Waste in Water, Water as Waste

Water use patterns and conservation in households of Wei River Basin, China

The vegetation for water and soil conservation on the Loess Plateau has resulted in the formation of large areas of low-quality and inefficient forests during its growth process, thereby hindering the high-quality development of such vegetation and compromising the sustainability of the ecological functions of soil and water conservation. This study focuses on Robinia pseudoacacia forests in the Caijiachuan watershed in the Loess region of western Shanxi. A comprehensive evaluation system for the ecological functions of soil and water conservation has been established to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the Robinia pseudoacacia forests. Additionally, the study identifies low-efficiency Robinia pseudoacacia forests and proposes reasonable regulation and control measures. The main research conclusions are as follows: (1) There are significant differences in the water and soil conservation functions among different Robinia pseudoacacia forests. The degree of inefficiency in these forests increases with forest density, and Robinia pseudoacacia forests with slopes between 35° and 40° are all low-efficiency forests. (2) The average density of high-efficiency Robinia pseudoacacia forests is 1655 trees per hectare, medium-efficiency forests average 1780 trees per hectare, and low-efficiency forests average 1927 trees per hectare. By substituting forest density, diameter at breast height (DBH), tree height, and crown width into the low-efficiency forest discrimination function, low-efficiency forests can be identified. The main influencing factors of low-efficiency forests are the Margalef richness index of shrubs, the total soil nitrogen content; and the nitrate nitrogen content. (3) Regulation measures for low-efficiency forests include controlling forest density to 1655 trees per hectare, increasing the richness of understory shrubs, and enhancing total soil nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen content by planting leguminous plants such as Lespedeza bicolor, Sophora davidii, and Vicia sepium. The research results can construct a comprehensive evaluation system for the ecological functions of Robinia pseudoacacia forests for water and soil conservation, identify low-efficiency forests, and provide precise regulation based on the causes of inefficiency, ensuring the sustainable function of Robinia pseudoacacia forests for water and soil conservation.

Dingxi City is located in the upper reaches of the Yellow River Basin, at the intersection between the Loess Plateau and West Qinling Mountains. The water and soil conservation function of Dingxi City is very important and have become key constraining factors for economic and social development. Due to the fragmented terrain and landscape patches, high spatial accuracy in the assessment of water and soil conservation is required for proper management. In this study, we introduced an index system for the evaluation of soil and water conservation functions, including various influencing factors. The results showed that area percentages of the five levels (lower, low, medium, high, and higher) in soil conservation were 6.24, 6.25, 23.49, 30.95, and 33.07, respectively, and the areas with higher soil conservation were mainly concentrated in the hilly and gully areas of the Loess Plateau with low vegetation coverage. The percentages of water conservation in the five levels (lower, low, medium, high, and higher) were 40.49, 21.78, 16.66, 7.9, and 13.11, respectively, and the areas with higher water conservation were concentrated in Min County and Zhang County, with the most abundant precipitation and highest vegetation coverage. In addition, functional areas of soil and water conservation had obvious spatial heterogeneity. Among them, the proportion of high-grade functional areas for soil conservation decreased with an increase in precipitation, whereas a high proportion of high-grade functional areas for water conservation was concentrated in areas with precipitation of more than 600 mm. The conflict between agricultural production and ecological protection of soil and water conservation is prominent, and areas with serious conflict are concentrated in the central and northern areas of Dingxi City. Based on this, we suggest a spatial layout guidance for agricultural production and ecological protection, providing a scientific basis for decision-making that supports ecological protection and high-quality sustainable development in Dingxi City.

Since reform and opening, especially since entering the new century, economy in China has maintained a rapid and healthy development and more and more key hydraulic projects and hydropower stations have present the characteristics of rapid speed, short period and good benefits, but at the same time, they also have bought new challenges for soil and water conservation and ecological environment protection. In the late 1990s, China has instituted a set of laws and regulations on soil and water conservation and ecological environment protection to reinforce environment management in development and construction projects. We were implementing ecological environment construction engineering of soil and water conservation at the same time when the Three Gorges Hydraulic Project on the Yangtze River, Xiaolangdi and Wanjiazhai Hydraulic Projects on the Yellow River, Dachaoshan Hydraulic Project on Lancang River and other key hydraulic projects and hydropower stations were being constructed, and have achieved notable effects. The common characteristics of the soil and water conservation and ecological environment construction of the main key hydraulic projects are: First, making water and soil conservation plans and its special designs at the beginning of major project design. Second, implementing prevention-control measures of water and soil loss when the project was under construction. Third, accepting major project consisted of special acceptance of water and soil conservation engineering, performing the national requirements of the three-simultaneity system between the construction and development projects and the water and soil conservation very well.

