Books published by IWA Publishing

The purpose of this User's Guide is to provide guidance on modeling watershed-scale problems associated with decentralized wastewater-treatment systems (DWTS), with a particular focus on onsite wastewater systems (OWS). The guide focuses on modeling transport and fate of the nutrients nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) because these are the most common OWS constituents of concern, and because these pollutants are regulated in surface waters (N and P) and in ground water (N). However, limited but useful information is also provided regarding the modeling of organic wastewater contaminants, such as pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and other household products. It provides some general information on modeling bacterial pollutants. The guide can be used by decision makers to determine whether relatively simple screening models (presented in Appendix A) are sufficient for use in the decision-making process, or if sophisticated models (presented in Appendix B) are more appropriate. The document provides guidance about the type of model that should be used for particular scenarios, and the data requirements for model implementation. The guide is also useful to modeling experts by providing guidance on important issues such as conceptual-model development, mathematical-model selection, modelsensitivity analyses, model uniqueness, and calibration. Finally, the guide provides some real-world and hypothetical case studies that can demonstrate the usefulness of using watershed-scale models, and provide templates for certain common scenarios relevant to the decentralized wastewater treatment community.

Concerns about water quality degradation resulting from land appliation of manures and biosolids have elicited a wide array of national and state regulations. The regulations focus on P as the limiting nutrient to eutrophication of most freshwater supplies and threaten to severly impact biosolids recycling. Critical data about biosolids-P phytoavailability and run-off potential, especially field data, needed to validate the regulations are scarce. The goal of this reseach was to supply such data. Conventionally treated biosolids exhibit both less agronomic and environmental impact, such as co-application with water treatment residuals (WTF).

Municipal wastewater treatment facilities were not specifically designed to remove xenobiotics such as endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). European studies have described the need for a minimum critical SRT to achieve good removal of EDCs and pharmaceuticals. These studies have presented limited data on PPCPs from full-scale facilities. The objective of this study was to expand published findings to the removal of twenty PPCPs commonly found in the influent of full-scale treatment facilities operating in the United States.The six selected facilities cover operating SRT conditions ranging from 0.5 to 30 days and include facility capacities in excess of 300 mgd. The results demonstrate a wide distribution in both the occurrence of these compounds in the influent to secondary treatment processes and the percentage removal achieved through secondary treatment. The twenty PPCPs were categorized into nine bin combinations of occurrence and treatment reduction.While a large number of these compounds were well removed, one in particular (galaxolide) occurred frequently and was resistant to removal. A minimum critical SRT, defined in this study as the minimum time needed to consistently demonstrate greater than 80 percent removal (SRT80), was determined for the twenty target compounds.SRT80 was compound-dependent with most compounds consistently removed at 5 to 15 days.

This project evaluated the quality of data needed to determine relationships between chronic Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) test results and in-stream biological condition. A data quality objectives approach was used, which included several proposed measurement quality objectives (MQOs) that specified desired precision, bias, and sensitivity of methods used. Six facilities (four eastern and two western U.S.) participated in this study, all having design effluent concentrations > 60% of the stream flow. In accordance with a Quality Assurance Project Plan most of the facilities completed four quarters of chronic <i>Ceriodaphnia dubia</i>, and <i>Pimephales promelas</i> (fathead minnow) WET tests, and three quarters of <i>Selenastrum capricornutum</i> (green algae) WET testing following the most recent USEPA methods. Several other WET tests were conducted to address MQOs including splits, duplicates, and blind positive and negative controls. Macroinvertebrate, fish, and periphyton bioassessments were conducted at multiple locations up and downstream of each facility following the most recent USEPA Office of Water bioassessment protocols. <div><br></div><div>Test acceptance criteria were met for most WET tests, however, this study demonstrated the need to incorporate other MQOs in a full study (such as minimum and maximum percent significant differences and performance on blind samples) to ensure accurate interpretation of effluent toxicity. More false positives, lower test endpoint (i.e., higher toxicity), and morefailed"e; (non-compliant) tests were observed using No Observed Effect Concentrations (NOEC) as compared to IC25s (concentration causing 25% decrease in organism response compared to controls). Algae tests often yielded the most effluent toxicity in this study, however, this test was most susceptible to false positives and high inter-laboratory variability. WET test results exhibited few relationships with bioassessment results, even when incorporating actual effluent dilution. Neither frequency of WET non-compliance nor magnitude of WET were clearly related to differences in biological condition up and downstream of a discharge for the most part. Macroinvertebrate assessments were most able to discriminate small changes downstream of the effluent, followed by periphyton and then fish. The sampling methods used were robust but a full study should collect more field replicates up and downstream of each discharge to increase detection power. Macroinvertebrate and periphyton assessments together appeared to be sufficient to address project objectives. Fish assessments could be useful as well but would entail more effort and cost per site than expended in this project, to be useful.</div>

