|
Accessibility |
| |
Reasonable access to water depends on the socio-economic, historical
and geograhpical setting; for the
Mediterranean region, we define it to mean a (piped) water
supply withinin the dwelling or enterprise or within
its immediate surroundings. |
|
Active involvement (Participation) |
| |
Citizens actively engage in decision-making
and policy-making. Active participation means
that citizens themselves take a role in the
exchange on policy-making, for instance by
proposing policy-options. At the same time,
the responsibility for policy formulation and
final decision rests with the government.
Engaging citizens in policy-making is an
advanced two-way relation between government
and citizens based on the principle of
partnership. Examples are open working
groups, laymen's panels and dialogue
processes.
|
|
Agriculture |
| |
Farming sector (NACE divisions A-B or ISIC
divisions 1-5). Agriculture covers the added
value from farming proper, and from forestry,
hunting and fishing.
|
|
Aquaculture
|
| |
Farming by fish farming companies of plants
and animals that live in water (freshwater,
seawaters and brackish waters) such as fish,
shellfish and algae.
|
|
Aquifer
|
| |
Any water-saturated zone in sedimentary or
rock stratum, especially an underground
stratum, which is significantly permeable so
that it may yield sufficient quantities of
water from wells or springs in order to serve
as a practical source of water supply. It is
capable of storing water and transmitting it
to wells, springs, or surface water bodies.
|
|
Awareness (of the public)
|
| |
An information activity which aims at
bringing water issues to the attention of a
group of people.
|
|
Brackish water
|
| |
Water with a salt concentration between 5 and
18 ppt (dividing point from the surface water
directive (75/440/EEC) Annex II).
|
|
Climate change
|
| |
Climate change refers to any change in
climate over time, whether due to natural
variability or as a result of human activity.
This usage differs from that in the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC), which defines 'climate
change' as: 'a change of climate which is
attributed directly or indirectly to human
activity that alters the composition of the
global atmosphere and which is in addition to
natural climate variability observed over
comparable time periods.
|
|
Consultation (Participation)
|
| |
Government asks for and receives citizens'
feedback on policymaking. In order to receive
feedback, government defines whose views are
sought on what issue during policy-making.
Receiving citizens' feedback also requires
government to provide information to citizens
beforehand. Consultation thus creates a
limited two-way relationship between
government and citizens. Examples are
comments on draft legislation, and public
opinion surveys.
|
|
Desalination
|
| |
The removal of salts from saline water to
provide freshwater. This method is becoming a
more popular way of providing freshwater to
populations. Seawater desalination uses two
main processes: reverse osmosis and
distillation processes. In particular the
cost of reverse osmosis desalination has
decreased substantially over the past decade,
bringing it down to US$0.60 to US$1.00 per
cubic meter. This still makes seawater
desalination more expensive than most other
sources of water supply where they are
available but in arid locations close to the
sea and far away from suitable surface or
groundwater sources, seawater desalination is
the most economical option for urban water
supply.
|
|
Divestiture
|
| |
Full private ownership and responsibility
under a regulatory regime.
|
|
Drought
|
| |
Indicates a temporary and prolonged status of
dry weather caused by a continuous absence of
rainfall. A condition of dryness due to lower
than normal precipitation, resulting in
reduced stream flows, reduced soil moisture
and/or lowering of the potentiometric surface
in wells. Drought is a slow devastating
process, which starts with a reduction in
rainfall (Meteorological drought) and
depending on its severity, time and area
extent, it may develop into an Agricultural
Drought, and/or to a Hydrological drought.
