Regulation Of Water Relations Research Articles

Assessing The Role of Water-Related Regulations and Actors in The Operation of PDAM (Local Drinking Water Company)

Water management in Indonesia has not been addressing water problems and challenges needed in achieving SDG 6, especially in the provision of sustainable drinking water services. Based on the condition, this research starts with a hypothesis that current performance of PDAM (Perusahaan Daerah Air Minum – Local Drinking Water Companies) – that have significant roles in drinking water provision in Indonesia regions – is influenced by water-related regulations and actors. With the aim to analyse the influence of regulations and actors related to the operation of PDAM, and to formulate recommendations that helps better PDAM performance in providing sustainable drinking water services, this study analyses regulations underlying PDAM governance and performance. Using content analysis on regulations, reports, and documents related to PDAM, this research has figured out that the operation of PDAM has not been supported with effective regulations, which is exacerbated by poor implementation and low enforcement of the regulations at the operational level by determined parties: local governments and PDAM. Therefore, to improve PDAM performance, this study recommends the Government of Indonesia to integrate and simplify PDAM-related regulations to avoid overlapping regulations and regulatory obesity and to review, analyse, state and disseminate clearly the status of existing PDAM-related regulations in the hierarchy of repealed and ineffective regulations to avoid confusion, stagnation and wrong decision making in the operation of PDAM. This study also finds out that further research on internal and external factors of water utilities (environment, biology, water and human resources, public policy, public services etc.) is necessary for sustainable provision of drinking water services and water security purposes and to ensure that the use or the implementation of those factors be clearly regulated.

Water reporting in mining: Are corporates losing sight of stakeholder interests?

The mining industry provides the raw materials needed for economic and social development. At the same time, it is a large user and, occasionally, polluter of shared water resources that form the foundation of healthy ecosystems and a dignified human life. Realizing a sustainable water use in mining operations requires meaningful information on mine site-water interactions that allows stakeholders to build opinions, make sustainability-oriented decisions on procurement, permitting or investment, and hold companies accountable for their water-related activities. The objective of this study is to evaluate the relevance and priorities of current corporate water disclosure in mining against the backdrop of stakeholder information requirements. Combining a content analysis of corporate water reporting of the world's ten largest mining companies and the results of a stakeholder perception survey reveals that disclosed information on tailings management as well as water-related regulations and compliance issues are well suited to satisfy stakeholder interests. In contrast, significant priority misalignment exists for many other disclosure aspects governing the interactions of mining and water resources, especially with respect to information on corporate water strategies, mine site-level management plans and water balances. Proposed reasons for this disparity include the use of standardized water reporting templates and a unilaterally focused reporting practice. However, the evaluation also reveals varying, partly opposing stakeholder perceptions implying that a water reporting practice satisfying all legitimate interests is hardly achievable. Based on these findings, we recommend increased flexibility to individualize mine site-level water reporting, expanding disclosed information on water strategies and management plans, as well as tailoring of reporting to a specific target audience in order to better align information in corporate water disclosures to stakeholder interests.