Recent research has shown that the concentrations of microbial indicator organisms (e.g., fecal coliforms) in stormwater may be quite high. However, studies have not clearly established relationships between the concentrations of indicator organisms and microbial pathogens in stormwater, or between stormwater indicator organism concentrations and illness. Thus, it is difficult to interpret indicator data collected by local public agencies in the context of potential risk to human health. The primary objective of this investigation was to generate guidance to enable more accurate and defensible evaluations of stormwater microorganism data and the associated risks to human health from exposure to microbial pathogens in stormwater. The investigation consisted of three major tasks: reviewing and summarizing relevant published literature, conducting a web-based data questionnaire and developing a science-directed data collection plan. Topics discussed include: 1) waterborne pathogens that pose the greatest risk to human health, 2) concentrations of pathogens and indicator organisms observed in stormwater, 3) defensible relations between indicator organisms and pathogens of public health concern in stormwater, 4) the environmental fate of pathogens and indicator organisms in stormwater, 5) the use of microbial source tracking (MST) techniques to identify sources of fecal contamination, and 6) the effectiveness of stormwater microorganism control technologies and associated costs.Additionally, recommended next steps needed to enable defensible evaluations of stormwater microorganism data and the associated risk to human health from exposure to stormwater are presented. Next steps include the development of interim guidance for management prioritization, pathogens enumeration method development, and pilot and nation-wide data collection programs.

A key step in the development of Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) allocations for water bodies impaired due to sediment toxicity is the identification of chemicals responsible for toxicity. Sediment toxicity identification evaluation procedures (TIEs) are one of the primary tools used in this process. This project evaluated standardized and recently developed sediment TIE methods developed by the US EPA and others, to determine their utility for identifying chemicals responsible for toxicity. In this study, formulated sediments were spiked with five chemicals: copper, fluoranthene, tetrachlorobenzene, nonylphenol and ammonia. Experiments were conducted using sediments spiked with single chemicals and chemical mixtures. Toxicity tests used the estuarine amphipod Eohaustorius estuarius and the freshwater amphipod Hyalella azteca. TIEs were conducted using solid-phase (whole sediment) and sediment interstitial waters.Results indicate that the TIE methods are sufficient to characterize and identify toxicity due to single and multiple chemicals using spiked sediments. One key finding from the spiked sediment experiments is that methods to elute chemicals from extraction media used in solid-phase and interstitial water TIEs require further refinement to ensure complete and consistent elution of sorbed chemicals. An additional finding is that both solid-phase and interstitial water TIE procedures provide useful lines of evidence and that both approaches should be used in a weight-of-evidence approach in the sediment TIE process.In the final phase of this project, we evaluated the TIE procedures using ambient samples collected from three marine sites and three freshwater sites. Marine sediments were collected from Switzer Creek in San Diego Bay, Upper Newport Bay in Newport Beach, and Consolidated Slip, in Long Beach Harbor, all of which are sites in southern California. Freshwater sediments were collected from two additional sites in California: San Diego Creek, in Newport Beach, and Alisal Slough, in Salinas. The final freshwater sediment was collected from a site in Indiana Harbor. Multiple solid-phase and interstitial water TIEs were conducted on each sediment and results of these were combined with chemical analyses and other lines-of-evidence to evaluate the methods. The results indicate that sediment TIE methods are sufficiently developed to characterize toxicity due to general classes of chemicals such as cationic metals, organic chemicals, and ammonia.Methods to improve extraction and elution of metal and organic chemicals in highly toxic sediments require further refinement in order to allow identification of specific chemicals responsible for toxicity as part of the Phase II TIE process. These refinements include determining the appropriate masses of solid-phase extraction media to allow complete removal of toxic chemicals from sediments and interstitial waters. In addition, we recommend that additional studies be designed to determine optimal equilibration periods to maximize removal of toxic chemicals using resin amendments in solid-phase sediment TIEs. As in the spiked-sediment TIEs, we observed inconsistent elution of toxic chemicals from extraction media used in solid-phase and interstitial water Phase II TIEs with the ambient samples. These procedures require additional work to ensure that chemicals responsible for toxicity are completely eluted from extraction media. Improvement of the Phase II TIE elution and solvent handling steps should facilitate better identification of chemicals responsible for toxicity, particularly in situations where toxicity is due to highly insoluble chemicals. When these considerations are satisfactorily addressed, the methods evaluated are capable of providing useful lines of evidence that can be combined to successfully identify sediment toxicants.