Agricultural drought results in loss of
rainfed agricultural crops, where
hydrological drought has a negative impact on
irrigated agriculture and on the domestic
water supply.
|
|
Efficient water use
|
| |
Using the minimum amount possible of the
available resources without wasting them.
|
|
Environmental education programmes
|
| |
They range from public awareness and
education activities (information about
environmental issues) to training activities
(learn how each individual can act in order
to reduce her impact on the environment).
|
|
Environmental water use
|
| |
Use of water for mantaining ecological flows
in rivers and minimum retention in wetlands.
|
|
Estuary
|
| |
A place where fresh and salt water mix,
where a river enters an ocean.
|
|
Eutrophication
|
| |
Eutrophication is the term used for nutrient
enrichment of a water body. This enrichment
may be natural or anthropogenic.
Eutrophication may be seen as a pressure on
the receiving environment, causing major
changes in ecosystems and jeopardising many
beneficial uses of the resources. Nitrogen
and/or phosphate compounds either discharged
through pipes, or lost to the water
environment via the atmosphere or run-off
from land cause Anthropogenic eutrophication.
|
|
Fertilizers
|
| |
Any organic or inorganic material of natural
or synthetic origin that is added to the soil
to supply certain elements essential (e.g.,
mineral nitrogen and mineral phosphorus) to
the growth of plants.
|
|
Flat rate tariffs
|
| |
Constant unit charge rate structure (ex:
annual rates), similar to bulk rates. Flat
rate tariffs are often unrelated to the
precise quantities of water used (i.e.,
unmetered use).
|
|
Flood
|
| |
An overflow of water onto lands that are used
or usable by man and not normally covered by
water. Floods have two essential
characteristics: The inundation of land is
temporary; and the land is adjacent to and
inundated by overflow from a river, stream,
lake, or ocean.
|
|
Freshwater
|
| |
i) All nontidal and tidal waters generally
having a salinity due to natural sources of
less than or equal to 3.5 parts per thousand
at near high tide.
ii) Water that contains less than 1,000
milligrams per liter (mg/L) of dissolved
solids; generally, more than 500 mg/L of
dissolved solids is undesirable for drinking
and many industrial uses.
|
|
Full cost recovery
|
| |
Full cost pricing of water acts as a powerful
incentive for its conservation. All the
different kinds of costs a complete
definition of Full Cost Recovery could
possibly contain are:
I) Operation and maintenance costs;
II) Capital Costs;
III) Opportunity Costs;
IV) Resource Costs;
V) Social Costs;
VI) Environmental damage costs;
VII) Long Run Marginal Costs (LRMC).
Using an approach of Full Cost Recovery including all these elements would mean
that account is taken of the costs arising
from the everyday operation of water
utilities (transport, distribution,
collection, treatment) (I), as well as all
the costs that result from the need to raise
loans for investment in infrastructure (II).
The direct costs for interests as well as
opportunity costs, taking into consideration
the difference of return of capital
investment between the investment in water
affairs and the average of the economy (III).
Furthermore the costs arising if water is
economically scarce (IV) would be taken into
account and the fact that a certain use may
impose costs on other users (such as social
costs) (V). In addition to these economic
considerations FCR could include the fact
that environmental damage costs arise if
water is used (VI).
|
|
Groundwater
|
| |
(1) Water that flows or seeps downward and
saturates soil or rock, supplying springs and
wells. The upper surface of the saturated
zone is called the water table.
(2) Water stored underground in rock crevices
and in the pores of geologic materials that
make up the Earth's crust.
|
|
Groundwater recharge
|
| |
Inflow of water from the surface to a
groundwater reservoir. Infiltration of
precipitation and its movement to the water
table is one form of natural recharge. Also,
the volume of water added by this process.
|
|
Heavy industry
|
| |
The ensemble of mechanical, metallurgical and
steel and iron industries.
|
|
Hydrological monitoring stations
|
| |
Station monitoring, as a function of time,
the local flow rate or discharge (the volume
of water flowing through a cross-section) in
a unit of time. Discharge may be estimated
by, e.g., the slope-area method, using these
factors in one of the variations of the Chezy
equation (the simplest of the several
variations is the Manning equation which,
although developed for conditions of uniform
flow in open channels, may give an adequate
estimate of the non-uniform flow which is
usual in natural channels). More accurate
values for discharge can be obtained when a
permanent gauging station has been
established on a stretch of a river where
there is a stable relationship between stage
(water level) and discharge, and this has
been measured and recorded. Once this
relationship is established, readings need
only be taken of stage, because the discharge
may then be read from a stage-discharge
curve.