Taye A, Megento TL. 2017. The role of indigenous knowledge and practice on water and soil conservation management in Albuko Woreda, Ethiopia. Bonorowo Wetlands 7: 95-107. The objectives of this study were to assess various aspects of indigenous knowledge and practice in water and soil conservation measures introduced in Albuko Woreda/district, South Wollo, Ethiopia, and investigate how farmers have adopted indigenous soil and water conservation measures. This study also aimed to examine farmers' views on land degradation and assess their adoption behavior of soil and water conservation knowledge. The data for the study originated mainly from farmers in the study area. Structured questionnaire survey and focus group discussion methods were applied to collect the necessary information from farm households. A total of 140 heads of families were questioned. The received data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and quantitative and qualitative data analysis. Even though some soil and water conservation methods were introduced to combat land degradation in Ethiopia, adopting these practices remains below expectations. Most farmers preferred soil (stone) bund, water diversion ditch and contour ploughing for soil and water conservation, crop rotation, and mixed cropping for soil fertility amendment measures instead of traditional cutoff drain and fallowing. Farmers faced several constraints in adopting soil and water conservation measures. The main problems related to conservation structures include the source of pests, inconveniency during ox ploughing, reduction of farmland, labor intensiveness, difficulty in implementation, and costliness. In contrast, farmers were knowledgeable about various indigenous soil and water conservation measures but implemented only some of them. They understand the effects of erosion on crop productivity. Finally, farmers need to be trained on the impact of soil erosion and available conservation measures. Information on the ineffectiveness of some traditional conservation measures has to be disseminated among farmers.

The Water Conservation Functional Zone and Ecological Environmental Supporting Zone (the Capital Two Zones in China), Zhangjiakou (ZJK) City, situated in China, has played a key role in mitigating water scarcity pressure on Beijing via delivering sustainable and high-quality water yield, as well as water conservation services aimed at maintaining the ecological functions of the Capital Two Zones. However, the changing mechanism for both water yield and water conservation services instigated by the combined impacts of human activities and climate change remains poorly understood. In this study, we used the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs Tools (InVEST) model to analyze the changes in water yield and water conservation services, revealing the impacts of different land use scenarios. The results showed significant forest and impervious land area increment, while the water surface area decreased sharply from 1990 to 2020, with obvious urbanization expansion in ZJK during the period. Average annual water yield and water conservation from 1990 to 2020 were recorded at 48.98 mm and 2.35 mm, respectively. Precipitation emerged as the primary driver of water yield and conservation service changes, while the south of ZJK generally exhibited higher water yield and conservation service than the north of ZJK. Results also indicate that grassland had the highest water yield, with an average of 56.60 mm, followed by forest (55.66 mm) and shrub (55.07 mm). Further, the forest had the highest water conservation value (3.73 mm), followed by shrub (2.56 mm), and grassland (2.37 mm), respectively. The return of cropland to forest scenario had the most substantial decrease in water yield. Findings suggest that precipitation has a direct impact on water yield and conservation services via the amount of atmospheric water input, while land use alteration contributes to changes in regional-scale water.

In order to study the effect of different vegetation types on ecosystem water and soil conservation function, an area was selected as the research object, and the evaluation method of ecosystem water and soil conservation function under the application of different plant measures was designed based on ENVI and ArcGIS software. Delineate five types of vegetation in the study area. The experimental results showed that in the evaluation of water conservation function, the water conservation capacity of the five types of vegetation and the water conservation amount per unit area are ranked from large to small, i.e. grassland, shrub grassland, woodland, woodland and shrub mixed areas, cultivated land, in the evaluation of soil water conservation function, the potential and actual soil erosion of cultivated land are much greater than those of the other four vegetation types. Among the remaining four vegetation types, shrubs > mixed area of shrubs and forest land > forest land > grassland. In the order of soil conservation per unit area, cultivated land is far less than other vegetation types, and the other orders are grassland > forest land > mixed area of forest land and shrub > shrub. It can be seen that among the five vegetation types, grassland has the strongest effect on soil and water conservation, and cultivated land is the worst. Bangladesh J. Bot. 54(3): 797-804, 2025 (September) Special

