposons d’élargir la tranche inférieure de consommation en été pour permettre à l’ensemble des familles pauvres de se voir appliquer le tarif le plus bas sur l’ensemble de la consommation. Par ailleurs, nous préconisons une tarification saisonnière de l’eau propre aux périodes sèches et chaudes pour les consommateurs du bloc supérieur. Dans la deuxième partie de la thèse, l’étude régionale de comportements des ménages sur des données de panel à l’échelle de 6 régions Tunisiennes, montre que l’élasticité prix de long terme du bloc inférieur, formé essentiellement de petits consommateurs ayant des revenus plutôt modestes, est supérieure à celle du bloc supérieur. De plus, la demande d’eau résidentielle en Tunisie est relativement sensible au prix pour les consommateurs des plus hautes tranches situés dans les régions caractérisées par un certain dynamisme économique. Nous préconisions d’axer la gestion de la demande d’eau en Tunisie sur un système tarifaire / If Tunisia, as well as all the other similar countries, wants to avoid, or at least to postpone the mobilization of non conventional water (desalinization, virtual water, etc.) with sensibly higher costs, the only alternative is to rely on appropriate water demand management. Water pricing must be considered seriously as a useful tool, with certainly the other non price instruments, such as awareness, education, water conservation and participatory management, to keep under control the demand evolution. In this thesis, we use Tunisian data and a decomposition into two water consumption blocks to estimate residential water demand function. Firstly, seasonal investigations show that Tunisian water pricing policy was not perfect. The lower block’s consumers are most affected by water tariff progressivity than upper block’s consumers. The seasonal fluctuations and the alternation of rainy and dry seasons affect only lower block’s consumers. We then advocate increasing the lower block’s length in summer to keep poorest family well being unchanged and reaching social equity. For the upper block’s consumers, we recommend applying seasonal water price to keep under control their water use evolution. Second, in the regional study, we find that the long run water price elasticity is more important in the lower block than the upper one. Moreover, water demand is sensible to price in regions characterized by economic dynamism. We think that a decentralized water pricing system can perfectly control water use especially by upper block’s consumers.

Les objectifs principaux de cette thèse sont d'identifier les défis et stratégies afin de mettre en œuvre des solutions de Résilience et de Smart Water Management au niveau des politiques et sur le terrain pour une gestion efficace de l'eau. Au cours de la prochaine décennie, plus de 4 milliard de personnes dans le monde vivront dans des zones de pénurie d'eau, et plus des deux tiers de la population mondiale seront confrontés à des conditions de stress hydrique. Cette pénurie d'eau future nécessite une action immédiate sur le développement des ressources, la réduction de la demande et une plus grande efficacité dans le traitement et la transmission. En outre, la gestion future des risques d'inondation nécessite des mesures immédiates dans les domaines de l'évaluation des risques, des systèmes de défense et d'atténuation, des systèmes de prévision et d'alerte, et des mesures institutionnelles et de gouvernance. Avec les impacts du changement climatique, les événements extrêmes seront plus fréquents et sévères. En conséquence, il est nécessaire d'adopter des stratégies alternatives plutôt qu’une approche traditionnelle « prédire et prévenir », qui se concentre principalement sur la réduction de la probabilité d'apparition de perturbations; ce type d'approche a souvent conduit à une construction extensive de digues de protection, à des protections contre les inondations et à d'autres solutions structurelles le long des rivières et des plaines inondables, créant un faux sentiment de sécurité qui augmente la vulnérabilité aux conséquences d'éventuelles inondations. La première moitié de la thèse explore diverses applications des stratégies de résilience aux inondations et les solutions disponibles qui sont et qui peuvent être mises en œuvre pour atténuer les impacts des inondations. L'efficacité des solutions de résilience aux inondations est également examinée, grâce à des simulations hydrologiques hydrauliques d'une étude de cas réelle en Corée du Sud. À partir de cette analyse, des conseils et des stratégies sont développées : la gestion intelligente de l'eau s’avère être un outil permettant la mise en œuvre de solutions de résilience aux inondations, et offrant d’importantes synergies avec les concepts de résilience aux inondations. La seconde moitié de la thèse explore le concept de Smart Water Management et examine les technologies nécessaires à sa mise en œuvre, ainsi que les défis et limites de ces technologies. Des études de cas sur des projets réussis de mise en œuvre de gestion intelligente de l’eau sont étudiées et utilisées pour valider l'orientation et les plans d'action pour la mise en œuvre de gestion intelligente de l’eau. De plus, un cadre de mise en œuvre du système d’eau intelligent pour une ville urbaine est proposé, comprenant le système de demande en eau et le système d'approvisionnement en eau, ainsi qu'un indicateur de détection de fuites pour le système d'approvisionnement en eau. Enfin, on examine l'importance des connexions intelligentes entre les différents domaines d'une ville intelligente avec le