STUDIES ON WATER MANAGEMENT ISSUES Edited by Muthukrishnavellaisamy Kumarasamy Studies on Water Management Issues Edited by Muthukrishnavellaisamy Kumarasamy Published by InTech Janeza Trdine 9, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia Copyright © 2011 InTech All chapters are Open Access distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles even for commercial purposes, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. After this work has been published by InTech, authors have the right to republish it, in whole or part, in any publication of which they are the author, and to make other personal use of the work. Any republication, referencing or personal use of the work must explicitly identify the original source. 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First published December, 2011 Printed in Croatia A free online edition of this book is available at www.intechopen.com Additional hard copies can be obtained from orders@intechweb.org Studies on Water Management Issues, Edited by Muthukrishnavellaisamy Kumarasamy p. cm. ISBN 978-953-307-961-5 Contents Preface IX Part 1 Surface Water and Groundwater Management 1 Chapter 1 Comparing Extreme Rainfall and Large-Scale Flooding Induced Inundation Risk – Evidence from a Dutch Case-Study 3 E.E. Koks, H. de Moel and E. Koomen Chapter 2 Flash Flood Hazards 27 Dénes Lóczy, Szabolcs Czigány and Ervin Pirkhoffer Chapter 3 Change of Groundwater Flow Characteristics After Construction of the Waterworks System Protective Measures on the Danube River – A Case Study in Slovakia 53 František Burger Chapter 4 Changes in Groundwater Level Dynamics in Aquifer Systems – Implications for Resource Management in a Semi-Arid Climate 77 Adelana Michael Part 2 Water Quality Management 105 Chapter 5 Modelling of Surface Water Quality by Catchment Model SWAT 107 Matjaž Glavan and Marina Pintar Chapter 6 Evolution of Water Quality in Romania 133 Ioan Oroian and Antonia Odagiu Chapter 7 Ecological Tools for the Management of Cyanobacteria Blooms in the Guadiana River Watershed, Southwest Iberia 159 Helena M. Galvão, Margarida P. Reis, Rita B. Domingues, Sandra M. Caetano, Sandra Mesquita, Ana B. Barbosa, Cristina Costa, Carlos Vilchez and Margarida Ribau Teixeira VI Contents Chapter 8 Ecosystem Technologies and Ecoremediation for Water Protection, Treatment and Reuse 193 Tjaša Griessler Bulc, Darja Istenic and Alenka Šajn-Slak Chapter 9 Heterogeneous Photocatalytic Oxidation an Effective Tool for Wastewater Treatment – A Review 219 Cheng Chee Kaan, Azrina Abd Aziz, Shaliza Ibrahim, Manickam Matheswaran and Pichiah Saravanan Part 3 Water Resources Planning and Management 237 Chapter 10 Novel SPP Water Management Strategy and Its Applications 239 Shu-Qing Yang, Bo-Qiang Qin and Peng-Zhi Lin Chapter 11 Managing the Effects of the Climate Change on Water Resources and Watershed Ecology 259 Ali Erturk Preface Sustainability of ecosystem needs water which is a finite and vulnerable resource. Fortunately, water is a renewable resource. But management of water resources is always a challenge for sustainability development. Rapid urbanization and industrialization has put more stress on water resources from increased water needs for agriculture, municipal water supply, navigation, recreation, industrial processes and ecosystem maintenance. Agriculture consumes about 70 % of world’s freshwater. Industrial activities need 20 % and remaining 10 % is to be managed for water supply. Studies on human population warn that current population growth rate will lead to a demand of 6% more food and it is predicted to reach 9% in 30 years from now. In order to meet this food demand, agricultural and industrial activities will require more freshwater for agricultural production and food processes. In the year 2007, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Sri Lanka conducted an assessment of agricultural water management to relate availability of freshwater, demand for food and growing population. The current availability of water for agriculture use around the world had been assessed and the assessment identified water scares sites. It found that one fifth (more than 1.2 billion) of the world's population live in very severe water shortage areas. These areas do not have adequate water to meet even all basic demands. Nearly about one and half billion people are living in areas with severe water scarcity. These areas have insufficient water resources to satisfy all demands. Although water scarcity has become an important issue in many parts of the world, studies say water scarcity may not be an urgent issue in rest of the world, but many countries realized that there are growing pressures on water availability and supplies and become conscious about water security which will be critical in future. Half of the world’s population now lives in cities and towns. This number will probably increase which is expected nearly one sixth more by the year 2050. As a result there will be a huge demand for freshwater supply. Multidirectional developmental activities, for improved quality of life, have increased the quantity of wastes. Thus there are threats due to huge amount of pollutants reaching fresh water sources and make them unfit for human consumption and ecosystem processes. Wastewater discharged from industrial and urban areas can contain a wide variety of pollutants. This means that there will be high pollution level due to huge amounts of heavy metals, salts, nutrients and pathogens. Unwisely, the X Preface fresh water resources are being exploited for assimilation of wastes beyond their self- cleaning capacities. Due to the least developments, many world countries have the lowest levels of wastewater treatment options; sometimes untreated wastes are being discharged. The farmers in those countries often use polluted water with pathogens for irrigating crops. The pathogens such as bacteria, viruses affect farmers and consumers in direct or indirect ways and kill more than a million people annually due to common illnesses, include diarrhea, cholera etc. Too much water at the wrong time is as bad as too little water when it is required. Water availability is highly uneven in its spatial and temporal distributions both in quantity and quality. Thus, management of water resources must be viewed from local, regional and global perspectives to solve problems associated with storm water & flood management, water storage & distribution, surface water & groundwater quality, erosion & sedimentation, ecosystem protection & other natural resources etc. People in the interdisciplinary water management field are concerned with supply of clean potable water to be available to people who need