Fundamentals of Geoenvironmental Engineering: Understanding Soil, Water, and Pollutant Interaction and Transport

Fundamentals of Geoenvironmental Engineering

Understanding Soil, Water, and Pollutant Interaction and Transport

First Edition

Abdel-Mohsen Onsy Mohamed

Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Evan K. Paleologos

Abu Dhabi University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

In association with

Valéria Guimarães S. Rodrigues

University of São Paulo, São Carlos School of Engineering, São Carlos, Brazil

Devendra Narain Singh

Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai, India

Table of Contents

Cover image

Title page

Copyright

Dedication

Preface

About the Authors

Part I: Geoenvironmental Engineering

Chapter 1: Geoenvironmental Engineering in a Global Environment

Abstract

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Scope of Environmental Problems and the Demographic Problem

1.3 Interconnection of Global Environmental Problems

1.4 Geoenvironmental Engineering Aspects

1.5 Actions Toward Restoring the Environment

1.6 Summary and Concluding Remarks

Chapter 2: Sources and Characteristics of Wastes

Abstract

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Sources of Wastes

2.3 Municipal Solid Waste

2.4 Pesticide Industry Wastes

2.5 Mining Wastes

2.6 Electroplating and Metal Finishing Industry Wastes

2.7 Metal Smelting and Refining Industries Wastes

2.8 Pulp and Paper Industry Wastes

2.9 Petroleum Refining Industry Wastes

2.10 Paint and Allied Industries Wastes

2.11 Cement Industry Waste

2.12 Agricultural Waste

2.13 Nuclear Industry Wastes

2.14 Summary and Concluding Remarks

Chapter 3: Management of Wastes: An International Prospective

Abstract

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Hazardous Waste Designation

3.3 Hazardous Waste Management

3.4 Landfill Design Aspects in Arid Regions

3.5 Radioactive Waste Management

3.6 Summary and Concluding Remarks

Part II: Soil-Water-Pollutant

Chapter 4: The Soil System

Abstract

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Soil Phases

4.3 Mineral Composition

4.4 Soil Mineral Transformations

4.5 Crystal Chemistry of Silicates

4.6 Structural Components of Soil Clays

4.7 Properties of Layer Silicates

4.8 Magnetic Minerals

4.9 Soil Organic Matter

4.10 Chemical Properties of the Soil-Fluid Phase

4.11 Charge Development in Soils

4.12 Surface Functional Groups

4.13 Summary and Concluding Remarks

Chapter 5: Groundwater

Abstract

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Flow of Water in the Subsurface Environment

5.3 Groundwater Flow Velocity

5.4 Conservation of Mass

5.5 One-Dimensional (1-D) Steady-State Flow in Confined Aquifers

5.6 Regional Groundwater Flow Problem (Toth, 1962)

5.7 1-D Steady-State Flow in Unconfined Aquifers

5.8 Applications of 1-D Steady-State Flow in Unconfined Aquifers

5.9 Time-Dependent (Transient) Flow

5.10 Introduction to Well Hydraulics

5.11 Construction Dewatering

5.12 Summary and Concluding Remarks

Chapter 6: Soil-Water Interaction

Abstract

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Interaction With Soil Water

6.3 Bonding

6.4 Theory of Energy of Interaction

6.5 Soil-Water Potential

6.6 Soil-Water Movement and Flux Density Equations

6.7 Water Movement in Unsaturated Soils

6.8 Water Movement Associated With Thermal Gradients

6.9 Summary and Concluding Remarks

Chapter 7: Soil and Contaminant Interaction

Abstract

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Adsorption Isotherms

7.3 Molecular Adsorption Models

7.4 Sorption Kinetics

7.5 Desorption and Hysteresis

7.6 Metal Cation Adsorption

7.7 Organic Pollutant-Soil Organic Matter Interaction

7.8 Soil Organic Matter-Soil Minerals Interaction

7.9 Summary and Concluding Remarks

Chapter 8: Fate and Effects of Pollutants on the Land Environment

Abstract

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Pollutant Pathways

8.3 Environmental Fate

8.4 Bioavailability

8.5 Effect of Pollutants

8.6 Parameter Identification

8.7 Tiered Test Program

8.8 HQ Risk Calculation Tool for POPs

8.9 Damage Assessment of Fugitive Dust

8.10 Summary and Concluding Remarks

Chapter 9: Subsurface Contaminant Transport

Abstract

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Modeling Process

9.3 Transport Processes in Soils

9.4 Transport Equation

9.5 Solute Transport Models

9.6 Laboratory Methods for the Determination of Flow Characteristics

9.7 Laboratory Methods for the Determination of Adsorption Characteristics

9.8 Estimation of Steady-State Contaminant Transport Parameters

9.9 Estimation of Transient State Contaminant Transport Parameters

9.10 Irreversible Thermodynamic Modeling of Contaminant Transport

9.11 Advanced Treatments: The Stochastic Approach

9.12 Summary and Concluding Remarks

Part III: Emerging Pollutants

Chapter 10: Emerging Pollutants: Fate, Pathways, and Bioavailability

Abstract

10.1 Introduction

10.2 General Aspects of EPs

10.3 Nanopollutants: NMs and NPs

10.4 Fate and Exposure Pathways of Nanopollutants

10.5 Bioavailability and Toxicity of Nanopollutants in Environment Media and Organisms

10.6 Risk Assessment and Exposure Model of Nanopollutants

10.7 Technologies for Nanopollutants Adsorption/Treatments

10.8 Nanotechnologies and Environmental Pollution Control

10.9 Sources and Transport of Microplastics into the Environment

10.10 Summary and Concluding Remarks

Part IV: Mechanical, Hydraulic, Electrical, Magnetic, and Dielectric Permittivity Characteristics of Soils and Their Impact on Remedial Technologies

Chapter 11: Stability and Safety of Engineered Barrier Systems for Waste Containment

Abstract

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Engineered Barrier Systems

11.3 Engineered Covering Systems in Solid Waste Management Industry

11.4 Engineered Covering Systems in the Mining Waste Industry

11.5 Types of Covering Materials

11.6 Issues Concerning the Performance Evaluation of Covering Systems

11.7 Engineered Lining Systems in Solid Waste Management Industry

11.8 Types of Flexible Membrane Liners (FMLs)

11.9 Control and Monitoring of Waste Disposal Facilities

11.10 Summary and Concluding Remarks

Chapter 12: Radioactive Waste Disposal: Hosting Environment, Engineered Barriers, and Challenges