Policy water resource savings in the Russian Federation

The policy of maintenance is considered by water in the international context of the importance of a water resource. Water is the basic ecological a component which connects together all processes occurring in Biosphere. Water is the basic resource providing all processes of ability to live of the person. Questions of its safety stand recently very sharply and acceptance of measures at level of the international community demand. According to the accepted Declarations of the United Nations, water is a resource which is a basis of ability to live of the person. The territory of Russia is not equally provided by water resources. For the purpose of preservation of stocks of fresh water and prevention of deterioration of its quality in Russia the legislation is developed. According to the current legislation of the Russian Federation, the user of resources obtains the permit to special water use and is responsible for pollution of a water source. The water legislation consists the Water Code, other federal laws and laws of subjects of the Russian Federation accepted according to them. The norms regulating the relations on use and protection of water objects, name «water relations». They can be regulated by decrees of the President of the Russian Federation which should not contradict the present Code, other federal laws. Procedure of working out of rules of law in water relations, is similar to working out and legislation acceptances in the Russian Federation. The enforcement authorities, which authorized by the Government of the Russian Federation publish the standard legal certificates regulating water relations in concrete territory. At change of articles of the law of the Water Code, on places effective standards are reconsidered. They are resulted according to a law effective standard. Local governments within the powers can publish the standard legal certificates regulating water relations, but only on the basis and to execute the present Code, and also to execute other federal laws, other standard legal certificates of the Russian Federation and other standard legal certificates of subjects of the Russian Federation. The water Code establishes principles of a water policy. The state policy of the Russian Federation assumes steady water use with preservation of quality of natural resources. The legislation accepted in the Russian Federation regulates relations in the field of protection of water objects and their water resources. The water Code also establishes legal bases of activity of the state-participant in the field of a water policy and uniform approaches to maintenance of steady water use within the limits of pools of water objects. The policy is directed on introduction of the mechanisms providing improvement of quality of a surface water in the course of use in the economic-household and industrial purposes. The modelling water code for the states-participants CIS establishes basic principles of the water policy directed on steady water use and protection of water objects and their water resources. The water legislation and the accepted standard legal certificates are based on principles of world value and civilization the importance of water objects. Regulation of water relations should be carried out full-scale.

An ecosystem model of the lower Po river for use in ecological risk assessment of xenobiotics

Ecological modelling has the potential to increase the realism of chemical risk assessment for better informed risk management and decision making meeting the protection goals and requirements of the EU's chemicals- and water-related regulations. We developed a food web model of the final lowland section of the longest Italian river (Po) to assess the importance of ecological interactions in setting protective thresholds for river ecosystems exposed to chemicals discharged via wastewater. An integrated 14 compartment model was setup using AQUATOX 3.1, providing a dynamic, quantitative representation of the main functional groups in the food web. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the functioning of the Po ecosystem is quantitatively described. The model was calibrated against observations of biomass density of riverine biota, as typically available for a large lowland river in Europe. The role of ecological interactions on the response of the modelled organisms to chemical exposure was tested on realistic and hypothetical exposure scenarios for two compounds contained in home and personal care products: the anionic surfactant linear alkylbenzene sulphonate and the antimicrobial triclosan. At realistic exposure concentrations the model showed no significant effect compared to control simulations. At hypothetical higher exposure, effects resulting from complex ecosystem-scale interactions emerge. Depending on the organism's position in the food web, indirect effects due to ecological interactions can either amplify or mitigate the effect of direct toxicity. Model results indicate that organisms’ responses to chemicals in real ecosystems is poorly correlated to their direct toxicity (i.e. measured by L/ECX values) for a range of simulated exposure, including concentrations equal to the reported PNEC values. AQUATOX is a useful tool to investigate the relative importance of direct toxicity and ecological interactions, but at this stage it is difficult to use it for prospective chemical risk assessment, given the underlying model uncertainties and the practical limitations of field scale evaluations. An improvement of the quantitative monitoring of feeding preferences and abundance over time of the most representative species within each functional group would be of great help to refine the model parameterisation and calibration. Nonetheless, the development of river ecosystem model scenarios is a stepping stone towards the incorporation of ecological modelling in risk assessment. When extensively tested on different scenarios AQUATOX provides a useful platform, which can be linked to mechanistic effect models as long as this component can be evaluated in controlled settings (i.e. laboratory or mesocosm scale).

