Innovative Water Technologies Research Articles

Social Acceptance of Innovative Water Technologies as a Development and Design Norm in North Cyprus

This paper addresses the necessary innovative methods for water production and harvesting as a design norm,especially in areas that are facing water shortages both now and in the long term, an example of which is NorthernCyprus Amidst projections forecasting that half of the global populace may confront water scarcity by 2025, and anestimated 700 million individuals could face displacement due to water scarcity by 2030, the imperative to diversifywater-sourcing mechanisms becomes paramount. This paper scrutinizes the intricate challenges engendered by theisland's climatic peculiarities and constricted land resources, underscoring the imperative of formulating sustainablewater management paradigms. It synthesizes extant scholarship on water management in North Cyprus, focusing onparticipatory design methodologies and their ramifications on the societal embracement of novel water technologies.Environmental determinants such as climatic conditions and human factors such as social behavioral patterns andinfrastructure maintenance are factors that have a direct impact on the analysis of water management in multifaceteddimensions. In addition, attitudes, social norms, and perceived behavioral control are effective in social acceptance ofrenewable energy projects in general and, in this paper, innovative water projects. Participatory design in a specialway causes the community to participate receive support.

Development and Application of Technical Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Smart Water Cities (SWCs) Global Standards and Certification Schemes

Smart water cities (SWCs) use advanced technologies for efficient management and preservation of the urban water cycle, strengthening sustainability and improving the quality of life of the residents. This research aims to develop measurement and evaluation tools for SWC key performance indicators (KPIs), focusing on innovative water technologies in establishing unified global standards and certification schemes. The KPIs are categorized based on the stage at which water is being measured, namely the urban water cycle, water disaster management and water supply and treatment. The objective is to assess cities’ use of technologies in providing sufficient water supply, monitoring water quality, strengthening disaster resilience and maintaining and preserving the urban water ecosystem. The assessment is composed of a variety of procedures performed in a quantitative and qualitative manner, the details of which are presented in this study. The developed SWC KPI measurements are used to evaluate the urban water management practices for Busan Eco Delta City, located in Busan, South Korea. Evaluation processes were presented and established, serving as the guideline basis for certification in analyzing future cities, providing integrated and comprehensive information on the status of their urban water system, gathering new techniques, and proposing solutions for smarter measures.

Assessing and anticipating the real world impact of innovative water technologies

Many new water technologies are referred to as being disruptive. The term disruptive innovation is overused to the point that it has lost much of its meaning. There is no clear framework to quantify or measure the impact of new water technologies. This paper proposes a series of different metrics as an objective means to quantify the market impact of technologies based on empirical data, and assesses their practicality in application.Three different levels of market impact are defined, the lowest being Level 3 and the highest Level 1. Selected metrics are applied to empirical data for 11 different water technologies to test the framework. It was found that the average time required to reach Level 1 impact, from the first installation, was 21 years, while it was possible to move from Level 2 to Level 1 in 10 years. The presence of two to three competitors in the market has a synergistic effect and can accelerate overall adoption of a technology class. The fragmented nature of the water sector has been observed to act as a buffer against disruption.The metrics, which have been found to be useful in evaluating the impact of water technologies, are the total number countries in which the technology is adopted, the total number of units that have been deployed and the annual market value the technology achieved. It has also been observed that certain innovation typologies and innovation drivers are associated with high levels of market impact while other combinations are associated with zombie technologies.

International Water and Sanitation Technology Transfers, Experiences from Europe

Background: Possibilities of transferring cost-effective, innovative water and wastewater technologies on public water markets are discussed based on the experiences of the Dutch water business cluster in the Central and Eastern European Countries. These transfers evolved under suitable conditions, among others financial support of the suppliers, obsolete local water technologies, demanding European policies and co-financing of the adopters’ investments. While acting in the cluster and the financial support reduced the suppliers’ transaction costs, the chance of successful transfer was low because adoption of the innovative water technologies is generally costlier than keeping obsolete technologies whose costs are sunk. The communities were prone to adopt the innovative water technologies if they can gain valuable water uses for public health, tourism, education, nature and so on. Keywords: Water innovations, international technology transfers, communities, central and eastern european countries.

Innovations in nanotechnology for water treatment.

Important challenges in the global water situation, mainly resulting from worldwide population growth and climate change, require novel innovative water technologies in order to ensure a supply of drinking water and reduce global water pollution. Against this background, the adaptation of highly advanced nanotechnology to traditional process engineering offers new opportunities in technological developments for advanced water and wastewater technology processes. Here, an overview of recent advances in nanotechnologies for water and wastewater treatment processes is provided, including nanobased materials, such as nanoadsorbents, nanometals, nanomembranes, and photocatalysts. The beneficial properties of these materials as well as technical barriers when compared with conventional processes are reported. The state of commercialization is presented and an outlook on further research opportunities is given for each type of nanobased material and process. In addition to the promising technological enhancements, the limitations of nanotechnology for water applications, such as laws and regulations as well as potential health risks, are summarized. The legal framework according to nanoengineered materials and processes that are used for water and wastewater treatment is considered for European countries and for the USA.