Abstract

12.1 Introduction

12.2 Disposal of Short-Lived Low- and Intermediate-Level Radioactive Wastes

12.3 Disposal of Heat-Emitting High-Level Radioactive Waste (HLW)

12.4 Stages in the Development of a HLW Repository in a Rock Formation in the Saturated Zone

12.5 Thermal Effects on the Mechanical and Hydraulic Properties

12.6 Performance Assessment Modeling

12.7 Applicable Theories for Clay Barrier Behavior in HLW Repositories

12.8 Development of a HLW Repository in Rock Formations in the Unsaturated Zone: The Yucca Mountain Project

12.9 Calibration/Validation of Models

12.10 Available Mathematical Codes

12.11 Summary and Concluding Remarks

Chapter 13: Hydraulic Properties of Soils

Abstract

13.1 Introduction

13.2 Models to Estimate Hydraulic Conductivity

13.3 Laboratory Methods to Estimate Hydraulic Conductivity

13.4 Field Methods (Pumping Tests) to Estimate Hydraulic Conductivity

13.5 Pumping Tests to Estimate Hydraulic Conductivity: Steady-State (Equilibrium) Radial Flow to a Well

13.6 Pumping Tests to Estimate Hydraulic Conductivity: Unsteady (Nonequilibrium) Radial Flow to a Well

13.7 Factors Affecting the Hydraulic Properties of Clays

13.8 Effect of Inorganic Chemicals on the Hydraulic Properties of Clays

13.9 Effect of Organic Chemicals on the Hydraulic Properties of Clays

13.10 Effect of Organic Contaminants on the Hydraulic Properties of Geosynthetic Clay Liners

13.11 Summary and Concluding Remarks

Chapter 14: Electrical Properties of Soils

Abstract

14.1 Introduction

14.2 Basic Theory of Electricity

14.3 Electrical Phenomena in Soils

14.4 Principles of Soil Electrical Conductivity

14.5 Soil Electrical Resistivity

14.6 Factors That Affect Soil Electrical Resistivity

14.7 Determination of Aquifer Properties

14.8 Other Methods for Electrical Resistivity Measurements

14.9 Summary and Concluding Remarks

Chapter 15: Magnetic Properties of Soils

Abstract

15.1 Introduction

15.2 Magnetism in Matter

15.3 Techniques for Measuring Soil Magnetic Properties

15.4 Magnetic Properties of Soils

15.5 Magnetic Susceptibility and Electromagnetic Induction

15.6 Detection of Heavy Metal Pollution in Soils and Sediments

15.7 Chemical and Microbiological Transformations

15.8 Impact of Soil Magnetic Content on the Electromagnetic Wave Properties

15.9 Soil Environmental Quality

15.10 Summary and Concluding Remarks

Chapter 16: Dielectric Permittivity and Moisture Content

Abstract

16.1 Introduction

16.2 TDR Soil Dielectrics

16.3 The TDR System

16.4 TDR Dielectric Property Determination

16.5 Laboratory Techniques

16.6 Mixing Models for Dielectric Constant Evaluation

16.7 Dielectric and Hydro-Geological Parameters

16.8 Influence of Physicochemical Properties on the Dielectric Permittivity of Soils

16.9 In Situ Dielectric Measurements

16.10 Petroleum Exploration

16.11 Shallow Subsurface Investigation

16.12 Moisture Content Prediction Models

16.13 Impact of Soil Parameters on Soil Moisture Content Prediction

16.14 Summary and Concluding Remarks

Chapter 17: Advances in the Determination of Soil Moisture Content

Abstract

17.1 Introduction

17.2 Signal Analysis

17.3 Frequency Domain Analysis of Signals

17.4 TDR and Fourier Spectral Analysis

17.5 Eigen-Decomposition of TDR Waveforms

17.6 Neuro-Fuzzy Logic

17.7 Summary and Concluding Remarks

Index

Copyright

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Dedication

I dedicate this work to my divine wife, who has provided me with endless support over the last 35 years; and to our two beloved daughters.

Abdel-Mohsen Onsy Mohamed

To my wife and to my daughters, without whom none of this would have been possible; and to my mother.

Evan K. Paleologos

Preface

The last quarter of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century have witnessed a quantitative and qualitative change in the scope and scale of human activities and their effects on the planet. Human populations have always altered their surroundings and the diminishing of the great forests in Europe to make room for agricultural land attests to the prevalent notion that nature was unlimited, and humankind was free to modify it for its purposes. Engineering solutions and technological progress were celebrated as triumphs of the human spirit that allowed small communities to improve their living conditions, provide clean water, dispose waste in a sanitary manner, thus, reducing the risk of epidemics that decimated families, and transform wilderness into useful human spaces. Underlying these was a small human population that had reached one billion during the 19th century, and which saw cities, such as Washington, DC having a population of less than 75,000 people, and countries, such as United States having a population of about 31 million, less than one-tenth its current population, before the American Civil War. Thus, the late 19th and early 20th centuries were characterized by large infrastructure engineering projects, to dam reservoirs to provide clean water and electricity to urban populations, to construct sewage systems that would isolate groundwater resources from liquid waste, and to drain wetlands eradicating diseases and providing farmland, to mention a few.

The doubling of the population to two billion by the 1930s and its increase to three billion by the 1960s was the result of tremendous improvements in sanitation conditions, and revolutionary changes in the medical, agricultural, and technological fields. It is hard, perhaps, to realize that three generations back standard appliances, such as refrigerators, stoves, washing, and drying machines existed in only a few households, and that electrification of the countryside constituted a major priority of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's policies.

Together with the agricultural revolution though came the use of fertilizers and pesticides that started polluting the air, water, and soil. Expansion of manufacturing and chemical activities introduced man-made products into the environment, which by their nature and quantities could not be diminished in concentration, by dilution or dispersion into air and water bodies, and could not be degraded by the soil, but persisted over long time spans. At this stage and by the early 1970s, most of the environmental problems remained primarily local in their impact. In response to the rising awareness and to provide solutions to this new type of problems, most civil and chemical engineering programs during that decade, at least in the United States, were transformed to include an environmental component to their name and their curriculum of studies.

