In order to supply drinking water efficiently, aspects such as saving energy and resources become more and more relevant besides the task of ensuring water quality. In this context, simulating water supply networks is of increasing importance as it helps water suppliers to estimate and improve effectiveness of their facilities with respect to economy and ecology. However, modeling and computing...

Passive restoration depending on native shrubs is an attractive approach for restoring desertified landscapes in semi-arid sandy regions. We sought to understand the relationships between spatial patterns of native shrubs and their survival ability in sandy environments. Furthermore, we applied our results to better understand whether passive restoration is feasible for desertified landscapes i...

In ecology, strategy schemes based on propositions about the selection of plant attributes are common, but quantification of such schemes in relation to nutrient and water supply is lacking. Through structural equation modeling, we tested whether plant strategies related to nutrient and water/oxygen supply are reflected in a coordination of traits in natural communities. Structural equation mod...

Since the introduction of private tubewells in rural Pakistan, farmers have increasingly used groundwater to supplement canal water for irrigation and improve the reliability of the water supply. Farmers obtain groundwater either from their own tubewells or from other well owners. This paper examines the effect of private tubewells on rural income, both in terms of income level and income distr...

Groundwater is closely coupled with stream­ flow to maintain water supply to riparian vegetation, parti­ cularly where precipitation is seasonal. A case study is presented where Mediterranean climate and groundwater extraction are linked with the decline of riparian vegeta­ tion and subsequent severe bank erosion on the Carmel River in Carmel Valley, California.

The terms sustainability, scaling up, and enabling environment are inconsistently used in implementing water supply projects. To clarify these terms we develop a framework based on Normalization Process Theory, and apply the framework to a hypothetical water supply project in schools. The resulting framework provides guidance on how these terms could be implemented and analyzed in water supply ...

Surface water availability is a key driver of elephant impacts on biological diversity. Thus, understanding the spatio-temporal variations of these impacts in relation to water is critical to their management. However, elephant piosphere effects (i.e. the radial pattern of attenuating impact) are poorly described, with few long-term quantitative studies. Our understanding is further confounded ...

Field investigation of 27 medium to small water systems in Ontario Province has revealed a pattern of deviations in operations that is similar to those reported in the United States over the past 25 years. In this recent Ontario survey of water utilities, the key findings were: (1) a need for full cost pricing of public water supply to consumers; (2) better understanding of water treatment trai...