Water - A Global Development Issue
International agencies have focused considerable attention on water policies and reforms. More than one billion people lack safe water, three billion lack sanitation and 80% of infectious diseases are waterborne. The UNDP-World Bank Water and Sanitation Program is an example of a partnership addressing problems of unsafe drinking water and inadequate sanitation in the developing world.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia devotes considerable resources to research in relation to water. Sectors of particular interest on issues related to water are the Sector for the Built Environment and the Land and Water Sector.

References:

United Nations - UNDP-World Bank Water and Sanitation Program  - Site Map  - Site Search | Focus Areas - Rural Water Supply and Sanitation - (links to related sites) |Urban Environmental Sanitation  | Participation and Gender
 United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) - Home Page > Habitat Debate - a quarterly journal available on-line - Current Issue - Previous issues

International Water and Sanitation Centre - Home Page > Themes & Topics

Global Policy Forum - Home Page >  Site Map - Alphabetical Index to Issues >  Environment - The UN and Global Policy - Natural Resources - the dark side - Natural Resources - Water - Resources - Environment - Resources - Human Rights - Social and Economic Policy Making

Council of Australian Governments (COAG) -  National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality (NAPSWQ)  - NAPSWQ Home Page > 

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation- (CSIRO) > Research > Special Projects > Urban Water Systems and Technologies > Newsletter - Research | Research Priorities - Water Allocation & Quality - Urban Water Re-use - Land Use Options - Environmental Contaminants - Salinity - Sustainable Tropics
(CSIRO) > Land and Water Sector > Land and Water & Australia - Improved Management of Irrigated Areas - Healthy Coastal Rivers and Estuaries - National Water Reform - Redesigning Agriculture for Australian Landscapes - Remediation of Degraded Landscapes - Restoring Contaminated Environments - Sustaining Regional Development and Renewal - Urban Water Storages and their Catchments | Dr Graham Harris, Chief, CSIRO Land and Water, 'Water, Science and Society', Deakin Lecture (19 May 2001)

Managing Stormwater Runoff
Factors influencing stormwater runoff include rainfall intensity, topographic features involving the shape and steepness of catchment areas, . The Rational Method models rainfall runoff using the formula Q=CIA where
Q = peak discharge from an area,
C = a rainfall runoff coefficient measuring , 
I = rainfall intensity, and
A = the catchment area.  

Rainfall Intensity
Rainfall varies from region to region as reflected in average annual rainfalls and deviations from the average. Similarly, rainfall intensity (usually measured in millimetres per hour) exhibits patterns where durations of high intensity rainfall in a locality occur less frequently than those of lower intensity and longer duration.

The peak discharge in a catchment or sub-catchment area depends on the time it takes for water to concentrate at the point of discharge. Reducing the time of concentration increases the chances that short sharp downpours will concentrate larger volumes of water. This can contribute substantially to problems of local flooding in urban areas.

Design Criteria
Traditionally, the basis for stormwater drainage design has been to trade off the costs of drainage against the costs of insufficient drainage. Providing for drainage that can meet all circumstances is impracticable. Economic considerations require some surcharge of drainage. Average Recurrence Interval (ARI) is a design concept that allows drainage structures to surcharge on an average of once in n years. Design standards allow the ARI of surcharge to occur at different intervals -  the 10 year flood, the 50 year flood and the 100 year flood, for example - depending on the circumstances. The circumstances depend on costs of flooding - including threats to public safety.

Effects on the Character of Natural Waterways
The combined effect of increasing impervious areas and decreasing time of concentration is to increase substantially the runoff and erosion that occurs in natural waterways. This changes the character of streams by increasing their peak velocities, scouring fine sediments from their beds and banks and reducing water ponding that supports the natural ecology through all seasons. In effect, some drainage design can have adverse environmental consequences.

Alternative Storm Water Management Strategies
Some savings in conventional urban drainage may be possible by careful design of retention basins as water features within modern land developments.