Since that time, the scale of human activities and the rate of change and extent of transformation of the environment have expanded from the local to the regional scale, and even to the point of reaching a global scale. Developing countries are conducting megaprojects, experiments that alter drastically the landscape, not only affecting, but irrevocably altering the functions of the environment and ecosystems. Industrial aerosols emitted in a country, such as China or India, have the potential to affect the air quality, and to alter the regional rainfall patterns in Arabian Gulf countries. Discarded plastic weathered by its transport on land and the sea, or deposited by air has been concentrating on the Great Pacific and North Atlantic garbage patches, and the Mediterranean Sea, and microplastic is found in the water column and the sediments, thousands of meters below the sea surface. At the same time, nanotechnology has created new materials, many of which have found applications even in common personal-care products, prescription and nonprescription drugs, household items, and new-generation pesticides and industrial products. Together with their potential, nanomaterials can pass through cell membranes, affect seed germination and growth, remain suspended in the air and travel long distances, pass and carry pollutants through small soil pores in the ground, and become available to ecosystems posing serious environmental and health threats. Electronic and pharmaceutical wastes have become mainstream topics of waste management conferences, but did not appear in scientific discussions 15–20 years ago.

At the same time, apart from the magnitude, the complexity of the environmental problems has increased dramatically, requiring the consideration not only of a single, but of multiple physical, chemical, and biological processes, as well as of the interrelationship between them. Climate change is perhaps the quintessential environmental problem of our times encapsulating the complexity and the far-reaching effects of our activities on a planetary scale. Recognition of the extent of these activities on the environment has led many professional societies, such as the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) to adjust their professional code of ethics to include sections on environmental ethics, obligations of their professional members to the well-being of the environment. This qualitative change is also reflected by the passage from single investigator research studies, which were prevalent 30 years ago, to the current multidisciplinary, large-team investigators' studies, which are put together to assess the multicomponent impacts of current environmental challenges.

It is our firm belief that modern environmental problems require a new adjustment in, at least, the academic programs of studies, where the traditional boundaries between the related science and engineering disciplines are removed, and both the knowledge base and the professional practice of the scientist and the engineer working in the environmental field are merged. This has been the experience of the authors of this book, and of thousands of environmental professionals, who had to expand their scientific knowledge and venture into disciplines beyond their original training. We believe that this need to move across disciplines has become more urgent in our days, especially with the accelerated pace that new information becomes available and the emergence of new tools, including satellite missions, which shed light and provide data on different facets of the multiple processes that enter environmental problems. As the picture of environmental problems becomes increasingly more complex, there is the need for individuals with broad and insightful expertise, who would be able to put the pieces of the puzzle together and recognize the interconnectedness of these pieces.

The purpose of the current book is therefore to bridge the gap between science and engineering and to expose graduate students and professionals to scientific knowledge and to recent information from various allied scientific disciplines, such as hydrology, soil physics, geotechnical engineering, geochemistry, geology, geophysics, and their corresponding mathematical, physical, and chemical background. It is our hope that despite any shortcomings an advanced reader will find our exposition useful and will obtain a broader understanding of the topics detailed.

This book is organized as follows: Chapter 1 provides a global overview of the major environmental challenges of our times, which include the pollution of oceans and large river systems, the entry of chemicals and hazardous waste in the environment, of air pollution, and of issues of land degradation, deforestation, desertification, and water scarcity in several parts of the world. Global warming and climate change, as well as acid rain, and depletion of the ozone layer constitute large-scale, global problems that are discussed here. The chapter contains references and exposition of the main points of international conventions related to each environmental problem, as well as of United Nations' and other international bodies' environmental declarations. Chapter 2 presents the major economic activities/sources and the various types of waste they generate that enter the environment. These include municipal, agricultural, mining, oil refining, electroplating, metal smelting, and metal finishing waste products, as well as liquid, gaseous, and solid wastes from the cement, paint, and pulp and paper industries. Several case studies from various countries are detailed to illustrate the impact of each type of waste on the environment. Its companion Chapter 3 addresses the issues of waste management with reference to the United States, Canadian, and European regulations. The classification of hazardous waste, the standards for pretreatment, transportation, and disposal, together with the design, closure, and monitoring criteria of hazardous waste landfills are presented through the US Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA), and the European Union Directives on the waste and their landfills. Finally, some criteria and guidelines for landfills of waste in arid regions are provided.

Chapters 4–7 deal with the soil, the water, and the chemicals in the subsurface environment and their interaction. Chapter 4 discusses the gas, fluid, and solid phases of soils, their mineral composition and transformation, and then the structural components and properties of different types of clay. A large section is devoted to some minerals and their oxides because of their magnetic or electrical properties, which can attract or repel ions. The chapter concludes with some basic background on water chemistry. Chapter 5 provides the mathematics of water flow in soils. The relation between groundwater overdraft and land subsidence, as well as coastal saltwater intrusion is discussed. Flow in fractured rocks and through earth dams, and some basic solutions from well hydraulics appropriate also for construction dewatering are presented. Chapter 6 describes the molecular forces that govern the adsorption processes in the soil-water system, the types of bonds created, and the various theories of energy interaction between ions or molecules and the charged surfaces of clay platelets. The chapter continues with elements of the potential theory and describes the capillary pressure, the soil-moisture characteristic curve and hysteresis, and some basic equations regarding the flow of water in unsaturated soils and due to thermal gradients. Chapter 7 provides the details of the interactions between the soil constituents and the chemicals that enter the soil. It begins with the methods to determine the amount of a solute bound by a matrix surface and with a description of various isotherm expressions. The theories to determine the electrical charges on the surface of clays, of the Stern layer, and of the diffuse layer are presented together with the calculations. Subsequently, sorption kinetics, metal cation adsorption, and organic contaminant/soil interactions are presented.

