Water

The Human Right to Water in Israel: A Case Study of the Unrecognized Bedouin Villages in the Negev

by Elisha Baskin

On June 5, 2011, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled, in a case brought by residents of unrecognized Bedouin villages in... more On June 5, 2011, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled, in a case brought by residents of unrecognized Bedouin villages in Israel, that the right to water is a basic right deserving protection under Israel’s Basic Law: Human Dignity and Freedom, under international human rights law, and under the Israeli Water Law (9535/06 Abadallah Abu Massad, et al. v Water Commissioner & Israel Lands Administration, 2011). Section II of this paper begins with the Abu Massad decision, setting forth the key facts and synthesizing the court’s legal analysis. In order to situate the Supreme Court’s decision within the broader political context, Section III of the paper attempts to succinctly summarize over a hundred years of history surrounding the Bedouin’s disputed land claims in the Negev, starting with their land claims under Ottoman rule and moving to modern day. It also describes recent steps taken by the Israeli government to address the land issues of Bedouins living in unrecognized villages in the Negev, including the Goldberg Report and the Prawer Plan. Section IV of the paper then analyzes the legal and policy implications of the Abu Massad case and offers two key recommendations in light of the fact that the Israeli Water Authority’s interim solution for providing water to unrecognized villages will continue indefinitely until the underlying land issues are resolved. First, the Supreme Court’s invocation of the right to water under Israeli Basic Law and under international human rights law is important because it heightens the level of judicial scrutiny that can be applied to the Israeli Water Authority’s policy decisions in the Negev. Second, the Israeli Water Authority should also re-examine, as an empirical matter, whether its water policy in the Negev has been effective. In conclusion, the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision in Abu Massad case is an important window into the challenging water and land issues facing the unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev region of Israel. Although there is no question that the underlying land disputes need to be resolved equitably, it is also critical to ensure that the human right to water is realized for the Bedouins, thereby promoting the basic human dignity of all of Israel’s citizens.

We Are All Bodies of Water

by Astrida Neimanis

This article appeared in Alphabet City: Water (ed. J. Knechtel, MIT Press) in 2009. Check out: http://alphabet-city.org/issues/water

We Are All Bodies of Water

by Astrida Neimanis

This article appeared in Alphabet City: Water (ed. J. Knechtel, MIT Press) in 2009. Check out: http://alphabet-city.org/issues/water

Bodies of Water, Human Rights and the Hydrocommons

by Astrida Neimanis

Our own bodies, which are primarily composed of water, elucidate the problem of thinking about bodies in binaristic... more Our own bodies, which are primarily composed of water, elucidate the problem of thinking about bodies in binaristic terms as either “natural” or “cultural.” We are both materially and semiotically entwined with other bodies of water in a gestating, differentiating and interpermeating relation. This paper begins by laying out this relation as an “onto-logic” of amniotics, which is in part clarified through Gilles Deleuze’s theory of difference and repetition. I move on to propose that thinking about our amniotic relations to other human and more-than-human watery bodies can help us reconsider the rapid development of new hydrological technologies, water commodification and other stresses on our water resources. While these
mounting crises have led to international calls for recognizing water as a human right, I suggest that the promotion of a radically embodied “hydrocommons” might be better suited for negotiating the interbeing of bodies of water on this planet.

Yalburt Yaylası (Ilgın, Konya) arkeolojik yüzey araştırması projesi 2010 sezonu sonuçları

by Ömür Harmansah

Harmansah, Omur and Peri Johnson (In press). “Yalburt Yaylası (Ilgın, Konya) arkeolojik yüzey araştırması projesi 2010 sezonu sonuçları.” 29. Araştırma Sonuçları Toplantısı. Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı 2012.

Enhancement of the photodegradation of N-Nitrosodimethylamine in water using amorphous and platinum manganese oxide catalysts.

by Homer Genuino

Genuino, Homer C., Njagi, Eric C., Benbow, Evan B., Hoag, George E., Collins, Joh B., Suib, Steven L., 2011. Enhancement of the photodegradation of N-nitrosodimethylamine in water using amorphous and platinum manganese oxide catalysts. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry 217 (2-3) 284-292.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1010603010004351

Rhizomes and other uncountables: The malaise of enumeration in Mexico’s Colorado River Delta

by Shaylih Ryan Muehlmann

American Ethnologist 2012

Reform of water institutions: review of evidences and international experiences

by Eduardo Araral

Water Governance: Critique, theory and evidence from Asia

by Eduardo Araral

Finalist, 2010 Suez International Water Prize
Cited by President of National University of Singapore as an example of research which "advances knowledge and solves societies' problems."

