Experiments were to study the effects of anionic polyacrylamide (PAM) on viruses and bacteria movement in soil. A water pollution problem which affects all areas with significant rainfall is soil erosion and subsequent transport of soil and all land-based pollutants. In recent year, high molecular weight polymers, such as anionic polyacrylamides (PAMs), have been used for soil erosion control and subsequent environmental problems. PAM is found to enhance infiltration. Land application of manure, sludge, and wastewater is common in many areas of the world, including the United States. Bacteria, viruses and other pathogens can be found in these waste materials. Studies must be conducts to evaluate if the use of polymers will allow water pollution constituents such as chemicals, pesticides, and microbial pathogens to reach groundwater in aquifer. / Water Resources Research Center; Civil Engineering Department of University of Hawaii at Manoa

This study addresses the central problem of how the behaviour of individuals may be co-ordinated to manage collective natural resources, and in particular, to what degree this can be achieved through voluntary, community based means under a free market policy regime. This question was explored by researching how local groups known as Landcare, or Care groups, are managing waterways in Waikato, New Zealand, and specifically by examining their effectiveness in controlling non-point source contaminants to water originating from agricultural land.An action research approach was used to investigate research questions regarding what motivates actors to support activity to enhance water quality, the effectiveness of such activity in addressing non-point source discharges to water, and the equity issues which are associated with environmental management through Landcare. This study suggests that neo-liberal philosophies of governance, while favouring voluntary resource management, disregard the conditions which, in practice, underpin effective and equitable examples of this type of activity. A call is therefore made for a more active role for government, in directly supporting local action, in compensating for the impacts of free-market policies on natural resource use, and in facilitating the representation of the diversity of views in environmental management. Action research, participatory planning, and other learning based and communicative processes could be usefully employed to guide and inform such interventions / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The focus of the National Water Act (Act 36 of 1998) is on the sustainable utilization of our water resources. This is to be achieved through the implementation of an integrated resource protection approach, which is aimed at ensuring that a balance is maintained between the protection and utilization of our countries water resources. This approach sets Resource Quality Objectives (RQOs) that define acceptable levels of water resource protection. The acceptable risk of damage to the ecological integrity of a water resource will play an important role in the setting of these objectives, e.g. for a water resource of lower importance a higher risk would be acceptable with the subsequent setting of RQOs at less stringent levels. A desktop Resource Directed Measures (RDM) determination has already been performed for the Luvuvhu River in the Northern Province. There was decided to evaluate a facet of this desktop study, namely the Present Ecological Status (PES), by utilising the South African Scoring System version 4 (SASS4) and the Integrated Habitat Assessment Method (IHAS) biomonitoring techniques. It was then possible to compare the desktop determined PES to the PES determined from the information provided by the biomonitoring techniques. Ultimately, SASS4 verified the reliability of the RDM methodology Further, to facilitate the introduction of Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) into South Africa there was looked at how and where SASS4 and IHAS would fit into the various phases of the ERA process. SASS4 serves as an indication of the extent of an impact, and in conjunction with an ERA, would provide the means with which to determine causality. A retrospective ERA based on data obtained from SASS4 and a concomitant habitat assessment method will thus provide a valuable tool for the protection of our water resources. / Prof. G.J. Steyn

M.S.

In the empirical study in question, the current situation concerning the public water supply, waste water disposal, and water pollution prevention in Saxony with regard to the decision makers' knowledge of and approach towards "sustainable development" and its implementation is dealt with. Important results of the study are: · A comprehensive and uniform familiarity with the term and the contents of "sustainable development" is not present on all relevant decision-making levels. · The main area of activity of an institution influences its familiarity with the term "sustainable development." If the main area of activity of an institution lies in the field of water supply or water pollution prevention, familiarity with the term is greater. · Familiarity with the term "sustainable development" depends on the size of the respective institution with regard to the number of residents that it is responsible for supplying and the number of employees working for it. In larger institutions, familiarity with the term is more widespread. · The fact that many institutions are more committed ecologically and socially shows the fundamental possibility of incorporating these goals. Nevertheless, economic goals are given the highest practical importance, because of their limiting effects with regard to implementation of goals and decisions. · The significance of economic goals depends on the type of institution. In private-sector and public businesses they tend to have the greatest significance. For ecological and social goals, such dependence cannot be proved. · The greatest problems perceived in making "sustainable development" materialize depend on the type of institution. Whereas communities see such problems equally for all goals, economic and social goals are what cause problems for special purpose associations. In all other types of institutions such problems exist primarily for economic goals. · The organizational form influences the effects with regard to sustainable development. Possible privatization in various forms therefore should always be judged by the resulting effects on "sustainable development."

In the empirical study in question, the current situation concerning the public water supply, waste water disposal, and water pollution prevention in Saxony with regard to the decision makers' knowledge of and approach towards "sustainable development" and its implementation is dealt with. Important results of the study are: · A comprehensive and uniform familiarity with the term and the contents of "sustainable development" is not present on all relevant decision-making levels. · The main area of activity of an institution influences its familiarity with the term "sustainable development." If the main area of activity of an institution lies in the field of water supply or water pollution prevention, familiarity with the term is greater. · Familiarity with the term "sustainable development" depends on the size of the respective institution with regard to the number of residents that it is responsible for supplying and the number of employees working for it. In larger institutions, familiarity with the term is more widespread. · The fact that many institutions are more committed ecologically and socially shows the fundamental possibility of incorporating these goals. Nevertheless, economic goals are given the highest practical importance, because of their limiting effects with regard to implementation of goals and decisions. · The significance of economic goals depends on the type of institution. In private-sector and public businesses they tend to have the greatest significance. For ecological and social goals, such dependence cannot be proved. · The greatest problems perceived in making "sustainable development" materialize depend on the type of institution. Whereas communities see such problems equally for all goals, economic and social goals are what cause problems for special purpose associations. In all other types of institutions such problems exist primarily for economic goals. · The organizational form influences the effects with regard to sustainable development. Possible privatization in various forms therefore should always be judged by the resulting effects on "sustainable development."