Public and Private Participation in the Water and Wastewater Sector provides practical guidance on applying Public Private Partnership structures within the constraints of European legislation, with examples on how to ensure consistency with EU procurement, competition law and the Water Framework Directive. It reconciles the need for adequate regulation within the context of a monopoly provision of service - a major concern of the European competition policy. The purpose of this book is to provide practical guidance on how to introduce a Public Private Partnership (PPP) as a strategy towards helping meet the demands for massive capital investments and improved management and performance in the water and wastewater sector. The introduction of PPPs within a European context needs to be assessed against compliance with basic EU law principles related to Competition and the Water Framework Directive. International legal structures in the management, distribution and treatment of water are discussed. There is a brief overview of the present realities of European integration, the political and legal aspects involved in the water sector and two cases in which a viable solution was reached and which form the basis of this research. The book examines the general principles of EU law in terms of competition and procurement and how other directives have an impact on PPP. It then assesses the specific rules applicable to PPP in the EU context, and their implications in designing water PPPs. The book concludes with a review of two case studies (the City of Sofia, Bulgaria and the City of Tallinn, Estonia) that show how the Public Private Partnership structure chosen provides a sound legal basis and a viable way to achieve compliance with Community law and the Water Framework Directive, thus assisting the process of accession to the EU for each country.Public and Private Participation in the Water and Wastewater Sector: Developing Sustainable Legal Mechanisms is principally aimed at supporting municipal, provincial, and central governments and other policy makers seeking to improve water services. It is a must read for policymakers and practitioners seeking to navigate through the intricacies of EU legislation and the complexities of public private partnerships. The principles addressed in this book will also be useful outside the European context.See also: Private Sector Participation in Water Infrastructure,Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), 2009; Public Private Partnerships in the Water Sector, Innovation and Financial Sustainability, Cledan Mandri-Perrott and David Stiggers, 2012

Edited by the Water Policy Research Center of the Environment Department of Tsinghua University, this comprehensive report on the Chinese water sector is a collection of findings from recent research conducted by the Center and government consultancy reports. The report presents an overview and analysis of the current situation of the reform of the Chinese urban water sector. This is followed by case studies and appraisals on 17 water industry reform measures collected by the authors in 14 cities. The report then examines key problems of the current water industry reform. The comprehensive scope of this report, the level of detail, as well as the authors' insights together make this document a unique reference on China's water industry, as well as an important guide to the future of China's water management. The book will be extremely useful for public utility reform in China and in other countries. It will therefore be of particular value to government departments, policy advisors, consultants, financing bodies, and utility service providers. The report is part of the Water21 Market Briefing Series. Titles in the series provide more focused insight into aspects of the international water sector.About the authors: Dr Tao FU is Director of the Water Policy Research Center, Tsinghua University, Beijing, P.R. China. Dr Miao CHANG is Senior Research Fellow at the Water Policy Research Center, Tsinghua University. Dr Lijin ZHONG is with the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University.

