Integrated Water Management for the 21st Century: Problems and Solutions
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 128, Issue 4
Abstract
Most of the projected global population increases will take place in third world countries that already suffer from water, food, and health problems. Increasingly, the various water uses (municipal, industrial, and agricultural) must be coordinated with, and integrated into, the overall water management of the region. Sustainability, public health, environmental protection, and economics are key factors. More storage of water behind dams and especially in aquifers via artificial recharge is necessary to save water in times of water surplus for use in times of water shortage. Municipal wastewater can be an important water resource but its use must be carefully planned and regulated to prevent adverse health effects and, in the case of irrigation, undue contamination of groundwater. While almost all liquid fresh water of the planet occurs underground as groundwater, its long-term suitability as a source of water is threatened by nonpoint source pollution from agriculture and other sources and by aquifer depletion due to groundwater withdrawals in excess of groundwater recharge. In irrigated areas, groundwater levels may have to be controlled with drainage or pumped well systems to prevent waterlogging and salinization of soil. Salty drainage waters must then be handled in an ecologically responsible way. Water short countries can save water by importing most of their food and electric power from other countries with more water, so that in essence they also get the water that was necessary to produce these commodities and, hence, is virtually embedded in the commodities. This “virtual” water tends to be a lot cheaper for the receiving country than developing its own water resources. Local water can then be used for purposes with higher social, ecological, or economic returns or saved for the future. Climate changes in response to global warming caused by carbon dioxide emission are difficult to predict in space and time. Resulting uncertainties require flexible and integrated water management to handle water surpluses, water shortages, and weather extremes. Long-term storage behind dams and in aquifers may be required. Rising sea levels will present problems in coastal areas.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Albritton, D. L., et al. (2001). “Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis, Contribution from Working Group I to the Third Assessment Report, Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change.” Technical Summary, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, U.K., 21–83.
Allan, J. J.(1998). “Virtual water: a strategic resource, global solutions to regional deficits.” Ground Water, 36, 545–546.
Anderson, J., Rodriguez, A., Fletcher, C., and Fitzgerald, D.(2001). “Researchers focus attention on coastal response to climate change.” Trans., Am. Geophys. Union, 82(44), 513–520.
Apse, M. P., Akaron, G. S., Snedden, W. A., and Blumwald, E.(1999). “Salt tolerance conferred by overexpression of a vacuolar antiport in Aribidopsis.” Science, 285(31), 1256–1258.
Asano, T., ed. (1998). Wastewater reclamation and reuse, Technomic, Lancaster, Penn.
Bouwer, H. (1978). Groundwater hydrology, McGraw–Hill, New York, 480.
Bouwer, H. (1989). “Estimating and enhancing groundwater recharge.” Groundwater recharge, M. L. Sharma, ed., Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 1–10.
Bouwer, H.(1990). “Agricultural chemicals and groundwater quality,” J. Soil Water Conservat., 45(2), 184–189.
Bouwer, H.(1993). “From sewage farm to zero discharge.” Eur. Water Pollution Control, 3(1), 9–16.
Bouwer, H.(1994). “Irrigation and global water outlook.” Agric. Water Manage., 25, 221–231.
Bouwer, H.(1997). “Role of groundwater recharge and water reuse in integrated water management.” Arabian J. Sci. Eng., 22, 123–131.
Bouwer, H. (1999). “Chapter 24: Artificial recharge of groundwater: systems, design, and management.” Hydraulic design handbook, L. W. Mays, ed., McGraw–Hill, New York, 24.1–24.44.
Bouwer, H., Fox, P., Westerhoff, P., and Drewes, J. E.(1999). “Integrating water management and reuse: causes for concern?” Water. Qual. Internat., 1999, 19–22.
California State Department of Health Services (CSDHS). 1998. NDMA in drinking water, California State Department of Health Services, Sacramento, Calif.
Christen, K.(2001). “TMDL program broken but fixable, NRC report finds.” Water Env. Technol. 13(9), 31–36.