Operationalising resilience to drought: Multi-layered safety for flooding applied to droughts

This paper sets out a way of thinking about how to prepare for and respond to droughts in a holistic way using a framework developed for managing floods. It shows how the multi-layered safety (MLS) approach for flood resilience can be utilised in the context of drought in a way that three layers of intervention can be distinguished for operationalising drought resilience: (1) protection against water shortage through augmentation and diversification of water supplies; (2) prevention of damage in case of water shortage through increased efficiency of water use and timely asset maintenance; (3) preparedness for future water shortages through mechanisms to reduce the use of water and adopt innovative water technologies. Application of MLS to the cities of Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney shows that recent water reforms in these cities were primarily focused on protection measures that aim to reduce the hazard source or exposure to insufficient water supplies. Prevention and preparedness measures could be considered in defining interventions that aim to further increase the drought resilience of these cities. Although further research is needed, the application suggests that MLS can be applied to the context of drought risk management. The MLS framework can be used to classify the suite of plans deployed by a city to manage future drought risks and can be considered a planning tool to identify opportunities for increasing the level of redundancy and hence resilience of the drought risk management system.

A real options approach to the design and architecture of water supply systems using innovative water technologies under uncertainty

Water supply has become a priority for developed and developing nations of the world. Conventional water resources alone cannot meet the growing demand for water in urban cities. Management of the problem is amplified by uncertainty associated with different development strategies. Singapore has limited conventional water resources and progressively architects its water supply system through acquiring and sustaining multiple (alternative) water resources through innovative technologies. The full rationale and merits of such a policy cannot be properly understood based on traditional project valuation methods alone. This paper provides decision support using a real options approach by evaluating innovative water technologies from multiple perspectives under uncertainty. This paper demonstrates that incorporating innovative water technologies into water supply systems can concurrently improve water supply from the financial, political and socioeconomic perspectives. The development of innovative water technologies provides flexibility to the water supply system, and is a fundamental and effective means of risk management. The evaluation of innovative water technologies is based on an integrated real options approach, which provides decision support for architecting water supply systems under uncertainty. The approach gives specific tangible values for the water technologies and complements the general prescriptive Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) framework.

Rainwater harvesting in South Africa: Challenges and opportunities

Water paucity remains a major threat to poverty, hunger alleviation as well as sustainable development. Innovative water technologies such as rainwater harvesting (RWH) have the potential to improve rural water supply and contribute to the provision of the first 6kl of water consumed monthly. RWH can also be the solution to South Africa food security by increasing water productivity of dryland agriculture and enabling homestead gardening. Although used for decades in South Africa, rainwater harvesting (RWH) is still far from being utilised to its full potential as unresolved challenges prevent its wide scale adoption. The paper presents the challenges and opportunities to the upscaling of RWH in South Africa. Key challenges preventing the nationwide expansion of RWH are the current water related legislations, the lack of finances and the absence of a national umbrella body that coordinates. While opportunities lie in the worth of knowledge gathered by research projects, funded over the last two decades, on the biophysical and socio-economic impacts of RWH.

Water Management in San Luis Potosí Metropolitan Area, Mexico

The San Luis Potosí Metropolitan Zone, one of the key urban centres of Mexico's semi-arid central region, has experienced remarkable socio-economic development in recent decades, but it confronts inadequate water services in a context of scarcity, inefficient management, and lack of planning, investment and technology. Strategies currently being undertaken include efforts to improve the efficiency of wells, reduce leakage, sanitize the area, and develop alternative water supplies from neighbouring catchments. The challenge today is to move from considerations that focus mainly on supply management, to an approach based on integrated water resources management. This represents an immense task, but innovative water technologies, management systems and institutional arrangements are necessary in order to meet the multiple objectives of equity, environmental integrity and economic efficiency.

Innovative water supply and disposal technologies as integral part of Integrated Water Resources Management: an example from Namibia

In semi-arid to arid countries water supply challenges will increase in the future with demographic and climate change putting pressure on available resources. Water supply and disposal paradigms of the temperate zone are unsuitable to address these challenges. Innovative water supply and wastewater treatment technologies that are embedded into a holistic integrated water resources management concept are needed, with strong aspects of stakeholder participation, institutional development and capacity building. In central northern Namibia, an eight-year project (CuveWaters) is initiated which links IWRM concept development to the implementation of demand side oriented, appropriate and regionally adapted innovative water technologies.

Kinetic Studies on the Tensile State of Water in Trees

The solar-powered generation and turnover of tensile, cohesive water in trees is described as a kinetic phenomenon of irreversible thermodynamics. A molecular kinetic model for tensile water formation and turnover is presented, which is found to be mathematically equivalent with an autocatalytic reaction (Brusselator). It is also shown to be consistent with the van der Waals equation for real liquid-gas systems, which empirically considers intermolecular forces. It can therefore be used to explain both the irreversible thermodynamics and the kinetics of the tensile liquid state of water. A nonlinear bistable evaporation behavior of tensile water is predicted, which has not yet been experimentally characterized in trees. Conventional sap flow techniques in combination with infrared imaging of heat flow around a local heat source were used to study the dynamics and energetics of water transport of trees during the eclipse of August 11, 1999. The evaporative "pulling force" in a tree was demonstrated with infrared techniques and shown to respond within seconds. While the ambient temperature during the eclipse did not drop by more than 2 degrees C, evaporative water transport was reduced by a factor of up to 2-3. The expected hysteresis (with an up to 50% decrease in energy-conversion-related entropy production) was measured, reflecting a bistable mode of conversion of solar energy into tensile water flow. This nonlinear (autocatalytic) phenomenon, together with tensile molecular order, damped the oscillating behavior of xylem tensile water, and its occasional all-or-none rupture (cavitation) can thus be explained by the nonlinear nature of intermolecular forces active in the water conduit/parenchyma environment. This characterizes the physical chemistry and energetics of tensile water in trees as an active-solar-energy-driven self-organizing process. Water is handled in the form of microcanonical ensembles and transformed into a stretched, metastable icelike state with stronger hydrogen bonding and increased heat of evaporation. The discussed model may open new opportunities for research and understanding toward innovative water technologies.