The Adaptiveness of IWRM provides new insights and knowledge on the challenges and solutions that current water management faces in a situation of complexity and uncertainty. Drawing on the available results from a wide range of European research projects under several framework programmes, the book provides an overview of the state of the art in European research on Integrated Water Resources Management on the topics of Participation, Transboundary regimes, Economics, Vulnerability, Climate change, Advanced monitoring, Spatial planning, and the Social dimensions of water management. The achievements of EU research projects are considered in view of the extent to which IWRM responds to the current complexity and uncertainty water management is facing. These achievements are positioned in a wider context of worldwide developments in the respective topics which account for the future challenges. From this, the book concludes with the required focus of European research in the near future and promotes the concept of Adaptive Water Management as the preferred direction for the development of IWRM. The book presents the achievements of European IWRM research on a range of water management topics and offers conclusions and recommendations for research foci that will be invaluable to water managers, policy-makers and academic researchers working in the field of IWRM.

This book is focused on techniques, technologies and management approaches for optimising investment in infrastructure while achieving demanded customer service standards, and provides an opportunity to gain access to the latest discussion and developments at the leading-edge in this field.

This study explores the current state of knowledge with respect to the effects of wet weather flows from urban areas on the physical character of aquatic habitat. It identifies knowledge gaps with respect to our ability to define the cause-effect relationships, examines the comprehensiveness of the data used in support of the published literature in the subject area, and makes a qualitative determination of the usefulness of those data for further analysis to increase our knowledge in the subject area. Finally, it recommends further research studies that will increase our knowledge in the subject area, with emphasis on pilot-scale projects that can be used to develop practical protocols for preventing or mitigating the effects.Major findings and conclusions are: 1) we lack a solid conceptual framework for predicting the impact of large-scale watershed modifications and wet weather flows on ecological processes that influence stream communities; 2) there is a need for longer-term monitoring; 3) there is no widely accepted system for quantifying geomorphic instability and degradation of physical habitat; 4) there is a need for process-based stream classification; 5) specific links between urbanization characteristics and stream degradation are lacking; 6) there is a need for urban best management practice (BMP) assessment standards; and 7) developing a multi-scale understanding of habitat potential in human-dominated watersheds is needed. The report recommends a research program that first and foremost, includes comprehensive, long-term monitoring augmented with mathematical modeling of the linkages between development style/drainage system design, flow regime, and multi-scale changes in physical habitat and biotic response. Improved diagnosis and predictive understanding of future change require multifaceted, multiscale, and multidisciplinary studies based on a firm understanding of the history and processes operating in a drainage basin. Detailed long-term analyses of the influence of hydrologic regime and channel morphology on differences between communities in recruitment, immigration/emigration, mortality, and age structure are also needed. Finally, future research should directly examine tradeoffs between: 1) flood mitigation versus channel roughness, habitat heterogeneity, debris inputs, and riparian protection; 2) chemical water quality improvement through extended detention versus geomorphically-based flow regime controls; and, 3) rehabilitation of aquatic habitat using static features versus allowing the potential for dynamic adjustments in channel form and habitat structure. It is extremely important that the research be pragmatic, and focus on developing pilot/demonstration studies that will lead to design guidance that municipalities can use to design new systems, or improve existing systems, that will protect not only the safety and welfare of the citizenry that it serves, but also the aquatic ecosystems in the streams that receive the wet weather discharges from these urbanized sites.