Crook, J., MacDonald, J. A., and Trussell, R. R.(1999). “Potable use of reclaimed water.” J. Am. Water Works Assoc., 91(8), 40–49.
Daughton, C. G., and Ternes, T. A.(1999). “Pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the environment: agents of subtle change?” Environ. Health Perspect., 107, Supplement 6:907–938.
Daughton, C. B., and Jones-Lepp, T. L., eds. (2001). Pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the environment, ACS Symposium Series 791, American Chemical Society Washington, D.C.
de Jong, J., Können, G., and Kattenberg, S. (2001). “Climate changes in the Rhine basin.” Special report, Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute, P. O. Box 201, 3730 AE DeBilt, The Netherlands.
Finnan, J. M., Donnelly, A., Burke, J. I., and Jones, M. B.(2002). “The effects of elevated concentrations of carbon dioxide and ozone on potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) yield.” Agric., Ecosyst. Environ., 88, 11–22.
Gabbay, S.(2001). “Vulnerability and adaptation to climate change.” Israel Env. Bull., 24(1), 11–14.
Goodbred, S. L., et al., “Reconnaissance of 17B-estradiol, 11-ketotestosterone, vitellogenian, and gonad histopathology in common carp of United States Streams: potential for contaminant-induced endocrine disruption.” U.S. Geological Survey Open File Rep. No. 96-627. Sacramento, California.
Gray, R.(2001). “EPA sets cost estimate on TMDLs.” Water Eng. Manage., 148(10), 8.
Handleman, S. (2001). “Exporting fresh water.” Time Mag., August B14–B15.
Hough, A. M., and Derwent, R. G.(1990). “Changes in the global concentration of tropospheric ozone due to human activities.” Nature (London), 344, 645–648.
Hulme, M., and Kelly, M.(1993). “Exploring the links between desertification and climate change.” Environment, 35:4, 39–11, 45.
Isenhart, T. M., Schultz, R. C., and Colletti, J. P. (1998). “Chapter 19: Watershed restoration and agricultural practices in the midwest: Bear Creek of Iowa.” Watershed restoration: Principles and practices, J. E. William, C. A. Wood, and M. P. Dombeck, eds., 318–334.
Ishaq, A. M., and Khan, A. A.(1997). “Recharge of aquifers with reclaimed wastewater: A case for Saudi Arabia.” Arabian J. Sci. Eng., 22(1C), 133–141.
Jobin, W. (1999). Dams and disease, Taylor and Francis, Florence, Kentucky, 544.
Kimball, B. A. (2002). “Global change and water resources.” Irrigation of Agricultural Crops Monograph, R. J. Lascano and R. E. Sojka, eds., American Society of Agronomy, Madison, Wis., in press.
Kolpin, D. W., et al. (2002). “Pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other organic wastewater in U.S. streams, 1999–2000.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 36(6), 1202–1211.
Lee, K., Isenhart, T. M., Schultz, R. C., and Mickelson, S. K.(1999). “Sediment and nutrient trapping abilities of switchgrass and bromegrass buffer strips.” Agroforestry Syst., 44, 121–132.
McCann, B.(1999). “By-product blues.” Water, 21, 15–18.
McCann, B.(2000). “Oceanic answer.” Water, 21, 26–28.
McClurg, S.(1998). “Climate change and water: what might the future hold?” Western Water, 1998, 4–13.
McClurg, S.(2001). “Conjunctive use: banking for a dry day.” Western Water, (Jul/Aug),4–13.
National Academy of Sciences (2001). Under the weather: Climate, ecosystems, and infectious disease, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.
National Research Council (NAS), (2001). Assessing the TMDL approach to water quality management, K. Reckhow, Chair., National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.
Newcom, J. S.(2001). “Dealing with the shock.” Western Water (Sep/Oct), 4–13.
Office of Science and Technology, 1997. “Climate change: State of knowledge.” Washington, DC.