|
|
Improvements in lifestyle
|
| |
Improvements in the living conditions of
individuals, often measured by income
increase, which imply an increase of demand,
consumption, waste production, etc.
|
|
Industry
|
| |
It equates to NACE divisions C-F or ISIC
divisions 10-45. It includes extraction
industries, those in the manufacturing sector
(NACE divisions D or ISIC divisions 15-37),
building sector, electricity, water and gas
supplies.
|
|
Inefficient set of infrastructures
|
| |
Infrastructures are considered inefficient
when they waste resources because of leakages
(cfr. efficient water use), when they don't
work properly, when their number, location
and capacity doesn't fit the demand of water
by the population and the different sectors
of use.
|
|
Information (Participation)
|
| |
Government disseminates information on policy-
making on its own initiative - or citizens
access information upon their demand. In both
cases, information flows essentially in one
direction, from the government to citizens in
a one-way relationship. Examples are access
to public records, official gazettes, and
government web sites.
|
|
Institutions
|
| |
Governments, intergovernmental organizations,
non-governmental organizations, development
agencies, scientific and research
communities, local authorities, universities
and business which are charged with
legislation, water regulation, water supply
and sewerage provisions, pollution control
and enforcement.
|
|
Insufficient capacity
|
| |
The storage capacity of the infrastructures
doesn't fit the demand of water by the
population and the different sectors of use.
|
|
Insufficient extension
|
| |
The infrastructures don't cover all the
territory and the demand nodes.
|
|
Leachate
|
| |
A contaminated liquid resulting when water
percolates, or trickles, through waste
materials and collects components of those
wastes; leaching usually occurs at landfill
and may result in hazardous chemicals
entering soils, surface water, or
groundwater.
|
|
Light industry
|
| |
The ensemble of industries which produce
small-sized and convenience goods.
|
|
Main water compartment
|
| |
It indicates that water body that is the most
exploited by each sector (e.g. agriculture
may use above all groundwater for irrigation
purposes, industry may exploit the water of
lakes and rivers - surface water, etc.).
|
|
Metering
|
| |
Metering devices and procedures charge rates
in accordance with actual consumed volumes.
|
|
Minimum consumption tariff or fixed tariff
|
| |
The minimum consumption charge is
the payment due for the access to the
service. Fixed fees help stabilize utility
income, but - depending on its level - they
can impose a burden on poor, low-volume
users.
|
|
Municipal solid waste
|
| |
The definition of solid waste varies
according to the country, but it can be
described as material, which has no further
useful purpose and must be discarded. It does
not have any commercial value for the
producer, even if it can be reused by other
activities. Solid waste is classed into the
following categories: Plastics (bags,
bottles); Glass items (bottles, flasks);
Metal objects (tins, ...); Cloth, leather or
rubber items; Other items.
Municipal waste refers to waste collected by
or on behalf of municipalities. It includes
waste originating from households, municipal
services (roadway, parks), similar waste from
commerce and trade, office buildings,
institutions like schools, hospitals,
government buildings, and small businesses
whose waste is treated in the same
installations as those collected by the
municipalities. The definition excludes waste
from municipal sewage network and treatment,
as well as municipal construction and
demolition waste. Households waste generally
includes domestic waste (normal and special),
bulky waste and animal corpses.
|
|
Natural disasters
|
| |
Natural disasters may affect a whole country
or restricted areas in its territory. Natural
disasters taken into account are: storms and
their direct manifestations (floods, hail,
winds, tidal waves), lightning, drought,
fires, ground movement (landslides,
avalanches). Manifestations of the earth's
internal energy (earthquakes, volcanic
eruptions) are excluded by the present
definition.
