Water for Life: Water Management and Environmental Policy

by James L. Wescoat, Jr , Gilbert F. White

• ISBN13: 9780521369800
• ISBN10: 0521369800
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-11-03
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Successful water management is crucial for the proper operation of natural environmental systems and for the support of human society. These two aspects are interdependent, but decisions about one are often made without regard to effects upon the other. A persistent challenge is to consider them together. This book is the first to fully analyze the relationship between water management, environmental conditions and public policy. It combines a careful review of the character and evolution of water management and evaluates management from the standpoint of the quality of the natural environment. Topics covered include domestic and industrial water supply and waste disposal, groundwater use, river channel and floodplain management, and integrated river basins. The processes of social decision-making are examined against a backdrop of plant-soil-water-ecosystem relationships and ecosystem change. Examples are drawn from around the world, from local watershed management to international river basin planning, with emphasis on integrative approaches.

Table of Contents

List of figures	vi
List of tables	xii
Preface	xv
List of abbreviations	xviii
Conversions of selected units of hydrologic measurement	xx
1 Water and Life	1	(12)
2 Challenge and opportunity	13	(13)
3 Unfolding recognition of ecosystem change	26	(21)
4 Natural waters	47	(18)
5 Plant-soil-water-ecosystem relationships	65	(27)
6 Groundwater	92	(17)
7 Lakes and wetlands	109	(30)
8 River channels and floodplains	139	(21)
9 Impounded rivers and reservoirs	160	(26)
10 Domestic and industrial water management	186	(32)
11 Decision processes	218	(18)
12 Integrative approaches	236	(26)
Appendix Guide to Internet resources on water and environment	262	(35)
References	297	(23)
Index	320