References:

Australian Rainfall and Runoff - Google search on 'Australian Rainfall and Runoff'
Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology - Home Page > Climate - Hydrology

Queensland Government - Department of Public Works > Building Division > Building Research > Sustainable built environment - Guidelines Toward A More Sustainable Subdivision (Incorporating the principles of ecologically sustainable development) - see especially Climatic data and design process (.pdf, 145kb) and Subdivisional design (.pdf, 41kb)
Department of Main Roads > Inside Main Roads > Publications > Road Related > Road Drainage Manual (June 2002)

Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia (IPWEA) - Home Page > Conference Papers - Subject Index >  Stormwater Management -

University of Michigan - Global Change Curriculum - Global Change 1 - Lecture Notes - Global Change II - Lecture Notes - The Urban and Industrial Environment: Hydrological Effects and Waste Management - Marine and Coastal Environments - Status of the World's Fisheries - Dammed Rivers: Human and Ecological Consequences -  Drinking Water Supply - Pollution Control: Local and Global Levels 

Stormwater Manager's Resource Center (SMRC) - SMRC Home > 

[Stormwater Drainage]  Dept of Natural Resources Fact Sheets/water facts       [Environmental Protection ] SA Dept of Environment and Heritage    [Brisbane City Plan]  Brisbane City Plan 2000 introduction  [IPA Queensland] IPA Queensland 1997.    [ Annual Rainfall ]Bureau of Meteorology (Archerfield Station)      [ Water Catchments]  Drinking water Catchment for Sydney NSW.

The following three approaches, differing widely in both theory and application, find application in determining fire protection charges:

[Testing]  CSIRO Fire tests and Data        [Fire Protection]  Fire Hydrant Data
[Qld Fire and Rescue]  Queensland Fire and Rescue Authority (QFRA)       [ Fire Protection costs and charges]  City of Austin. Issue Paper 1

Domestic sewage results from bathing, human excrement, food preparation, washing cars and watering gardens. The water that is wasted "down the drain" is between 60 and 80 percent of this daily use.  

Sewage Disposal
A sewerage system carries wastewater from it various sources to an outlet such as an ocean outfall or a treatment facility. A 'combined system' carries both domestic and storm-water sewage. Combined systems usually serve older sections of urban areas. Separation of domestic and industrial sewage from stormwater sewage into separate pipe networks occurred with city expansions and increasing need for sewage treatment.

Separate pipe networks improve efficiency and public safety in sewage treatment. Sewerage systems rely on gravitation so far as the topography will allow and pumping and further gravitation if necessary to reach a sewage treatment facility. Gravitating and pumping large volumes of stormwater without allowing overflows is generally too expensive. Combined systems carry a public health risk through non-containment of domestic and industrial sewage with overflows into low-lying areas and natural watercourses.

Household connections to a sewerage system usually involve clay, cast-iron, or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes 90 to 100 mm in diameter. The sewerage system usually involves pipes not less than 150mm laid at grades sufficient to maintain self-cleansing velocities. Larger diameter sewer mains can be located along easements such as a street about 1.8 m or more below the surface. The smaller pipes are usually made of clay, concrete, or asbestos cement, and the large pipes are generally of unlined or lined reinforced-concrete construction. Storm-water mains are similar to sanitary sewers except that they have a much larger diameter.

SEWAGE TREATMENT

The biochemical processes that take place in water bodies have been relied on in the past centuries to neutralize sewage. Aerobic, or oxygen-requiring, bacteria feed on the organic material in sewage, decomposing it. However, this process uses the oxygen that is dissolved in water. Often the concentration of organic waste is so great that the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) depletes the water's oxygen supply, killing fish and plants. In order to avoid these problems, it is now recognized that all sewage except unmixed storm sewage must be treated before it is discharged.

Sewage treatment is classified depending on the degree to which the effluent is purified as:

Sewage must be treated to produce discharge water that is free of odours, suspended solids, and objectionable bacteria.

