Erosion's Solutions

Political Water Scarcity Five things I learned at the Global Water Summit Published 29th April 2010 1. There is no such thing as economic water scarcity, only political water scarcity. Ek Sonn Chan told the story of how the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority had been transformed between 1993 and 2009. The number of connections increased seven-fold, non-revenue water fell from 73% to 6%, collection efficiency rose from 48% to 99.9%, and total revenues increased from $300,000 to $25 million, with an $8 million operating surplus. After receiving initial grants and soft loans from international financial institutions, the utility is now self-financing. Tariffs increased steeply in the early years, but they have been held constant at around $0.24/m3 since 2001, because the combination of service expansion, reduced water losses and high collection rates has guaranteed a sufficient cash flow for debt repayment as well as capital expenditure. It is a great story that should be reproduced across...

When Oil Soaks into Marsh Soil Whenever the drama ends at BP's Macondo well, the company still will be on the hook for the environmental harm from the spill, and teams of state, federal, and BP scientists are meticulously gathering data about where the oil is landing. Their goal is to figure out what restoration projects might be needed to make up for all the damage the oil is causing. Then the government will present BP with a plan of what projects are necessary. BP can do the restorations itself, or it can ask the government to handle them. Nailon's glove is oily after sticking his finger into the soil. Elizabeth Shogren/NPR Nailon's glove is oily after sticking his finger into the soil. When oil soaks into marsh soil, the plants become more vulnerable to dying. "At that point, we put a price tag on the … read more NPR I wanted to be the first to let you know about a new wetlands class we are offering this fall. It is entitled "Southeast Regional Supplement Wet...

Severely Eroding The river has been severely eroding into the Miskowic property for years, taking away soil, fencing, and trees. Now, a major shoreline restoration, and erosion-control project has been nearly completed on the Miskowic property and it shows promise in checking the erosion, according to Mille Lacs County Soil and Water Conservation District conservation technician Lynn Carter. The project was made possible with the help of; • A Minnesota Clean Water Fund matching grant of close to $39,007, in which the Miskowics had to put up 25 percent of that in money or in-kind contribution. • Organizing by the Mille Lacs County Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD), with input from the Department of Natural Resources. • Engineering by a Joint Powers Board of Engineers. • A week of labor by a youth group from the Conservation Corps of Minnesota and Iowa. Also labor from master gardeners and people involved with conservation agencies during the afternoon of Aug. 2. The latter h...

Mudslides Mudslides can occur at any time of the year, regardless of weather conditions, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). And they can strike without any prior warning signs, making for a dangerous phenomenon. "Mudslides occur in all 50 U.S. states and can happen at any time – with or without rainfall," said Lynn Highland, a geographer at the USGS National Landslide Center. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, changes in groundwater levels, alternate freezing and thawing, and the steepening of slopes by erosion all contribute to mudslides. Construction and reckless modification of land – such as not draining an area properly before building on or near it – can also create the conditions ripe for a mudslide, Highland said. She added, that prolonged, intense precipitation and run-off can contribute to landslides, as can wildfires. Fires lead to mudslides because burning can kill the plant's roots. Roots hold soil together, stabilizing the land and ma...

Geotextiles As its name suggests Geotextiles refer to textiles related to earth or soil. When any permeable material is used with rock, soil, or earth it is termed as Geotextiles. The basic function of this technology is to prevent soil erosion to strengthen heavy concrete structures. This technology has not yet gained much attention in India but is widely used in many countries for the construction of bridges, roads, and railway tracks to improve its strength. Many researchers have viewed that this technology is not newly developed but is in use from past thousands of years. Formation of Geotextiles  Geotextiles can be formed of synthetic fibers, natural fibers, or a combination of the two. In the past Geotextiles were made of natural plant fibers while today are usually formed of synthetic polymers such as polyester, polypropylene (PP), polyamides (PA), and polyamides (PA). Geotextiles made from natural fibers are less durable as they decompose over time. The choice of formation ...

Soil Separation Processes Ex-situ soil separation processes (often referred to as "soil washing"), mostly based on mineral processing techniques, are widely used in Northern Europe and America for the treatment of contaminated soil. Soil washing is a water-based process for scrubbing soils ex-situ to remove contaminants. The process removes contaminants from soils in one of the following two ways: * By dissolving or suspending them in the wash solution (which can be sustained by chemical manipulation of pH for a while); or * By concentrating them into a smaller volume of soil through particle size separation, gravity separation, and attrition scrubbing (similar to those techniques used in sand and gravel operations). Soil washing systems incorporating most of the removal techniques offer the greatest promise for application to soils contaminated with a wide variety of heavy metals, radionuclides, and organic contaminants. Commercialization of the process, however, is ...

A Continuum Comprising WPS Technologies A consortium comprising WFS Technologies, Swansea Metropolitan University, and Valeport Ltd has delivered the world's first ad hoc distributed network of seabed sensors for measuring the effects of coastal erosion. Sensor data regarding the movement of seabed sediment is communicated in real-time using WFS wireless through-water radio modems, initially to a surface buoy and then via a GSM link to a server for display over the internet. Radio provides reliable wireless communications in complex subsea environments such as shallow water and in the surf zone, making it ideally suited to coastal erosion monitoring applications. More than half of the world's population lives within 60km of a coastline zone. As changing global climate and rising sea levels speed up coastal erosion, researchers need to monitor what is happening beneath the surface of the sea. Understanding coastal erosion has typically been done by observation and measurement of...