Chapters 8–10 present the pathways and the fate of the contaminants through different media, the physics and mathematics of their transport in the subsurface environment, and some recent emerging pollutants, such as the nanomaterials. Chapter 8 discusses the pathways of various pollutants, such as atmospheric aerosols and their effects, the retention, bioavailability, and bioaccumulation of contaminants, fate models and dose–response relationships, and presents detailed hazard quotient risk calculations for POPs. Chapter 9 presents the physics and mathematics of contaminant transport in subsurface media. The advection–dispersion equation and different applications of it are presented, as well as the laboratory methods to determine adsorption characteristics and contaminant transport parameters. The chapter concludes with the mathematics of aqueous- and nonaqueous-phase liquid transport in saturated and unsaturated conditions. Chapter 10 discusses the recent scientific findings on emerging pollutants, such as nanomaterials. These have a high surface area for their size, and are very reactive, which is utilized in several applications, but at the same time makes them a serious environmental and health threat because nanoparticles can pass through cell membranes, affect seed germination, travel long distances in air, and carry pollutants through small soil pores.

Chapters 11 and 12 deal with the engineering barriers put in place in landfills of hazardous waste and in disposal sites of radioactive waste to stop or retard the migration of potential releases. Chapter 11 initially details the functions and types of covering systems, their desired physical, chemical, and environmental attributes, and potential problems. More specifics are provided on the engineered systems appropriate for mining industry wastes. The chapter discusses the different types of liners, their properties and design and construction requirements, and concludes with the control and monitoring of waste disposal facilities. Chapter 12 provides an overview of the issues related to the disposal of radioactive waste, which includes the various geologic environments and technological solutions that are used in several countries, and the canisters to be used for transportation and burial. Some advanced discussion is given on the thermal effects of heat-emitting waste on the hydraulic and mechanical behavior of the rock where the waste will be emplaced and on the backfill clay material to be used to seal the repositories.

Chapters 13–15 expound the hydraulic, electric, and magnetic properties of soils. Chapter 13 returns to the material of Chapter 5 with some advanced treatment on scale effects, the discrepancy between laboratory and field estimates of hydraulic conductivity, and on field tests, through the pumping of wells in aquifers. It also discusses the physical and chemical factors that influence the hydraulic properties of clay mixtures used as engineered barriers, and the effect that inorganic and organic contaminants have on the hydraulic properties of soil-engineered barriers. Chapter 14 discusses the electric and electromagnetic methods to evaluate the electrical properties of soils. The basics of electricity are presented to develop the concept and the factors affecting soil electrical conductivity together with several methods to determine it. Finally, the extraction of aquifer hydraulic properties from measured electrical properties of soils is discussed. Chapter 15 discusses the several classes of magnetic soil material, the methods to measure magnetic parameters, and the effect of several factors on them. The relations between soil contamination, by heavy metals and organic pollutants, and magnetic properties of soils are detailed, as well as the function of magnetotactic bacteria in the presence of contaminants and their impact on natural soil remediation.

Finally, Chapters 16 and 17 present the experimental methods and analytical tools to measure and interpret the response of soils to high-frequency electromagnetic fields through the concept of the dielectric permittivity of soils. The time domain reflectometry (TDR) technique and the design apparatus are discussed in detail together with analyses of the waveforms obtained. The relations between dielectric estimates from TDR data and hydrogeologic parameters and the effect of physicochemical soil parameters on soil dielectric measurements are extensively discussed. The final chapter, Chapter 17, presents some advanced material on signal analysis, decomposition techniques, TDR and Fourier spectral analyses, and neuro-fuzzy logic and illustrates the use of these methods in several case studies and applications to predict the moisture content and to detect organic pollutants in soils.

The authors are indebted to their graduate students, and their colleagues for their valuable and timely input into the development of much of the material contained in this book.

Abdel-Mohsen Onsy Mohamed, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Evan K. Paleologos, Abu Dhabi University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

About the Authors

Abdel-Mohsen Onsy Mohamed is currently employed by Zayed University as associate provost and chief academic officer. He earned his PhD in Civil Engineering from McGill University, Canada. He was then employed by McGill University as the associate director of the Geotechnical Research Centre and as lecturer in the Department of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics. He has also held many senior positions in the United Arab Emirates, including United Arab Emirates University (Deputy Assistant Provost for Research, Research Director, Director of Research Support and Services Unit, and Professor of Geotechnical and Geo-Environmental Engineering) and Abu Dhabi University (Dean of College of Research and Graduate Studies).

Over the years, he was granted 10 patents, filed/published 8 patents; authored and coauthored 7 books; edited 11 books—published by Elsevier, Taylor & Francis, Balkema, A.A. and J. Ross Publishing. In addition, he has also published more than 250 papers in refereed journals and international refereed conference proceedings. Furthermore, he has been the recipient of several university and nationwide research accolades.

He is currently the editor-in-chief of Developments in Arid Regions Research Series Published by Taylor & Francis; editorial board member of Environmental Geotechnics, a Journal Published by the Institution of Civil Engineers, ICE, United Kingdom; executive board member of Arab Healthy Water Association, and of the International Association for Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics; editorial board member, International Journal of Recent Patents on Engineering; and the former editor-in-chief of the Emirates Journal for Engineering Research.

Evan K. Paleologos is professor and chair of Civil Engineering, and director of the Center in Sustainable Built Environment at Abu Dhabi University, United Arab Emirates. He received his PhD from the department of Hydrology and Water Resources, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA. His expertise is in the flow of water and the transport of contaminants in porous media. He is the author of two books on environmental risk analysis by McGraw-Hill and the Geological Society of America, and of more than 100 journals and refereed proceedings papers. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors in the United States, while at the University of South Carolina, which include the Researcher of Carolina and the Initializer awards for founding the USC Center for Water Research and Policy; in Greece, at the Technical University of Crete, as Science Advisor to the Minister of Environment, and as Deputy Chairman of the Athens Water Supply and Sewerage Co., and currently in the United Arab Emirates, the 2014–15 Ambassador, 2015–16 Distinguished Faculty, and the 2016–17 Research university-wide awards. He is an associate editor of the Springer Journal Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment.

Valéria Guimarães Silvestre Rodrigues is a geologist from the University of São Paulo, Brazil (1998). She has a PhD in Sciences from the University of São Paulo, Brazil (2007) and a postdoctorate from the São Paulo State University—UNESP, Brazil (2010). Currently, she is a professor and researcher at the São Carlos School of Engineering, University of São Paulo (Geotechnical Department), São Carlos, Brazil. She has experience in geosciences, focusing on environmental geology and environmental geotechnics.