A laboratory study was conducted to elucidate the source-effect relationships for seven chemicals (sources) that can cause activated sludge process upset (effect). These chemicals were studied over a range of concentrations using both nitrifying and non-nitrifying laboratory-scale activated sludge sequencing batch reactors. Effects were characterized according to traditional methods of evaluating process effluent and mixed liquor quality. A range of process effects were observed for both biomass sources. Overall impact was assessed and the degree to which a chemical caused an impact on process performance was considered to be more detrimental than if a chemical had multiple process effects that were moderate. The order in which chemicals caused adverse effects for the nitrifying biomass was: ammonium < octanol < DNP < cyanide < CDNB < cadmium - pH 11. For the non-nitrifying biomass, the order in which the chemicals caused adverse effects was: octanol < ammonia < DNP < cyanide < CDNB < cadmium < pH 11. Almost all chemicals caused multiple process effects, but the intensity and type of process effect was not always predictable based on the chemical applied. The findings show that there are multiple ways that chemicals can impact activated sludge plants, and suggest that corrective action practices need to be tailored based on the nature of the chemical causing the upset. This publication can be purchased and downloaded via Pay Per View on Water Intelligence Online - click on the Pay Per View icon below

The USEPA's ambient water quality criteria (AWQC) for cyanide were developed in 1984. Recently, however, concerns have arisen that the AWQC for cyanide have been problematic to implement and may not accurately reflect either the toxic forms or bioavailable concentrations of cyanide in water, sediments, and tissues of aquatic organisms. Also, the cyanide criteria typically have been implemented based on total cyanide concentrations rather than the free cyanide concentrations that formed the basis of the criteria calculations. New knowledge on cyanide toxicity, cyanide speciation and its measurement, and the relative toxicity of bioavailable cyanide species suggested that a re-evaluation of the aquatic toxicity data and chemistry that serve as the basis of the current national criteria is warranted. In response to these concerns, studies sponsored by the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) evaluated the formation and fate of cyanide in municipal wastewater effluents. Kavanaugh et al. (2003) evaluated the reliability of several analytical methods for measurement of cyanide species at low (ppb) concentrations, along with studies to evaluate the sources, transport, and fate of cyanide species in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and receiving waters. Results indicated that potentially toxic forms of cyanide can be generated in WWTPs from several chemical processes, including dissociation of thiocyanate by chlorination or UV disinfection, chlorination in the presence of residual ammonia, nitrosation, and photolysis of ferrocyanate. Models were developed for predicting the fate of these compounds in surface waters downstream of WWTP effluents to establish where organisms might be most at risk from cyanide exposure. While implementation of these results could assist in the development of site-specific water quality standards for cyanide, a more thorough update to the National AWQC was warranted to apply our more current scientific understanding of cyanide toxicology to the derivation of aquatic life criteria.The present study was therefore undertaken to review and update knowledge of the aquatic toxicity of cyanide, and to develop recommended updates to the existing national AWQC to enhance the scientific basis of the concentrations and chemical forms of cyanide specified for protection of aquatic organisms. This update was conducted according to USEPA guidance for derivation of AWQC for protection of aquatic life, and is based both on an extensive literature review and on new toxicity studies that fill key data gaps. This re-evaluation of cyanide criteria also includes consideration of impacts on benthic (sediment) organisms, wildlife that consume aquatic biota, and possible effects to threatened and endangered species to ensure that revised criteria are adequately protective of the entire aquatic ecosystem.