Pearce, F. (1992). The dammed, The Bodley Head, London, 276.
Postel, S. (1992). Last oasis, Worldwatch Institute, Washington, D.C.
Postel, S. (1999). Pillar of sand, Worldwatch Institute, Washington, D.C.
Pyne, R. D. G. (1995). Groundwater recharge and wells: A guide to aquifer storage and recovery, Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, Fla.
Richardson, M. L., and Bowron, J. M.(1985). “The fate of pharmaceutical chemicals in the aquatic environment.” J. Pharmacol., 37, 1–12.
Schlesinger, W. H.(1999). “Carbon sequestration in soils.” Science, 284, 2095.
Schultz, R. C., et al. (1995). “Design and placement of a multi-species riparian bugger strip system.” Agroforestry Syst., 31, 117–132.
Shannon, M., Cervinka, V., and Daniel, D. A. (1997). “Chapter 4: Drainage water reuse.” Management of agricultural drainage water quality, C. A. Madromootoo, W. R. Johnston, and L. S. Willardson, eds. Water Rep. No. 13, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy, 29–40.
Showstack, R.(2001). “Panel urges measures to minimize effects of future abrupt climate changes.” Trans., Am. Geophys. Union, 82(52), 653–654.
Siegenthaler, U., and Sarmiento, J. L.(1993). “Atmospheric carbon dioxide and the ocean.” Nature (London), 365, 119–225.
Smith, J. D.(2002). “U.S. EPA's new rule confusing, delays TMDL program; should be scrapped.” Water Environ. Technol., 14(2), 6–7.
Stone, D. B., Moomaw, C. L., and Davis, A.(2001). “Estimating recharge distribution by incorporating runoff from mountain areas in an alluvial basin in the Great Basin region of the southwestern United States.” Ground Water, 39(6), 807–818.
Tatro, S. B.(1999). “Dam breaching, the rest of the story.” Civ. Eng. (N.Y.), 69(4), 50–55.
Tyler, S. W.et al. (1996). “Soil-water flux in the southern Great Basin, United States: temporal and spatial variations over the last 120,000 years.” Water Resour. Res., 32, 1481–1499.
University of Wisconsin (2001). “Succeeding with a dam decommissioning project.” Short course offered by Department of Engineering Professional Development, Madison Wis.
Wagner, E.(2001). “There is no perfect time to issue a TMDL rule.” Water Environ. Technol., 13(9), 8–10.
Warner, W. S.(2000). “The influence of religion on wastewater treatment.” Water, 21, 11–13.
Warrick, R. A., LeProvost, C., Meier, M. F., Oerlemans, J., and Woodworth, P. L. (1996). “Changes in sea level,” in Climate Change 1995. The Science of Climate Change, J. T. Houghton, L. G. Meira Filho, B. A. Callander, N. Harris, A. Kattenberg, and K. Maskell, eds., Cambridge Univ. Press, New York, 361–405.
Wichelns, D.(2001). “The role of ‘virtual water’ in efforts to achieve food security and other national goals, with an example from Egypt.” Agric. Water Manage., 49(2), 135–155.
World Health Organization. (1989). “Health guidelines for the use of wastewater in agriculture and aquaculture.” Tech. Bull. Ser. 77, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland.
Xu, H., ed. (1993). Salinity gradient solar ponds—a practical manual. Vol. 1 (Solar pond design and construction) and Vol. 2 (Solar pond operation and maintenance). Dept. of Industrial and Mechanical Engineering, Univ. of Texas, El Paso, Tex.
Zullei-Seibert, N. (1998). “Your daily “drugs” in drinking water? State of the art for artificial groundwater recharge.” Proc., 3rd Int. Symposium on Artificial Recharge of Groundwater, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 405–407.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 128 • Issue 4 • August 2002
Pages: 193 - 202
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 21, 2001
Revised: Feb 28, 2002
Published online: Jul 15, 2002
Published in print: Aug 2002
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.