Devendra Narain Singh is an institute chair professor at the Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India. His major area of research and practice is Environmental Geotechnology. He is the editor-in-chief of Environmental Geotechnics, a journal published by the Institution of Civil Engineers, ICE, United Kingdom. He is a recipient of Young Teachers' Award (instituted by the AICTE, New Delhi), 2003 SP Research Award (instituted by Shamsher Prakash Foundation, Rolla, MO, United States); John R. Booker Excellence Award-2011 (instituted by IACMAG, United States), and Richard Feynman Prize 2014 (instituted by the ICE, United Kingdom). He is a fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, New Delhi, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), London, United Kingdom.

Part I

Geoenvironmental Engineering

Chapter 1

Geoenvironmental Engineering in a Global Environment

Abstract

The global environmental problems and the demographic problem, which are the focus of the geoenvironmental engineering practice, and the actions toward restoration of the environment are the subjects of this chapter. In seeking solutions to restore the degradation of the environment, we need to consider the interconnecting nature of the various ecosystems and be aware of the developments in various allied disciplines and how these may impact on developing and implementing sound engineering solutions to various environmental problems.

The impact of the exploitation and utilization of the natural systems by nations on the depletion of natural resources; elimination of species; flora and fauna local and regional changes; and deterioration of the environment through solid and liquid waste, air and water pollution, and by greenhouse gases is summarized with case studies from around the world. It is also highlighted that the impacts upon the natural systems vary geographically, depending on the existing states of both the natural environment and the economy, but in many cases these impacts extend to a regional or even a global scale.

This chapter also discusses evidences of global environmental impacts such as: (a) pollution of air, land, and water, due to accidents during the transportation of oil or other products by ship, plastic debris in the rivers and oceans, effluent discharge into fresh water bodies; (b) water scarcity and degradation; (c) growing quantities of wastes as a result of chemical product utilizations in all human activities, from agriculture to medicine, to energy and industrial and manufacturing processes, to everyday products; (d) trans-boundary movement of hazardous waste; (e) acid rain; (f) deforestation and land degradation; (g) desertification and soil erosion; (h) depletion of the ozone layer; and (i) the decreasing species of wildlife. The greatest emphasis is given here to global warming and climate change, where, according to all scientific evidence the question no longer is if, but how abruptly a global climate change will happen. Several examples are provided of the most recent information on glaciers and ice sheets melting, extremes in the hydrologic cycle, rise in sea temperature and level, and flora and fauna changes as result of the global warming.

This chapter also provides references and excerpts from important national and international conventions and legislation regarding the topics addressed.

We further discuss the interconnections between global environmental problems and highlight the importance of the following:

1. Current processes are characterized by a nonlinear behavior and we lack the scientific understanding to predict what alterations in one would entail for another process. This means that we do not know the tipping point, which when reached changes can become unpredictable and the magnitude and impact of events may not be of the same order of what was experienced in the past.

2. If the present generation does not come up with adequate protective measures and solutions, and the environment continues to deteriorate on a global scale, many unpredictable events of large scale can eventually be faced by the next generation altering drastically its living conditions. Therefore it is urgent to comprehensively step up conservation efforts of the global environment, with a far-reaching long-term perspective that transcends the generations.

3. Development of solutions to restore the degradation of the environment is complicated by the interconnecting nature of the various ecosystems, i.e., atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, and biosphere that constitute the land. This means that a cooperative and holistic global effort should be considered in developing a viable solution to global environmental problems.

4. Global environmental issues interlock in forming a group of issues which, with the joint cooperation of the international community, need to be comprehensively addressed under a broad and long-term perspective. It is important that all nations take up conservation of the global environment as an important policy task and take initiatives in realizing sustainable development on a global scale.

All of the above pose great challenges to modern geoenvironmental engineers as they need to expand significantly their traditional knowledge base and professional role to consider as integral part of their activities an assessment of projects' impact on ecosystems, air, water, and land, and in many cases, consider this beyond a limited, local level.

We hope that this chapter aids in this goal of promoting a new definition of geoenvironmental engineering that is urgently needed to address current needs.

Keywords

Land environment and resources; Hydrologic cycle; Climate change; Global warming; Deforestation; Land degradation; Trans-boundary chemical and waste movement; Sustainable development index; Green economies and societies

1.1 Introduction

In providing the foundations for the advancement of human life, it is inevitable that we have to work with the land. Land is a broader concept and is defined as:

1. Interactional Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, 1976):

An area of the Earth 's surface, the characteristics of which embrace all reasonably stable, or predictably cyclic, attributes of the biosphere vertically above and below this area, including those of the atmosphere, the soil and the underlying geology, the hydrogeology, the plant and animal populations and the results of past and present human activity, to the extent that these attributes exert a significant influence on present and future uses of the land by man.

2. UN Convention to Combat Desertification, Chapter 10 (UN, 1994):

Land is a delineable area of the Earth's terrestrial surface, encompassing all attributes of the biosphere immediately above or below this surface including those of the near-surface climate the soil and terrain forms, the surface hydrology (including shallow lakes, rivers, marshes, and swamps), the near-surface sedimentary layers and associated groundwater reserve, the plant and animal populations, the human settlement pattern and physical results of past and present human activity (terracing, water storage or drainage structures, roads, buildings, etc.).

The above definitions conform to:

(a) The definition of a natural land unit that is distinctive from an administrative land unit, which can be of any size (individual holding, municipality, province, state, etc.), and which normally encompasses a number of natural units or parts of them.

(b) Land system units and landscape-ecological units that are building blocks of a watershed or a phytogeographic unit (biome). The repeated reference to land and land resources of Chapter 10, UN, 1994, may be taken to mean land and its individual land components.

(c) The components of a natural land unit can be termed as land resources, including physical, bionic, environmental, infrastructural, social, and economic components, in as much as they are fixed to the land unit. Surface and near-surface freshwater bodies (or aquifers) are included in the land resources. Part of these may move through successive land units, but then the local flow characteristics can be considered as part of the land unit.

