The region is characterized for its aridity and vast deserts making water to evaporate very fast while at the same time permeating into the soil rapidly before it could be properly used or contained. The sourcebook provides a comprehensive description of the existing technologies available in West Asia so that decision makers, government and non-governmental organizations can use as a reference to promote the sound planning and management of freshwater resources in this particular region.

The countries of Asia have seen growing pressure on water resources, with increasing demand and costs, for agricultural, domestic and industrial consumption. This source book provides water resource managers and planners, especially in developing countries and in countries with economies in transition, with information on the range of technologies that have been developed and used in the various countries throughout the world.

By the year 2025 nearly 2 billion people will live in regions experiencing absolute water scarcity. In the face of this emerging crisis, how should the planet's water be used and managed? Current international policy sees nature competing with human uses of water. Hunt takes issue with this perspective. She suggests that nature is the source of water and only by making the conservation of nature an absolute priority will we have the water we need for human use in future. It is essential , therefore, to manage water in ways that maintain the water cycle and the ecosystems that support it. This book looks at the complexity of the problem. It provides a wide array of ideas, information, case studies and ecological knowledge - often from remote corners of the developing world -- that could provide an alternative vision for water use and management at this critical time. Essential and compelling reading for students on courses related to water resource management and development; water managers and decision makers, and non-specialists with an interest in global water issues.

Water use efficiency within the context of sustainable water balance in the urban and domestic sector means optimising safe and sufficient supply and water demand while also closing the life cycle. As environmentally sound technologies play a crucial role in this process technologies and best practices for storage, supply and distribution as well as water related policies need to be identified. The source book provides a comprehensive overview about Environmentally Sound Technologies (ESTs) for water use efficiency in the urban and domestic environment.

Business-as-usual in terms of industrial and technological development – even if based on a growing fear of pollution and shortages of natural resources – will never deliver sustainable development. However, the growing interest in recent years in the new science of industrial ecology (IE), and the idea that industrial systems should mimic the quasi-cyclical functions of natural ecosystems in an 'industrial food chain', holds promise in addressing not only short-term environmental problems but also the long-term holistic evolution of industrial systems. This possibility requires a number of key conditions to be met, not least the restructuring of our manufacturing and consumer society to reduce the effects of material and energy flows at the very point in history when globalisation is rapidly increasing them. This book sets out to address the theoretical considerations that should be made implicit in future research as well as practical implementation options for industry. The systematic recovery of industrial wastes, the minimisation of losses caused by dispersion, the dematerialisation of the economy, the requirement to decrease our reliance on fuels derived from hydrocarbons and the need for management systems that help foster inter-industry collaboration and networks are among the topics covered. The book is split into four sections. First, the various definitions of IE are outlined. Here, important distinctions are made between industrial metabolism and IE. Second, a number of different industrial sectors, including glass, petroleum and electric power, are assessed with regard to the operationalisation of industrial ecology. Eco-industrial Parks and Networks are also analysed. Third, the options for overcoming obstacles that stand in the way of the closing of cycles such as the separation and screening of materials are considered and, finally, a number of implications for the future are assessed. The contributions to Perspectives on Industrial Ecology come from the leading thinkers working in this field at the crossroads between a number of different disciplines: engineering, ecology, bio-economics, geography, the social sciences and law.

This informative new book takes an interdisciplinary look at agricultural and food production and how new engineering practices can be used to enhance production. With contributions from international experts from India, Russia, China, Serbia, and USA, this book presents a selection of chapters on some of these emerging practices, focusing on soil and water conservation and management; agricultural processing engineering; water quality and management; emerging agricultural crops; renewable energy use in agriculture; and applications of nanotechnology in agriculture.