No description available.

Thesis (M. Sc.)(Quantity Surveying)--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Includes summary. Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web

This directed research project explores the benefits of implementing a policy change to allow greywater recycling in New Orleans. Throughout history, New Orleans has had a tenuous relationship with water. Current practices of pumping water both into and out of the city place enormous amounts of strain on the aging water infrastructure system that New Orleans utilizes to keep the city dry and provide potable water to its citizens. The use of greywater recycling systems could dramatically reduce the stress on the city's infrastructure; however this practice is presently prohibited by the city's current plumbing code. This paper presents a case for the adoption of new legislation and changes to the city's policy to allow for greywater recycling. / 0 / SPK / specialcollections@tulane.edu

Electricity generation has significant environmental impacts, including on regional air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, and water availability. Modeling the overall environmental impact of electricity generation requires linked simulations of power generation, air pollution physics and chemistry, greenhouse gas emissions, and water use. Tools for performing these analyses in an integrated manner are just beginning to emerge. This work expands on the development of linked models for electricity generation, air quality, and water use that have provided single-day snapshots of these environmental impacts. The original model used a non-linear optimization model for power generation, a regional photochemical model for air quality impacts, and self-contained modules for greenhouse gas emissions and water usage at power plants in Texas. The new model includes life cycle scenarios for the power sector (including changes in both the fuel production and electricity generation stages) and expands the temporal scale of the modeling framework to include impacts on monthly, seasonal, and annual time scales instead of on single days. In addition, the air quality framework has been expanded to include atmospheric particulate matter as an air quality impact. This modeling framework will be used to assess the air quality impacts of new natural gas developments in the Barnett and Eagle Ford shale regions in Texas, the consumptive water impact of new natural gas development in Texas, the impact of seasonal versus ozone forecast-based pricing for power plant NOx emissions in the state of Texas, and the potential cost and air quality impacts of drought-based operation of the power grid in Texas. / text

Agricultural production is affected by a range of policy and climatic variables. This research explored the impacts of cap and trade, climate change and agricultural policy scenarios on water resource use and allocation in agricultural production. The research is organized into three separate studies, one for each set of scenarios.The first study focused on cap and trade policy for controlling greenhouse gas emissions, combining cost of production estimates with output price projections to determine the overall economic impact of cap and trade legislation, as well as its impact on agricultural water consumption. Price projections that included carbon offsets were higher than projections that did not, due to land being taken out of production and prices being bid up. HR2454 will increase production costs, particularly energy intensive inputs. Output prices increase as producers reduce production in response to cost increases. If agricultural offsets are allowed, output prices will be bid up further. Offsets allow producers to receive payments for cutting emissions. Producers benefit due to indirect price effects. Since water is quantity limited, total water use is unchanged.The next study looked at the physical impacts of climate change on production, particularly rising temperatures and carbon dioxide concentrations. By analyzing the anticipated yield effects, it was found that overall net incomes would decrease and the water constraint would remain binding - meaning total water use is unchanged.The third paper analyzed the effects of agricultural policy on land and water resource allocation. Cotton is directly subsidized. Corn and grain sorghum are subsidized indirectly through ethanol subsidies. Sugar cane prices are artificially high due to tariff rate quotas on sugar imports. Removal of any of these interventions decreased net profits to producers, but water use remains unchanged. Removing all farm programs significantly decreases acres under cultivation, and reduces water use below the water constraint. It comes at a great cost to producers however, given the small amount of water saved.

3 pp. / This publication is meant to be a short fact sheet that provides estimates of turfgrass consumptive use (of water) in the Payson area. The publication provides a brief description of the procedures used to generate the CU estimates, then presents the data both as a CU table and CU curve. The publication should prove useful for irrigation management and water resource planning.

Revised; Originally Published: 2005 / 4 pp.