(d) The linkages between water and land are so intimate at the management level that the water elements cannot be excluded (land as a unit intermixed with water, with the land use in part depending on access to that water, and the unit at the same time affecting the quality and quantity of the passing water).

In this holistic approach, a natural unit of land has both a vertical aspect—from atmospheric climate down to hydrosphere (groundwater resources), and a horizontal aspect—an identifiable sequence of soil, terrain, hydrological, and vegetative (geosphere also termed as lithosphere) and land use elements, i.e., living organisms (biosphere). The entire unit could be considered as geo-micro-biosphere.

Therefore the above definition requires full interaction between the four ecosystems, i.e., atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, and biosphere that constitute the land, as shown in Fig. 1.1.

Fig. 1.1 Land environment components and their interactions.

The atmosphere is the envelope of gasses surrounding Earth and can be further subdivided into regions on the basis of altitude (Linsley, 1987; Parker and Corbitt, 1993). Hydrosphere refers to water in various forms: oceans, lakes, streams, snowpack, glaciers, polar ice caps, and water under the ground (groundwater) (Friedman, 1987; Parker and Corbitt, 1993). Geosphere refers to the complex and variable mixture of minerals, organic matter, pore fluid, and air that make up the soil. Finally, the term biosphere refers to living organisms (flora and fauna) and their environments on the surface of the Earth (Manahan, 1991).

The movement of pollutants within the land has a profound effect upon their bioavailability, the mass transfer, and uptake of contaminants by organisms (Mohamed and Antia, 1998; Anderson and Hillwalker, 2012). The rates of transfer are important and can affect the land livabi1ity. The physical, chemical, mineralogical, and biological processes that determine the portion of bioavailable contaminants may involve the soil, the air, or the water and can be absorbed into the body through inhalation, ingestion, or skin contact, posing health threats to all.

In approaching the creation of a new environment, which is related to the land, the problems of waste management and restoration of the environment, that are haunting the present-day civilization, must be considered from a global environmental viewpoint. Solutions to the complex problems confronted by the waste management and environmental restoration industries are currently handled by geoenvironmental engineering professionals, consisting of geotechnical, environmental, and chemical engineers; geologists; geochemists; microbiologists; biotechnologists; material scientists; and soil scientists. These professionals employ a synergy of information developed in a variety of disciplines to solve the challenging environmental problems. In this context, geoenvironmental engineering, a blend of geotechnical and environmental engineering, can be defined as the application of earth science principles to the solution of land environmental problems (Mohamed and Antia, 1998).

In seeking solutions to restore the degradation of the environment, we need to consider the interconnecting nature of the various ecosystems. This means that a cooperative and holistic global effort should be employed in developing viable solutions to global environmental problems. Therefore it is necessary for a geoenvironmental engineer to be aware of the developments in various allied disciplines and how these may impact on his or her approach in implementing sound engineering solutions to various environmental problems. The global environmental problems, which are the focus of the geoenvironmental engineering practice, and the actions toward restoration of the environment are the subjects of this chapter.

1.2 Scope of Environmental Problems and the Demographic Problem

Human activity (mainly population explosion and industrialization) is bringing about significant changes in the global environment at an unprecedented pace. It is not an exaggeration to say that the survival of humanity itself is threatened by changes in the composition of the atmosphere, the rain which falls on the ground surface, and the amount of vegetation, which embraces the land. These changes are historically relatively recent. The expanding scope of human activity, pursuant to the industrial revolution, has steadily overtasked the global environment and natural resources. The situation has been made all the more serious by the expansion of the global economy and the increase in population since World War II as a result of advancements in agriculture, industrialization, medicine, and science. Human population, which stood at a few hundred million until the Middle Ages reached one billion during the first decades of the 19th century, doubled by the 1930s, increased to three billion by the 1960s, and has exceeded recently the seven billion people mark (Fig. 1.2).

Fig. 1.2 World population since the 14th century.

Projections of the global as well as regional populations by the United Nations (UN, 2004, 2015) paint a bleak picture (Fig. 1.3), where even under a best-case scenario the global population, after increasing to 9 billion by the middle of this century, may stabilize to about 7 billion by 2100 (Fig. 1.3).

Fig. 1.3 Probabilistic projections of global population to 2100 ( UN, 2015).

The 2013 and expected 2050 population per continent are shown in Fig. 1.4 and Table 1.1 (http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/).

Fig. 1.4 Actual 2013 and expected 2050 global population per continent. Data from http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/.

Table 1.1

World Population by Region (http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/)

The relatively high rates of population increase in urban areas of developing regions require rapid infrastructure development. Unfortunately, the gross national products (GNPs) of most of these countries are not growing at a pace that is compatible with their infrastructural needs. Adequate programs have not been implemented to control waste and protect human health. In most cities of the developing world, services associated with waste management are not provided to about 30% of the population (Bartone and Bemstein, 1992). Furthermore, less than 5% of the solid waste management budget is typically allocated to waste disposal. In contrast, industrialized countries devote 25%–30% of such budgets to waste disposal. Wastes generated in industrialized countries are more toxic and greater in quantity per capita than in developing countries.

The situation can be illustrated with the use of Fig. 1.5 in which the natural system includes the ambient physical environment, ecosystem and natural resources, and the socioeconomic system refers to the human population and its needs for production of goods and services. Utilization of the natural system by the socioeconomic system results in depletion of natural resources; elimination of species; flora and fauna local and regional changes; and deterioration of the environment through solid and liquid waste, air and water pollution, and by greenhouse gases. The importance of these impacts upon the natural system varies geographically, depending on the existing states of both the natural environment and the economy.

Fig. 1.5 Conceptual interaction between socioeconomic and natural systems. Adopted from Mohamed, A.M.O., Antia, H.E., 1998. Geoenvironmental Engineering. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 707p.

Every aspect of our planet's life support system, i.e., air, land, water, and natural ecosystems, is exhibiting signs of damage, as evidenced by:

(a) Pollution of air, land, and water,

(b) Water scarcity and degradation,

(c) Growing quantities of wastes,

(d) Trans-boundary movement of hazardous waste,

(e) Acid rain,

(f) Deforestation and land degradation,

(g) Desertification and soil erosion,

(h) Climate change leading to global warming, and its subsequent glaciers and ice sheets melting, extremes in the hydrologic cycle, and rise in sea temperature,

(i) Depletion of the ozone layer, and

(j) Decreasing species of wildlife.