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 北京市自然保护地生态效益及其影响因素 DOI: 10.5846/stxb202108252386 作者: 作者单位: 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 中国科学院A类战略性先导科技专项（XDA23080000） Ecological benefit evaluation and influencing factors analysis of the Protected Areas in Beijing Author: Affiliation: Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:自然保护地是生物多样性富集区域，发挥着水源涵养、防风固沙等重要的生态效益。北京市共5类79处自然保护地，是首都重要生态屏障，但自然因素和人为干扰对自然保护地生态效益有着重要影响。核算了北京自然保护地的5种典型的生态效益，使用单因素方差分析比较了不同类型自然保护地生态效益的差异，并基于冗余分析法探究了2种自然因素（年均气温和年降水量）和4种人为因素（人口密度、建设用地比例、耕地比例和道路密度）对生态效益的影响。结果表明：（1）北京自然保护地总体生态效益：北京自然保护地生境质量高，生境质量指数均值高达0.88；其它4项可价值化的生态效益中，水源涵养价值最大，固碳价值最低。（2）各类自然保护地之间生态效益比较：除生境质量外，其它4个生态效益之和，自然保护区和森林公园显著高于其它3类自然保护地；湿地公园的生境质量显著低于其它4类保护地，而这4类保护地之间生境质量并无显著差异；从水源涵养的生态效益来看，风景名胜区和地质公园显著低于其它3类自然保护地。（3）人为干扰因素（影响水平为38.92%）对生态效益的影响程度远高于自然因素（影响水平为16.63%）；防风固沙、水土保持和固碳效益主要受人为干扰影响，而生境质量同时受到自然因素和人为因素的影响，水源涵养则主要受到自然因素的影响。（4）基于冗余分析，北京自然保护地可分为3个类群：水源涵养型、高质量栖息地型、其它生态效益型（包括防风固沙、水土保持和固碳）。研究可服务于北京保护地管理，提升北京自然保护地的生态效益。 Abstract:The protected area has high biodiversity and vital important ecological benefits, such as water conservation, soil and water conservation, sand fixation and wind prevention. In Beijing, the protected area are the core of the capital's ecological barrier. There are still many problems in the management of the protected area management, and human disturbance(population, economy and transportation) is prevalent, which seriously affects the ecological benefits of the protected area, especially in big cities such as Beijing. The natural factors also have impacts on ecological benefits of the protected area. However, there is still a gap in the understanding of the main factors the affecting the ecological benefits of the protected area in Beijing. We calculated 5 typical ecological benefits of 79 natural protected areas in Beijing, and compared the difference of ecological benefits of 5 types of protected area (natural reserve, forest park, scenic and historical interest area, geopark and wetland park) with one-way ANOVA. The effects of two natural factors (annual average temperature and annual precipitation) and four human impacts (population density, proportion of construction land, proportion of cultivated land and road density) on ecological benefits were investigated based on redundancy analysis. The results showed as follows:(1) in 2020, the value of water conservation per unit area in Beijing's protected areas was 34347 yuan/ha, the value of wind prevention and sand fixation was 2774 yuan/ha, the ecological value of soil and water conservation was 1274 yuan/ha, and the carbon fixation value was only 473 yuan/ha. In addition, the mean value of habitat quality per unit area in Beijing's protected areas was 0.88. (2) While comparing ecological benefits among different types of protected area, except habitat quality, the total benefits of the other four types of ecological benefits, nature reserve and forest parks were significantly higher than the other three types of natural protected areas. The habitat quality of wetland parks was significantly lower than that of the other four types of protected area, and there was no significant difference among the four types of protected area. In terms of ecological benefits of water conservation, scenic and historical interest area and geoparks were significantly lower than other three types of natural protection area. (3) Compared with natural factors (16.63%), human factors (38.92%) were the main factors affecting the ecological benefits of the protected area in Beijing, mainly including wind prevention and sand fixation, soil and water conservation and carbon fixation. Habitat quality was affected by both natural and human impacts, and water conservation was mainly affected by natural factors. ('4) Based on redundancy analysis (RDA), all the protected area in Beijing could be divided into three types:water conservation type, high-quality habitat type, and other ecological benefits (including wind prevention and sand fixation, water and soil conservation and carbon sequestration). The results showed that it was important and urgent to integrate and optimize the protected area in Beijing, and the key point was to reduce the construction and agricultural land in the protected area, and move excessive population out of the protected area. This study was of great significane to improve the ecological benefits of the protected area in Beijing, and provides theoretical and technical support for the scientific management of the protected area in Beijing. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