|
|
Participation
|
| |
Participation processes take many forms,
including face-to-face deliberation, problem
solving, consensus building, traditional
public hearings, and public comment
procedures. Public participation is a
powerful tool for gaining insights from many
sectors of the community.
|
|
Pesticides
|
| |
Any substance or mixture of substances
intended for preventing, destroying or
repelling any insect, rodent, nematode,
fungus, weed or any other form of pest (ex:
insecticides, fungicides, herbicides).
|
|
Phosphorous and nitrogen runoff
|
| |
Phosphorus and nitrogen components carried to
receiving waters, after having been picked up
from land by run-off (i.e., that portion of
rainfall, melted snow or irrigation water
that flows across the ground's surface and is
eventually returned to streams).
|
|
Polluter pays principle
|
| |
Several damages to the environment but also
damages to the social system are not
calculated and compensated by the responsible
parties. Instead are many costs carried by
the state and the social community. Partly
takes a temporary or spatial transfer place,
with the result that future generations or
foreign countries have to pay for the damages
of recent uses. This is not conform with
sustainable development especially in its
social dimension. The demand for a adequate
assignment of costs and responsibilities is
the central statement of the polluters pay
principle. The polluters pay principle
includes also the resource-user-pays-
principle. To assure the water resource for
future generations as well as a ecological
habitat the polluters pay principle has to be
set into practice in all its aspects.
|
|
Poor quality water
|
| |
Water which doesn't have the right chemical,
physical, and biological characteristics, so
that it can't be suitable for a particular
purpose.
|
|
Potable water
|
| |
Water that does not contain objectionable
pollution, contamination, minerals, or
infective agents and is considered
satisfactory for domestic consumption using
conventional water treatment processes (e.g.,
chemical coagulation/flocculation,
clarification, filtration, disinfection). The
term will be often used interchangeably with
drinking water.
Drinking water: Water intended for human
consumption. According to the drinking water
Directive it shall mean: (a) all water either
in its original state or after treatment,
intended for drinking, cooking, food
preparation or other domestic purposes,
regardless of its origin and whether it is
supplied from a distribution network, from a
tanker, or in bottles or containers; (b) all
water used in any food-production undertaking
for the manufacture, processing, preservation
or marketing of products or substances
intended for human consumption unless the
competent national authorities are satisfied
that the quality of the water cannot affect
the wholesomeness of the foodstuff in its
finished form. (Directive 98/83/EC of 3
November 1998 on the quality of water
intended for human consumption.)
|
|
Preservation of natural resources
|
| |
The action of reserving, protecting or
safeguarding a portion of the natural
environment from unnatural disturbance. It
does not imply preserving an area in its
present state, for natural events and natural
ecological processes are expected to
continue. Preservation is part of, and not
opposed to, conservation.
|
|
Privatisation
|
| |
This term was commonly used towards the end
of the 1980s to describe the increase in
private involvement; it generally refers to
the full hand-over of assets (or divestiture)
to the private sector.
|
|
Protected areas
|
| |
The International Union for the Conservation
of Nature (IUCN) defines six classes of
protected areas, divided in two groups:
Totally protected areas which are
maintained in a natural state and are
forbidden to extractive uses: Natural or
Scientific Reserves (I), National Parks (II),
Natural Monuments (III)
The partially protected areas which are
arranged for particular uses such as leisure
in order to ensure optimal living conditions
for certain species or ecological
communities: Habitat or Species Management
Reserves (IV), Protected Land or Seascapes
(V) and Managed Protected Natural Resource
Areas (VI).