Most scholars agree that improving water governance is the key to addressing water insecurity in developing countries.... more Most scholars agree that improving water governance is the key to addressing water insecurity in developing countries. However, in the last decade, not much progress has been achieved in terms of substantive theoretical, methodological and empirical contributions and much less policy impact. We argue that there is a need for a second-generation research agenda on water governance that is theoretically coherent, analytically robust, empirically grounded and policy relevant. We demonstrate this with a comparative study of water governance in Asia-Pacific based on a survey of 100 water experts from 20 countries in the region. We find that developed and developing economies have statistically significant variations in their water governance arrangements, which suggests the equivalent of a water Kuznets curve. We find that top countries with the highest governance scores differ significantly from the bottom ones in terms of legal accountability of water sector officials, pricing policy, linkage between water law and water policy, financing of water investments, functional capacity and balance, and accountability and regulatory mechanisms. We also find a statistically significant correlation with conventional measures of governance suggesting that, contrary to conventional wisdom, water governance reforms in developing countries is an evolutionary rather than a mechanical process of borrowing best practices from developed ones.

Water Magic

by Richard Wilk

Published as
2012 “Water Magic.” in People at the Well: Kinds, Usages and Meanings of Water in a Global Perspective, edited by Hans Peter Hahn, Karlheinz Cless and Jens Soentgen, Campus Verlag, Frankfurt.

Human beings always seem to be looking for new ways to contain, channel and domesticate water; science and technology... more Human beings always seem to be looking for new ways to contain, channel and domesticate water; science and technology define it, manipulate it, and keep it in place. But there is something in water that seems to defy our every effort to pin it into a specific place, to keep it within boundaries and make it predictable. Sooner or later channels and containers always overflow or dry up, and no matter how tame it appears at a given moment, the flow of water always carries a potential for chaos.

Reconsidérer la prospective de l’eau en Europe dans ses dimensions politiques

by Sara Fernandez

Le modèle « Forces motrices – Pressions – État – Impact – Réponse » ou DPSIR selon son acronyme anglais (Driving... more Le modèle « Forces motrices – Pressions – État – Impact – Réponse » ou DPSIR selon son acronyme anglais (Driving forces-Pressures-State-Impact-Response), développé par l’Organisation de Coopération et de Développement Économiques (OCDE) et l’Agence Européenne de l’Environnement (AEE) à partir du concept d’impact, est devenu incontournable dans le secteur de la planification des ressources en eau en Europe. Cet article propose de remettre en cause les méthodes prospectives fondées sur ce modèle qui n’aborde le changement qu’à travers ses effets sur les ressources naturelles. La société n’y est représentée que comme une force homogène, perturbatrice de l’environnement si elle n’est pas régulée par une gouvernance adéquate. En prenant la Garonne pour exemple, nous soulignons à quel point la construction des indicateurs hydrauliques dépend de contingences sociales. Ceci nous conduit à dévoiler les hypothèses néolibérales et le cadrage spatial du modèle DPSIR. Pour engager le dialogue avec ce modèle, nous proposons plusieurs DPSIR concurrents sur la Garonne. Cette pluralité de cadrages nous semble plus propice au débat que l’approche dominante consistant à réunir une pluralité d’acteurs autour d’un modèle unique.

The sustainability and resilience of global water and food systems: Political analysis of the interplay between security, resource scarcity, political systems and global trade

by Jeremy Allouche

Water privatisation

by Jeremy Allouche

FRIEND 2010–footprints of International Cooperation Over a Quarter Century

by Jérôme Gandin

Quando il diluvio inondò la terra. Immagini di catastrofi acquatiche nell’arte bizantina

by Giovanni Gasbarri

in La città liquida-la città assetata: storia di un rapporto di lunga durata, Atti del V Congresso Internazionale di Storia Urbana, in corso di stampa

Modeling Passive Solar Distillation Production in Las Vegas, NV

by Noe Santos

Final thesis

A study has been performed to examine the effects of daily weather on the performance of commercial solar distillation... more A study has been performed to examine the effects of daily weather on the performance of commercial solar distillation basins (solar stills). The objectives of this study were to evaluate the long term performance of solar stills, to instrument two solar stills and record sub-hourly thermal properties, to evaluate existing heat transfer modeling methods for hourly production, and to create new models to predict daily production using experimental distillate production and local weather data by utilizing artificial neural networks, genetic algorithms, and multivariate regression. A system dynamics model was also created to determine the required basin area and storage volume to produce enough water to meet year round potable water demand.

Solar still production was measured between January 2011 and September 2011. The average daily yield of solar still #1-A (SS1-A) and solar still #1-B (SS1-B) ranged from 2.11 ± 0.35 L/m2 and 2.00 ± 0.46 L/m2 (winter season) to 5.53 ± 1.01 L/m2 and 5.64 ± 1.06 L/m2 (summer season), respectively.

The artificial neural network model performed with a mean absolute error as low as 9.4% with up to 92.4% of production predictions within 0-20% of the actual daily production. The genetic algorithm model performed with a mean absolute error as low as 11% with up to 91% of production predictions within 0-20% of the actual daily production. The multivariate regression model performed with a mean absolute error as low as 9.7% with up to 94.1% of production predictions within 0-20% of the actual daily production.

Analysis of the sub-hourly performance data indicated that large distilland volumes resulted in a greater proportion of production occurring during the night compared to smaller distilland volumes. Hourly temperature data was used to calculate heat transfer coefficients which could predict hourly distillate production with a mean absolute error between 26% and 53%.

