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Addressing affordability concerns in WFD implementation. Resource document for the WG Economics
No full textClean Water PV Sensors
No full textCurrently 708 million people lack access to a safe water supply, most of them in rural areas with limited infrastructures and resources. Unsafe water and poor sanitation cause 80% of all diseases in the developing world. This project is focused on the development of simple, cost-effective, easy to operate and maintain, and socially acceptable domestic water purification units. It is a challenge that requires the application of scientific knowledge from various disciplines. Solar disinfection technologies use the bactericidal effect of UV radiation or convert the solar energy into heat for pasteurization. But their widespread is highly affected by efficiency, cost and reliability. Natural UV water treatment (WT) only uses 5% of the total available solar energy, limiting the system efficiency dramatically and increasing the cost. And all solar WT lack lowcost sensors to detect when the water is clean, reducing their ‘usability’ in developing regions. We will develop low-cost clean water sensors suitable for all solar disinfection technologies by using PV solar cells that can measure received irradiance and water temperature based on their current and voltage. No sensors based on this idea have been built or considered yet despite the plummeting of silicon technologies costs and their potential high impact
New technologies: Non conventional water resources and information and comunication technologies
No full textInforme del grupo de trabajo participante del Atelier Regional de Lancement du Duxieme Forum Mediterraneen de l'Eau. Rabat, Marruecos, el 18 de junio de 2014, presentado en el II Foro Mediterráneo del Agua, Murcia, España, 25 - 27 de noviembre de 201
Self-sustained webs of polyvinylidene fluoride electrospun nano-fibers: Effects of polymer concentration and desalination by direct contact membrane distillation
No full textThe effects of the polymer polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) concentration on the characteristics and direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) desalination performance of self-sustained electrospun nano-fibrous membranes (ENMs) have been studied. Different polymer concentrations ranging from 15 to 30 wt% were considered in the solvent mixture N,N-dimethyl acetamide and acetone, while all other electrospinning parameters were maintained the same. Viscosity, electrical conductivity and surface tension of the polymer solutions were measured and the effects of the PVDF concentration on fiber diameter, thickness, water contact angle, inter-fiber space, void volume fraction, liquid entry pressure, mechanical and thermal properties of the ENMs were investigated. The minimum polymer concentration, critical chain entanglement concentration, required for electrospinning beaded fibers and the concentration needed for the formation of bead-free fibers were localized. Two groups of ENMs were identified based on the surface structure of the ENMs, their void volume fraction and inter-fiber space. Bead-free ENMs, prepared with PVDF concentration higher than 22.5 wt%, exhibit higher DCMD permeate flux than the beaded ENMs. Beaded ENMs can be used in desalination by DCMD. Among the prepared ENMs, the optimized membrane exhibiting the highest DCMD performance was prepared with 25 wt% PVDF concentration
3D Detrital Aquifer Modelling for Water Resources Management of the Regional Park of the Lower Courses of Manzanares and Jarama Rivers (Madrid, Spain)
No full textChanging current practice in the application of EPIs to achieve the objectives of the WFD. Issues and Options.
No full text1. Strosser, P., Delacámara, G. Gómez, C.M., Lago, M., Maziotis, A
El agua como objeto transversal de gestión. Metodología para el inventario de recursos asociados al agua (IRAA) en áreas protegidas.
No full textLa huella hídrica como indicador de presiones: aplicación a la cuenca del Duero y al sector porcino español
No full textAbstract
The current development model, which is based on the overexploitation of natural resources, environmental degradation and social exclusion, must change into a more sustainable economy. It should also ensure human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities. Water, one of the most essential component for ecosystem functioning and human well being, plays a key role to reach this sustainable development. The use of environmental indicators, as the water footprint, could be a good tool to assess the human activities impacts on the water resources. It also involves managers, decision makers and the society as a whole in an integrated water resources management.
Water footprint is defined as the volume of freshwater consumed or polluted during the elaboration of a product, activity or service in a certain area and at a given time. It incorporates direct and indirect water usage in three components: green, blue and grey water.
In this dissertation, the use of the water footprint indicator as an information source for a better water management is evaluated. Also, the usefulness of the water footprint to communicate the environmental sustainably of different products, processes and services has been discussed. For this purpose, the methodology proposed by the Water Footprint Network has been implemented in two case studies: the agriculture in the Duero river basin, and the Spanish pork industry.
To simulate the volume of water consumed and polluted by agriculture in the Duero river basin, the CWUModel was developed. By distinguishing between rainfed and irrigated crops, the model is able to separate the use of green and blue water components of the water footprint. The first represents the rainwater stored as soil moisture and the second the irrigation water abstracted from rivers, lakes or aquifers. Using a N-leaching regression model, it has been possible to simulate the grey water component, defined as the volumen of water needed to assimilate the leaching of nitrogen application as fertilizer. Thanks to the spatial analysis, blue water footprint has also been compared with the monthly water availability in the river basin, identifying the actual and future water stress level in differents areas. By incorporating economic criteria in the water footprint assessment, it has also estimated the water and land apparent productivity in agriculture. Finally, a sensitivity analisis was developed to evaluate the effect of the uncertainty in the sources of information used on the predictions of the model.
The water footprint of the Spanish pork industry was estimated taking into account the major production ways: the industrial production systems of white pig and stabled Iberian pork, and the extensive production systems of Iberian pork, “montanera” and “recebo”. Since most of the water footprint of this sector results from animal feeding, special attention has been paid to identifying and quantifying the associated virtual water flows. A sustainability assesment of these virtual water flows has been developed through a comparison with other water scarcity and pollution indicators in the origin watershed. In this way, it was possible to identify the hotspot, i.e. flows that can be translated to an unsustainable use of water resources in the origin basin. Since the most common way to manage the pig slurry is by its application as a fertilizer in agriculture, an assessment of the grey water footprint of nitrogen leaching has also been developed.
According to the results of this and other studies, it can be concluded that a comprehensive assessment of the water footprint -expressed disaggregated into its three components and compared with other environmental and socio-economic indicators- offers a comprehensive view of the exerted pressures and impacts on water resources, thus helping the society to understand the interconnection of the water cycle at different scales