Protected areas include many different areas
such as:
Areas designated for the abstraction of water
intended for human consumption;
Areas designated for the protection of
economically significant aquatic species;
Bodies of water designated as recreational
waters, including areas designated as bathing
waters under Directive 76/160/EEC;
Nutrient-sensitive areas, including areas
designated as vulnerable zones under
Directive 91/676/EEC (Nitrates Directive);
Areas designated as sensitive under Directive
91/271/EEC (Urban Waste Water Treatment
Directive);
Areas designated for the protection of
habitats or species where the maintenance or
improvement of the status of water is an
important factor in their protection,
including relevant Natura 2000 sites
designated under Directive 92/43/EEC
(habitats) and Directive 79/409/EEC (Birds).
|
|
Rainfall harvesting
|
| |
Rooftop rainwater "harvesting", produce only
small total quantities of water, but it is
potable water. Even in areas of low rainfall,
it is possible to design low-cost systems,
with cisterns scaled to families, that will
provide for all drinking and cooking needs
(e.g., 5-7 L/person per day) in most years.
The greater problem is not designing the
systems but convincing people unused to this
technique that the stored water is indeed
potable.
|
|
Recycled (waste)water
|
| |
Water that is used more than once before it
passes back into the natural hydrologic
system.
|
|
Reservoir
|
| |
A pond, lake, or basin, either natural or
artificial, for the storage, regulation, and
control of water.
|
|
Return flow
|
| |
1) That part of a diverted flow that is not
consumptively used and returned to its
original source or another body of water.
2) (Irrigation) Drainage water from irrigated
farmlands that re-enters the water system to
be used further downstream (i.e., irrigation
water that is applied to an area and which is
not consumed in evaporation or transpiration
and returns to a surface stream or aquifer).
|
|
River
|
| |
A natural stream of water of considerable
volume, larger than a brook or creek.
|
|
River basin
|
| |
The area of land from which all surface run-
off flows through a sequence of streams,
rivers and, possibly, lakes into the sea at a
single river mouth, estuary or delta.(
Directive 2000/60/EC of 23 October 2000
establishing a framework for Community action
in the field of water policy (Water Framework
Directive).)
|
|
River Basin Management Plan
|
| |
Document, at the scale of a river basin,
setting out conditions of water bodies and
programmes of measures required to achieve
good water management. Such a plan can help
establish a better water management through
an appropriate level of coordination and
cross-sectoral working among water
institutions/authorities.
As prescribed by the Water Framework
Directive 2000/60/EC, River Basin Management
Plans must be produced, for each River Basin
District within EU Member States. A detailed
content of River Basin Management Plans is
specified in Annex VII of the Water Framework
Directive.
|
|
Salination
|
| |
Salination is the name given to the build up
of salts in soil and groundwater.
Salination affects the crops, reduces the
quality of soil and limits the potential uses
of groundwater.
Salts from a given area are washed-out to sea
by run-off and water streams, or by
groundwater escaping to sea.
The utilization of all water resources (i.e.,
stopping any release of drainage water
or groundwater to the sea) leads to the
development of salination problems.
Salts are added to water during domestic or
industrial use in the urban sector.
As a consequence, sewage has more salts than
supplied water.
Thus, wastewater reuse may accelerate the
salination process
if no proper measurements are taken to avoid
it.
Numerous approaches can be (simultaneously)
applied to avoid salination, e.g.:
Reduction of salts in supplied water,
Reduction of salts added during domestic and
industrial use of water,
Proper water resources management
(release of part of the water resources to
sea, first-flush release, etc.),
Reduction of water losses by evaporation
during water and wastewater storage,
Proper irrigation systems and irrigation
practices,
Proper drainage systems,
Desalination of water or wastewater,
Soil conditioning,
Crops resistant to salinity, etc.
The overall salinity of water corresponds to
the total number of cations and anions.
It is measured by electric conductivity (EC).