This study makes a contribution to the Australian urban water supply industry because it highlights some of the critical issues the industry faces in the future. Through the scenarios it illuminates an alternative method to develop strategies for the future. Ultimately the end result of scenario planning is not a more accurate picture of the future, but better decision making for the future. This is a significant piece of research because it demonstrates the advantages of the scenario planning process as a method to illuminate the potential future dangers and opportunities in the water industry's business environment. The scenarios can be used as a launching pad for strategic planning and to prepare the water industry for the uncertainties it faces. Water is precious and essential to life. Water supply is arguably the ultimate essential service. Australia uses about 22,000 gigalitres of water [l gigalitre (GL) = 1,000,000,000 litres, approximately 444 Olympic swimming pools (ABS 2004)] per annum across all sectors, irrigation, industry and domestic. The aim of this study was to determine the critical issues for the future of the Australian urban water supply industry. The study achieved this with the aid of scenarios that tell stories about urban water supply to the year 2025. A key to this study is the concept of organisations as living organisms, which are capable of learning and adapting to changes in their business environment. Today's business environment is constantly changing through globalisation, technological innovation and society's values. To survive, organisations must be able to anticipate and adapt to this often uncertain environment. / Traditional methods, from a mechanistic perspective, of developing strategic plans for the future have a poor track record because they invariably rely on forecasting and predicting the future from historical information that, in an increasingly uncertain and fast changing world, may no longer be appropriate. Scenarios are stories about the future. They combine uncertainty and trends with creativity, insight and intuition to enable an organisation to learn and develop strategies for the future from an organic perspective. Scenarios are not predictions, but they are plausible stories about the future. The stories do allow an organisation to re-perceive a different world by questioning prevailing paradigms and assumptions. The underlying philosophical basis for scenario planning is constructivist which is consistent with the ontological position taken for this study. This study was undertaken under a qualitative research paradigm. The ontological position taken to answer the research question was constructivist with a critical perspective where realities are intangible mental constructs based on the culture and experience of individuals or groups. Constructs are more or less informed and changeable. From an epistemological perspective the constructivist position assumes that the enquirer and subject of the research are interactively linked so that findings are created. Research under a constructivist paradigm requires a hermeneutical and dialectical methodology leading to interpretation. / The methodology adopted for this study was grounded research, being a modification of grounded theory and applicable to the business environment. Data were initially gathered by semi-structured interview, the objective being two fold. 1. The data were used to elicit critical issues for the future of the Australian urban water supply industry. 2. The data were used to develop 'plausible' futures for the urban water supply industry in the form of scenarios. The data were analysed using grounded research principles and organised using NVivo (Richards 1999; NVivo 2002). After two stages of analysis, 16 major categories, focusing on the future emerged from the data. In order to write the scenarios two key uncertainties critical to the future of the urban water supply industry were required for the scenario matrix. The two selected were 'Water availability' and 'Technological change' from the water industry's contextual environment. These two key uncertainties were considered to be the most uncertain and have the greatest impact on the future of the water industry. These two key uncertainties formed the context for the scenarios into which over 200 other issues were de-dimentionalised, as in the scenario planning method, and crafted into four scenarios. A time horizon of 2025 was selected for the scenarios to reflect the water industry's long term planning horizon. / The scenarios were called 'Decadent water use', which depicts a future where there is plenty of water and technology addresses the cost of service delivery; 'Smart water world', which depicts a future where water is scarce but is addressed by technology providing alternative sources of water; 'Muddy waters', which depicts a future where there is plenty of water but technology does not address the cost of delivery and issues of infrastructure deterioration and 'Mad Max water world', which depicts a future where water is scarce and technology does not address the scarcity, the situation becomes a crisis. From the scenarios and using concepts from complex adaptive systems theory a number of critical issues emerged from the data. Some were at a philosophical level such as whether water, as a common good, fits with society's philosophy about water. Others were at a practical level for example expressing the criticality for the water industry to build community trust and support. The research notes the potential for further qualitative research in the fields of community attitudes and behaviours towards water, water services, recycling wastewater and the preparedness to pay for water services. In addition there is potential to further develop scenarios presented in this study; 'Decadent water use', 'Smart water world', 'Muddy waters' and 'Mad Max water world'; for the Australian urban water supply industry using the data from this research as a basis for group consultation.

Thesis (M. P. A.)--Texas State University-San Marcos, 2009. / "Fall 2009." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-97).

The oil and gas industry makes up approximately 1% of Texas’s overall water use (TWDB, 2012), but assessing water use on a regional and county level could show that the impacts from the oil and gas industry can be greater on a local level. Water planners within in Texas are becoming more concerned with how regional and local impacts from upstream development of oil and gas. These areas are under water-stressed conditions due to drought. To better understand potential local use impacts this study conducted qualitative and quantitative analyses. The qualitative analysis gathered input from stakeholders including representatives in the oil and gas industry, regulatory sector, and Texas water planning entities. This study utilized two public databases called FracFocus to assess average water use trends over time for the Eagle Ford region in south Texas and the Spraberry/Wolfcamp formations in west Texas. According to the qualitative analysis conducted trends toward increasing use of brackish groundwater and some recycling and reuse techniques by some operators are occurring in both regions. Also, there were slightly increasing trends of average water use per a well over time for both regions between January 2011 and April 2013. This analysis can be misrepresentative of the cause of the change in water use by the oil and gas industry, and therefore requires more data. The FracFocus database lacks the direction of the well, the lateral length of the well, and the mass of the proppant. These inputs would allow for a holistic analysis by water planners. vii The oil and gas industry can have local impacts on water use in particular regions. An increasing importance for regional water planners to have access to accurate oil and gas water use data is apparent. Collaboration between the oil and gas industry and Texas regional water planners will be a key component in areas with heavier mining water demands. Conclusively, the need for a more robust data set for regulators, industry professionals, and other stakeholders to access will benefit the strategic assessments oil and gas water use on local levels. / text