In rural areas, sewage can be stored in a holding tank, e.g., a septic tank; naturally occurring Anaerobic bacteria can decompose the solids, which then settle to the bottom. While suitable for small systems, this method has several disadvantages. First, anaerobic decomposition produces noxious gaseous effluents, and it is fairly slow. Second, harmful bacteria may still be present in the liquid effluent.

In large urban systems (Sewage farms), a combination of processes must be used.

Water runoff carries fertilizing chemicals such as phosphates and nitrates from agricultural farms into lakes, creeks, rivers and eventually the ocean. These combine with phosphates and nitrates from sewage to speed up growth of algae, a type of plant like organism. The water body may become choked with decaying algae, which severely depletes the oxygen supply. The process is called eutrophication and may cause death of fish and other aquatic life.

CONTROL OF WATER POLLUTION

·        Reduction of waste and pollutants

·        Minimize soil erosion

·        Improved legislation in waste water treatment and disposal of

·        Biological methods of waste water treatment.

·        Chemical treatment of waste water

ACCESS

Access to the land surrounding a water body does not necessarily give you the right of access to the water, or to fish, launch a boat or swim. There is no general right of access to riverbanks and towpaths -they all belong to somebody and that landowner may or may not choose to allow access. However, many footpaths and other rights of way do run along riverbanks, as these are often the routes people have used for many years. A canal or the bank of a navigable river is legally a part of the waterway.

Comprehensive plans and activities for each estuary shall provide for appropriate uses, as well the biological economic, recreational, and aesthetic benefits of the estuary. Estuary plans and activities shall protect the estuarine ecosystem, including its natural biological productivity, habitat, diversity, unique features and water quality.

GENERAL PRIORITIES

The general priorities (from highest to lowest) for management and use of ESTUARINE RESOURCES are:

1.      Uses which maintain the integrity of the estuarine ecosystem;

2.      Water-dependent uses requiring estuarine location, as consistent with the overall Estuary Classification;

3.      Water-related uses which do not degrade or reduce the natural estuarine resources and values;

4.      Nondependent, non-related uses that do not alter, reduce or degrade estuarine resources and values.

PERMISSIBLE USES

Uses usually permitted in natural water ways include:

h. Where consistent with the resource capabilities of the area and the purposes of this management of the following uses may be allowed:

 Aquaculture which does not involve dredge or fill or other estuarine alteration other than incidental dredging for harvest of Benthic species or removable in-water structures such as stakes or racks;

b. Communication facilities;

c. Active restoration of fish and wildlife habitat or water quality and estuarine enhancement;

d. Boat ramps for public use where no dredging or fill for navigational access is needed; and,

e. Pipelines, cables and utility crossings, including incidental dredging necessary for their installation.

f. Installation of tide gates in existing functional dikes. g. Temporary alterations.

References:

The adult human body consists of 50 to 60 percent of water and many believe that is why so many of us live and recreate by the coast. In fact 75 percent of the world's population live and recreate on the coastal fringes. With these increasing numbers of people recreating in the ocean, lakes, rivers, and wetlands many of, which contain delicate ecosystems the issue of environmental sustainability arises.

Recreation and activities that people engage in when they are drawn to water include may include such activities  as:

·        Swimming

·        Surfing

·        Fishing

·        Water skiing

·        Power boating

·        Sail boating

·        Canoeing

·        Diving

Of the above listed activities there are varying degrees of impact on the environment some largely greater than others. For example activities that pose minimal impact on the environment are:

·        Swimming

·        Surfing

·        Sail boating

·        Canoeing

·        Scuba diving

Those activities that pose greater impact on the environment are:

·        Water skiing

·        Power boating

·        Spear fishing

·        Fishing

Recreational fishing may surprise some but the fact of the matter is that recreational fishing is in Australians top five favourite past-times with number one being walking. With increasing number of angler's fish stocks are at greater and greater risk of extinction.

Power boats including ski boats pose a number of threats upon the marine environment:

·        Emissions from fuel and oil have by far the greatest potential for environmental harm both locally and globally due to the damaging effects of hydrocarbons to water, and particularly the atmosphere.

·      Wash and bank erosion increasing the turbidity that effects the aquatic biota.