Four new PhD theses from the Netherlands have been published online: (1) System Robustness Analysis in Support of Flood and Drought Risk Management, by Marjolein Mens; (2) Modelling and monitoring of Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage – Impacts of heterogeneity, thermal interference and bioremediation, by Wijbrand Sommer; (3) Field and Model Investigations of Freshwater Lenses in Coastal Aquifers by Pieter Pauw; and (4) Saline groundwater – surface water interaction in coastal lowlands, by Joost Delsman. We warmly congratulate them with their new title!
|
14 October 2015, Wageningen (NL) • The United Nations have declared the year 2015 as the International Year of Soils, under the topic «Healthy Soils for a Healthy Life». According to the UN, »the current rate of soil degradation threatens the capacity to meet the needs of future generations«. Therefore, there is an urgent need to promote sustainable soil and land management practices, in order to ensure a productive and healthy food system and environment. The Symposium «Hazard, Risk and Sustainability in the Soil Environment» will be held in Wageningen on 14 October 2015.
|
«Natural Resources in Afghanistan: Geographic and Geologic Perspectives on Centuries of Conflict» details Afghanistan’s physical geography – climate, soils, vegetation, water, hazards, geology, geomorphology – together with details of rich natural resources, ethnic problems, and history. The book couples these details with the challenges of environmental degradation and new environmental management and protection, all of which are considered finally in both pessimistic and optimistic modes. The reader comes away with understanding the issues that are likely to have great effect for this pivotal region of the world for decades to come.
|
Deltares, BRAC and IRC joined forces towards an integrated approach based on salinity monitoring, modelling and stakeholder participation to improve water safety plans. SWIBANGLA – Managing salt water intrusion impacts in Bangladesh, contributes to the theme salt water intrusion. The final report is available. There appear to be no unified national groundwater monitoring network and database in Bangladesh.
|
|
During IAHR 2015 Deltares will organize a two-day course on groundwater in the coastal zone. The course will provide participants with (1) principles and procedures of variable density groundwater flow and coupled solute transport, (2) salinisation of groundwater systems and fresh-saline groundwater flow phenomena in the coastal zone, (3) monitoring techniques for fresh-brackish-saline water systems and (4) modelling experiences through hands-on training in computer workshops.
|
Flood early warning systems provide a potentially highly effective flood risk reduction measure. The effectiveness of early warning, however, is affected by forecasting uncertainty: the impossibility of knowing, in advance, the exact future state of hydrological systems. Early warning systems benefit from estimation of predictive uncertainties, i.e. by providing probabilistic forecasts. On 1 April 2015 Jan Verkade defended his PhD thesis «Estimating real-time predictive hydrological uncertainty». The dissertation describes research in estimating the value of probabilistic forecasts as well as in skill improvement of estimates of predictive uncertainty.
|
Initiated by ICOMOS Netherlands, a new book on the heritage of water management has been published, just before the World Water Forum: Water and Heritage. It contains 26 articles from ICOMOS members worldwide and prominent international scholars. The book contains a foreword by Ms Irina Bokova, director-general of UNESCO. Edited by Willem Willems and Henk van Schaik, the book will be presented on 13 April 2015 during the World Water Forum in Korea. Free to read on the website of publisher Sidestone.
|
The vocabulary and discourse of water resource management have expanded vastly in recent years to include an array of new concepts and terminology, such as water security, water productivity, virtual water and water governance. While the new conceptual lenses may generate insights that improve responses to the world's water challenges, their practical use is often encumbered by ambiguity and confusion.
|
|