Causes for salinity are diverse. They can
include: (i)genetic salinity due to the weathering of
parent material,
(ii)the rise of groundwater tables which
displaces salts and brings them into the root
zone thought capillary rise,
(iii)the use of poor water quality
groundwater by public and private tube wells.
|
|
Sedimentation
|
| |
Deposition of material of varying size, both
mineral and organic, away from its site of
origin by the action of water, wind, gravity
or ice.
|
|
Sewer
|
| |
A system of (usually) underground pipes that
collects and delivers wastewater to treatment
facilities or streams.
|
|
Soil salinity
|
| |
There are two kinds of soil salinity
resulting from human activities: dry land
salinity (occurring on land not subject to
irrigation) and irrigated-land salinity. Both
occur when rising water tables dissolve
natural salts in the soil and bring them to
the surface.
|
|
Stakeholders/potential stakeholders
|
| |
Stakeholders are individuals and groups
of individuals having vested interest in the
water resources. These can be agricultural
users, managers, inspectors, legislators, or
others who in one way or the other benefit or
are harmed by the way in which water is
managed. This term will be used
interchangeably with `community', `citizens'
and `public'.
|
|
Surface water
|
| |
Water that is on the Earth's surface, in a
stream, river, lake, or reservoir.
|
|
Sustainable development
|
| |
A new way of life and approach to social and economic activities for all
societies, rich and poor, which is compatible with the preservation of
the environment.
Saburo Kato. "Salzburg Seminar on Environment and Diplomacy."
September 3-10, 1994.
Sustainable development, now enshrined as an objective in
the Treaty of the European Union, should aim at the welfare of present and future
generations both in European and worldwide in terms of economic prosperity, social
justice and security, and high environmental standards and the sound management of
our natural resource base.
COM(1999) 543 final, COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION
Europe's Environment: What directions for the future?
The Global Assessment of the European Community Programme of Policy and
Action in relation to the environment and sustainable development,
'Towards Sustainability'
Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of
the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987.
From the EU web server: http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/faqs.htm#6 :
Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs.
The concept of sustainable development was first used prominently in the 1987
Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development (the Brundtland Commission)
and at the subsequent UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
Sustainable Development (SD) is a sound approach to policy making as it looks at the
long term and at interlinkages between different developments and policy actions.
A more extensive discussion of sustainability
can be found on-line in the ESS GLOSSARY.
|
|
Treatment of (waste)water
|
| |
The notion of treatment brings together a
wide range of processes (mechanical,
biological and biochemical) that allow
greater or lesser sanitation. Treated
wastewater is water that have been treated
enough to allow discharge into the
environment without resulting in an impact
neither on human health nor on ecosystems.
Treatment of wastewater is the collection of
wastewater from household, commercial,
industrial or public premises and its
conveyance to a location where it receives
treatment sufficient to permit its discharge
to the environment without adverse impact on
public health and the ecosystem.
|
|
Turbidity
|
| |
Turbidity is a measure of the murkiness of
water, reflecting the amount of solid
particles (sediments) that are suspended in
water and that cause light rays shining
through the water to scatter. High turbidity
reduces therefore the amount of light
available to the plants and animals living in
the water. It reduces the ability of plants
to photosynthesise. It also makes it
difficult for fish and other animals to see
their prey. Turbidity is measured in
nephelometric turbidity units (NTU).
Turbidity should be less than 5 NTU
(turbidity measurement scale) for water to
support plant growth.
|
|
Urban area
|
| |
The demarcation of urban areas is usually
defined by countries as part of census
procedures, and is usually based on the size
of localities, classification of areas as
administrative centres, or classification of
areas according to special criteria such as
population density or type of economic
activity of the residents.
|
|
Water abstraction
|
| |
Water removed from any sources, either
permanently or temporarily. Mine water and
drainage are included. (Eurostat/OECD Joint
Questionnaire on Environmental Statistics).
|
|
Water demand or Water use (Agriculture)
|
| |
Water demand is defined as the volume of
water requested by users to satisfy their
needs. This is determined by the requirements
of the activities and the water supply
conditions. Demands are covered by water
productions: withdrawals, fossil waters
extraction (non-renewable productions) to
which are added non-conventional water
sources (reuse, desalination).
