Urban Sprawl Implications on Water Resources

Transcription

1 KAVALA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY School of Agricultural Technology Department of Forestry and Natural Environment Management MSc in Water Resources of the Mediterranean Urban Sprawl Implications on Water Resources (8th presentation) Lecturers: - Dr George D. Bathrellos - Dr Hara D. Skilodimou (Researchers & Part-Time Lecturers in National & Kapodistrian University of Athens Faculty of Geology & Geoenvironment)

2 Water degradation due to human activities Environmental degradation of water bodies Restoration reformation

3 Water degradation Human activities affect: Distribution Water Water Quantity Water Water Quality Source: Winter et al Effects: Short Short term Long Long term Local Local scale Sub-regional and regional scales Source: Winter T.C., Harvey J.W., Franke O.L., and W.M. Alley Effects of human activities on the interaction of ground water and surface water.

4 Reduction of water quantity Drought Climate change Population growth Increase in water demand Urbanization Industrial development Agricultural development

5 Results: Decrease of fresh water available for uses such: Drinking Bathing Irrigation Industrial production Fresh water scarcity Developing countries: Africa, Asia Developed countries: USA, Europe Loss of biodiversity Water pollution

6 Water quality Human activities and human-related substances and wastes introduced into the surface and underground water and the oceans modify the environmental water quality. Point and nonpoint sources of contaminants point source: contaminants discharge into water through an area that is small relative to the area of the receiving water body e.g sewage. nonpoint source: introduce contaminants to the environment across areas that are large compared to point sources e.g agricultural waste. Source: Winter T.C., Harvey J.W., Franke O.L., and W.M. Alley Effects of human activities on the interaction of ground water and surface water. Ganoulis J Risk Analysis of Water Pollution: Second, Revised and Expanded Edition. WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co.

7 Water pollution causes such: Urban development: waste, sewage Construction, maintenance, and use of roads and highways. Agricultural development: use of chemicals Industrial development: waste, water waste mining and petroleum extraction Nuclear waste Oil pollution Atmospheric deposition of chemicals: acidic precipitation on aquatic systems Source: Source: k4/post/international_black_sea_action _day/

8 Results: Water pollution is a serious problem for human health and the environment. Global Environment Outlook report of United Nations Environment Program: One person in five has no access to safe drinking water. Polluted water affects the health of 1.2 billion people every year 3 million people die every year from diseases (such as cholera and dysentery) caused by contaminated water. Malaria, kill another million people per year, with inadequate water management cause of such diseases. Source: Ganoulis J Risk Analysis of Water Pollution: Second, Revised and Expanded Edition. WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co.

9 Environmental degradation of water bodies Examples from Greece Surface water Dumping of litter in the river bed of Pinios, Thessaly.

10 Source: Ministry of Environment Energy and Climate Change. Nitrate pollution &tabid=250&language=el-gr Nitrate pollution in Greece.

11 Groundwater Seawater intrusions in coastal aquifers systems of Greece. Source: Ministry of Agriculture The water resource management in the agriculture sector. Dir. Of Land reclamation works Athens

12 Environmental degradation of water bodies- Restoration reformation Water quantity Suggestion such: Limitation of the changes of natural hydrologic processes. Long-term restoration of some hydrologic processes. Adequate water supply programs: secure and renewable supply of water. Conjunctive management: all types of water as a common recourse groundwater recharge put surface water and effluent back into ground to increase existing aquifer storage New water supplies: e.g. effluent reuse, desalination of seawater and high saline groundwater

13 Water demand management: altering the daily and seasonal demands to reduce peak load, matching different water quantities to the needs of different users. Urban runoff (stormwater): low-impact development techniques, installation of green roofs, runoff mitigation systems e.g infiltration basins, constructed wetlands, retention basins. Green roof in Chicago Source: f Retention basin for controlling urban runoff Source: ond.jpg SOURCE: Holway J Adaptive water quantity management: Designing for suitability and reasiliency in water scare regions. In Baker RA (ed) The water environment of Cities, Springer EPA Fact Sheet: Low Impact Development and Other Green Design Strategies. California Stormwater Quality Association. Menlo Park, CA Stormwater Best Management Practice (BMP) Handbooks. New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Trenton, NJ New Jersey Stormwater Best Management Practices.

14 Water quality Suggestion such: Monitoring of water quality: physical, chemical and biological measurements Treating/restoring polluted water Pollution control measurements such: Domestic sewage treatment: modern wastewater treatment plants use physical, chemical, and biological processes to remove physical, chemical and biological contaminants. sewer overflows may be handles with usage engineering approaches such: utilizing a green infrastructure approach, repair of leaking. SOURCE: EPA Report to Congress: Impacts and Control of CSOs and SSOs. EPA 2004 Primer for Municipal Wastewater Treatment Systems.

15 Industrial wastewater treatment : Use of treatment technologies such ion exchange, reverse osmosis, filtration, floatation and sedimentation. A pre-treatment of toxic and non-biologically degraded wastewater. Agricultural wastewater treatment: Use erosion controls techniques (e.g contour plowing) Develop nutrient management plans (e.g. evaluate field features such as highly erodible soils, subsurface drains, and shallow aquifers, denitrification) Use Integrated Pest Management techniques which can include biological pest control. Source: Bacer L New concepts for managing urban pollution. In Baker RA (ed) The water environment of Cities, Springer EPA 2003 National Management Measures to Control Nonpoint Source Pollution from Agriculture.