Given these developments, the world has in recent years taken an increasingly great interest in the environment, and there is widespread recognition that nations should begin to act in concert in the interest of future generations. In fact the state of the global environment is now continuously monitored under the UN Environmental Program (UNEP), established by agreement reached at the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment, and by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and the World Health Organization (WHO).

In the following sections we will briefly discuss some of the evidences of global environmental impacts referred to above. For in-depth expositions the reader should consult specialized books and literatures in these areas.

1.2.1 Pollution of Oceans and International Rivers

In addition to pollutants, which enter the seas carried by rivers or directly from the coast, a wide variety of pollutants are released into the seas due to accidents during the transportation of oil or other products by ship, petroleum extraction, spills from coastal facilities, and illegal discharges by commercial or recreational marine vessels. Table 1.2 shows some major oil incidents since 1980. As a result of the 1989 Exxon Valdez accident outside the coast of Alaska and the widespread ecological destruction and its impact on the tourism and fishing industries, the United States passed in 1990 the Oil Pollution Act to mitigate the effects and establish liability from oil spills.

Table 1.2

Some Major Oil Incidents Since 1980

In Europe a large number of small and large oil spills, but also illegal discharges of oil waste from vessels, have resulted in recurring chronic oil pollution of its waters. Thus despite the recent decline in total released oil, worldwide, discharges from transportation or recreational marine vessels and spills from coastal facilities pose a significant threat, as there is a correlation between beached seabird deaths and shipping lanes. The environmental impact of shipping was recognized by the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL 73/78) and Special Areas were identified within Europe under MARPOL, where oil discharges were banned. However, lack of strict enforcement has allowed the continuous discharge of oil for operational reasons that may not attract the same attention as large accidental oil spills, but which has severe and chronic effects on sensitive ecosystems. The Mediterranean and the Baltic Seas are important marine areas for migrating birds and as such they were designated Special Areas under MARPOL with oil discharges not being allowed. However, aerial surveys (Figs. 1.6 and 1.7) indicate that both seas contain significant amounts of oil, despite the overall global decline of petroleum hydrocarbons released into the sea from 6 million metric tonnes in the 1970s to the recent 1.3 million metric tonnes, annually (NRC, 2003; IFAW, 2005).

Fig. 1.6 Density of oil from 7000 oil spills during 1999–2002 in the Mediterranean Sea. SAR images of the European Commission project FP6 MIDIV (Mapping Illicit Discharges from Vessels). Used from JRC/IPSC or European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), the Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen (IPSC).

Fig. 1.7 Detected oil spills during 1998–2004 in the Baltic Sea. Used from JRC/IPSC or European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), the Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen (IPSC).

The National Research Council of the US National Academies (NRC, 2003) estimates that anthropogenic sources account for about 55% of the annual 1.3 million metric tonnes of oil entering the world's waters. Natural seepage from geologic formations below the seafloor is considered responsible for about 600,000 metric tonnes of the oil released, annually. In terms of the anthropogenic sources petroleum extraction contributes about 5% of the total petroleum input in the water; transportation accounts for 22% of the global releases; and the remaining, in the form of slow, chronic releases is due to the consumption of petroleum by cars, boats, and urban runoff.

To conserve the ecosystems of regional seas, the UN Environmental Program has urged the countries, which share those seas, to take common measures. As a result, programs for the conservation of 11 regions in the world have been formulated by more than 130 countries and 11 UN and regional organizations. Efforts are being made to reduce pollution loads (e.g., research, monitoring).

A mounting pollution problem that is slowly being recognized the last 15 years is the presence of plastic debris in the rivers and oceans (Fig. 1.8). About 250,000 tonnes of this litter the oceans; pollutes the sea floor and beaches; and is consumed by birds, fish, and other aquatic organisms. Part of this has accumulated and is floating as micro-plastic in oceanic gyres, part is in shallow water sediments, and some appears to have been embedded in deep sea sediments (Woodall et al., 2014).

Fig. 1.8 Plastic in the sea.

The extent of the oceans and the abundance of marine life had led to dismissal, for a long time, of plastic as a serious problem for the marine environment, until the discovery of extensive debris (Table 1.3) on the seafloor of the Mediterranean Sea (Stefatos et al., 1999), the North Atlantic Ocean, and the SW Indian Ocean (Derraik, 2002; Woodall et al., 2014)

Table 1.3

Type and Number of Pieces of Micro-Plastic per 50 ml of Sediment in the Mediterranean Sea, the North Atlantic Ocean, and the SW Indian Ocean (Woodall et al., 2014)

Floating debris and micro particles suspended beneath the surface of the water, called the Great Pacific garbage patch, and the North Atlantic garbage patch are trapped in these two oceans currents' vortexes (gyres) and are estimated to extend over an area that maybe as small as the State of Texas to double the size of continental United States. Photodegradation of plastic renders it small enough to be ingested by aquatic organisms and eventually enter the food chain.

Like marine pollution, pollution of fresh water has become acute, and international cooperation has been rendered to conserve and restore the quality of international rivers. For example, the water quality of the Rhine, which runs through Western Europe, deteriorated due to economic development and population increase of its basin. In the early 1970s, fish came up to the water surface, and other damage was caused, due to a lack of dissolved oxygen, and as there was a rise in the discharge of heavy metals and organic chemicals, there arose concerns about the impacts on drinking water.

Given this development, Switzerland, France, West Germany at that time, Luxembourg and the Netherlands established the International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine Against Pollution and adopted the Rhine Chemical Treaty and the Treaty for the Protection of the Rhine against pollution by chlorides. As a result of such international cooperation, the water quality has improved to 80% of the normal value in dissolved oxygen, and the concentration of almost all heavy metals has decreased. Further efforts are still required for the purification of the Rhine.