Special Offer: Cao Ye Shi Author Set - Buy all three books together and save a total GBP76! Many Biological Nitrogen Removal (BNR) activated sludge processes in warm climates are conservatively designed, because little systematic investigation has been carried out on the BNR activated sludge process in warm or tropical climates, although many studies under temperate climate conditions are available. This book covers a wide spectrum of mechanistic approaches to deal with BNR activated sludge related issues such as sewage and sludge characterization, dynamic performance of full-scale processes, laboratory simulation and modelling that leads to a mechanistic and more economic design. Recommendations on the operation, upgrading and design of BNR activated sludge process are formulated. This will significantly aid the promotion of nitrogen removal in wastewater treatment plants in warm or tropical climates, particularly in developing countries. The book has three purposes: to make recommendations for appropriate upgrading of existing activated sludge processes and assess the performance of the upgraded activated sludge processes; to explore the feasibility of employing laboratory-scale systems to simulate the performance of full-scale processes; and to use mathematical modelling calibrated with the measured data obtained from the laboratory-scale experimentation to study the performance and the design of full-scale processes.Reports are presented of comprehensive studies on: (i) on-site investigation of the activated sludge processes in three water reclamation plants (WRPs) in Singapore; (ii) laboratory-scale investigations to simulate the performance of full-scale activated sludge processes and to optimize the process design; and (iii) mathematical modelling and simulation with Activated Sludge Model No. 1 (ASM No. 1). Based on these detailed studies, guidelines on the operation, upgrading and design of the BNR activated sludge process in warm climates are presented.Results indicate that the laboratory-scale systems, designed based on the scale-down principles developed in this study and mathematic simulation with the model parameters calibrated by using the data obtained from the laboratory experiment, were able to describe the performance of the full-scale process.The applications of the approaches and principles are not limited to geographic locations and types of pollutants, and thus can reduce significantly the cost and time for the process development of the activated sludge process.This book will be an invaluable reference source for process and design engineers and consultants concerned with biological wastewater treatment as well as researchers in universities and research institutes.

Microbial risk assessment is a structured approach to estimating risks associated with environmental exposure to pathogens by using available environmental data. In this report the researchers took advantage of pathogen monitoring of raw sludge efficacy of treatment processes, and pathogen monitoring of post-treatment biosolids. This risk assessment approach is able to estimate risks even for Class A biosolids where post-treatment monitoring data are all below the detectable level. Using this approach this report provides risk estimates for a number of different models to gain insight into risks associated with different aspects of the biosolids treatment and application process. This report provides an approach to conducting risk assessments that takes advantage of pathogen data from raw sludge and data on treatment process efficacy as additional data sources to the post-treatment data. In this context the raw sludge and treatment data are considered prior information that can inform the risk estimate, and the post treatment data is used to inform the likelihood. The risk assessment framework present in this report provides a mechanism to discuss biosolids management microbial risk using a common metric for comparison of treatment methods, management alternatives, and potentially to set risk-based standards for microbial contaminants in biosolids.

A large portion of impaired waterways are located in or near urban areas and are adversely influenced by stormwater-borne solids. The solids have negative impacts on receiving water systems including loss of aquatic habitat, channel instability, and the transport of harmful pollutants potentially hazardous to human and ecosystem health. The current methods for sampling, handling, and analyzing stormwater solids don't lead to a good understanding of these effects on receiving waters. The purpose of the study is to develop a draft protocol addressing sampling, analysis, and reporting practices to examine stormwater-borne solids in order to improve assessment and monitoring protocols. Current accepted practices for characterizing stormwater-borne solids are critically analyzed and revised. Common definitions and standardized monitoring procedures are recommended in this report to aid in understanding solid impacts and selection of stormwater best management practices. Stormwater solids can first be classified based on size into dissolved, fine, coarse and Gross Solids. These solids can further be classified as settleable or suspended by allowing a settling time in the analytical procedure. Obtaining a representative sample in the field is one of the biggest challenges in characterizing stormwater-borne solids because of temporal, geographic, and spatial variations. An outline for developing a monitoring plan for fine solids and Gross Solids is described.

