As described in chapter 1, there is a high demand for safe drinking water in present day's society, which has to comply with ever increasing quality standards. Several discoveries in the past two decades have led to an increasing public awareness of the risks of water pollution to both the human population and the environment. These include the discovery of the presence of endocrine disruptors,...

In a recent paper, a generic model, based on a multiobjective optimization procedure, for water supply system for a single company and for an eco-industrial park was proposed and illustrated by a park involving three companies A, B and C. The best configuration was identified by simultaneously minimizing the fresh water flow rate, the regenerated water flow rate and the number of connections in...

The tendency today to privatise many activities hitherto considered the exclusive preserve of the state has given rise to sharp debate. The specific nature of humanitarian emergencies elucidates in particularly stark contrast some of the main challenges connected to the privatisation and outsourcing of essential public services, such as the provision of drinking water and health care. Privatisi...

The Ecological Water Transfer and Rehabilitation Project in the arid inland area of northwest China is an important measure in restoring a deteriorated ecosystem. However, the sustainability of the project is affected by many socio-economic factors. This article examines the attitudes of the local populace toward the project, its impact on the livelihood of the people, and the positive effects ...

Inappropriate water governance, which has been known as a variable to explain the water crisis in many parts of the world, needs to examine the institutional structures and required reforms. In the present study, the effectiveness and possibility of applying of five rural local organizations, as intermediate organizations for water resources protection in Anar and Rafsanjan areas, Kerman provin...