"In the delta, water is boss, change is the only constant, and creation and destruction exist side by side." The Peace-Athabasca Delta in northern Alberta is a globally significant wetland that lies within one of the largest unfragmented landscapes in North America. Arguably the world's largest boreal inland delta, it is renowned for its biological productivity and is a central feature of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Yet the delta and its indigenous cultures lie downstream of Alberta's bitumen sands, whose exploitation comprises one of the largest industrial projects in the world. Kevin Timoney provides an authoritative synthesis of the science and history of the delta, describing its ecology, unraveling its millennia-long history, and addressing its uncertain future. Scientists, students, leaders in the energy sector, government officials and policy makers, and conscientious citizens everywhere should read this lively work.
Construction of the Bennett Dam in British Columbia altered natural fluctuations of downstream flows in the Peace River in Alberta, with major implications for the ecosystem of the Peace-Athabasca Delta. In later years, downstream weirs were constructed to restore the water level regime in the Delta. This report presents the results of a modelling exercise undertaken in an attempt to assess the effect of the weirs and the dam on the Delta water levels during 1985-90, at which time Lake Athabasca water levels were low and it was not clear whether the weirs were functioning properly or if the low water levels were caused by low flows coming from the upper Peace and Athabasca river basins. The methodology uses a one-dimensional hydrodynamic model, suitably modified and calibrated. The appendices include numerous plots of water levels indicating the effects of the weirs and dam on natural conditions.
Rapid and important developments in the area of energy - water nexus over the last two to three years have been significant. This new edition of Water and Energy: Threats and Opportunities is timely and continues to highlight the inextricable link between water and energy, providing an up-to-date overview of the subject with helpful detailed summaries of the technical literature. Water and Energy has been up-dated throughout and major changes are: new chapters on global warming and fossil fuels, including shale gas and fracking; the consequences of the Deepwater Horizon accident in the Mexican Gulf and the Niger Delta oil spills; new developments in hydropower; and continued competition between food, water and energy. Water and Energy Threats and Opportunities, 2e creates an awareness of the important couplings between water and energy. It shows how energy is used in all the various water cycle operations and demonstrates how water is used and misused in all kinds of energy production and generation.Population increase, climate change and an increasing competition between food and fuel production create enormous pressures on both water and energy availability. Since there is no replacement for water, water security looks more crucial than energy security. This is true not only in developing countries but also in the most advanced countries. For example, the western parts of the USA suffer from water scarcity that provides a real security threat. Part One of the book describes the water-energy nexus, the conflicts and competitions and the couplings between water security, energy security, and food security. Part Two captures how climate change, population increase and the growing food demand will have major impact on water availability in many countries in the world. Part Three describes water for energy and how energy production and conversion depend on water availability. As a consequence, all planning has to take both water and energy into consideration. The environmental (including water) consequences of oil and coal exploration and refining are huge, in North America as well as in the rest of the world. Furthermore, oil leak accidents have hit America, Africa, Europe as well as Asia. The consequences of hydropower are discussed and the competition between hydropower generation, flood control and water storage is illustrated. The importance of water for cooling thermal power plants is described, as this was so tragically demonstrated at the Fukushima nuclear plants in 2011. Climate change will further emphasize the strong coupling between water availability and the operation of power plants. Part Four analyses energy for water - how water production and treatment depend on energy. The book shows that a lot can be done to improve equipment, develop processes and apply advanced monitoring and control to save energy for water operations. Significant amounts of energy can be saved by better pumping, the reduction of leakages, controlled aeration in biological wastewater treatment, more efficient biogas production, and by improved desalination processes. There are 3 PowerPoint presentations available for Water and Energy - threats and opportunities, 2e. About the author Gustaf Olsson, Professor Em. in Industrial Automation, Lund University, Sweden Since 2006, Gustaf has been Professor Emeritus at Lund University, Sweden. Gustaf has devoted his research to control and automation in water systems, electrical power systems and process industries. From 2006 to 2008 he was part time professor in electrical power systems at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. He is guest professor at the Technical University of Malaysia (UTM) and at the Tsinghua University in Beijing, China and he is an honorary faculty member of the Exeter University in UK. Between 2005 and 2010 he was the editor-in-chief of the journals Water Science and Technology and Water Science and Technology/Water Supply, (IWA Publishing). From 2007 to 2010, he was a member of the IWA Board of Directors and in 2010 he received the IWA Publication Award. In 2012 he was the awardee of an Honorary Doctor degree at UTM and an Honorary Membership of IWA. Gustaf has guided 23 PhDs and a few hundred MSc students through their exams and has received the Lund University pedagogical award for distinguished achievements in the education". The Lund University engineering students elected him as the teacher of the year He has spent extended periods as a guest professor and visiting researcher at universities and companies in the USA, Australia and Japan and has been invited as a guest lecturer in 19 countries outside Sweden. He has authored nine books published in English, Russian, German and Chinese and and contributed with chapters in another 19 books as well as more than 170 scientific publications.
Growing human populations and higher demands for water impose increasing impacts and stresses upon freshwater biodiversity. Their combined effects have made these animals more endangered than their terrestrial and marine counterparts. Overuse and contamination of water, overexploitation and overfishing, introduction of alien species, and alteration of natural flow regimes have led to a 'great thinning' and declines in abundance of freshwater animals, a 'great shrinking' in body size with reductions in large species, and a 'great mixing' whereby the spread of introduced species has tended to homogenize previously dissimilar communities in different parts of the world. Climate change and warming temperatures will alter global water availability, and exacerbate the other threat factors. What conservation action is needed to halt or reverse these trends, and preserve freshwater biodiversity in a rapidly changing world? This book offers the tools and approaches that can be deployed to help conserve freshwater biodiversity.
Why do famines occur and how have their effects changed through time? Why are those who produce food so often the casualties of famines? Looking at the food crisis that struck the West African Sahel during the 1970s, Michael J. Watts examines the relationships between famine, climate, and political economy. Through a longue durée history and a detailed village study Watts argues that famines are socially produced and that the market is as fickle and incalculable as the weather. Droughts are natural occurrences, matters of climatic change, but famines expose the inner workings of society, politics, and markets. His analysis moves from household and individual farming practices in the face of climatic variability to the incorporation of African peasants into the global circuits of capitalism in the colonial and postcolonial periods. Silent Violence powerfully combines a case study of food crises in Africa with an analysis of the way capitalism developed in northern Nigeria and how peasants struggle to maintain rural livelihoods. As the West African Sahel confronts another food crisis and continuing food insecurity for millions of peasants, Silent Violence speaks in a compelling way to contemporary agrarian dynamics, food provisioning systems, and the plight of the African poor.
For several years, researchers have been reporting the effects of microwave radiation/heating on both the structure and function of DNA, RNA and proteins. For the most part, favourable accelerated biological functions are observed as microwave induced heating occurs, but other not-so favourable effects are also observed, such as denaturation, fragmentation and the so called and ill-explained, non-thermal microwave effects. This volume, the first of its kind, brings researchers together from around the world to discuss their current findings and thinking on the effects of Microwaves on Biological systems, particularly DNA, RNA and proteins, in the form of contributed edited chapters.