Agriculture demands water for irrigation and
non-irrigation purposes. Irrigation
water use includes the artificial application of water on lands to promote the
growth of crops and pasture, or to maintain
vegetative growth in recreational lands,
parks, and golf courses.
|
|
Water demand or Water use (Household sector)
|
| |
Water demand is defined as the
volume of water requested by users to satisfy
their needs. This is determined by the
requirements of the activities and the water
supply conditions. Demands are covered by
water productions: withdrawals, fossil waters
extraction (non-renewable productions) to
which are added non-conventional water
sources (reuse, desalination).
Households demand water for household
purposes such as drinking, food preparation,
bathing, washing clothes, dishes, and dogs,
flushing toilets, and watering lawns and
gardens. The water may be obtained from a
public supply or may be self-supplied.
|
|
Water demand or Water use (Industry)
|
| |
Water demand is defined as the volume of
water requested by users to satisfy their
needs. This is determined by the requirements
of the activities and the water supply
conditions. Demands are covered by water
productions: withdrawals, fossil waters
extraction (non-renewable productions) to
which are added non-conventional water
sources (reuse, desalination).
Industries demand water for processing
activities, washing and cooling. Major water-
using manufacturing industries include food
processing, textile and apparel products,
lumber, furniture and wood products, paper
production, printing and publishing,
chemicals, petroleum, rubber products, stone,
clay, glass and concrete products, primary
and fabricated metal industries, industrial
and commercial equipment and electrical,
electronic and measuring equipment and
transportation equipment.
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Water demand or Water use (Livestock)
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Water demand is defined as the volume of
water requested by users to satisfy their
needs. This is determined by the requirements
of the activities and the water supply
conditions. Demands are covered by water
productions: withdrawals, fossil waters
extraction (non-renewable productions) to
which are added non-conventional water
sources (reuse, desalination).
The pasture/livestock/aquaculture sector
demands water for livestock watering, lots
feeding, dairy operations, fish farming, and
other on-farm needs.
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Water demand or Water use (Tourism)
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Water demand is defined as the volume of
water requested by users to satisfy their
needs. This is determined by the requirements
of the activities and the water supply
conditions. Demands are covered by water
productions: withdrawals, fossil waters
extraction (non-renewable productions) to
which are added non-conventional water
sources (reuse, desalination).
Tourist structures demand water for supplying
hotels for drinking, washing and swimming
pools; recreational water bodies; irrigation
of recreational spaces as gardens and golf
courses.
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Water pollution
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It refers to quality levels resulting from
man's activities that interfere with or
prevent water use or uses. Generally, the
presence in water of enough harmful or
objectionable material to damage the water's
quality. More specifically, pollution shall
be construed to mean contamination of any
waters such as will create or is likely to
create a nuisance or to render such waters
harmful, detrimental or injurious to public
health, safety or welfare, or to domestic,
municipal, commercial, industrial,
agricultural, recreational, or other
legitimate uses, or to livestock, wild
animals, birds, fish or other aquatic life,
including but not limited to such
contamination by alteration of the physical,
chemical or biological properties of such
waters, or change in temperature, taste,
color or order thereof, or the discharge of
any liquid, gaseous, radioactive, solid or
other substances into such waters. More
simply, it refers to quality levels resulting
from man's activities that interfere with or
prevent water use or uses.
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Water quality
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A term used to describe the chemical,
physical and biological characteristics of
water, usually in respect to its suitability
for a particular purpose.
Typical water quality parameters are, e.g.:
Temperature, pH, Salinity, Turbidity,
Dissolved oxygen, Total ammonia, Total
phosphorus, Total nitrogen, Bacteriological
parameters (mainly E Coli), heavy Metals.
Most water-quality problems derive from one
or more of four factors: overpumping of
aquifers, runoff from agriculture, discharge
of human and industrial wastewater, and loss
of habitat.
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Water quality monitoring stations
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Station monitoring the local water quality
parameters of a river as a function of time.