Another case study, the famous Danube River is flowing through 10 countries with a total population of 170 million people affected by it. The river is heavily polluted by raw sewage discharged by cities; fertilizers and pesticides from farming activities; oil from ships; pharmaceuticals and micro-plastics; and various types of chemicals from refining, chemical, pulp, paper, coal, and metallurgical industrial plants. Illegal dumping of toxic and chemical wastes has been reported by environmental agencies with the most well-known case, the 1984 discharge of toxic waste from 364 drums into the Danube, which originated in Italy and found its way to the coastal waters of Turkey. The situation had been exacerbated for years by the practice of the then communist Eastern European regimes that had put as priority the heavy industrialization of their countries at the cost of any environmental protection. More recently, in Oct. 2010, 184 million gallons of high alkaline red mud reached the Danube as a result of the collapse of a tailgating dam holding arsenic and mercury liquid waste from an aluminum-processing plant in Hungary.

The Danube Delta was appointed in 1991 a Wetland of International Importance status under the Ramsar Convention, an intergovernmental treaty for the conservation and use of wetlands and their resources (Ramsar, 2015), and a UNESCO Man and Biosphere status. In 1994 the Basin countries signed the Danube River Protection Convention (ICPDR), which constitutes the legal framework for trans-boundary management of the river (Murphy, 1997).

Finally, the Colorado River in the United States is perhaps one of the most heavily managed rivers in the world. Having its headwaters in the Rocky Mountains in the United States it flows through seven States entering northern Mexico. It is an artery of life for California and the arid southwestern states of Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. The Colorado's flow is greatly diminished due to the withdrawals for irrigation (All-American Canal, the largest irrigation canal in the world, which irrigates California's Imperial Valley; Central Arizona Project, which irrigates 830,000 acres and provides municipal water to Phoenix and Tucson), hydroelectric power generation (Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, near Las Vegas, Nevada), and municipal water supply to over 40 million people (which includes Los Angeles and San Diego). The diversion of almost 90% of its water has dried up the last 100 miles of the river, such that it does not consistently reach the sea, at the Gulf of California, every year. The reduced flow and salt leaching from irrigation has increased the river's natural salinity, which was 50 ppm (parts per million) to over 2000 ppm in certain of its parts, necessitating the construction of a $400 million desalination plant near the border with Mexico. Pesticide pollution is also prevalent, especially close to Imperial Valley, California, and the lower part of the river leading in many cases in fish kills. Home to the Grand Canyon and ten other major US National Parks, of over 1600 species of plants and extensive reaches of grassland that now have been reduced to desert (US National Park Service, 1946), and indigenous species of fish and birds the once mighty Colorado River faces a challenging future (UNEP, 2004).

The United Nations General Assembly, in its meeting at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, Sep. 25–27, 2015, has decided on new global Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The 17 SDGs and the 169 targets seek to build on the Millennium Development Goals and be fully implemented by 2030 (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015). In that respect, Goal 14 calls for conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development. The associated targets are as follows:

• By 2025, prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution,

• By 2020, sustainably manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems to avoid significant adverse impacts, including by strengthening their resilience, and take action for their restoration in order to achieve healthy and productive oceans,

• Minimize and address the impacts of ocean acidification, including enhanced scientific cooperation at all levels,

• By 2020, effectively regulate harvesting and end overfishing; illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and destructive fishing practices; and implement science-based management plans, in order to restore fish stocks in the shortest time feasible, at least to levels that can produce maximum sustainable yield as determined by their biological characteristics,

• By 2020, conserve at least 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas, consistent with national and international law and based on the best available scientific information,

• By 2020, prohibit certain forms of fisheries subsidies which contribute to overcapacity and overfishing; eliminate subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing; and refrain from introducing new such subsidies, recognizing that appropriate and effective special and differential treatment for developing and least developed countries should be an integral part of the World Trade Organization fisheries subsidies negotiation,

• By 2030, increase the economic benefits to Small Island Developing States and least developed countries from the sustainable use of marine resources, including through sustainable management of fisheries, aquaculture, and tourism,

• By 2030, increase scientific knowledge, develop research capacity and transfer marine technology, taking into account the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Criteria and Guidelines on the Transfer of Marine Technology, in order to improve ocean health and to enhance the contribution of marine biodiversity to the development of developing countries, in particular Small Island Developing States and least developed countries.

1.2.2 Water Resources

Table 1.4 shows the Actual Renewable Water Resources (ARWR) and the Total Renewable Water Resources Withdrawn (TRWRW) per region (FAO AQUASTAT data for 1998–2002). The ARWR is defined as the sum of internal and external renewable water resources, taking into consideration the quantity of flow reserved to upstream and downstream countries through formal or informal agreements or treaties, and reduction of flow due to upstream withdrawal; and external surface water inflow, actual or submitted to agreements. ARWR corresponds to the maximum theoretical amount of water actually available for a country at a given moment. It is worth noting that the calculated figures may vary with time and they are given for a specific period (1998–2002). Regions such as Latin America and Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia and Pacific (including Japan and Koreas), and Western Europe have high percent utilization of their available ARWR, which in the long run might increase the depletion rates of their renewable water resources.

Table 1.4

Actual Renewable Water Resources (ARWR) and the Total Renewable Water Resources Withdrawn (TRWRW) per Region

Data from FAO AQUASTAT data for 1998–2002.

Goal 6 of the 2030 United Nations General Assembly's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) calls to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015). The associated targets are as follows:

• By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all,

• By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations,

• By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping, and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally,

• By 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity,

• By 2030, implement integrated water resources management at all levels, including through trans-boundary cooperation as appropriate

• By 2020, protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers, and lakes,

• By 2020, expand international cooperation and capacity-building support to developing countries in water- and sanitation-related activities and programs, including water harvesting, desalination, water efficiency, wastewater treatment, recycling and reuse technologies,

• By 2020, support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management.

1.2.3 Water Scarcity and Degradation

As industrial, agriculture, and domestic pollution threaten finite supplies, water is becoming an increasingly precious resource. Across the world today, renewable water resources available per person are roughly half what they were in 1960. This amount is expected to drop by half again by the year 2025 according to the estimates of the World Bank (Fig. 1.9). Clearly, if water resources are not better managed, they would present burden on economic growth and potential danger to human health and the environment.

Fig. 1.9 Global water availability in selected regions (World Resources Institute and World Bank estimates).

Currently many countries and regions are under water stress. UN defines