système d'eau intelligent et comment ces connexions se produisent dans le système d'eau intelligent. / The key aims of this thesis are to identify the challenges and strategies for implementing Flood Resilience and Smart Water Management (SWM) solutions at both the policy and field level to for efficient water management. In the next decade, more than 4 billion people worldwide will be living in areas of water scarcity and more than two thirds of the world’s population will face water-stressed conditions. This future water shortage requires immediate action on development of resources, reduction of demand and higher efficiency in treatment and transmission. In addition, future flood risk management requires immediate action in risk assessment, defence and alleviation systems, forecasting and warning systems and institutional and governance measures. And with the climate change impacts, extreme events will be more frequent and severe. As a result, there is a necessity to adopt alternative strategies rather than the traditional predict-and-prevent approach which mainly focuses on reducing the probability of occurrence of disturbances; where this type of approach often led to an extensive construction of protection dykes, flood defences and other structural solutions along river channels and floodplains, creating a false sense of safety, which increases the vulnerability to the consequences of possible floods. The first half of the thesis explores the various applications of flood resilience strategies and the available solutions that are and can be implemented to mitigate flood impacts. It also examines the effectiveness of flood resilience solutions through hydrological hydraulic simulations of a real case study in South Korea. From the analysis, recommendations and strategies are developed where it is found that Smart Water Management is an enabler for the implementation for Flood Resilience solutions and has great synergy with Flood Resilience concepts. The second half of the thesis explores the concept of Smart Water Management and discusses the technologies required for the implementation and their challenges and limitations. Successful case studies of smart water solution implementations are investigated and used to validate the direction and action plans for the implementation of smart water solutions. In addition, a framework for the implementation of Smart Water System for an urban city, which includes the water demand system and water supply system, as well as a leakage detection indicator for water supply system are proposed. Finally, it discusses the importance of smart city connections between the different domains of a smart city with the smart water system and how these connections occur within the smart water system.

Severe storms can threaten the reliability and accessibility of drinking water supplies. The state of Florida is frequently impacted by hurricanes and is often struck more than once a year. An example of this can be found in 2017 when hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria caused much damage. Compromised utilities, well contamination, and shortages in bottled water and ice are just some of the problems that may threaten peoples’ drinking water. Faced with these issues, preparation and response efforts must be effective in order to promote human health. Recent events like Hurricane Irma caused shortages in potable water which suggest the need for improvements in these efforts. The purpose of this study was to review management policies (for both preparations and responses) in dealing with potable water paucity caused by Hurricane Irma. Current efforts for managing potable water supplies were researched across selected counties in Florida. The effectiveness and deficiencies of these policies were analyzed. A survey was utilized to gain an understanding of the effects of these policies from the people’s perspective. This study determined several issues with potable water management efforts in dealing with severe storms. These issues were: 1) Economic constraints preventing the obtainment of drinking water (particularly for the Hispanic ethnic group), 2) Lack of concern/care in keeping sanitary private well systems, 3) Policies to encourage locals to prepare to last three days without regular water supplies were inadequate since many people were left without water for far longer time periods, 4) Younger respondents experienced greater potable water shortages than the elderly, and 5) Many people who received emergency relief did not actually require aid. This study also identified potential improvements in both the short-term (emergency responses) and long-term (preparedness) management of drinking water in the face of hurricanes. Recommendations were made to address each of the found issues and ameliorate the management of potable water. These recommendations were: 1) To promote enforcement of anti-price gouging laws 2) Enhancing education on the importance of a sanitary well system. 3) Enhancing infrastructure and power by increasing redundancy, storage capacity, structural integrity, backup power and structural stability; and/or promote education informing locals to prepare for water shortages that last longer than three days 4) Encouraging younger residents to be more involved with their community elders 5) Relief efforts should be made more effective in reaching their targeted populations (those in true need of aid). The results of this research may be used to enhance potable water management plans to avoid suffering and loss of wellbeing in future hurricanes.