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Water reuse practices
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Treated wastewater can be indirectly reused
when it is discharged into a watercourse,
diluted and used again downstream. Direct
reuse means the direct supply of treated
effluent from the treatment plant to the
user. It also can apply to the recharge of an
aquifer.
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Water rights
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The right to use water occurring in a water
supply, and putting it to beneficial use.
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Water risks management
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Prevention, emergency management and
restoration of safe conditions. Risks generally relate to floods,
droughts, and spills of (toxic) pollutants. Risks to aquifers are
generally referred to as vulnerability (e.g., to excessive use
of agrochemicals).
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Water scarcity
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Water scarcity is a more relative concept
describing the relationship between demand
for water and its availability. The demands
may vary considerably between different
countries and different regions within a
given country depending on the sectoral usage
of water. A country with a high industrial
demand or which depends on large scale
irrigation will therefore be more likely to
experience times of scarcity than a country
with similar climatic conditions without such
demands. As a rough estimate, water scarcity is often
assumed whenever the annual per average per
capita supply of water drops below 1,000 m&sump3;
within a regiona or country.
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Water supply
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Water availability. Water supply refers to
the share of water abstraction which is
supplied to users (excluding losses in
storage, conveyance and distribution).
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Water table
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The top of the water surface in the saturated
part of an aquifer that is at atmospheric
pressure.
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Water use
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Water that is used for a specific purpose,
such as for domestic use, irrigation, or
industrial processing. Water use pertains to
human's interaction with and influence on the
hydrologic cycle.Three types of water use are
distinguished: (a) withdrawal, where water is
taken from a river, or surface or underground
reservoir, and after use returned to a
natural water body, e.g. water used for
cooling in industrial processes. Such return
flows are particularly important for
downstream users in the case of water taken
from rivers; (b) consumptive, which starts
with withdrawal but in this case without any
return, e.g. irrigation, steam escaping into
the atmosphere, water contained in final
products, i.e. it is no longer available
directly for subsequent uses; (c) non-
withdrawal, i.e. the in situ use of a water
body for navigation (including the floating
of logs by the lumber industry), fishing,
recreation, effluent disposal and
hydroelectric power generation.
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Water users' associations
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Water Users Association (WUA) is a non-profit
organization that is initiated, and managed
by the group of water users along one or more
hydrological sub-systems (distributory canals
which are the higher level than a
watercourse) regardless of the type of farms
involved. Those are partnerships between
water users (for example, farmers) in the
establishment of water catchment/distribution
and sanitation systems, sometimes
participating also in their management and
maintainance.
By water users we mean the ordinary
cultivators of land, individual members of
lease-holding farms and shirkats, owners of
private and dehkan farms, owners of home
garden plots, etc.
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Well
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An artificial excavation, a bored, drilled,
or driven shaft, or a dug hole whose depth is
greater than the largest surface dimension
and whose purpose is to reach underground
water supplies or oil, or to store fluids
below ground.
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Wetland
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Areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water,
whether natural or artificial, permanent or
temporary, with water that is static or
flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including
areas of marine water whose depth at low tide
does not exceed six metres. They may
incorporate riparian and coastal zones
adjacent to the wetlands, and islands or
bodies of marine water deeper than six metres
at low tide lying within the wetlands
(Article 1.1. and 2.1. of Ramsar Convention
on Wetlands of International Importance,
1971).
The list of RAMSAR sites is updated every two
years and can be obtained from the Convention
secretariat. The list of sites includes
various types of wetlands (coastal, flood
plains, marshes, lakes...) for which data is
available and harmonised. The total area of
national wetlands can be determined by the
use of the following definition, in
accordance with the 1998 Eurostat-OECD
questionnaire on the environment; land use.
Wetlands are there defined as: "Non-wooded
area either partially, temporarily or
permanently water-logged, the water of which
may be fresh, brackish or saline, on blanket
or raised peatlands. The water may be either
stagnant or running, and is usually shallow".
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