Legal framework of the water sector in Vietnam: achievements and challenges

Since 1986 and especially during the early 90s, environmental protection has become a constitutional principle in Vietnam as regulated by Articles 17 and 29 of the 1992 Constitution. The first Law on Environmental Protection, passed by the National Assembly on December 27, 1993 created a foundation for environmental legislation becoming an important field in Vietnam’s legal system. In the following, Vietnam enacted its very first Law on Water Resources (No. 08/1998/QH10) in January 1999 aiming to provide a foundational framework for managing the water sector in Vietnam. In recent years, the legislative framework on water resources management has further developed. Important water-related regulations on the guidance and implementation of the Law on Water Resources have been issued and often amended to meet the requirements of the country’s development, and its international integration. To date, Vietnam’s legislation on the water sector consists of a complex system of legal documents issued by different state agencies. Though legislation of water sector management in Vietnam has greatly improved during the last decade, it has obviously not yet come to full fruition. Hence, the paper intends to provide an overview of achievements as well as problems and conflicting issues within Vietnam’s current water sector management legislation.
 Kểtừnăm 1986, đặc biệt là những năm đầu của thập kỷ90, bảo vệmôi trường đã trởthành nguyên tắc hiến định (được quy định tại Điều 17 và 29 Hiến pháp 1992). Luật Bảo vệmôi trường đầu tiên được Quốc hội thông qua ngày 27 tháng 12 năm 1993 đã đặt nền móng cho việc hình thành hệthống pháp luật vềmôi trường ởViệt Nam.Tiếp theo đó, ngày 20 tháng 05 năm 1998, Quốc hội nước Cộng hòa xã hội Việt Nam khóa X, kỳhọp thứ3 đã thông qua văn bản luật đầu tiên vềtài nguyên nước -Luật Tài nguyên nước số08/1998/QH10 hình thành một nền tảng pháp lý cho hệthống pháp luật bảo vệnguồn tài nguyên nước ởViệt Nam. Trong những năm gần đây, hầu hết các văn bản dưới luật quan trọng và cần thiết cho việc hướng dẫn thi hành Luật Tài nguyên nước đã được ban hành và không ngừng được sửa đổi, bổsung nhằm đáp ứng nhu cầu phát triển và hội nhập quốc tếcủa đất nước trong nhiều lĩnh vực khác nhau.Tuy nhiên, khung pháp lý hiện hành vềtài nguyên nước ởViệt Nam bao gồm một hệthống các văn bản quy phạm pháp luật khá phức tạp, nhiều tầng nấc, được ban hành bởi nhiều cơ quan có thẩm quyền khác nhau. Mặc dù hệthống pháp luật vềtài nguyên nước đã được liên tục sửa đổi, bổsung và hoàn thiện trong suốt một thập kỷqua, nhưng rõ ràng vẫn chưa thực sựđi vào cuộc sống.Bài viết dưới đây đềcập chủyến đến một sốcácthành tựu cũng nhưnhữngvấn đềmâu thuẫn hiện tại của pháp luật bảo vệnguồn tài nguyên nước ởViệt Nam.

Transport modelling and monitoring research use for efficiency assessment of vertical barrier surrounding old sanitary landfill

Transport modelling and monitoring research use for efficiency assessment of vertical barrier surrounding old sanitary landfill The paper describes the results of numerical modelling of pollution transport and groundwater quality monitoring for the old sanitary landfill where advanced protection system have been introduced. The protection system consists of the vertical bentonite barrier and peripheral leachate drainage. The GMS/FEMWATER numerical program has been used for groundwater flow and transport simulation. The local monitoring program includes chemical analyses of leachates, surface and groundwater as well as groundwater level observations. The modelling and monitoring results were aimed at the assessment of the vertical barrier effectiveness of groundwater protection in landfill surroundings. These analyses were performed for Radiowo landfill located nearby Warsaw. This object has been existing since 1962, and the permission for its exploitation was extended to the end of the year 2009. Remedial works of the landfill has been conducted since 1998 and they includes: the vertical bentonite barrier, the leachates drainage system, the leachate re-circulation system, the mineral cover, the degassing system as well as the regulation of water relations in surroundings. The influence of remedial works on the groundwater quality on landfill surroundings has also been analysed in the paper.

Photosynthesis, leaf conductance, and water relations of cowpea under saline conditions

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.), grown widely under both irrigated and dryland conditions, is well adapted to drought and high temperature and is moderately salt tolerant. Data on photosynthetic response and regulation of water relations in cowpea under salinity stress is lacking. Therefore, in conjunction with a field plot experiment to establish the leaching requirement of cowpea, measurements were made of carbon dioxide assimilation rates (A) by 14CO2 uptake, leaf conductances to H2O (g1) by tritum uptake, and to CO2 (g′), and leaf total water potential (ψt1) and osmotic potential (ψπ1).