Water meters are the cornerstone of commercial systems for water utilities throughout the world; revenue is directly derived from the, figures provided by meters. Despite this, little attention has been paid, in terms of selection, replacement period and return on investment, to the management and optimization of water meters. Integrated Water Meter Management is a comprehensive reference for engineers and managers alike, providing: in-depth technical information allowing the true nature and behaviour of meters to be understood; a comprehensive review and comparison of relevant global water meter technologies - a useful tool to help decide which water meter is best for your utility; discussion of key decisions concerning the use of water meters (when to replace them, which one to use, how to control their quality) from a managerial perspective. Integrated Water Meter Management is an invaluable resource for those involved in urban water management, including water utility managers, engineering technical staff, operations and maintenance specialists, meter-reading personnel and scientific researchers in this discipline.

The American Water Works Association Research Foundation (AWWARF) and 22 municipalities, water utilities, water purveyors, water districts and water providers funded this study. Goals of this research included: Providing specific data on the end uses of water in residential settings across the continent; Assembling data on disaggregated indoor and outdoor uses; Identifying variations in water used for each fixture or appliance according to a variety of factors; and Developing predictive models forecast residential water demand. This report represents a time and place snapshot of how water is used in single-family homes in twelve North American locations. Similarities and differences among 'end users' were tabulated for each location, analyzed and summarized. Great care was taken to create a statistically significant representative sample of customer for each of the twelve locations. However, these twelve locations are not statistically representative of all North American locations.

This book is the result of a joint research effort led by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and involving the Royal Scientific Society of Jordan, the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and the Palestine Health Council. It discusses opportunities for enhancement of water supplies and avoidance of overexploitation of water resources in the Middle East. Based on the concept that ecosystem goods and services are essential to maintaining water quality and quantity, the book emphasizes conservation, improved use of current technologies, and water management approaches that are compatible with environmental quality.

Intergenerational Democracy: Rethinking Sustainable Development, takes an intimate look at the influences underpinning human-environmental relationships, with a special focus on ethnic heritage and multi-culturalism. It describes how human-ecosystem connections have been severed and how issues such as global climate change threaten the future of mankind. This book advocates for concerted efforts to re-establish viable and sustainable Cycles of Life by proposing models that can assist this process. The foundation of these models is Intergenerational Democracy (ID), a whole-of-community method of engagement and participation that requires the inclusion of citizens representing all ages (from 8 to 100+ years). ID is embedded in the principles of direct democracy and human rights, recognizing that there are many quieter but equally legitimate voices, particularly those of children, which are rarely heard in policy and planning forums. As explained by an eleven-year-old boy, "We should work to a level where children's views are regarded just as important as any adult's as we are the ones that shall be living the future..." Through its age-based methodology, ID enables the application of intergenerational equity, which is at the heart of environmental sustainability. ID cuts through barriers of inequality, by engaging, connecting and motivating whole communities in planning and managing their sustainable futures. This book includes three case studies that describe the methods application and affirm the importance of capturing the voices of children, the planet's future custodians. The book stresses the importance of rebuilding environmental relationships at the local level, centred on the social and environmental identity of each place, as the basis for rethinking sustainable development.

People use lots of water for drinking, cooking and washing, but significantly more for producing things such as food, paper and cotton clothes. The water footprint is an indicator of water use that looks at both direct and indirect water use of a consumer or producer. Indirect use refers to the 'virtual water' embedded in tradable goods and commodities, such as cereals, sugar or cotton. The water footprint of an individual, community or business is defined as the total volume of freshwater that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual or community or produced by the business. This book offers a complete and up-to-date overview of the global standard on water footprint assessment as developed by the Water Footprint Network. More specifically it: o Provides a comprehensive set of methods for water footprint assessment o Shows how water footprints can be calculated for individual processes and products, as well as for consumers, nations and businesses o Contains detailed worked examples of how to calculate green, blue and grey water footprints o Describes how to assess the sustainability of the aggregated water footprint within a river basin or the water footprint of a specific product o Includes an extensive library of possible measures that can contribute to water footprint reduction