Should more water be diverted to or from electricity generation? This timely question is addressed in this short volume. Two different approaches are introduced and compared: The first is a cost-benefit analysis, examining the case of re-regulating a Swedish hydropower plant in which water is diverted from electricity generation to the downstream dryway. The proposed scenario generates environmental and other benefits, but comes at a cost in terms of lost electricity. The second study introduces an approach very different from the one used in conventional cost-benefit analysis, and provides a set of measures designed so that most, if not all, affected parties will be better off. Thus, in contrast to a conventional cost-benefit analysis, which draws on hypothetical compensation measures, the new approach envisages actual compensation. Comparing two different theoretical frameworks on the basis of a real-world case, this study can be seen as a manual that can be used to evaluate reasonably small re-regulation of rivers.

This book presents research on a kind of water use conflicts that is becoming more and more common and important: How to best manage moving water in times of increasing demand for electricity as well as environmental services. How should decisions be made between water use for electricity generation or for environmental and recreational benefits? The authors develop a simple general equilibrium model of a small open economy which is used to derive a cost-benefit rule that can be used to assess projects that divert water from electricity generation to recreational and other uses (or vice versa). The cost-benefit rule is then applied to the specific case of a proposed change at a Swedish hydropower plant. The book provides a manual for the evaluation of river regulations which can easily be replicated in other studies.

In order to confront the increasingly severe water problems faced by all parts of the country, the United States needs to make a new commitment to research on water resources. A new mechanism is needed to coordinate water research currently fragmented among nearly 20 federal agencies. Given the competition for water among farmers, communities, aquatic ecosystems and other users-as well as emerging challenges such as climate change and the threat of waterborne diseases-Confronting the Nation's Water Problems concludes that an additional $70 million in federal funding should go annually to water research. Funding should go specifically to the areas of water demand and use, water supply augmentation, and other institutional research topics. The book notes that overall federal funding for water research has been stagnant in real terms for the past 30 years and that the portion dedicated to research on water use and social science topics has declined considerably.

Guidelines for Evaluating Water in Pit Slope Stability is a comprehensive account of the hydrogeological procedures that should be followed when performing open pit slope stability design studies. Created as an outcome of the Large Open Pit (LOP) project, an international research and technology transfer project on the stability of rock slopes in open pit mines, this book expands on the hydrogeological model chapter in the LOP project's previous book Guidelines for Open Pit Slope Design (Read & Stacey, 2009; CSIRO PUBLISHING). The book comprises six sections which outline the latest technology and best practice procedures for hydrogeological investigations. The sections cover: the framework used to assess the effect of water in slope stability; how water pressures are measured and tested in the field; how a conceptual hydrogeological model is prepared; how water pressures are modelled numerically; how slope depressurisation systems are implemented; and how the performance of a slope depressurisation program is monitored and reconciled with the design. Guidelines for Evaluating Water in Pit Slope Stability offers slope design practitioners a road map that will help them decide how to investigate and treat water pressures in pit slopes. It provides guidance and essential information for mining and civil engineers, geotechnical engineers, engineering geologists and hydrogeologists involved in the investigation, design and construction of stable rock slopes.