Freshwater geographies: experimenting with knowing and doing geography differently

by Marc Tadaki

Brendon Blue, Claire Gregory, Kiely McFarlane, Marc Tadaki* and Petra van Limburg-Meijer and Nick Lewis

New Zealand Geographer 68, 63-66.

The fair and effective governance of freshwater is an increasingly prominent issue in New Zealand. Emerging from a... more The fair and effective governance of freshwater is an increasingly prominent issue in New Zealand. Emerging from a complex of cultural, economic and biophysical narratives, freshwater geographies are multiple, varied, and increasingly acknowledged as worthy of interdisciplinary scrutiny. In this commentary we reflect on a series of generative spaces that we - as group of postgraduate geographers (plus a supporting staff) - created to engage with the multiplicity of freshwater meanings both within and beyond the academy. Through this evolving epistemic-political project, we significantly reframed our own understandings about what freshwater 'is' and how it ought to be governed. By pursuing a deeper understanding of how the world gets made, we expand our ability to know and make it differently.

Effect of immersion in water partially alkali-activated materials obtained of tungsten mine waste mud

by Antonio Albuquerque

Silva I., Castro-Gomes J. & Albuquerque A.
Construction and Building Materials, V. 35, 117-124.

Alkali-activated binders can be obtained using several sources of alumino-silicate materials, from calcinatedmore Alkali-activated binders can be obtained using several sources of alumino-silicate materials, from calcinated
clays, like kaolin, to industrial by-products, such as fly ash and, more recently, to calcinated waste mud from mining activities. The technology to obtain alkali-activated binders, also designated as geopolymers, is gaining increasing interest, since, in some cases, the properties of geopolymeric materials
are superior to other existing cementitious systems. The research presented in this paper intends to deepen
the knowledge regarding the properties of geopolymeric materials obtained using tungsten mining waste mud, particularly to study its behaviour after being immersed in water. However, in the current work, focus is given to follow compressive strength results in partially alkali-activated samples immersed in water, during different curing periods of time. Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy analysis (FTIR) were also utilised to investigate changes in the microstructure at different conditions of water immersion. A significant decrease in compressive strength occurring after 24 h of immersion in water was found out, of specific partially alkali-activated materials, despite of its initial high compressive strength after 35 days curing, at different temperatures.

Ego network properties as a way to reveal conflict in collaboration's clothing

by Bethany Cutts

Bethany B Cutts, Tischa Muñoz-Erickson, Kate J Darby, Mark Neff, Elisabeth K Larson, Bob Bolin, Amber Wutich, (2010) Ego network properties as a way to reveal conflict in collaboration's clothing, 93-101. In Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences.

A need for successful collaborative strategies is an enduring problem in natural resource management. Several... more A need for successful collaborative strategies is an enduring problem in natural resource management. Several qualities of “successful” partnerships have been identified but few empirical studies have tested these claims against the information sharing structure of “unsuccessful” partnerships. This paper examines the ego networks of members in a partnership that has not successfully reached its goals as an illustration of the ways in which external ties relate to attitudes and relationships within a partnership. By focusing on information sharing frequencies, member ideologies, and power structure among organizations involved in a groundwater controversy, we test the extent to which the process and outcomes of participation align with conditions often used to indicate “success”. Results show that individuals who think that science is objective maintain information sharing ego networks that include a larger proportion of ties outside of the partnership than those who consider science to be less certain. Individuals who consider themselves a member of the partnership are more central to the network of organizations invited to join the partnership and maintain a greater proportions of unique ties relative to ties common across multiple actors. This case study challenges widely held assumptions about the properties of successful collaborations and supports claims that scientific discourse can be used to obscure debates over values.

Water and the Indigenous Women's Leadership Project

by Journal of Research on Women and Gender

Roxanne Ornelas, Miami University

Indigenous women are frequently the traditional caretakers of water for their peoples but often their personal... more Indigenous women are frequently the traditional caretakers of water for their peoples but often their personal experiences in response to relocation or environmental ruin are ignored by researchers. This study examines the environmental challenges and the negative impacts that indigenous women experience in their cultural and spiritual roles with regard to water. Featured in this paper are the results of a conference that was co-organized by the author’s Indigenous Women’s Leadership Project and the Indigenous Peoples Task Force in the state of Minnesota in March 2008 with follow-up participant activity reports from 2009 and 2010. The conference brought together several indigenous women and girls from the United States, Canada, and Mexico to discuss the importance of water policy issues for indigenous women in their traditional role as caretakers of the water. Of significant importance were the exchanges that focused on the sacred nature of water and the many customary activities that have been compromised by environmental impacts on the surrounding natural habitats of fish, terrestrial animals, and ceremonial and medicinal plants. The implications for future research suggest that the development of culturally relevant political and public policy strategies that integrate the traditional values of indigenous peoples is essential for developing the environmental management and leadership potential among indigenous women and girls.