China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
The concept of sustainability
Published in Dain Bolwell, Governing Technology in the Quest for Sustainability on Earth, 2019
Environmental sustainability can itself be split into three parts, all of which relate to natural capital.15 In 1990 the pioneer ecological economist, Herman Daly (1990) proposed that (i) for renewable resources, the rate of harvest should not exceed the rate of regeneration (sustainable yield); (ii) for non-renewable resources, depletion should not exceed the creation of renewable substitutes (sustainable depletion); and (iii) for pollution, the rate of waste generation should not exceed the capacity of the environment to assimilate it (sustainable assimilation). Thus, environmental sustainability is the rate of renewable yield, non-renewable depletion and waste assimilation that can be continued indefinitely.
Direct delivery of electricity subsidy to farmers in Punjab: will it help conserve groundwater?
Published in International Journal of Water Resources Development, 2022
M. Dinesh Kumar, Nitin Bassi, Mahendra Singh Verma
The quota for groundwater for individual farmers will be decided based on the sustainable yield of the aquifer and the total amount of land that is currently irrigated (based on Aarnoudse et al., 2017; Zekri, 2008). The net annual groundwater replenishment in Punjab is around 20,320 MCM (CGWB, 2014). We can consider 80% of this (i.e. 16,240 MCM per annum) as a sustainable yield. Even though the annual renewable groundwater would keep fluctuating in Punjab due to rainfall variation and changes in canal water allocation, as the region has a large groundwater stock (over and above the replenishable resources available from rainfall and irrigation return flow), the approach of using an average figure will be implementable. If we consider the land holding under irrigation (4.07 m ha) as the only criterion for water allocation, that gives each farmer around 4009 m3 of groundwater per ha of (net) irrigated land (i.e. 16,320/4.07 = 4009). However, the actual gross water allocation per ha for the farmer will be far greater (8421 m3/ha), which would include the surface water allocation through canals. There can also be a more complex consideration for water allocation wherein we consider the family size of the agriculturist along with the land holding as one of the criteria.
Identifying the groundwater sustainability implications of water policy in high-use situations in the Laurentian Great Lakes Basin
Published in Canadian Water Resources Journal / Revue canadienne des ressources hydriques, 2019
Khafi Weekes, Gail Krantzberg, Maria Vizeu Pinheiro
Balancing the needs of the Basin’s growing number of groundwater users with the complex physical-environmental considerations for sustainable yield in groundwater use policies is challenging (Kurian 2004). Most often determined by monitoring an aquifer’s groundwater level response to pumping, determining sustainable yield is difficult in the GLB because its groundwater flow systems are relatively shallow and of limited lateral extent as they consist of glacial sands and gravels. Added to the high annual precipitation of the Basin, aquifers are very interconnected with surface water bodies (Granneman et al. 2000). As such, intense pumping can lessen surface water flow and even reverse flow gradients as has occurred in the Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer that has historically been pumped by high-capacity wells to supply users in the Chicago-Milwaukee metropolitan area (Feinstein, Hunt and Reeves 2010). This adds complexity to monitoring as aquifers that have had their GWS markedly reduced by pumping can have their GWS rebound to pre-pumping levels very shortly after the end of pumping. Therefore, determining sustainable yield in the GLB can require not only monitoring of groundwater levels, as is traditionally done, but also stream flow levels.
Urban water trading – hybrid water systems and niche opportunities in the urban water market – a literature review
Published in Environmental Technology Reviews, 2019
Mario Schmack, Martin Anda, Stewart Dallas, Roberta Fornarelli
Many urban communities strongly rely on groundwater for their water mix [31]. It is estimated that about 113 km3/year was abstracted globally during 2000–2009 and about 15% was taken from non-renewable groundwater during this period [10]. The impact of groundwater abstraction has resulted in anthropogenic instability [32] and the relationship between ground motion and hydraulic head changes of aquifers, for example in the London Basin, has been demonstrated [33]. It is therefore paramount that where groundwater abstraction at a large scale is common, water balance modelling is employed that allows for accurate estimates of groundwater recharge rates to maintain sustainable yield [34]. Based on these water balance calculations, appropriate recharge systems (e.g. infiltration galleries) can then be designed and commissioned to achieve the required recharge rates.