Phase 3 of the overall WERF project was developed to study eight Phase 2 hypotheses in more depth, beginning in the laboratory (bench-scale) studies and continuing on to targeted investigations where the WERF team manipulated plant parameters at full scale to identify the best means of reducing biosolids cake odors. The Phase 3 research specifically sought ways to enhance anaerobicly digested and dewatered biosolids to reduce the odor levels in the biosolids end product, thereby reducing negatively perceived impacts on the environment or to the public when beneficially used on land. The goal of the Phase 3 study was to provide a general application of findings to WERF subscribers who are seeking ways to reduce odors produced by anaerobicly-digested biosolids. The Phase 3 options summary presents a general roadmap for wastewater treatment plant operators seeking to optimize biosolids processing and reduce biosolids cake odors. Biosolids cakes with minimal odors lead to better public acceptance near biosolids management sites and in neighborhoods adjacent to WWTPs. Reduced odors also could open the WWTP dewatered biosolids cake to other recycling or disposal opportunities that are currently not used due to odor and other concerns (including on-plant site composting or storage). Additionally, significant cost savings could be realized by not requiring extensive odor control or other expensive options for containment and management of biosolids.

The Second Edition of the Price of Water expands on the coverage of the first edition and ambitiously develops the theme of the proper management of river basins, both with respect to the control of rivers' water quality and the defence of their quantitative flows from source to sea. Using the hydrosocial balance concept of the first edition, and the grand theory of catchment water deficits, a remarkable breakthrough is made in understanding how river flows are destroyed by human society. Drawing on extensive empirical research into the Kafue River Basin and the Thames River Basin, it is shown that the exhaustion of river flows that we see on a world-wide scale can be explained by just five measurable 'drivers' to basin surplus and basin deficit. Moreover, by specifying the key drivers and measuring their value, the basis is provided for economic, engineering and land management strategies that will reverse river basin destruction. Bringing together 20 papers previously published in refereed journals, The Price of Water provides information that many readers would not otherwise have been able to access to through their professional and academic libraries. The scope of the book is broad, dealing with a diverse range of subjects such as regional and catchment planning and integrated water resources management. Topics considered include: both water quantities and qualities drought management the "e;virtual water"e; controversy farmers water-rights the economic demand for water the design of abstraction charges the cost and use of irrigation water the design of effluent charges the "e;willingness-to-pay"e; methodology catchment water deficits water resource impacts of new property construction water leakage impact on river basins managing water quality within EC directives.

Among animal wastes, piggery waste is the most troublesome. Pig production industries have been growing as the demand for pork meat has increased, and as a result the waste management problem of piggery waste will become more serious in the future. The land receiving the piggery wastes has already become over saturated with Nitrogen and Phosphorus in many countries and the solution to the waste problem is further complicated as the land area utilised for disposal becomes restricted. This book identifies and characterises the key issues involved in dealing with the management of piggery waste and provides recommendations on sustainable treatment regimes. All the technologies available for the treatment of piggery waste are reviewed, including conventional and emerging technologies from composting and anaerobic digestion to nitrate nitrification and denitrification, Anammox, advanced oxidation, adsorption and membrane technologies. Design procedures for biological nitrogen removal are introduced together with temperature effects. Phosphorus removal characteristics as struvite and other biological forms are also reviewed. Integrated treatment schemes are discussed to build an understanding of the systems to achieve sustainable piggery waste management. Examples of integrated systems are presented, including recent modification of lagoon systems in the US; performances of energy recovery systems in Europe; wastewater treatment systems in Korea with limited land area as well as tropical experiences in Singapore and Malaysia.This work will be an invaluable source of information for all those concerned with the research and practice of animal waste treatment. Practising engineers can use this work for planning, design and operation of treatment plants and it will also be suitable as a reference for policy makers and planners.

With increasing water demands, the impetus to use treated wastewater to augment nonpotable and potable water supplies is growing. There is also increasing concern that recycled wastewater might contain contaminants harmful to human health or the aquatic environment. Contaminants of concern include endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), compounds that can interfere with the proper functioning of hormone systems. The goal of this research was to develop approaches combining bioassays with chemical analysis to study removal of EDCs by different reclamation treatment process. Hydraulic corresponding composite samples were collected for individual unit operation and analyzed using HPLC-ELIAS, GC-NCI-MS, and bioassays. Whereas estrogenic activity was accounted for by chemical components of primary effluents, more androgenic activity was found than could be explained by testosterone concentrations.