it. They also focus on water availability, supply and demand of industrial and the environmental water needs. Water management studies include a number of different topics such as sewage treatment, wetlands, soil erosion etc. Many countries have water resources departments. These departments are in charge for management of water resources and also control and direct regional offices of their own focus area of water management. One water management research group involves in researching and managing the water for the natural environment and ecosystem. This includes monitoring and analyzing the water availability for the environment, its spatial and temporal variations. Water management can also include studies on water pollution, navigation, environmental protection and flood control measures. This may include design, build and maintenance of flood control structures, restoring natural wetlands, constructing artificial wetlands and minimizing runoff from the developmental areas. Some people in water management focus on human tendency in water use. They also focus on use of water in industry and agriculture. Many water management specialists say that it is very important to preserve water for conservation of ecosystem in many regions of the world; they also suggest recycling and reuse of treated effluent in agricultural and industrial sectors may reduce environmental impact. Thus water management is all about optimal use of water and recycle, reuse and minimal discharge of waste water which must have lowest environmental impact on the natural environment. Successful management of any resources needs accurate information of the resource available, demands for the resource, evaluation of significance and worth of the demands and good managerial policies to make decisions. A study of water management lists out the principles of water management for people and the environment which include (i) value water; (ii) use water sustainably; (iii) develop water management institutions; (iv) maintain database on water; (v) maintain [...]... availability, water treatment, water distribution, waste water treatment & disposal, flood management and water quality and ecosystem protection The objective of this book is therefore to present water management approaches under three different subsections, namely surface water & groundwater management, water quality management and water resources planning & management The surface water & groundwater section... research on extreme rainfall, flood hazards, flow calculation, groundwater level dynamics & flow etc The water quality section aims to cover research on water quality assessment, ecological tools & remediation and waste water treatment options Finally, the water resources planning & management section aims to cover research works on planning and management of water resources, to protect water pollution,... by ‘Rijkswaterstaat’, which is a governmental institution that is responsible for national water management and the roads of national importance in the Netherlands 3.3 Comparison of the different conditions When looking at the two sorts of flood risk described in the previous sections, a number of important differences can be determined, wherefore in Table 3 an overview is given In this section, these... only the first two scenarios are used This is due to the fact that with high water levels the ‘Delta Works’ will close 12 Studies on Water Management Issues The inundation maps used in this study for extreme rainfall events are obtained from the water board These maps, which have been calculated with the use of SOBEK RR and Channel Flow, are made for the water boards in response to the 2003 ’Nationaal... Furthermore, as discussed in section 3.1, a number of other factors should be taken into account when describing flood risk The consequences of large-scale floods are in general quite large For example, the economic damage of the flood of 1953 was, in present value, 8 Studies on Water Management Issues around one billion euro (van Veen, 2005) With large-scale flooding, there is not only damage to crops and... make sure water is accessible to everyone; (vii) use appropriate technology; (viii) act before the water related issues become severe; (ix) consider ecosystem sustainability; and (x) involve multidisciplinary teams for water related projects Water management project expert group may include civil engineers, water resources engineers, meteorologist, sanitation engineers, ecologists & environmentalists,... provides more variety in urban classes Other differences are observed in the definitions of maximum damages and damage curves 10 Studies on Water Management Issues Of final importance are the differences in policy Whilst for extreme events the Regional Water Boards are responsible for policy making, is ‘Rijkswaterstaat’ responsible for the policy making with large-scale floods Due to this difference, other... to allow for proper comparisons from which appropriate conclusions can be drawn 6 Studies on Water Management Issues 3.1 Flood risk of extreme rainfall events Flooding from extreme rainfall events vary from upwelling groundwater levels, which occurs frequently but with little damage to very large inundations of land which occur less frequent but with lots of damage Inundation due to extreme rainfall... Relatively limited Amount of inundation Few decimeters Few meters Flow speed Low High Human casualties None to few Few to many Type of water Fresh water Fresh, salt or brackish water Costs of prevention Relatively low Relatively high Safety norms Actual inundation Possibility of overflow Models Hoes (2007) HIS-SSM and Damage Scanner Policy Regional Water Boards Rijkswaterstaat Table 3 Overview of the... different damage function, whereby the possible amount of damage is in millions of euro per hectare Every damage function shows a curve where the possible inundation is on the x-axis and the damage factor on the y-axis (Figure 2) To determine the amount of damage in the area, a number of steps have to be taken: 1 2 3 4 Inundation depth: Inundation maps determine the maximum inundation depth for each cell, . availability for the environment, its spatial and temporal variations. Water management can also include studies on water pollution, navigation, environmental protection and flood control measures different subsections, namely surface water & groundwater management, water quality management and water resources planning & management. The surface water & groundwater section aims to. principles of water management for people and the environment which include (i) value water; (ii) use water sustainably; (iii) develop water management institutions; (iv) maintain database on water;