UHV transmission and transformation projects in China are developing rapidly. However, the construction of UHV transmission and transformation projects has damaged the natural environment along the way, and soil erosion has intensified. The development of water and soil conservation monitoring system in China is slow, and it is urgent to develop fast and reliable water and soil conservation monitoring. In this paper, a real-time online monitoring system for water and soil conservation is designed. The system consists of hardware, cloud and software. The hardware part uses field layout 9 fiber monitoring data and data transmission. The cloud part uses online cloud center to store soil and water conservation monitoring data. The software part is used to receive cloud information and facilitate data processing. To achieve long-term, real-time UHV transmission and transformation project construction site environmental impact, environmental restoration of soil erosion status accurate, rapid and reliable monitoring. The system is now used in soil and water conservation monitoring of Baihetan-Jiangsu ± 800 kV UHV transmission and transformation project to monitor local soil erosion. Through data analysis, the system meets the needs of on-line monitoring of soil and water conservation in UHV transmission and transformation projects. The results can provide reference for the application of other UHV soil and water conservation monitoring systems.

Review: Handbook of Water Use and Conservation By Amy Vickers Reviewed by Russell A. Cohen Massachusetts Department of Fisheries, USA Amy Vickers. Handbook of Water Use and Conservation. Amherst, MA: WaterPlow Press, 2001. 446 pp. ISBN 1-931579-07-5 (hardcover). US$99.95. Recycled paper. paper. 'Water is our most precious resource' is a refrain expressed by many-from engineers and poets to politicians-yet humanity's actions have often belied those words. Amidst the world's growing population and increasing demand for more water, many regions around the globe are facing the hard realities of groundwater depletion, chronic drought, dried-up rivers, poor water quality, mounting infrastructure costs, and diminishing alternatives for additional supplies. As we peer into the 21st century, water conservation is looking far more like an imperative than an option (p. xv). So begins Amy Vickers' Handbook of Water Use and Conservation, to date the most authoritative, encyclopedic reference work available on this subject. The Handbook contains detailed descriptions of hundreds of water-efficiency technologies and practices for all customer groups-residential, landscape, industrial, commercial, institutional, and agricultural. Vickers backs up her claim that water conservation represents The Great Untapped Water Supply (p. xv) by presenting hundreds of proven water efficiency measures that reduce and control both short-term water demand (such as during drought and peak conditions) as well as long-term demand for each type of customer. Potential water savings and related costs are provided too, so you can know which measures will provide the best benefit/cost ratio for any type of customer. Vickers points out that many, if not most, water conservation measures have a relatively short payback time, often two years or less. As someone from a densely populated state where profligate household water use increasingly threatens the natural integrity of our streams and other hydric ecosystems, I found the Handbook's sections on domestic water use (and abuse) particularly valuable. Here's a brief example: The American obsession with lawns and lawn care products has come under scrutiny in recent years because of concerns about wasted water and the burdens of time, cost, and pollution that a well-manicured green lawn exacts from its owner and the natural environment (p.145). Vickers points out that lawn watering represents one of the biggest non-essential uses of water in many communities as well as the fact that keeping a lawn green with no brown spots during midsummer is often a costly, losing battle, even with regular

