Worldwide, irrigation uses about 69% of available freshwater resources (Fry, 2005). In the United States, 82% of freshwater resources are used for irrigation purposes. Major concerns on future planetary freshwater resources are the effects of climate change on changing sea temperature and levels, annual snowpack, drought and flood events, as well as changes in water quality, and general ecosyst...

China is a country with severe water shortages. Water is becoming scarcer due to population growth, industrialization and urbanization. Recent studies show that by the next 50 years water resources per capita will go down to around 1700 m 3, which is the threshold of severe water scarcity. Especially in North China, water shortage has become a critical constraint factor for socioeconomic develo...

Good morning, Madam Chairwoman, and members of the Subcommittee. My name is Tracy Collier, I am the Director of the Environmental Conservation Division, in the Northwest Fisheries Science Center of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of Commerce. Research conducted within my Division focuses on the effe...

Today an integrated and complete system for the monitoring and management of water resources for a whole river basin does not exist. This paper presents the characteristics and showcases the design of such a system. The core of the system is based on water quality monitoring and risk management. This paper also highlights the need for the economic evaluation of water resources services, and pre...

Human activities have severely affected the condition of freshwater ecosystems worldwide. Physical alteration, habitat loss, water withdrawal, pollution, overexploitation and the introduction of non-native species all contribute to the decline in freshwater species. Today, freshwater species are, in general, at higher risk of extinction than those in forests, grasslands and coastal ecosystems. ...