Watershed prioritization with the objective of identifying critical areas to undertake soil and water conservation measures was conducted in the upper Han River basin, the water source area of approximately 95,000km2 for the middle route of China's South-to-North Water Transfer Project. Based on the estimated soil erosion intensity in uplands and clustering analysis of measured nutrient concentrations in rivers, the basin was grouped into very-high-, high-, moderate-, and low-priority regions for water and soil conservation, respectively. The results indicated that soil erosion was primarily controlled by topography, and nutrients in rivers were associated with land use and land cover in uplands. Also, there was large spatial disparity between soil erosion intensity in the uplands and nutrient concentrations in the rivers across the basin. Analysis was then performed to prioritize the basin by the integration of the soil erosion intensity and water quality on a GIS platform in order to identify critical areas for water and soil conservation in the basin. The identified high-priority regions which occupy 5.74% of the drainage areas need immediate attention for soil and water conservation treatments, of which 5.28% is critical for soil erosion prevention and 0.46% for water conservation. Understandings of the basin environment and pollutant loading with spatial explicit are critical to the soil and water resource conservation for the interbasin water transfer project.

In Kenya, conservation and sustainable utilization of the environment and natural resources form an integral part of national planning and poverty reduction efforts. However, weak environmental management practices are a major impediment to agricultural productivity growth. This study was motivated by the paucity of literature on the poverty-environment nexus in Kenya, since poverty, agricultural stagnation and environmental degradation are issues of policy interest in the country’s development strategy. The paper builds on the few existing studies from Kenya and explores the impact of household, farm and village characteristics as well as the development domain dimensions on household welfare and investment in soil and water conservation. The results show that strengthening the tenure security improves household welfare. Further, soil quality, topography and investments in soil and water conservation affect household welfare. Agroecological potential, which is related to environmental conservation, is also a key correlate of poverty. Results for investment in water and soil conservation confirm the importance of tenure security in determining adoption and also the intensity of SWC investments. We also find that household assets, farm characteristics, presence of village institutions and development domain dimensions are important determinants of adoption and intensity of soil and water conservation investments. The results for both poverty and investment in soil and water conservation suggest the existence of a strong poverty-environment link in our sample. The results also suggest that rural poverty can be alleviated by policies that improve environmental conservation and strengthen land tenure security. The study also underscores the importance of village institutions in both investment adoption of soil and water conservation and in improving household welfare.

The water related standardization system aims to meet the coordinated development and safety demands of hydrology, water conservancy, and water resources, and serves as the main support for the high-quality development of hydrology and water resources. By 2022, the national standard information public service platform. has disclosed more than 4000 water related standards, covering the topics of water resources management, water conservancy project construction, operation management, water and soil conservation, rural water conservancy and hydropower, reservoirs and water conservancy and hydropower project resettlement, flood and drought disaster prevention, hydrology, water transfer management, water conservancy informatization and other water-related standards. Based on the methodology of mathematical statistics, word frequency and co-word analysis, this article systematically sorts out China's water related standardization system, as well as the emphasis and development process of the standard work. Additionally, we summarise the problems and explore the development of countermeasures in the formulation and revision of water related standards through comparative analysis. The study shows that there are some problems in China’s water related standards, including imbalanced fields, relatively lagging system transformation, weak institutions, shortage of funds, lengthy approval, and incomplete implementation and enforcement of the problems. In order to comprehensively enhance the normative guidance ability of water related standards in main areas such as water resource protection, water environment management, and water ecological management in river basins and regions, future water related standards should continuously promote the construction of water related standards databases, strengthen the coordination in the research and development and compilation of water related standards in various fields, promote the communication and collaboration of water related standardization organizations, and talent cultivation, and accelerate the establishment of a comprehensive technical standard system and international transformation ability, so as to provide reference for the improvement of the water related standards in China.

Some difficulties and inconsistencies when using habit strength and reasoned action variables in models of metered household water conservation

Since soil and water conservation facilities through the purchase of services by the government, the working procedures had changed. This paper studied the evaluation work program, combination with Yinpan hydropower station, which divided into personnel composition, site survey, data verification, communication and reporting. The legal procedures for the implementation of soil and water conservation were checked to confirm the scope of responsibility for the prevention and control of soil erosion. Spoil yard and stone pit were surveyed and analysed one by one to confirm the soil and water conservation measures, the amount of soil and water conservation measures, the quality evaluation and the effect of soil erosion control. The construction and operation management of soil and water conservation were evaluated in the end. Through soil and water conservation facilities acceptance evaluation of Yinpan Hydropower Station, experience was summarized, which could be used as reference for the acceptance of soil and water conservation facilities in hydropower project in the future.